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

232 Pages·2015·3.28 MB·English

by  Laslett, John H. M

shameful victory

Shameful Victory
The Los Angeles Dodgers,
the Red Scare, and
the Hidden History of
Chavez Ravine
John H. M. Laslett
tucson
The University of Arizona Press
www.uapress.arizona.edu
© 2015 The Arizona Board of Regents
All rights reserved. Published 2015
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 8165- 0086- 4 (paper)
Cover designed by Carrie House, HOUSEdesign llc
Cover photos: (top) New Routes to and from Dodger Stadium. Herald-Examiner
Collection/Los Angeles Public Library; (bottom) Eviction of Aurora Vargas from Arechiga
family home on May 8, 1959. Courtesy of UCLA Special Collections.
Excerpts from Chavez Ravine, 1949 © 1999 by Don Normark, used with permission of
Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco. Visit ChronicleBooks.com.
Publication of this book is made possible in part by the proceeds of a permanent
endowment created with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Laslett, John H. M., author.
Shameful victory : the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Red Scare, and the hidden history of
Chavez Ravine / John H. M. Laslett.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 8165- 0086- 4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Chávez Ravine (Los Angeles, Calif.)—History—20th century. 2. Public housing—
California—Los Angeles. 3. Los Angeles (Calif.)—Politics and government—20th century.
4. Hispanic American neighborhoods—California—Los Angeles—History—20th century.
5. Land use—California—Los Angeles—History—20th century. 6. Mexican Americans—
California—Los Angeles—History—20th century. 7. Mexican Americans—California—
Los Angeles—Social conditions. 8. Los Angeles (Calif.)—Race relations—History—20th
century. 9. Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, Calif.)—History—20th century. I. Title.
F869.L86C438 2015
979.4'94—dc23
2015003060
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
For Lois,
wife and fellow historian,
with love and gratitude

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Prologue 3
Part I. Building a Unique Barrio
1. Mexicans on the Hilltop: Gaining a Foothold, 1830–1929 15
2. Prelude to a Crisis: Race, Patriotism, and Public Housing in
Depression and War, 1929–1949 41
Part II. Public Housing, Evictions, and the Impact of the Red Scare
3. “Struggling to Keep Our Homes”: The Evictions Crisis,
1950–1952 63
4. Political Consequences: The Defeat of Public Housing and
the Triumph of Corporate Modernism, 1950–1953 80
Part III. Building Dodger Stadium
5. L.A. Pursues the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1957–1959 103
6. Dodger Success and the History of Minority Displacement
in Los Angeles, 1870–1970 123
viii • Contents
Part IV. Chavez Ravine in the Light of Subsequent History
7. Have L.A.’s Urban Renewal Policies Been Successfully
Reformed? 143
8. Chavez Ravine’s Cultural Legacy 159
Epilogue 179
Notes 187
Further Reading 207
Index 209
Illustrations
Figures
1. Chavez Ravine Before the Evictions 1
2. Chavez Ravine After the Evictions 2
3. Women Climbing Hill to Chavez Ravine from Downtown 17
4. Miss Wiggins Reprimanding a Boy at Palo Verde School 28
5. Mexican Tracklayers Working on the Red Car Lines 31
6. Mexican Families Harvesting Walnuts in Summer 32
7. A Young Ravine Resident Fixing His Car 35
8. Mexicans Awaiting Deportation at Union Station 46
9. Youths from Chavez Ravine Served Proudly in World War II 49
10. Pachuco Dressed in Typical Clothes 52
11. Proposed High- Rise Towers in Elysian Park Heights 67
12. Bulldozed Home in La Loma, Circa 1951 71
13. Los Angeles City Council Arguing over Public Housing 84
14. Anti–Public Housing Demonstrators at City Hall 85
15. Mayor Fletcher Bowron Loses His Temper 89
16. Mayoral Candidate Norris Poulson Portrayed as a Puppet
of the Los Angeles Times 94
17. Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and Councilwoman Rosalind
Wyman Meet with Walter O’Malley, June 1957 98
18. Ebbets Field Was Too Small for the Brooklyn Dodgers 105
19. Walter O’Malley Urges L.A. Voters to Pass Proposition B 110
20. Aurora Vargas Is Forcibly Removed from Her Home 116
21. Councilman Roybal Comforts the Arechiga Family 118
22. Grading Land for Dodger Stadium, 1959 125
23. Dodger Pitching Star Fernando Valenzuela 126
ix