My late great grand aunt Ruth was one of those last few residents at Chavez Ravine. She was a renter and good friends with the owner with whom she had lived. Both were very elderly women. My great grand aunt was the lady who shook her cane for the newspaper camera in a famous photo that has been circulated for several years. She was never the same after she had to move out and lived unhappily for several months in temporary motel housing before finding a new place for her remaining years. So, I say: Always remember Chavez Ravine, the neighborhood that was.

I grew up on sunset blvd and marion . born in 1990 and had no idea of the history ..Thank you for this show. Sucks they dont teach you this in school.

My grandfather and all his brothers hated the Dodgers for this. When my grandfather came back from Europe after the occupation of Germany, he was unable to find his family. He later signed up to become a Drill Instructor in the Army, this is when he seen my Great-uncle, his brother, who joined the Army and told him where they had moved in the San Fernando Valley.

My father born in 1948 grew up in Chavez ravine before Dodger stadium

I grew up in Los Angeles in the late 1940's-50's and I remember watching them build Dodger Stadium. It displaced quite a few families...but not nearly as many as the construction of the Harbor Freeway.

If you were born in the 50's in LA and are Mexican-American, you knew somebody who was displaced. The stories were horrific.

My family and I lived in the LA area from 1958 to 1973. We attended dozens of Dodger games. I never knew the story of the forced evictions of the inhabitants of the area that became Dodger Stadium !

One of the oldest hospital next to dodger stadium is Barlow. It was built in 1902 and still in business today.

It’s always screw the lower class over big business

The episode "Dan Hostage " on the 1950s series Highway Patrol was filmed here. The diner shown was located at the corner of Effie Street and Raposa Street right in the middle of the ill-fated Chavez Ravine area. This area is now under the parking lot of Dodger Stadium. The episode was aired on May 4, 1959.

I was born and raised EAST of EAST Los Angeles (AZUSA/IRWINDALE) CALIFORNIA. So much for my NATIVE American/JAPANESE Roots. Chumas-Tong-va, With JAPANESE Heritage. Sweet memories 😢

Very interesting history there. Bet many people living in Los Angeles don't know about this.

i have to say that this is one of the best films i have ever seen.both great and sad at the same time..good post.

I grew up around Elysian Park, all my life, born and raised in this neighborhood. There’s nothing better than to feeling Los Angeles. There’s something in the land that remains in the heart of a Mexican American, or a Latino living in this neighborhood is like you can here the land telling you it’s past. And hearing the story about Chavez ravine always makes me cry. No wonder nobody wears the dodger uniform better than Chicanos

thank you KCET

La was actually nice back in 1877.

Good show! A former SoCal resident I was always amazed by the place. It's amazing, if somewhat, dark history.

Yes, thank you for remembering the barrio of Chavez Ravine!

I moved to LA as a kid in 1958, the year the Dodger's and Giants moved west. Was a wonderful place in those days.

Even some fans today don't realize how important Fernando Valenzuela was for the Dodgers. It was his presence and performances that helped heal many of the wounds left from the forced evictions at Chavez Ravine in order to build Dodger Stadium.

love watching L.A. history!, there's always something new to learn!;)

Sandy Koufax did NOT throw the first pitch at dodger stadium. The starting pitcher for the LA dodgers on April 10, 1962 was Johnny Podres!!

My great grand mother always hated the dodgers for displacing her and so many other Hispanic people

many hispanics were evicted from their homes to build dodger stadium...for years no hispanics would see the dodgers play...now 90% of the fans at the park are hispanic.......WTF

My great grandfather bought the first land in Chavez ravine thats why is called Chavez ravine, then other people came and settled there. My sir name is Chavez and I am Proud of it.

Thank you 🙏

Thank god, I though for a moment this story wasn't going to have a happy ending.

Great doc, heavy content.

I am not american, never been to L.A. but these series are work of art documentary.

This so so beautiful... what once was

WOOAH! WHAT A HISTORY!

This is so insightful gotta love this stuff

The battles that occurred between Mexican and US armies in downtown LA over possession of the city was not mentioned and is kind important.

