Loyola Marymount Launched Chavez Ravine Archive
The digital archive preserves community stories from neighborhoods displaced to make way for Dodger Stadium.
Updated on Sept. 25, 2026 in Baseball
Live Poll
Should local governments actively preserve the histories of communities displaced by city development?
Loyola Marymount University launched an online digital archive on July 23, 2026, to document the history of the Chavez Ravine communities. The platform includes 222 items reflecting memories from the 1910s to the early 2000s.
Why it matters
The archive serves as an ongoing project of civic remembrance and atonement for the neighborhoods of Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop. It aims to preserve records and memories of families displaced during the 1950s.
The archive contains 222 digitized items, documenting a history that spans from the 1910s to the early 2000s. The site covers a significant geographic footprint involving the displacement of roughly 1,800 families from the Ravine.
The players
Loyola Marymount University
This private university is the institution responsible for launching the digital archive project.
Walter O'Malley
He was the owner of the Dodgers who acquired more than 300 acres of Chavez Ravine land in 1957-1958.
Avrana Arechiga
She was a resident whose home was forcibly bulldozed by authorities on May 8, 1959.
Carol Jacques
She is an 83-year-old co-founder who began the project work in 2015.
Louis H. Santillan
He was a community figure who helped found the organization Los Desterrados in the 1970s.
The details
Contributors upload photos, letters, and oral histories to the digital platform, while retaining full copyright to their materials. The project, started in 2015 by Carol Jacques and Priscilla Leiva, highlights the era when authorities traded more than 300 acres of land to Walter O'Malley and forcibly removed residents.
Timeline
1910s to early 2000s: Timeframe covered by the collected resident stories.
1951: The year that the displacement of Chavez Ravine residents began.
May 8, 1959: Authorities bulldozed the home of 66-year-old Avrana Arechiga.
2015: Carol Jacques and Priscilla Leiva began work on the project.
July 23, 2026: The digital archive officially launched.
Season Trajectory
The project deepens the historical narrative surrounding the land now occupied by Dodger Stadium. It forces a public engagement with the site’s past that extends far beyond the current baseball season or stadium operations.
The archive provides a primary-source perspective on the 300-acre land trade that fundamentally shaped the development of Los Angeles sports infrastructure. Residents and researchers can now access these personal records to better understand the community costs of stadium construction.
The takeaway
This digital project turns private family mementos into a public record of civic history. Readers can explore the site to view how individual contributions continue to reshape the collective memory of the city.
Further reading
Learn more about the local sports landscape and its history in the Los Angeles Baseball section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Angelus News.
Live Poll
Should local governments actively preserve the histories of communities displaced by city development?
