Stealing home : Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the lives caught in between

By Eric Nusbaum

Dodger Stadium is an American icon. Yet the story of how it was built has a dark side. To clear space for the stadium, the city tore down low-income, Hispanic-friendly housing, resulting in a dramatic confrontation between the County Sheriff and the one family-the Arechigas- who refused to yield their home. Stealing Home tells the stories of the people whose homes were destroyed, their conflict with the bureaucrats and money men of Los Angeles-notably Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley, and a well-intentioned activist named Frank Wilkinson -- and shows how their lives were overrun by the wheel of history.

Shameful victory : the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Red Scare, and the hidden history of Chavez Ravine

By John H.M. Laslett

The book offers a history of Chavez Ravine with special attention to the period after World War II to the early 1960s, studying Los Angeles and its political structure, the contractions in policies around public housing, the impact on Mexican Americans, and the building of Dodger Stadium and the arrival of the team to Chavez Ravine.

Chávez Ravine, 1949 : a Los Angeles story

By Don Normark

In 1949, photographer Don Normark walked up into the hills of Los Angeles, looking for a good view. Instead, he found Chavez Ravine, a ramshackle Mexican-American neighborhood tucked away in Elysian Park like a poor mans Shangri-la. Normark was able to photograph a life that, though bowed down by poverty, was lived fully, openly, and joyfully. That ended in 1950, when the residents of Chavez Ravine received letters from the government directing them to sell their homes and leave. Some sold, some were dragged out of their houses kicking and screaming. The emptied houses were razed to make way for Dodger Stadium. This beautiful, haunting book captures their images, their stories, and their bittersweet memories.

Chavez Ravine : a record

By Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder's Chavez Ravine is-a post-World War II-era American narrative of "cool cats," radios, UFO sightings, J.Edgar Hoover, red scares, and baseball. Using real and imagined historical characters, Cooder and friends have created an album that recollects various aspects of the poor but vibrant hillside Chicano community, which was bulldozed by developers in the interest of "progress."

Ry Cooder/Vincent Valdez : El Chavez Ravine

Curated by David S. Rubin

Focuses on Ry Cooder and Vincent Valdez's art installation at the San Antonio Museum of Art titled Ry Cooder / Vincent Valdez: El Chavez Ravine on view March 14 - August 2, 2009.

Chavez Ravine

By Culture Clash

The controversial history of Chavez Ravine, the immigrant community that once existed on the site that is now Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, is explored with humor, brutal honesty, and pulse-racing music by the nation's premier Chicano/Latino theatre troupe, Culture Clash.

Recorded before a live audience at The Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles in June of 2004.