I cannot believe Tonka tribes once lived there,I always played with tonka toys,it brought joy but at what costs,cleared my memory of the tribe which I know so little of ,I can only hope their are existing members.honor those who are silenced .

Chavez Ravine is to Los Angeles like the 98 Acres is to Albany, NY. Sad.

Very touching episode

So Sad 😞

thanks for the video

The Chavez-Ravine story was sad....

I lived in Chavez revine in 1958 janet Frey🥰

Great job.

Love the way you animated from the still photos.

many people lost their home when they build the 60 fwy back in 1964.

I love Elysian Park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moving. Breathtaking. Thank you.

Nice to see D.J. (Don" Waldie featured in this doc. I have his book about the history of Lakewood, CA, "Holy Land".

I was a kid then living right off Riverside Dr, I remember the turmoil surrounding land acquisitions and stand offs with residents at the time.

Excellent program (and series). Nathan Masters is a premier historian. However, Sandy Koufax did not throw the first pitch at Dodger Stadium. That signal honor went to Johnny Podres, who worked 7.1 innings on opening day (April 10, 1962) before 52,564 paying customers, only to be tagged with the loss as the visiting Cincinnati Reds beat L.A., 6-3. Reds' starter Bob Purkey, who also pitched 7.1, got the win, while Wally Post's 3-run HR in the 7th, the first ever at the new ballpark, was the decisive hit. Koufax pitched the next day (April 11), hurling a complete game, allowing 4 hits while striking out 7 as the Dodgers won, 4-2, before a crowd of 35,296. Jim Gilliam's 2-run HR in the 4th made the difference. Reds' starter Moe Drabowsky took the loss. Thank you again for this outstanding contribution to public television.

Dodger Stadium is yet another sad story in Los Angeles where so many grand places and structures were lost to developers eager to make a buck. The city planners were shameful in their greed as they allowed so many beautiful buildings, roads, tunnels and estates to be torn down in the name of 'progress'. Today, LA is a horrible, filthy, smog filled corridor of ugliness. As a child I played in Orange Groves, Walnut Groves and open spaces. There were dirt roads, ranches and such beautiful places to linger. Now, most, if not all of that is gone and what replaced it is a tragic statement of humanity run amuck. And it is not better, but much worse than it once was. I am glad I left there after the first 50 years of my life and will never return.

kcet please if you are going to do a documentary about the Chavez Ravine are please let the people know about Frank Wilkinson and how he was accused of being a communist so the project intended for the area was stopped and the land stood idle. The first notice for the people to leave was 1950, the project was cancelled in late 1952 and the Dodgers didn’t move in to the park until 1962 so please get it together KCET.

That was messdup for the people living there. They got punked out scammed.

Excellent! Thank you!

The Tongva people? Where are they now!?

Hopefully this information reaches those interested in knowing the history of Chavez Ravine! East Los Angeles College will be performing the production of Chavez Ravine. This production will portray the life’s of the families who once lived in Chavez Ravine; and inform the public/audience of the affect of the Housing Authority Act of 1949. Including some known individuals (which will be characterized by actors) such as, the people from Chavez’s Ravine, Vin Scully (notorious sportscaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers), Frank Wilkinson (American activist who served as Executive Director of the National Committee and the site manager for the City Housing Authority for the city of Los Angeles), Richard Nuetra (Austrian-American architect for the sitting project of Chavez Ravine), and Norris Poulson (36th Mayor of Los Angeles). These are some of the many character that will be portrayed in the production of Chavez Ravine at East Los Angeles Community College. Location: 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez Monterey Park, CA 91754 United States Theater Department( P2 building) Opening night will be on May 18, 2018 at 8pm. Unfortunately this play will only run for two weekends, with a total of 8 performance. So, contact me with any questions or thoughts that you have. Look forward in hearing from you! This is a chance to inform the public and tell a magnificent story!

My home the Northeast Los Angeles!

Terrific, enlightening documentary for the eyes of a Midwesterner... every bit sobering too, I'm sure, to the ancestors of the Chavez Ravine community.

