BARRIOS, BULLDOZERS AND LA BLUE
The real story buried beneath the stadium.
The real story buried beneath the stadium.
"The government’s acquisition of land, sanctioned by eminent domain and sanctified by the promise of public housing, destroyed a group of close-knit communities that had established themselves in the area. The utopian vision that persuaded many families to sell their homes was undermined by corruption, redbaiting and greed. The land, obtained by force when persuasion fell short, didn’t provide displaced residents with better living conditions. Instead, it was dangled to lure the Brooklyn Dodgers to L.A. Opened in 1962, Dodger Stadium occupies the site where poor and marginalized Mexican Americans had laid down generational roots."
Charles McNulty, LA Times Nov.2, 2021
Photos: Leonard Nadel/ Getty Research Institute and G. Regester
"While the residents protested mightily, the city used eminent domain to clear the hillsides and the neighborhoods seen here on Reposa, Malvina, Brooks, Paducah, Bishop’s Road, Lookout Drive and Mora Street all vanished. Although the bulldozers were supposed to make a place for the dispossessed, the Communist paranoia of post-war American kept public housing plans from being realized and in time the land was traded to owner Walter O’Malley of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dodger Stadium was built on the ground that was once called Lookout Mountain (here called Silverwood). What was once La Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop was paved over and made into a parking lot. Yep, they paved paradise and put in a parking lot." ~ Glen Creason
"While the residents protested mightily, the city used eminent domain to clear the hillsides and the neighborhoods seen here on Reposa, Malvina, Brooks, Paducah, Bishop’s Road, Lookout Drive and Mora Street all vanished. Although the bulldozers were supposed to make a place for the dispossessed, the Communist paranoia of post-war American kept public housing plans from being realized and in time the land was traded to owner Walter O’Malley of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dodger Stadium was built on the ground that was once called Lookout Mountain (here called Silverwood). What was once La Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop was paved over and made into a parking lot. Yep, they paved paradise and put in a parking lot." ~ Glen Creason