Chavez Ravine

Years ago, there was once a small town called Chaves Ravine within Los Angeles, California and this town was a poor rural community that was always full of life. Two hundred families, mostly Chicano families, were living here quite peacefully until the Housing Act of 1949 was passed. The Federal Housing Act of 1949 granted money to cities from the federal government to build public housing projects for the low income. Los Angeles was one of the first cities to receive the funds for project. Unfortunately, Chavez Ravine was one of the sites chosen for the housing project, so, to prepare for the construction work of the low-income apartments, the Housing Authority of Los Angeles had to convince the people of the ravine to leave, or forcibly oust them from their property. Since Chavez Ravine was to be used for public use, the Housing Authority of Los Angeles was able seize and buy Chavez Ravine from the property owners and evict whoever stayed behind with the help of Eminent Domain. The LA Housing Authority had told the inhabitants that low-income housing was to be built on the land, but, because of a sequence of events, the public housing project was never built there and instead Dodgers Stadium was built on Chavez Ravine. Although Chavez Ravine public housing project was the result of the goodwill and intent of the government, rather than helping the people Chavez Ravine with their promise of low-income housing, the project ended up destroying many Trach 2 of their lives because of those in opposition of the public housing project and government mismanagement. Chavez Ravine was a self-sufficient and tight-knit community, a rare example of small town life within a large urban metropolis, but no matter how much the inhabitants loved their home, their friends and family, they had to still had to leave. Because Chavez Ravine was a relatively large piece of land with a small population , it was chosen as one of the public housing sites by the Housing

Cited: Chávez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story. Dir. Jordan Mechner. 2004 DVD. BullFrog Films, 2005. Cooder, Ry. Interviewed by Warren Olney. Which Way LA? 20 June 2005. Cooder, Ry. "Don 't Call Me Red." Chávez Ravine. Nonsuch Records, 2005 Cuff, Dana. The Provisional City: Los Angeles Stories of Architecture and Urbanism. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000. Independent Lens. "Chávez Ravine." 15 February 2007. Normark, Don. Chávez Ravine, 1949: A Los Angeles Story. San Francisco: Chronicle Books LLC, 1999.