Battle of Chavez Ravine
Encyclopedia
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
community of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
' Chavez Ravine
Chávez Ravine
Chavez Ravine is an area in Sulfir Canyon that is the current site of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.It was named after Julian Chavez, a Los Angeles Councilman in the 19th century.-History:...
. The eventual result was the forced removal of the entire population of Mexican Americans, living in the community to make way for Dodger Stadium. The first proposal for the newly bought Chavez Ravine was to make way for public housing but later that public housing plan was then abandoned and ultimately followed by the dedication of Chavez Ravine as the future site of what is now Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium, also sometimes called Chavez Ravine, is a stadium in Los Angeles. Located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers team since 1962...
.
Initial plan
Originally, the tight-knit Chicano neighborhood was slated for redevelopment under the National Housing Act of 1949 - which provided federal money to build public housing. The Los Angeles Housing Authority began condemning the land of Chavez Ravine in 1951. Using the power of eminent domainEminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
, the City razed nearly the entire community over the period from 1952 to 1953. The planned public housing development was entitled "Elysian Park
Elysian Park, Los Angeles, California
Elysian Park is a park and adjacent neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, California.Encompassing Chavez Ravine where Dodger Stadium is located, Elysian Park is mostly a hillside community that is also home to the Los Angeles Police Academy....
Heights" and was to be designed by Austrian architect Richard J. Neutra.
Resistance
In the midst of the Red Scare of the 1950s, a group calling themselves the Citizens Against Socialist Housing (CASH) in 1953 successfully spearheaded the election of Norris PoulsonNorris Poulson
C. Norris Poulson served as the 36th Mayor of Los Angeles, California from 1953 to 1961, after having been a California State Assemblyman and then a member of the United States Congress for eight years...
for mayor. Upon his election, the "Elysian Park Heights" development was quashed and a public referendum was passed barring all public housing in Los Angeles. Following Mayor Poulson's lead, the City negotiated a deal with the federal government to abandon the public housing project with the stipulation that the by then nearly-vacant land be used for a "public purpose." The City then used the potential development of a baseball stadium as a lure for Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley
Walter O'Malley
Walter Francis O'Malley was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from to . He served as Brooklyn Dodgers chief legal counsel when Jackie Robinson broke the racial color barrier in...
to move from Brooklyn's Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA, on a city block which is now considered to be part of the Crown Heights neighborhood. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. It was also a venue for professional football...
to Los Angeles. The City ended up trading the Chavez Ravine site to the Dodgers in exchange for a much smaller parcel of land where the minor league stadium, Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field (Los Angeles)
Wrigley Field was a ballpark in Los Angeles, California which served as host to minor league baseball teams in the region for over 30 years, and was the home park for the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League as well as a current major league team, the later Los Angeles Angels, in their...
, was located.
Conclusion
Manuel and Abrana Arechiga (often cited as "Avrana"), with their daughter Aurora Vargas (a widow, later surnamed Fernandez), were among the last residents to hold out. Forced removal by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's DepartmentLos Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is a local county law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. It is the fourth largest local policing agency in the United States, with the New York City Police Department being the first. The second largest is the Chicago Police...
(LASD) on May 9, 1959, resulted in the arrest of Aurora. Aurora Vargas was fined and briefly sent to jail for her resistance. Manuel Arechiga was the final hold out, living in a tent on the site of the demolished home for months. Stories are recounted of Manuel sitting in his tent with a shotgun, defending the ruins of his former home. Public sympathy for the Arechigas quickly waned, however, when subsequent news reports revealed that the Arechigas owned twelve rental houses elsewhere in Los Angeles. Many Angelenos consider the siege of the LASD on Manuel Arechiga as The Battle of Chavez Ravine. Arechiga eventually relented and accepted the city's offer of $10,500. After a decade, the battle was finally over.
Sources
- Hines, Thomas S. "Field of Dreams History: The Battle of Chavez Ravine." Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1997, Opinion section, p. 1.
- McGarry, T.W. "Postscript: 'My Grandchildren Go to the Games . . . The Dodgers are my Favorite Team. But I Just Can't Go in That Stadium.'" Los Angeles Times, July 12, 1988, Metro section, p. 3.
- Parlow, Matthew J. "SYMPOSIUM ARTICLE: UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: EMINENT DOMAIN AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING," 46 Santa Clara Law Review 841, 2006.