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The 5-generation Genealogy Project

What was Chávez Ravine — and what wasn't

7/30/2015

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There is so much misinformation surrounding the term 'Chávez Ravine' that it becomes truly mind-boggling.  First, of course, there is the ravine itself, which is a distinct geographical feature located far to the west of anything else that later bore its name.  Next, there were the three so-called Chávez Ravine communities of la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop, none of which was remotely connected to the actual Chávez Ravine.  Finally, the name was ludicrously appropriated and mis-applied to Dodger Stadium, which was constructed against the bulk of a decimated Mt. Lookout, and which sits firmly astride Sulphur and Cemetery Ravines; again, with its having no connection whatever to the geographical feature called Chávez Ravine.

Of the three, then, there is only one Chávez Ravine, and that is the narrow canyon that lies near the western edge of the massíf on which today sit Elysian Park, the historic Solano Canyon community, and Dodger Stadium.

This blog takes a look at what was — and what wasn't — Chávez Ravine.
This map, surveyed in 1868 by George Hansen and Wm. Moore, shows the Stone Quarry Hills as it looked at the time.
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This is a portion of the same map, but with the ravines identified.  Reservoir Ravine was initially not named; it was named only after a reservoir was constructed at its mouth.
SR 377 w/ID
Next, let's take a look at a modern image of the same area, with Chávez Ravine clearly marked; the red line is the original Chávez Ravine trail, and the heavy yellow line is the location of Stadium Way today.
CR road on Google Earth
Finally, here's the same image, but with the approximate locations of the three so-called Chávez Ravine communities of la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop marked, along with historic Solano Canyon, which is outlined in red on the right-hand side of the image.
What is and isn't
By now, it should be clear that Chávez Ravine — the heavy red line on the left-hand side of the image — has nothing at all to do with either the communities of la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop or Dodger Stadium.  And, for that matter, if la Loma (the right-hand yellow polygon) is a part of Chávez Ravine—the Communities, then why not include Solano Canyon in that designation, too?  In fact, la Loma was less a stand-alone community than it was a natural extension of Solano Canyon; it was simply the growth of population up and onto the loma that gave the community its name.  To illustrate that argument, look at this 1930s-era photograph, taken from a point high above the Solano Avenue School, where most of the children from la Loma attended school, and looking up into la Loma.  It is impossible to tell where Solano Canyon ends and la Loma begins.
la Loma from Solano Canyon, 1930

So what does it mean — if anything?

It probably doesn't mean anything, in reality, other than to serve as a vestigal linguistic curiosity.  But there does seem to exist a bit of a 'cult of Julián Chávez' surrounding the historical context of the names, and which, of course, is entirely unwarranted, given that the oft-repeated '83 acres' that Julián Chávez actually owned was not within Chávez Ravine itself, nor within any of the communities that co-opted his name, but rather on the northeast side of the Stone Quarry Hills, on the flat land by the Los Angeles River in the area that is known locally as Frogtown; and the Palo Verde Tract, which included all of la Loma, most of Palo Verde above Effie Street, and all of Bishop was subdivided and developed by Alfredo Solano, son of the founders of Solano Canyon, Francisco Solano and Rosa Casanova, beginning in 1897.

One further thing:  it is entirely possible that the name Chávez Ravine derives not from Julián Chávez at all, but rather from his brother, Mariano, who once owned land high up in the ravine near the summit.  And the Chávez Ravine trail itself led directly, not to the Frogtown properties of brothers Julián and Mariano Chávez, but to the adjacent, larger acreage of Juan Bouet, my great-great grandfather.
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Los Desterrados Annual Reunion, 2015

7/25/2015

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The author was fortunate to have been able to attend, for the first time, the annual reunion and picnic of los Desterrados on Saturday, 18 July.  For a historian and genealogist, it was a treasure chest of memories and living history.  Although I am a relative outsider — I descend from the founders of Solano Canyon and no one in my family lived in Chávez Ravine — I felt welcomed, and I was able to talk with many of the residents and descendants of those who were displaced from la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop.

The image below shows a bit of a database I have put together that gives the names and addresses of everyone who ever lived in any of the three Chávez Ravine communities during the decennial census years of 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940.  The database also gives the names of everyone in each household (the names in the box with the yellow background), their relationships to the heads of household, and references to the actual census images.  Another part of the database provides information from the actual building permits for any address, to the extent that information is available in the Department of Public Works database.

Census database

Neither lightning nor rain (but no snow or sleet) ...

Right at nine o'clock, as if on cue, the skies opened up, and a magnificent thunderstorm passed directly over the picnic site, accompanied by profuse lightning and heavy rain.  Spirits were not dampened, however, and when it passed and the sun came out, it was a warm and pleasant day.

