Dodger Stadium--Serving Public Purpose?

Arechigas, et al. vs Dodgers. Erma Dutton, 1959. Edward Ross Raybal Papers. Image courtesy of UCLA Library Special Collections.

In the heart of the hills gliding above downtown, a buzzing crowd electrifies Major League Baseball. The Dodgers–residents of LA for more than sixty years–take the field under the fans and gleaming lights. Epitomizing the modernity of the city, Dodger Stadium sits atop a shockingly different world–the grave of a semi-rural Mexican-American village.

Chavez Ravine was home to a closely-knit community of 1,100 families–the overwhelming majority financially troubled. The town could not keep pace with booming population growth following World War II. Roaming animals, trash, wooden shacks, and poor Mexicans prevailed–an eyesore to elite Angelenos (Podair 165). Thus, the Ravine became central to the ever-increasing public housing craze of the 1940s.

After Congress pushed through the Public Housing Act of 1949, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles was funded $110 million by the federal government to build ten thousand units, a third of which had been scheduled for Chavez Ravine (McCue 48). The project launched into action in 1950. The City of Los Angeles offered landowners ample compensation through cash settlements, most of which were accepted (McCue 50). Bulldozers tore down structures and leveled ancient hillsides. Most families, though not all, had left by the third year of the project, having been promised to return to freshly constructed public housing.

By the 1953 election for Los Angeles City Council and Mayor, public housing was the center of debate. The challenger to incumbent Mayor Bowron was Congressman Norris Poulson, a staunch conservative. His campaign pushed through his belief that public housing followed the “communist/socialist pattern” and was a waste of money (McCue 49). He argued that lower class Angelenos would not be able to afford new housing. Poulson’s campaign resonated with like-minded voters, ultimately leading to his election.

After Mayor Poulson took office, the public housing project concluded almost instantly. Congress permitted the sale of the Chavez Ravine site to the City of Los Angeles. 57% of the planned public housing units remained unbuilt. The purchase of Chavez Ravine restricted the uses of the property to those connected to a “public purpose” (Parson 340). The City decided to propose a deal with the Brooklyn Dodgers, a franchise eager to move to Los Angeles. Mayor Poulson “put up the fight of [his] life” for a successful contract that would guarantee the construction of Dodger Stadium on the Chavez Ravine site (Henderson 272). The dispute over what constituted “public purpose” heightened after the formal consummation of the “Dodger deal” for the Ravine.

Hundreds of letters addressed to City Hall expressed anger about the Dodger deal’s appeal to the public. An agreement that the ball club organization must maintain a recreational and sports area for public use was put in place. This deal would only last 20 years and the land would be returned back to the Dodgers. Miss Dutton, a Ravine advocate, authored a letter to Mayor Poulson delineating public outrage. She and others claimed the deal strayed from the “American principle” of land ownership; the City of Los Angeles remained unapologetic in running over small property owners for land that would be run as a “business enterprise.”

Amidst the commencement of Dodger Stadium construction, the City of Los Angeles forcefully removed the remaining Ravine residents from their property (McCue 50). These longtime residents resisted the city’s land acquisition efforts for the public housing project years prior. Of the remaining families, the Arechigas showed the most resistance to the authorities. On the morning of Friday, May 8th in 1951, LA County sheriffs found the Arechigas barricaded inside their two homes. The Arechigas were firm on their decision to not leave. Forceful eviction took place as “Aurora Vargas, one of the Arechiga daughters, was carried bodily down the steps of her home with her head hitting the floorboards” (Podair 181-182). After dispossession, bulldozers moved in to demolish the Arechiga homes (Henderson 262). The media devoured the story. The Arechiga eviction became the center of attention in the city.

Chavez Ravine was special to the Arechigas. It was a despondent predicament to see their property run as a “business enterprise.” Residents were offered a smaller amount than what the land was originally priced. Miss Dutton sympathized with the Mexican-American residents, bashing manipulation for the sole purpose of re-development.

Today, the unappealing history of Dodger Stadium remains hidden beneath the field and parking lots. The change of heart from a “public intent for low-cost housing” to a “commercial ball club” constructed the grave of a destroyed culture and life. Chavez Ravine will forever be remembered as a ghost town–land unreturned to its original owners.

Works cited

1. HENDERSON, CARY S. “Los Angeles and the Dodger War, 1957-1962.” Southern California Quarterly, vol. 62, no. 3, 1980, pp. 261–89. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/41170888.
2. McCue, Andy. “Barrio, Bulldozers, and Baseball: The Destruction of Chavez Ravine.” NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture, vol. 21, no. 1, 2012, pp. 47–52. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/nin.2012.0058.
3. Parson, Don. “‘This Modern Marvel’: Bunker Hill, Chavez Ravine, and the Politics of Modernism in Los Angeles.” Southern California Quarterly, vol. 75, no. 3/4, 1993, pp. 333–50. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/41171684.
4. PODAIR, JERALD. “THE ARECHIGA DISPOSSESSIONS.” City of Dreams, Princeton University Press, 2017, pp. 181–200. JSTOR, JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvc77g2t.11.
5. —. “WHOSE LAND?” City of Dreams, Princeton University Press, 2017, pp. 153–80. JSTOR, JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvc77g2t.10.

Cite this article

Shaan Londhe, Joonwon (Eric) Lee, Victoria Otuya, Jazlene Galvan. "Dodger Stadium--Serving Public Purpose?." Los Angeles: The City and the Library. Colleen Jauretche, Editor. Fall 2019. /article/2019-12-20-f19-09