LMU digital archive tells stories of Angelenos who lost Chavez Ravine homes to make way for Dodger Stadium

A new digital archive from Loyola Marymount University is retelling the stories of the thousands of Angelenos who lost their Chavez Ravine homes to make way for Dodger Stadium. 

It's been more than 70 years since Carol Jacques' family lived in the area, and she still dreams of her childhood home. It once stood in the Palo Verde neighborhood, before they became some of the many who were pushed out for the development of the stadium in the 1950s. 

"It was like living in a park, and it was pitch black, and we could see the stars, and the crickets would sing us to sleep," Jacques said. "What we had, I think, that was very special that a lot of people don't write about. We had a main street. We had a huge church that had a rectory for the priests, a place for the nuns, a place to have a lot of things."

Jacques says that she and her family would walk up the hill after church to stop at the tienditas to pick up any necessities along the way. 

"There was also kind of a camaraderie, because people would be watering or on their front porch and they'd say, 'Buenos dias,'" Jacques recalled. 

Now, her family's story is just one of the many captured by LMU's online archive that features interviews, photos and other documents from the largely Mexican-American community displaced by eminent domain so the ballpark could be developed. 

The stories have been told before, but one large change is that they're told directly by community members, and their stories and memories are protected by copyright, so no one else can profit like what's happened in the past. 

"Many people came, wrote stories about us, and then some of them came back and wanted to sell us books after we invited them in and introduced them to our neighbors," Jacques said. "They were selling what we had given them."

LMU Professor Priscilla Leiva co-founded the archive with Jacques, calling it a community-curated collection. 

"It's not about an academic or an archivist coming in and telling the story for them. They are the ones telling us what the captions on these photos should be; they are the ones giving us the information," Leiva said. 

So far, there are more than 200 pieces included in the collection. They said it's just a fraction of what they've collected over the last 11 years. Leiva said that their research has revealed much more about the history of Chavez Ravine, beyond the removal of thousands of people, and just as important. 

"This is a community of people who showed up in LA in the 1910s and 20s, literally built their own houses with permits, created thriving communities, weathered the Great Depression, served in the war, and then even after the removal, people like Carol became activists, other people became other types of change makers in the city," Leiva said. 

Jacques said that her family's proud, but painful story is one of endurance that's more relevant than ever. 

"We have stories about how, you know, things were going on right here that were really very ugly, that people survived," she said. "So, I think it's important that we learn that. But I think it's also really important that we learn from history, because a lot of these things are happening again."

She said that while she doesn't hold any resentment towards the Dodgers, with both of her sons being huge fans of the Boys in Blue, Jacques does wish for some sort of acknowledgement for the sacrifices that were made and the part they all played in bringing the team to Los Angeles. 

"I think that the Dodgers are part of Los Angeles. We're part of Los Angeles. It's all a Los Angeles story," Jacques said. "I wish that they would recognize the fact that we shared the land at one time, at least some recognition that we were there, because we are part of their story and they are part of our story."