Reunion 1

The need to preserve history from living memory ...

It is important to preserve and record the history that is within the memory of those who lived it.  For something as momentous as the Chávez Ravine evictions, and for those of us who wish to study that event, it is particularly important.  It is incredible how much the generation that went through the evictions — even as relatively young children — remember about the events of that time.

Reunion 2

... by recording memories and asking questions

That's the author on the left, asking a question to clarify a point from some of the ones who were actually there.

Reunion 3
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Happy Fourth of July from Chávez Ravine!

7/3/2015

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We at ChávezRavine.org want to take this opportunity to wish all of our readers a safe and happy Fourth of July celebration this weekend.

We've decided to wrap Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving all together today.

Why?

Fourth of July is obvious.  It's the ceremonial celebration of our nation's 239th birthday.  No other republic has survived that long, and it is surely something for us all to be proud of.  We sincerely hope that every one of our Nation's citizens — indigenous Americans and all the rest of us, who are immigrants all — are able to share fully in the independence that was so hard-won so long ago.

Thanksgiving, because it gives us the opportunity to express our gratitude — and to offer our thanks — to the many of you who read these blogs, like them on Facebook, share them, and occasionally share your comments with us.

Why Memorial Day?  We just thought it was appropriate to remember — to memorialize, if you will — the thousands of people who were displaced from their nearly 1,100 homes in the Chávez Ravine communities of la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop for what was a suspect purpose in the first place, and, ultimately, to make room for the construction of Dodger Stadium.  It is for them — los Desterrados — that we take the time to remember them and to celebrate them in memoriam — literally, to take them 'into memory'.

So we hope all of you have a great weekend.  Have fun, but stay safe.  And if there are fireworks where you are, then we hope it will be a spectacular display.

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A Traveler's Guide to la Loma's Streets

6/30/2015

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If you've ever been confused — as I have — about the names and locations of the streets in the Chávez Ravine communities of la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop, then you may appreciate this visual guide to the streets of la Loma.

This blog is the first in a series that explores the streets of Chávez Ravine and places them on a map for reference.  In this case, the map is a 1948 aerial photograph, so it reflects the locations of the streets very accurately with respect to the beginning of the destruction of Chávez Ravine in 1950.

This blog focuses on la Loma.
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Las tienditas de La Loma

6/29/2015

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No matter where one lives, one must be able to shop for food to supplement that which is grown in one's garden, and to purchase those necessary household items that cannot be manufactured or grown in the garden.  La Loma — the first of the Chávez Ravine communities — was no exception.  There were many home gardens in la Loma, but there were also small stores, too  This blog tells the story of the four known tienditas that served the community of la Loma.

Every community must have places to shop

There were, by the early 1920s, nearly two dozen families living in the emerging Chávez Ravine community of la Loma, that represented more than 100 people.  During the early years of the 1920s, not one, not two, but three grocery stores were opened, plus a fourth that served both la Loma and its elder sibling, the neighboring community of Solano Canyon, and which is still in existence, although it is currently closed.

Stores were typically run out of someone's house; additional rooms were added as they were needed for family living space as the size of the family expanded.  Interestingly, ownership of these home-grown, family businesses tended to remain in the hands of the founding families for many years.

The first store:  Mazzarini's

The first store to serve the growing community of la Loma may actually have been in Solano Canyon.  On April 19, 1922, Valentino Mazzarini applied for a permit to build a 24' x 48' x 15', four-room "dwelling and store" at 728 Amador Street.  Cost was estimated at $2,000 ($28,300 today).  At the time, Mazzarini lived at 626½ New High Street in Los Angeles, and he named himself as the contractor.  Mazzarini, a 49-year-old Italian from Ferrara who immigrated to the United States in 1914 along with his wife, Irinia, had a 9-year-old son, George.

Mazzarini's store must have been an immediate success, because just 16 months later, in August of the next year, 1923, he built a 10' x 30', two-story house on the property, followed in October, 1924 by an addition to the store, at which time he stated that there were not one, but two residences on the site in addition to the store.

The family of Valentino Mazzarini is found in the 1930 and 1940 censuses, living at 728 Amador Street, the location of their store.  Valentino Mazzarini died in 1955 and is buried at Forest Lawn in Glendale along with his wife, Iniria, who died in 1942.

Sometime between the death of Valentino Mazzarini in 1955 and  1966, Lindow Seu became the owner of the store that Mazzarini built.  By then, there were three residences on the property plus the store.