The constant drone of music under the spoken parts of this documentary is distracting and unnecessary.

So, was the lithograph taken from about where the Elysian Park helipad is....or a little farther towards the stadium...on a hill top that was brought down?

think if Dodger stadium was reversed. You would have a great shot of Downtown L.A. viewing from home plate out to the outfield.

Being of Hispanic decent, I didn't know about this, then again I was only 8 yrs old. But I'm surprised that my dad who came from Mexico in the late forties didn't mention this to me. He was a big Dodgers fan, as well as I, as well as my son. But now, after listening to this bit of history, I'm very frustrated to hear of this. I'm all for progress, but not at the expense of human disregard! I remember back in 1974, I along with my wife and my two little girls were out trick or treating, I accidentally parked my car a few inches into this driveway, the gentleman who was waiting for us to return to move my car started to come down on me pretty hard, I apologized, but he had to throw in the race card, by telling us that we should go back where we came from, I then told him we are where we come from and he should go back to school to brush up on his history, because all of California belonged to Mexico at one time. Now this 2019 and we're still being told to go back to where we came from, is this progress??? Physically the land (scape) will change, but not the people, sad...

If you want to know why Fernandomaina happened. That's why. The poor short fat shy Mexican kid who grew up to be Fernando Valenzuela symbolically came back to "reclaim" and own Chavez Ravine for Mexicans again. His success on that very soil is extremely symbolic for all generations of local Mexicans.

I went to the Room 8 School, Elysian Heights Elementary in the 70’s and this story was never taught.

Beautiful view from the stadium but they really didn't take in consideration how it would impact traffic and residential areas surrounding the stadium.. traffic is horrible when its game day.

my grandma lived up there in the 30s and went to Belmont high

My Grandmother was a Chavez from LA. I wonder if she was from Chavez Revine? Or her Ancestors.

I never knew the story of how Dodger Stadium came to be . It is sad what is scarificed in the name of progress . Thank you KCET for the best programming, more people could learn from from you station .

Only 20 families were left when they started to build dodger stadium? Id always pictured way more based on the historical villification

The stadium was built with private money, which was better than the taxpayer funding used since. However, the land was another thing. In 1949 it was planned to be a public housing area and it was acquired in large by eminent domain. Then a new mayor canceled that project. The city acquired the land at a low price from a federal agency. The Dodgers got the land in exchange for some other land they owned, but I couldn't find details on that. Anyway, effectively eminent domain was used to build a private sports stadium. George W. Bush's group used that tactic to build their baseball stadium. That is how GWB made his fortune, on stolen land.

Does anybody know, is Mount Lookout the site of what's generally referred to as a "forty-niner" (pow wow) in the movie The Exiles?

Hope we get a movie to show what happened

It's ironic to say there were paid very little for their properties - they did not own the land - they were squatters; there are no property deeds for any lot in the ravine. The descriptions of the 'town' are very distorted - there were no utilities - no phones, no garbage pick up, no sewers. Firemen and ambulances could not respond as there were no actual addresses, only the ones made up by residents. There probably was no postal service either; no schools or markets or churches. The residents tried to keep it clean and tidy but rats were always a huge problem as were coyotes (which still were a problem when I lived there in 2006). It wasn't some quaint, Disneyesque version of a town like Alvarado Street is - it was a hardscrabble place to eke out a living without running water or electricity - well - some had both if they were lucky enough to be able to steal it by tapping into someone else's lines.

13:49 I see camera crews, does anybody know if that footage is available for viewing?

And don't forget that the Dodgers were the heart and soul of another neighborhood back in Brooklyn. That heart and soul was ripped out and moved to Los Angeles. Ebbits Field was demolished and turned into a pubic housing project while the public housing project in LA was never built and Dodger Stadium was built there instead. I guess that money is all that matters in the modern world.

The Kings are the only original LA team 👑 🏒

As I sit here typing out this response, my heart is breaking. I was born in Van Nuys, and grew up in Altadena and South Pasadena during the 60-70's. In the foothills of Altadena, there were hiking/horse trails all over. I used to hike down to the front gate of JPL. I remember going to Dodger Stadium in the late 60's, as well as the LA Zoo (two of my favorite places). At the time, I had zero clue about the history of Chavez Ravine, and the cold and cruel destruction of a beautiful and vibrant community. Greed and money motivated O'Malley to move forward with the construction of Dodger Stadium (I suppose also for his love of baseball). To think of our history comes with sadness. Michigan is now home for me. I get out to visit my grandparents and son's graves at Forest Lawn in Glendale. I see what is going on back home with COVID-19, and the scenes break my heart. Please be safe, everyone. Follow accepted practices and look after one another. We will get through this pandemic together. Peace.Dan.

Surely this was a sad day 4 Chavez ravine neighborhood and the other neighborhoods dodger stadium should have been put at Murano Beach

Can you guys please place the tittle of the show, lol n this case Lost LA in the titles of the videoed you post?

They did not have pictures of the before? I find that hard to believe.

My father took me to a Dodgers game in the early 70’s. I remember some Mexicans seated behind us and they were yelling at the Dodgers that still land. I asked my father what they were talking about. He lean over to me and told that the City stole their land and gave it to that SOB McNally to build this stadium. I was shocked to learn later that we were seated by third base where a elementary was buried.

They displaced all those Mexicans... they did them dirty 🤦🏻‍♂️💭💭💭

The picture at 10:20 that's elephant hill in the city of pomona/diamond bar ca look up elephant hill in pomona ca

My main gripe, aside from the terrible forced evictions, is that the stadium should have been rotated 180 degrees to face downtown LA. The views would have been stunning.

Isn't this season 1 e2? You have two different videos labeled as s2e2 .

You make it sound like the dodgers wiped out Chavez Ravine. The city of Los Angeles did it in 1952. Long before the Dodgers were even in the picture. 😊

In he days of he old PCL I was a Hollywood Stars Fa. Rarely missed a game. Even traveled to Seattle to see them beat the Ranier's. The PCL was fun BUT nothing compared to todays MLB

The greatest loss was the pacific electric!

Shades of Robert Moses. In his era as well. I wonder if the city consulted with him.

damn inmagine now a days it would be a huge part of LA like east LA or south gate didn't know the complete story sad what maney does.

My grandparents and great grandparents lived there.. last name Rodriguez

Beautiful park.

This is why my family and I are not Dodgers fans, we're Angels fans. Angels were named after the city of Los Angeles and been here in LA market ever since the late 1890's, as a minor league team until 1957. Gene Autry bought back the Angels name for the Los Angeles Angels. Angels are LA's original team.

It would be nice to see a documentary that explored Chavez Ravine in greater detail. What were the prices paid for the properties by the residents, and when? What was offered by the City? In hindsight, it's easy to complain about prices obtained but in the late 1990s one could buy a single family home in Echo Park for under $100,000 - the 1932 duplex on a quarter-acre where I lived sold for $99,000; it's current value is close to $1 million. The City maintains that many did not actually own the land but, rather, were squatters on the land after having appropriated unoccupied land for their own use. It was the inability to prove land ownership that led to many of the evictions. If a person held title to the land, it is a simple matter of presenting the title but the City maintains, and the court records support the contention, around 25% of residents could not produce such a title. What was the structural integrity of the homes? Many were described as self-built shacks without bathrooms or running water that were cobbled together with debris taken from other building sites but some of the pictures show quite elaborate houses rather than shacks. Pictures on this site show both: www.chavezravine.org/the-story-in-pictures.html. Even the pro-Ravine site mentioned states that the area was not hooked up to City water, sewage, or electricity. Lots of questions continue to 'dog' Chavez Ravine; questions that could be answered by evaluating the situation with an objective eye and digging into the extant records.

I bleed dodger blue but after watching this it's hard to look at the team the same.

Love this video and Love my City. Let's go LA...😎

Thank you

That's koo lil history lesson my poor Raza

And some of the houses were moved to universal studios in Hollywood

I'm truly saddened at this piece of historical information and that I didn't know it sooner.

And that's why the big one is coming

❤