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:
This is what Solano Canyon and la Loma looked like from above the Solano Avenue School 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: By the mid-1950s, when almost all of the evicted families had left, much of Chavez Ravine looked like this: 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: Don't it always seem to go ... with apologies to Joni Mitchell (Big Yellow Taxi, 1970) |
About the AuthorLawrence
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. CategoriesArchives
January 2018
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"Thank you for such an informative site which highlights the plight of those relocated from Chavez Ravine. My stepfather was a happy child growing up in the Palo Verde area. He had many stories about living in the area and working at the [Ayala] store."
"Wow that is awesome thank you"
"Dodger Stadium will always be a monument to the displacement of three entire communities"