Palo Verde/La Loma/Bishop OH Project

Carson Tomony
  • 5.0 (2)
  • History

In the 1950s, the City of Los Angeles used eminent domain to destroy the predominantly Mexican neighborhoods of Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop—first to make room for a public housing project that was never built, and later for the construction of Dodger Stadium. Through this oral history project, descendants trace their families' journeys to these neighborhoods, the lives they built there, and the impacts of displacement, while reflecting on the evictions, the Dodgers, reparations, and more. Full project can be found at CSUF's Center for Oral and Public History. Conducted by Carson Tomony.

Episodes

  1. Kamren Curiel - "Digging Into My Family's Palo Verde Roots"

    5d ago

    Kamren Curiel - "Digging Into My Family's Palo Verde Roots"

    An oral history of Kamren Curiel, a freelance journalist from East LA. This interview highlights her childhood in Monterrey Park and South San Gabriel, her time at San Francisco State University, and her journey to becoming a journalist, as well as her family's history in Palo Verde and the ways they were impacted by displacement. She also shares her thoughts on the Dodgers, reparations, ICE raids, and how she wants this history taught going forward. (0:22) Discusses her childhood growing up in Monterrey Park and South San Gabriel. (0:05:10) Talks about her role models growing up; notes the schools she attended; describes the transition transferring from Shurr High School to South Pasadena High School; explains how she became interested in journalism. (0:11:09) Describes her time at San Francisco State University and her experience working for the school’s student newspaper, the Golden Gater (now the Golden Gate Xpress). (0:15:33) Traces her journey from college graduation to her current position as a freelance journalist. (0:21:30) Explains how she met her husband. (0:26:16) Discusses her family’s ties to Palo Verde, which she publicized in 2021 in “The House On The Hill: Digging Into My Family’s Palo Verde Roots." (https://laist.com/news/la-history/palo-verde-chavez-ravine-history-house-on-the-hill) (0:30:52) Talks about her family receiving the CHA's letter on 6/24/1950 saying their house would be torn down for the 13-story Elysian Heights Public Housing Project; notes that her grandfather had just returned from World War II after suffering a shrapnel wound; says that her great-grandfather died of a heart attack shortly after receiving the letter; speculates that being displaced may have contributed to the heart attack. (0:32:33) Discusses the push and pull factors that led her great-grandfather to move from Mexico to Palo Verde in 1914; notes that he was one of many Mexicans to leave the country during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). (0:37:05) Describes how her family was impacted by displacement. (0:40:54) Notes that her grandparents only spoke English at home because they were told not to speak Spanish; says she wishes they passed their bilingualism on to the next generation. (0:42:30) Discusses the generational wealth the city stole from her family via eminent domain; notes that their homes would be worth millions today; explains how racial covenants and redlining limited Mexican Americans' housing options after being displaced; describes her grandparents’ transitions from Palo Verde to Commerce and Montebello; touches on her mother's childhood. (0:53:40) Talks about officials terminating the public housing project in 1951, as public housing had come to be associated with communism; speaks on the city using the land to construct Dodger Stadium; says the Dodgers were not celebrated in her home growing up; explains how Fernandomania changed many Mexican American’s views of the Dodgers; wonders if the Dodgers made a conscious effort to win over Mexican Americans to distract people from their role in destroying Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop. (0:58:24) Explains how she learned about Palo Verde; shares the only story her grandfather told her about Palo Verde; speaks on how beautiful the communities were. (1:08:34) Talks about the motivation, research, and writing process for her article. (1:13:03) Discusses her view of the Dodgers. (1:14:50) Shares her thoughts on reparations and the Chavez Ravine Accountability Act, which Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed in September 2024. (1:17:57) Talks about the Dodgers’ response to ICE raids near the stadium; notes that many Latinos have withdrawn their support from the Dodgers because they failed to condemn the ICE raids. (1:19:55) Explains how she would like this history taught going forward.

    1h 24m
  2. Natasha Zarate - "More LA Than Everybody Who's From LA"

    May 24

    Natasha Zarate - "More LA Than Everybody Who's From LA"

    An oral history of Natasha Zarate. This interview highlights her childhood in Los Angeles, educational background, and career, as well as her family’s history in Palo Verde and the ways they were impacted by displacement. She also shares her thoughts on the Dodgers, reparations, ICE raids, and how she wants this history taught going forward. (0:00:20) Discusses her childhood growing up in Hacienda Heights, her parent's separation, her relationship with her godmother, the 1992 LA riots, her year in Germany, and her experience at Huntington Park High School. (0:16:56) Describes her first job after college as an attorney and her time at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. (0:21:21) Explains how she got into professional styling and how she ended up working for Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, and Iggy Azalea; tells stories about the infamous white-on-white 1980s Cadillac she drove during this period; shares her experience meeting Kendrick Lamar for the first time. (0:36:24) Traces her great-grandparents' journey from Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico to Palo Verde; talks about her great-grandfather's activism as a Magonista and in the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM); describes the commune he and other revolutionaries lived in in Silver Lake; tells the story of how her great-grandparents met; notes that they had 15 kids together. (0:52:44) Explains why her family chose Palo Verde; notes that her family built their home from the ground up; speculates that her great-grandfather was attracted to Palo Verde’s self-sufficiency, sustainability, and sovereignty; describes her grandparents. (1:15:13) Shares how her family described Palo Verde; notes that her family went to Central California during the summer picking season; mentions that her aunt attended Palo Verde School, which is now buried under Dodger Stadium; recalls going to a Dodgers game with her godmother when she was a teenager and seeing the life “sucked out of her." (1:23:22) Talks about the letter her family received from the City Housing Authority in July 1950 saying their home would be torn down to make room for the 13-story Elysian Heights Public Housing Project; says officials used her family as a PR prop after putting them in the “Dogtown Projects" in Chinatown, which she compares to a concentration camp; calls this transition devastating for her family. (1:33:41) Notes that her mother moved out of the Dogtown Projects at 17; describes her as a “quintessential LA woman” who was not celebrated enough before dying of cancer in 2021; shares how her parents met; talks about her father, who owned Apollo Beauty Hair Salon and “cut generations of hair.” (1:40:17) Discusses her family’s varying views of the Dodgers. (1:44:05) Describes her experience at a Los Desterrados reunion. (1:48:57) Shares her thoughts on the movement for reparations. (1:51:39) Speaks about the Dodgers’ response to ICE raids in Los Angeles and near Dodger Stadium. (1:53:43) Says her teachers never once talked about the history of Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop; explains why she wants it to be taught going forward.

    1h 58m
  3. Melissa Arechiga - "Their Pain Is My Purpose"

    May 23

    Melissa Arechiga - "Their Pain Is My Purpose"

    An oral history of Melissa Arechiga, founder of Buried Under the Blue, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the histories of Palo Verde, La Loma, & Bishop & fighting for reparations for displaced families. (https://www.buriedundertheblue.com) This interview highlights her childhood in Echo Park, her journey from middle school dropout to UC-Berkeley graduate, her family’s history in Palo Verde, the ways her family resisted & were impacted by displacement, & more. She also shares her thoughts on the Dodgers, ICE raids, reparations, & how she wants this history taught going forward. (0:00:41) Discusses her childhood in Echo Park & her journey from middle school dropout to UC-Berkeley graduate. (0:08:51) Traces her great-grandparents' path from Zacatecas to Palo Verde; describes Palo Verde; recalls how her great-grandmother earned the nickname “Two Gun Brooks.” (0:19:54) Explains the problem with the term "Chavez Ravine." (0:24:04) Recalls the letters residents received on 6/24/50 saying their homes would be torn down to make room for the 13-story Elysian Heights Public Housing Project; notes residents’ options were limited due to legalized discrimination. (0:26:25) Discusses her family's reaction to the termination of the public housing project in January 1951 in the wake of the Red Scare; claims LA didn't give the land back because "it was never about housing or solving the housing crisis," but profit & power. (0:28:49) Says her family was offered less than market value for their home; insists their resistance was less about money than dignity, justice, & the right to exist. (0:32:50) Discusses her family's lawsuit against the CHA in October 1953. (0:33:38) Says the Dodgers' move to LA was "like adding insult to injury. The city had promised the land was for public use, & now it was being handed to a private baseball team." (0:34:36) Speaks on Proposition B, the city’s 1958 referendum on the Dodgers' move to LA; claims the media portrayed the neighborhoods as slums to justify their destruction. (0:36:51) Breaks down how a Superior Court ruled the Dodgers contract illegal before the team appealed to the California Supreme Court, which sided with the Dodgers in 1959; says their appeal invalidates the narrative that they had little to do with the evictions. (0:40:01) Describes the ways her family resisted displacement. (0:41:01) Talks about 5/8/59, when cops forcefully removed her family from their home before bulldozing it; notes her mother was just old enough to remember the day; says her family “became symbols when all they wanted was to live in peace” & that “the spotlight never brought justice; it just put their suffering on display.” (0:42:51) Describes a front-page story in the Mirror News about her family owning 11 properties across LA; calls it a smear campaign to justify the injustice; discusses her grandparents’ witty responses to the article. (0:45:27) Explains how her family was impacted by displacement. (0:46:33) Describes how “Fernandomania” changed Chicanos' views of the Dodgers; bashes the Dodgers for investing in private prison corporations that operate ICE detention centers. (0:51:44) Argues the Dodgers' success has come at her family's expense, calls it an empty gesture to condemn the team's history while rooting for them. (0:55:06) Recalls how she learned about this history. (1:02:17) Discusses how & why she founded Buried Under the Blue in 2017. (1:07:14) