Battle of Chavez Ravine

The Battle of Chavez Ravine refers to resistance to the government acquisition of land largely owned by Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles' Chavez Ravine. The efforts to repossess the land, which lasted approximately ten years (1951–1961), eventually resulted in the removal of the entire population of Chavez Ravine from land on which Dodger Stadium was constructed. The majority of the Chavez Ravine land was initially acquired by eminent domain by the City of Los Angeles to make way for proposed public housing. The public housing plan that had been advanced as politically "progressive" and had resulted in the removal of the Mexican-American landowners of Chavez Ravine was abandoned after the passage of a public referendum prohibiting the original housing proposal and the 1953 election of a conservative Los Angeles mayor opposed to public housing. By 1958, the public housing plans were abandoned and the land was conveyed by the city to the Dodgers. The new plans were advanced to construct Dodger Stadium on the site, and in 1959, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department forcefully removed the last residents occupying Chavez Ravine. The deciding factor to have the Dodger's stadium to be built in Chavez Ravine due to the ongoing "Red Scare". This ultimately stopped advancements made by the city to provide more public housing for those of lower income, as public housing was seen as a communist trait which in turn affected both the Dodgers and the Mexican-American community who had been displaced from the promises that the city failed to keep.