About 1968, Lindow Seu sold the property to "Big John" and Tillie Agnick, and the store became known as John's Market.
John's Store
Mazzarini's store, early 1970s. 728 Amador Street, Solano Canyon [Image credit: Jesse Moreno]
Question:  Do you know the identity of the person who is standing on the steps of John's Store?  (The answer is below.)

At some point, John and Tillie turned over day-to-day running of the store to a couple named Conrad and Betty, who ran the store for many years until it closed about 1980.  There is hope in the community today that the store will be opened again one day.

John's Store was 'the place' for neighborhood kids to hang out.  The kids were mostly skaters — roller-skaters, that is — and the big attraction were the three arcade games inside the store:  Asteroids, Galaga, and Frogger.  The store was so small that there was room inside for one player but no spectators, so the other kids had to wait their turns outside, after having put down their quarters to reserve their place in line.  It was the era of AbbaZabbas, Butterfingers, Fun Dip candy, and 25¢ pickles.  Conrad and Betty always let the kids to hang out at the store; they were allowed "... just to be kids ...", in the words of one habitué.

Answer to the question, above:  This is Bobby Romero, brother of Betty, who ran the store with her husband, Conrad.

Gennaro's liquor store and Elysian Grocery

Still during the 1920, but shortly after Valentino Mazzarini opened his store in Solano Canyon, Serafín Castillo opened a store at 1860 Brooks Avenue in la Loma.  This was probably the first store actually to open in la Loma itself.  Castillo may actually have owned two stores:  Gennaro's and Elysian Grocery.  The two buildings were back-to-back, as seen in this cropped photograph from 1950 (photograph, below left).  The middle photograph was taken in 1925 inside Elysian Grocery; the man in the center is the owner, Serafín Castillo.  The right-hand photograph shows some locals 'hanging out' at Gennaro's.
The large building to the right of the telephone pole in the left-hand photograph, above, is Gennaro's, located at 1760 Brooks Avenue.  The smaller building just to the left of the pole and lower in elevation is Elysian Grocery, which appears to be located on Phoenix Street.  Since Serafín Castillo owned Elysian Grocery and his 1940 census address was 1760 Brooks Avenue, and since Gennaro's was located at 1760 Brooks, it is reasonable to conclude that Castillo was the owner of both businesses.

The man on the left in the middle photograph is identified as Aurelio Domínguez; the third man (right) is not identified.

Serafín H Castillo earned his American citizenship in 1942.

The right-hand image was taken by Don Normark in 1949 outside Gennaro's.  It was published in Normark's book, Chávez Ravine, 1949:  A Los Angeles Story.  The young men who are enjoying a relaxing afternoon are identified (from left to right) as Tony Rosales, John Vasquez, Carlitos, and Murphy Hernandez.  They referred to the business Jerry's liquor store.

Florencio R. Ayala's Grocery

A fourth grocery store was recently discovered that also served la Loma:  that of Florencio R. Ayala, and which was located at 853 Effie Street, on the corner of Effie and Spruce Streets.  This location is on the southern, downhill side of the loma, between Pine Street and Brooks Avenue.

Florencio R. Ayala was born in México about 1886.  He came to the United States about 1905 and married his wife, Martina, in the U.S. in 1932.  In 1930, their adopted daughter, Lupe, was living with them, and in 1940, they had a son, Martín, and a daughter, Florencia, in the household.

Florencio Ayala applied for a permit to build an addition to an existing house in June, 1924, so the house — and probably the store — was in existence before that date.

This photograph was taken by Lenard Nadel about 1952, after the destruction; the building is clearly no longer occupied, and it, like everything else in la Loma, was eventually destroyed.

Ayala's Grocery
Florencio R. Ayala's Grocery, 853 Effie Street, ca. 1952 [Nadel]

So who came first?

Whether Mazzarini's store in Solano Canyon was the first to open is itself an open question.  The truth is that it doesn't really matter, since all of the four stores that served the la Loma community were open during the early-to-mid 1920s.  They were built and run by enterprising immigrants who were determined to make a life for themselves in the coolness of the Stone Quarry Hills.  None of them except Mazzarini's survived the destruction of the 1950s, however; there isn't a trace of Gennaro's, Elysian Grocery, or A. R. Ayala Grocery left today.

What did we miss?

If anyone can contribute information or an anecdote about any of the stores described here, we welcome your comments.  Use the Contact Us link at the top of the blog or use the direct e-mail link to the author in the sidebar to the right.
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220 homes destroyed in la Loma!

6/26/2015

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This is the first of three blogs whose purpose is to tell the stories of the Chávez Ravine communities that were destroyed to make way for what ultimately became Dodger Stadium.  This blog is dedicated to  la Loma, the first Chávez Ravine community to arise, beginning in 1909.

