Chávez Ravine, 1949

Name: Chávez Ravine, 1949
Author: Don Normark
ISBN: 0811825345

by Don Normark (1999)

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About this book

"In 1949, photographer Don Normark walked up into the hills of Los Angeles looking for a good view. Instead, he found Chavez Ravine, a ramshackle Mexican-American neighborhood tucked away in Elysian Park like a "poor man's Shangri-la." Enchanted, he stayed for a year among the wild roses, tin roofs, and wandering goats of this uniquely intact rural community. Accepted by the residents, Normark was able to photograph a life that, though bowed down by poverty, was lived fully, openly, and joyfully. That ended when, in 1950, the residents of Chavez Ravine received letters from the government informing them that they had to leave. Some sold, some were dragged out of their houses kicking and screaming. The emptied houses were razed to make way for the new Dodger Stadium. The past fifty years have not erased the memories of Los Desterrados, the uprooted descendants of Chavez Ravine. After extensive research, Don Normark has tracked them down in order to share his old photographs and to record their poignant reactions. He has captured the images, the stories, and the bittersweet memories of Los Desterrados in this book."--BOOK JACKET.

Setting / LocationCalifornia

Story EraModern Era

Protagonist / CoreChávez Ravine, 1949 Lead Character

Themes & Moods

Biography & Memoir Biography History Mexican Americans Pictorial works Social conditions Modern Era

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