Dodger Stadium and the emergence of a modern Los Angeles

As the Dodgers compete in the World Series, we look at how the construction of Dodger Stadium at Chavez Ravine symbolized the birth of a modern Los Angeles.

Dodger Stadium is now an icon of midcentury Los Angeles. But its birth was a painful one, and the battles over its construction tore Angelenos apart even as it now brings communities together.

As Los Angeles celebrates the Boys in Blue getting back into the World Series for the first time in almost 30 years, we recall the controversial early days of this beloved stadium, and why “the city downtown establishment wanted Dodger Stadium to be the first piece in the building of a modern world class downtown Los Angeles,” says historian Jerald Podair.

Podair, author of “City of Dreams: Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles,” finds that the Dodgers may have never left Brooklyn 60 years ago if it hadn’t been for a deal hatched between LA city officials and real estate businessman Walter O’Malley.

“One of the things that struck me in researching this book is how little O’Malley knew about Los Angeles in 1957. When he announced the move, he had only been to Los Angeles three times in his life for a total of less than 10 days. He needed a map to get to Chavez Ravine,” Podair said.

What O’Malley didn’t know is that Chavez Ravine had been the site of a proposed public housing project in a community of Mexican-Americans. Most of the residents were either bought out or evicted by eminent domain. The housing project, to be designed by Richard Neutra, was cancelled, and the stadium moved forward with the support of liberal and conservative city leaders.

One of the long-standing ironies of the Dodgers is that Latinos are among the team’s biggest fans, even though many Mexican-American families were uprooted to build the stadium.