New databases are being built that will list the names of every individual who lived in Chávez Ravine at the time of the census returns of 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940.  (The 1950 census will not be available to the public until 2022.)  Addresses are tied to images of the census returns.

In addition, the database includes the dates of all of the permits that were issued for home construction, along with the names of the owners, the size of the buildings and the number of rooms, and the cost of construction.  Also included are the names of the architect and contractor, if any.

When this project is completed, it will provide the most comprehensive set of linked databases that represent the nearly 1,100 families that were displaced during the evictions of the 1950s in Chávez Ravine.  These databases and blogs are dedicated to los Desterrados.


The growth of la Loma, 1909–1940

La Loma grew slowly, beginning with a single house in 1909.  During the next decade, from 1911–1920, 25 permits were issued.  The decade of greatest growth occurred during the 1920s, when 118 permits were issued and the number of census heads of households increased nearly eightfold.  This period coincided with the beginning of growth of Palo Verde, and which was the decade of greatest growth for that community, too.  Then, during the 1930s, there were only 4 permits issued for la Loma.  Growth in the rest of Chávez Ravine slowed during that period as well.

Over the  years, there have been 198 unique census addresses in la Loma.  Of those, construction permits were issued for 145 of those addresses; for the others, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works permit database has no record.
Construction permits in la Loma
During the period represented on the graph, from 1909 to 1938, the average house in la Loma was roughly 16' x 24' in size and 12–15' high, one story, containing 2–3 rooms and built at a cost of $531.

The first house:  John Radulovich, October 1909

John Radulovich, 23, an Austrian who came to the United States in 1902, was newly married when he applied on October 4, 1909, for a permit to build a house at 814 Spruce Street in what was to become la Loma.  The house was permitted for one room, 12' x 12' in size and at an estimated cost of $50.  For the next three years, his was the only house in la Loma.  In the 1910 census, taken in June of that year, he was living there with his wife, Angelina Katherine, 19, and their 3-month-old daughter, Violet, both of whom were born in California,

What became of the Radulovich family is not known, but in 1912, Luigi Gotta, an Italian, received a permit for a four-room, 24' x 25' house at the same address.  It was one of three houses built in la Loma that year; the other two were on Effie Street, built by a speculator named Berry McKelvy, who built a total of 15 houses in la Loma, most of them in 1922–23.

The first house on Spruce Street was built in 1913; then, in 1914, six more houses were built, all on Spruce Street.

Development flourished during the 1920s

The period from 1921 to 1930 was a period of explosive grown in la Loma.  There were 118 permits issued for homes during that decade, and the 1930 census listed 164 more families than were there in 1920.  The year of greatest growth was 1923, when 38 construction permits were issued.  By the end of that decade, there were homes on all of la Loma's streets:  Agua Pura, Spruce, Phoenix, Brooks, Yolo, Pine, and Effie.

The 1940s: la Loma continues to grow

Although there were no permits issued for new house construction in la Loma during the 1940s, the community continued to grow.  The number of census households increased by about 25% during the period as families rented out parts of their houses or built additions (including additions that were classified as 'garages') that became rental units.  In 1940, the number of households in la Loma was 222 and there were 848 people living in them, for an average of 3.8 people per household; by 1950 the number of households was estimated at 270.  Using the 1940 average of 3.8 persons per household, there were, by the time of the evictions, more than 1,000 people living in la Loma.

Why don't all the houses have permits?

The answer to that question has two parts.  First, while it is possible that some houses were built without their owners' having obtained a permit, it is important to understand that nearly three-quarters of the houses that were built in la Loma from 1909 through 1950 were done so with a permit.  One of the criticisms of the Chávez Ravine communities at the time of the evictions of the 1950s was that it was full of immigrant squatters.  The fact that so many of the landowners in la Loma were living there within the law belies that accusation.  Second, as it is anywhere, there was certainly some construction that was performed without a permit, and it is easy to demonstrate that some householders rented out portions of their property, often presumably without first obtaining a permit.

The City provided services, primarily sewers and electrical power, to most of la Loma.  The provision of City services plus the high conformance with permit regulations, further belies the accusation that Chávez Ravine was nothing more than a squatter community and a slum.  Yes, many of the people were poor; but does that make their homes collectively a slum?

La Loma had stores ...

Serafín Castillo maintained a store at his residence at 1760 Brooks Avenue in 1939, when he applied for a permit to install asbestos siding shingles at a cost of $450.

