Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story
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Browse Full-length Non-member TitlesIn 1949, photographer Don Normark stumbled on Chávez Ravine, a closely-knit Mexican-American village on a hill overlooking downtown Los Angeles. Enchanted, he stayed for a year and took hundreds of photographs, never knowing he was capturing on film the last images of a place that was about to disappear. The following year, the city of L.A. evicted the 300 families of Chávez Ravine to make way for a low-income public housing project. The land was cleared, homes, schools, and church razed to the ground. But the real estate lobby, sensing a great opportunity, accused the LA Housing Authority's Frank Wilkinson of being a communist agent. The city folded and instead of building the promised housing, it sold the land to baseball owner Walter O'Malley, who built Dodger Stadium on the site.
Media Details
Runtime: 23 minutes 40 seconds
- Topic: Arts, Geography, Social Science
- Subtopic: Community Life, Photography, Social Issues, U.S. Geography
- Grade/Interest Level: 6 - 12
- Standards:
- Release Year: 2004
- Producer/Distributor: Bullfrog Films, Inc
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