The dark legacy of this iconic baseball stadium

766,504

22,128 0

Published 2021-05-17

How Los Angeles destroyed a community and built a ballpark on top of it.

Subscribe and turn on notifications (🔔) so you don't miss any videos: goo.gl/0bsAjO

Before Dodger Stadium, LA had Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop — three neighborhoods that made up a thriving, predominantly Mexican American community in an area known as Chavez Ravine.

But in the late 1940s, the city marked that area as “blighted,” setting the stage for a decade-long battle by residents to preserve the community against threats of eviction. Ultimately, the city forced out residents with little to no compensation, clearing the way for the future baseball stadium.

The result is a complicated legacy, a story that's often missing from the history of Los Angeles, and for some, hard questions about what it means to be a fan of the LA Dodgers. Through interviews with several former residents of the area, this episode of Missing Chapter explores the story of the neighborhoods cleared to make way for the future chosen by the city.

Note: The headline on this video has been updated.
Previous headline: Dodger Stadium’s violent origin story

Have an idea for a story we should investigate for Missing Chapter? Tell us! bit.ly/2RhjxMy

Sign up for the Missing Chapter newsletter to stay up to date with the series: vox.com/missing-chapter

Explore the full Missing Chapter playlist, including episodes, a creator Q&A, and more! • Missing Chapter – Vox

For more on Chavez Ravine’s history, check out the oral history and archival project, An Unfinished Story: www.chavezravinela.com/home

Buried Under the Blue:
www.buriedundertheblue.com/

Eric Nusbaum’s book, Stealing Home:
www.goodreads.com/book/show/51205963-stealing-home

Eric Avila’s article, “Revisiting the Chavez Ravine”: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-137-0426…

Don Normark’s photo book:
www.goodreads.com/book/show/682304.Ch_vez_Ravine

Code Switch’s article on Chavez Ravine: www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/10/31/5612469…

99 Percent Invisible’s podcast: 99percentinvisible.org/episode/beneath-the-ballpar…

Subscribe to our channel! goo.gl/0bsAjO

Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out www.vox.com/.

Watch our full video catalog: goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Facebook: goo.gl/U2g06o
Or Twitter: goo.gl/XFrZ5H

All Comments (21)

@Vox 3 years ago

Have an idea for a story we should investigate for Missing Chapter? Tell us! bit.ly/2RhjxMy
@N8Burn 3 years ago

The most upsetting thing about this is the size of the parking. Imagine giving up your livelihood for a parking space.
@OfficialDisneyFan421 3 years ago

I’m thankful that as a high school student in LA county, my history teacher made sure ALL of his students learned and were aware of this tragedy.
@maddiesanabria5047 3 years ago

Thank you for covering this. My step family lived in Chavez Ravine and we attend the reunion picnic every year (except 2020 it was cancelled). Every year more of the original residents are dying of old age and it's so important for us to carry on their stories.
@jaker721 3 years ago

So, the people of the Chavez Ravine did everything they were "supposed" to do in a capitalist society. Own property, businesses, start a family, etc. Their reward? Forced eviction.
@chelseal8448 3 years ago

Missing Chapter is maybe my favorite Vox series
@alexanderherrera5569 3 years ago

As an urban and regional planning student, ive learned about so many stories just like this one and the story of Chavez Ravine being one of the most well known case study of injustice done by a city. Unfortunately this still happens, and the fact that you mentioned the SoFi stadium at the end has earned much respect from me. Ever since the plans for the stadium in Inglewood became official, waves of gentrification hit local communities due to real estate investors, house flippers and foreign investors. Now we have a new case study of injustices being rained down on those already struggling. Sadly, the pandemic fueled the pace in which gentrification was already moving rapidly. Another great video Vox.
@Mr47qwertyuiop 3 years ago

That grandma was so dissapointed in her grandsons final words lol! She thinks hes soft. All the abuse she went through and he still out here simpin for the Dodger's.
@juanjosecardenasramirez9844 3 years ago

The american government really said “things are going TOO well for the mexicans”
@emndz9995 3 years ago

This is truly sad, the more you know, the more you wish you didn’t know
@NYLFR 3 years ago

It’s ironic because the stadium where Dodgers had played (Ebbets Field) was replaced by government subsidized housing
@gravscool 3 years ago

“latinx” bro what
@QuantumNoir 2 years ago

I live in Tucson, Arizona. Back in the day, a big chunk of downtown was bulldozed in a similar fashion as Dodgers stadium. It was a historic and thriving Mexican American community which was turned into one of the currently most out of date convention centers in the country.
@thefifthhour45 3 years ago

That's an outrageously sized car park.
@isaacninan5053 3 years ago

Missing Chapter has got to be the best series on Vox. It would be cool if yall could eventually do an episode on something international too
@martinc.720 3 years ago

“This is America, the land of the free. Just go be free somewhere else.” 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️
@jazzyj6640 3 years ago

only greed and evilness will drive someone to literally throw people out of their homes and then steal the land from them. So freaking hurtful
@amandadane868 3 years ago

It’s painfully ironic because the Dodgers used to be a Brooklyn baseball team before they were moved to LA in the 1950s. My uncle (who grew up in Brooklyn at the time) told me that decision wasn’t popular with local residents.
@packerfanbd1995 3 years ago

This is just tragic. Thank you for bringing this story to light.
@MateoQuixote 3 years ago

Missing Chapter is rivaling Borders to be the best series created by Vox. Amazing work