Don Normark, in his classic book, Chávez Ravine, 1949:  A Los Angeles Story, has a photograph of some men outside a store in la Loma.  The photograph is titled "Gennaro's Store"; is it possible that this is the same store that was owned by Serafín Castillo during the previous decade?  Solano Canyon may be seen in the background.

Gennaro's store
Gennero's Store, 1949 [Don Normark]
In addition to Gennaro's, then was a second store, the Elysian Grocery, located on Phoenix Street just down the hill from Gennaro's.  And a short distance away, in Solano Canyon, there was yet a third store, located at 728 Amador Street, which was built in 1922 by Valentino Mazzarini, who lived there with his family until at least 1940, and which was in business continuously from 1922 until the 1980s.

... and an old-age home

Dr. Charles Johnson maintained the Hilltop Rest Home at 1705 Pine Street in 1930.  That address is at the very top of the loma.  In 1930, there were 23 men living there, all either single, widowed, or divorced, and ranging in age from 38 to 75.  They came from ten different states and four foreign countries.

Johnson acquired the property at 1705 Pine by 1923 from W. R. Frye, who had built a two-room house there in 1921.  Johnson owned three contiguous lots at 1701, 1705, and 1707 Pine Street.  Johnson added a room in 1923, another in 1924, and built a second, three-room house on the property later in 1924.  He added yet another room in 1927, and finally, in 1929, another building was added.

Dr. Johnson moved away from la Loma by 1935, and he died in Los Angeles in 1959 at the age of 90.  The property was owned in 1940 by Vincent Speranco.

There are two of Don Normark's photographs of the Hilltop Rest Home.
Los viejitos 1
1705 Pine Street, la Loma, 1949
In this photograph, the tiny houses (Normark calls them shacks) can plainly be seen.  The trail to the right is Phoenix Street, which was never paved and was no more than a narrow trail, suitable only for foot traffic and horses.
Los Viejitos 2
1705 Pine Street, la Loma — Solano Canyon in the background
This is a view of one of the 'shacks' at 1705 Pine Street in la Loma.  Here, two of los viejitos, single Anglo men all, talk on the front porch.  At the base of the steps is Phoenix Street, and beyond that, in the background, is Solano Canyon.

The end comes

In 1950, of course, the Chávez Ravine evictions began, and everything built by man — literally everything — was destroyed.  The exact number of homes that were destroyed is not known with certainty, but it was something on the order of 220.  While some portions of a few of the streets remain, notably Brooks, Spruce, and Agua Pura, along with the odd sewer manhole, la Loma was wiped clean by the end of the 1950s.

The irony, or course, is that, except for that portion of the loma that was reduced to accommodate the Solano Gate to Dodger Stadium, the rest of the land has not been used for any other purpose.  One can walk along Spruce street today and hear echos of the voices of the nearly 1,100 people who once lived there.

They are crying, for they are los Desterrados.
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13 Things Every Dodger Fan Should Know About Chavez Ravine

4/26/2015

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A handy, 'Lucky 13' check-list for Dodger fans to test their knowledge of what happened in Chavez Ravine so that Dodger Stadium could be built.

We all know that all of us Dodger fans love our team — right?  And no one can blame us for that — also right?  But there are a few things we should probably stop and take a moment to consider, not about our Dodgers, but about what took place on the land on which Dodger Stadium is built.  So it's not such a bad thing to take the opportunity to understand some history — right?

Right!


First, though, let's stipulate that when we say "Chavez Ravine" here, we're talking about the communities of la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop that were home to thousands of people who were uprooted and evicted from their homes.  Much of their land is now occupied by Dodger Stadium and its parking lots.

1.  More than 1,100 families were evicted from their homes in la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop.

It's true.  There were about 415 families in la Loma, 575 in Palo Verde, and 110 in Bishop who were evicted from their homes, many of them forcibly.
2.  A majority of the people who were evicted were of Hispanic origin, and most of the adults were born in México.

Evidence from census records between 1900 and 1940 proves that the families that were evicted were about 73% Hispanic, and that most of the adults were from México.
3.  In order to justify taking the land, the City had to characterize the entire Chavez Ravine area — the three communities of la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop — as a 'slum' area.

This blatant racism made it easier for the City to justify their condemning the Chavez Ravine communities and taking the land — by force is necessary.
4.  Two elementary schools were destroyed.

One was Palo Verde Elementary School and the other was Paducah Elementary School.  The Palo Verde school was simply buried under tons of earth to build the pad for additional parking for Dodger Stadium.
5.  El Santo Niño, a Catholic church that had existed since early in the 20th Century, was destroyed.

The church of el Santo Niño was located in what is now the Dodger Stadium parking lot beyond center field.  It was founded early in the 20th-Century; the earliest reference is a photograph taken in 1925.
6.  A convent of Catholic nuns, the Sisters of the Society of Mary, fell victim to the evictions.

