The Los Angeles Dodgers have called Dodger Stadium home since 1962, but a group of people called Chavez Ravine home long before the Dodgers.
Anyone who has ever been to Dodger Stadium knows the view of Los Angeles that it presents, and it appears that the Dodgers are attempting to restore the original view that the Chavez Ravine inhabitants originally enjoyed.
A KCET television series, “Lost L.A.,” will feature Dodger Stadium telling the story of the original view and how the Dodgers plan to restore it.
The episode will air Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. PT on KCET in Southern California, and it will also be streamed on KCET’s website.
Below is a synopsis of what the episode will cover:
Long before Sandy Koufax threw Dodger Stadium’s first pitch, and even before the first residents moved into Chavez Ravine, there were the Elysian Hills. Raised up by tectonic forces, and carved into deep ravines by the ancient precursor of the Los Angeles River, these hills have meant many things to many people. They were a refuge from floods for the region’s native Tongva Indians, and then a source of quarried stone soon after the city fell under American sovereignty. In this episode, “Lost LA” explores the various ways Southern California’s inhabitants have used the hills around Dodger Stadium. The program looks at an old lithographic view of L.A. as drawn from an Elysian hilltop, the vanished neighborhood of Chavez Ravine, and a massive construction project that reshaped the land into a modern baseball palace.
The “Lost L.A.” series features segments from nine local Los Angeles filmmakers based on original archive material from USC Libraries. The Dodgers have won four World Series titles since relocating from Los Angeles.
