How Dodger Stadium came to be

for many of us it seems like we grew up with Dodger Stadium entertaining baseball fans but take away the bleachers take away the Dodger dogs take away the championship banners take all that away and there were homes there long before it was ever time for Dodger baseball there were homes schools churches and Families and then there weren't Tama pond loves a good lab LaBonge the longtime former LA City Councilman and even longer time LA Dodgers fan doesn't like the Los Angeles Dodgers it was so fortunate you know they came out here from Brooklyn and at a time when professional sports was changed you know the Rams had come out here from Cleveland and then the Dodgers came out here West first major league team come this far west it was the spring of 1958 the mayor of Los Angeles at the time Norris Poulson is major-league in every sense of the word I'm certain that our citizens join me in expressing appreciation to and its future are you dr. Penn not particularly before there was Dodger Stadium there was shabbos ravine that's where Carol Hawkins grew up when Carroll was just 9 her family's property and others like Eddie sent to him were taken by eminent domain at the time the plan was to build a big new public housing project this was a watering hole right where right right now there were three neighborhoods here that had homes a church a school and a lot of anger over the idea of a developer snatching up property neighborhood women who lived in the area protested with a sit-in at City Hall but at the height of McCarthyism the housing project hit a snag when the developer the project refused to answer if he was a communist when asked by the house on American Activities Committee the project may have been dead but the damage was already done for hackus and others their homes the school the church and other buildings had already been taken and homeowners likes antion's family had to leave they got evicted they were offered I believe maybe I think it was like $7,000 or something like that it was horrible it really was awful I mean it's like everybody there were tears and and and the the that we had gone through so much in order to survive like most of those residents came over in the teens and 20s and then they had to survive the Depression and these Mexicans couldn't stand in bread lines because at the same time there were laws that were because of the depression there were massive deportations of Mexicans going on suddenly this area is open and when the Dodgers were first approached in 1953 by Kenny Hahn and Roz Wyman there's absolutely no interest on the part of the Dodgers no interest in Chavez Ravine to build a stadium though interest is building in a possible move to Los Angeles when Brooklyn didn't come forth with a new stadium for the Dodgers the Dodger team historian mark lanzhou says that would change when Dodger owner Walter O'Malley gave up on a new ballpark in Brooklyn and found out that the eminent domain land at Chavez Ravine land which was originally supposed to be a public housing project would be a good spot for a stadium and in years to come that would be proven true it was vital for it to be here because of the freeway access yes there was displacement to build some of our freeway system yes there was displacement now to build some of our rail system but look at this place right here that's one of the monuments not just for our city but for the world of stadiums that baseball monument opened for the first time with the 1962 Dodgers and an umpire screaming play ball Freddy Santana and he doesn't know how it all happened but like his daddy agrees it wasn't the Dodgers fault this thing was never against the Dodgers his thing was the way the process went which is why in the late 70s his dad started an annual reunion of Chavez Ravine displays families every year it's the third Saturday in July still though you won't find Carroll caucus at a game remember she's not a Dodger fan because of what happened yes that's affected your thinking completely but furedi I like the Dodgers I don't have anything against them there there a home team I have nothing against them although the memories of families being evicted to make way for Major League Baseball has never gone away ladies and gentlemen it's time for tonight's ceremonial first pitch another story from our KETV archives I'm how Isner Fox 11 News

Channel: FOX 11 Los Angeles

Views: 52,928

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Keywords: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles archives, ballpark construction, dodger stadium construction, KTTV 70, baseball stadiums, baseball stadium construction, los angeles, los angeles baseball, los angeles dodgers, dodger ballpark

Id: T-TKpG4Msv4

Length: 4min 36sec (276 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 22 2019