The convent of the Sisters of the Society of Mary was located in a beautiful Victorian house at the intersection of Effie Street and Paducah Street in Palo Verde.
7.  Chavez Ravine had its own stores.

There were several stores in Chavez Ravine.  Families did not have to go to downtown Los Angeles for much of their shopping.
8.  Many residents of Chavez Ravine had gardens and raised their own food to help feed their families.

Most of the homes in Chavez Ravine had small gardens.  They grew a variety of things, including corn, beans, tomatoes, and chiles in order to help feed their families.
9.  In addition to their gardens, other residents of Chavez Ravine raised animals, too.

Among the animals raised by residents of Chavez Ravine were chickens, turkeys, goats, cows, and horses.
10.  Many residents believed they were not given a fair price for their homes.

Although the eviction notice of 1950 promised that residents were to receive a fair appraisal for their homes, the prices they were offered often did not match what the residents believed was fair, even if they were willing to leave and not be forcibly evicted.
11.  The last evictions took place in 1959, just days before construction began on Dodger Stadium.

One of the most heavily-documented evictions was that of the Aréchiga family in Palo Verde.  The Aréchigas fought the eviction for nearly nine years before they were dragged out of their home by armed Sheriff's deputies.  But they were not the only residents of Chavez Ravine who were displaced.  Some of the survivors call themselves los Desterrados and they have a reunion each Summer in Chavez Ravine.

The following images have no captions; the images speak for themselves.
12.  How much of the land that was forcibly taken from more than 1,100 largely Hispanic families was actually used to build Dodger Stadlum?

Was it really necessary to wipe the homes of 1,100 families off the face of Chavez Ravine to build Dodger Stadium?  Look at the outlines of the communities.  Isn't it possible that all of la Loma (the yellow outline on the right) and Palo Verde (the blue outline) could have been saved?  Just who were these powerful people trying to get rid of, and why?  Did it have to do with the color of their skin?
The CR communities today
Outline of the Chavez Ravine Communities today [Google Earth]
Lucky 13.  Finally, let's be clear:  Dodger Stadium is not in Chavez Ravine.

Dodger Stadium sits between Sulphur and Cemetery Ravines.  There is an actual Chavez Ravine, but it is to the west of the stadium.  Stadium Way today follows the original trail up Chavez Ravine to Frogtown.
Dodger Stadium Today
So, Dodger fans:  by all means, enjoy Dodger baseball, and we wish the Dodgers all the best this season; but please, be aware that, when you are in the stadium, you are on sacred ground — it is the ground on which thousands of people once lived, worked, and played.
An afterword.  Chavez Ravine in media

Gratefully, Chavez Ravine has not been completely forgotten.  In addition to los Desterrados and others, these are some of the ways the heartbreaking story of the Chavez Ravine evictions has been portrayed in print (photographs and text), on the stage, in in music.
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A Disaster Waiting To Happen

4/24/2015

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2013 DOT Traffic Plan
Why Solano Avenue and Casanova Street should never be used for access to Dodger Stadium

Dodger Stadium traffic in Solano Canyon, especially on Solano Avenue, but also on Casanova Street — which has been renamed Academy Road north of the Pasadena Freeway (CA 110) — makes life for many Solano Canyon residents an unbearable Hell.

We are used to thinking of driving in terms of miles-per-hour; but on game days in Solano Canyon, it's better to think of driving in terms of minutes-per-block — as in 20 minutes-per-block, or even more, according to testimony from more than one resident.  Residents complained for years to the Dodgers, the City Council, the City Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) with absolutely no relief.

Finally, in 2013, a plan was put into place whereby no stadium traffic was allowed entry onto Solano Avenue from North Broadway.  Note that the plan was designed by the City and bears the imprint of the Department of Transportation (DOT).  The basis of the plan is simple:
  • Solano Avenue is to be closed to stadium traffic;
  • four Local Access Only signs are to be placed on North Broadway:  three for Westbound traffic and one in the left-turn lane for Eastbound traffic;
  • a NO STADIUM ACCESS sign is to be placed directly in the center of Solano Avenue just past the crosswalk (the sign used is even more explicit:  it reads NO DODGER STADIUM ACCESS;
  • orange traffic cones are to be placed in the right-hand (turn) lane Westbound, and in the left-turn lane Eastbound on North Broadway at Solano Avenue at specific locations according to the plan; and
  • a DOT officer is to be stationed in the crosswalk at the intersection of Solano Avenue and North Broadway to monitor traffic and to warn stadium-goers not to use Solano Avenue for access.

