Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story 2005
Distributed by Bullfrog Films, PO Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 800-543-FROG (3764)
Produced by Jordan Mechner and JAM Flicks
Directed by Jordan Mechner
DVD, color, 24 min.
Grades 4 - Adult
American Studies, Area Studies, Drama, Economics, Ethics, Human Rights, Multicultural Studies, Storytelling, Urban Studies, Photography
Date Entered: 12/02/2005
Reviewed by Brad Eden, Ph.D., Head, Web and Digitization Services, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las VegasThis DVD, narrated by Cheech Marin with music provided by Ry Cooder, is a half-hour documentary on Chavez Ravine, a Mexican-American village on a hill overlooking Los Angeles in the mid-1940s. Photographer Don Normark took literally hundreds of pictures of this village in 1949, which are shown throughout the film. Little did he know that, in 1950, the city of Los Angeles evicted the 300 families in Chavez Ravine for a low-income public housing project. Through political manuevering and communist accusations, the land was abandoned and then bought by baseball owner Walter O'Malley, who built Dodger Stadium on the site. This film is a fascinating assembly of Normark's photographs of a community lost in time and mind. It has won numerous awards, among them being listed for the Academy Award's Best Documentary Short.