Alexander Stuart

Two children walk up a dirt road in Chavez Ravine in 1950. Photo Leonard Nadel, courtesy of the Southern California Library for Social Studies & Research. There is an absolutely fascinating article about a lost chapter of Los Angeles history on KCET's website, as part of Hispanic Heritage Month.   KCET is the Los Angeles-based community television station for southern and central California. Chavez Ravine, now known best as the hillside above which Dodger Stadium perches, was once the site of a thriving Mexican-American community, dating back as far as 1844, when Julian Chavez acquired 83 acres encompassing a narrow valley northwest of the city center. Chavez was a native of New Mexico who had arrived in Los Angeles in the 1830s, and who promptly became a leading political figure. The story of how the community developed (actually as three distinct neighborhoods: Bishop, La Loma and Palo Verde), with goats grazing on hillsides and residents raising domest...