It seemed like a good plan:  residents could use Solano Avenue for access to their homes, but fans heading to Dodger Stadium could not; after all, the Downtown Gate is the preferred access to the stadium.

Time for a (tiny) bit of history

When Alfred Solano subdivided Solano Canyon in 1888, he imagined primary access to be from Solano Avenue, so he designed it 60' wide, including sidewalks, and with enough width that wagons could park along the street.  Casanova Street, which was a minor street, was designed only 30' wide — wide enough for two wagons to pass, but with no space for 'parking'.  Those two streets have the same dimensions today, even though Alfred, in his wisdom, petitioned the City in 1894 to widen Solano Avenue, a petition that was tabled at the time and ultimately never acted upon.

Jump forward to the 21st-Century

This is what Solano Avenue looks like on Dodger game days:

Solano Avenue parking lot
Traffic at a dead stop on Solano Avenue; it's Dodger game day.
Now let's imagine — Heaven forbid — that a man who lives on Solano Avenue has a heart attack.  He thinks he can make it, but he calls 911.  At the same time, a fire starts on the stove in the kitchen of a home on Casanova Street; that family, too, calls 911, then tries to put out the fire.  Fire trucks and EMT ambulances rush to the locations, with lights flashing and sirens screaming.

Cars — larger ones, like SUVs and some full-size cars — are about six feet wide, while many cars are more narrow.  Fire trucks and ambulances, on the other hand, are a full eight feet wide or more.  The paved surface of Solano Avenue is less than 40'.  If two, six-foot-wide vehicles are parked on either side of the street, and they are each 18" from the curb, which is within the law, and two, six-foot-wide vehicles are driving on the street at the same time in opposite directions, then even though there is physically enough room for them all, most drivers do not feel comfortable driving very close to another vehicle.  In practice, it has been proven that any object within about six feet of a vehicle makes most drivers uncomfortable.

The point is that it would be extremely difficult — if not impossible — for an emergency vehicle, let alone several emergency vehicles, like a fire truck and an ambulance, to negotiate within the narrow confines of Solano Avenue, and literally impossible to negotiate the even-narrower Casanova Street.  We can only hope for the best for that man who had the heart attack, and trust that the kitchen fire on Casanova Street was put out by the family, because in neither case would an emergency vehicle be able to provide a timely response to the emergency.

NOTE:  In the slide show below, each image is fully-captioned.  Advance the slideshow manually using the arrows and hover your mouse momentarily over the large image to read its caption.  Captions will not appear if the slide show is 'played'.
Epilogue:  The 2013 DOT traffic plan for Solano Avenue on Dodger game days is no longer being used; it was never rigorously enforced.

To watch the six-minute amateur video from which these images were taken, click here.
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A Tour of Chavez Ravine in Under 2 Minutes

4/21/2015

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For those who want a quick tour of what happened in Chavez Ravine

The four neighborhoods that made up the Chavez Ravine communities are la Loma, Palo Verde, Bishop, and Solano Canyon; all but Solano Canyon are now gone, destroyed and leveled down to bare earth through eminent domain for a housing project that was proposed but died in its infancy and was never built.  Much of the land is now occupied by Dodger Stadium and its parking lots.  The streets that were contained within each of those communities are:
  • la Loma:  Phoenix Street, Spruce Street, Yolo Drive, Pine Street, Agua Pura Drive, and Brooks Avenue from Bouett Street to Effie Street
  • Palo Verde:  Bishop’s Road, Davis Street, Curtis Street, Paducah Street, Reposa Street, Gabriel Avenue, Malvina Avenue, Stimson Court, and Boylston Street, with house numbers beginning with the 1700 block and running to the Elysian Park boundary; plus the odd-numbered houses on Effie Street, beginning with the 1100 block
  • Bishop:  Davis Street, Paducah Street, Home Place, and Boylston Street, from Garibaldi Drive to Effie Street, including Garibaldi Drive; plus the even-numbered houses on Effie Street, beginning with the 1100 block
  • Solano Canyon:  Solano Avenue, Casanova Street, Amador Street, Jarvis Street, Bouett Street, Buena Vista Road (later North Broadway), Yuba Street from the 1300 block to the 1500 block, and Brooks Avenue from the Elysian Park boundary to Bouett Street
Growth in the Chavez Ravine communities exploded, in la Loma following World War I and in Palo Verde in the 1930s and 1940s.  Remember, however, that the first residents of Solano Canyon were the founding family of Francisco Solano and his wife, Rosa Casanova, and their six children, and that they were living in the cañon in an adobe shortly after 1866 that was built by Francisco Solano on a stream that flowed from a spring higher up in the ravine.  Steady growth in Solano Canyon began after it was surveyed for house lots in 1888 by Alfredo Solano, Francisco and Rosa's son.

This is what Solano Canyon and la Loma looked like from above the Solano Avenue School circa 1930:

la Loma from Solano Canyon
View of la Loma from Solano Canyon, circa 1930
The eviction notice for la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop is dated 24 July 1950.  While some families sold their homes and relocated voluntarily, others did not.  What is possibly the last eviction, that of the Arechiga family at 1771 Malvina Street, was captured on film:
Aréchiga eviction 1
Picture
By the mid-1950s, when almost all of the evicted families had left, much of Chavez Ravine looked like this:
Empty streets in Chavez Ravine
Despite the evictions, the public housing project that was supposed to replace the ‘Latino slum’ in the hills, for which, the residents of Chavez Ravine were promised access to housing, was never built; instead, in 1962, this is what became of the Chavez Ravine communities of la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop:
Dodger Stadium under construction
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

... with apologies to Joni Mitchell (Big Yellow Taxi, 1970)
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A date to remember:  April 6, 2015

4/8/2015

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Note:  'A date to remember' is a new blog series that speaks to the importance of particular
dates to the former Chavez Ravine communities of la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop, as well
as Solano Canyon.  It is intended that anniversaries will primarily be featured; but sometimes
— like April 6, 2015, the first in this series — contemporary dates will also be discussed.


April 6, 2015 was Opening Day for the 2015 Major League Baseball season.  For half of the teams in the league, that Monday meant a home game; for the other half, of course, it meant an away game.  For the Los Angeles Dodgers, April 6th meant a home game.  Go Blue, right?  [That color, by the way, is the official Dodger Blue color hex #1e90ff, for those of you who care about such things.]

Let's get right to the point:  The purpose of any professional sports franchise is to make money.

Is there anyone who doubts this?  At Dodger Stadium, parking
from 2013 to 2014 increased 50%, from $10 to $15, and from 2014 to 2015, it increased an additional 33%, from $15 to $20.  I doubt most of us received wage or salary increases that matched the increases in parking prices.  Ticket prices have increased as well, although not as much as the cost of parking.  [Los Angeles Times, September 12, 2014]

In the past — that is, until 2010 — tailgating was allowed inside the parking lots at Dodger Stadium.  The practice, a long-time tradition remembered fondly by many loyal fans, was halted by Frank McCourt that year, citing rowdy behavior and public drunkenness as the primary drivers for the ban.  As a result of the ban, tailgating moved from inside the parking lots of Dodger Stadium — a controlled space — to Elysian Park and the surrounding neighborhoods, including Echo Park and Solano Canyon.

"In addition to being the start to the at-home season, [opening day] kicks off a season of
headaches for the people who live in the surrounding neighborhoods.  The annoyances include seemingly random traffic jams on surface streets at rush hour or weekend mornings, drunken pregame tailgating parties raging in adjacent Elysian Park, and trash left everywhere."  [Los Angeles Times April 6, 2015]

There is a solution, however:  Bring tailgating back to Dodger Stadium!


Clicking on the link, above, takes you to a petition to the Dodgers new ownership and the McCourt Group to allow tailgating inside the parking lots of Dodger Stadium once more.  Other MLB franchises allow it — notably Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and even Angel Stadium in Anaheim — so why not bring it back to Dodger Stadium?

Not in my back yard!
The Dodgers claim that the 'fan experience' — their words — is the thing that is most important to them.  First, let's not forget the fundamental fact that The primary purpose of any professional sports franchise is to make money.  So by sloughing off any responsibility for tailgating onto neighboring communities, the Dodger organization and the McCourt Group can remain pristine, their corporate hands unsullied by any potentially ugly fan behavior, while those same neighboring communities (and Elysian Park) bear the brunt of trash, public urination, and drunken behavior, all of which could be controlled much more easily if tailgating were permitted in the parking lots of Dodger Stadium.
We wish the Dodgers well in their current season.
Photo credits:  Los Angeles Times, April 7, 2015
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    About the Author

    Lawrence Bouett is a retired research scientist and registered professional engineer who now conducts historical and genealogical research full-time.  A ninth-generation Californian, he is particularly interested in the displacement of the nearly 1,100 families that lived in the Chavez Ravine communities of la Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop to make way, ultimately, for the construction of Dodger Stadium.  His ancestors arrived in California with Portolá in 1769 and came to Los Angeles with the founders on September 4, 1781.

    Lawrence Bouett

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Dodger Stadium will always be a monument to the displacement of three entire communities"




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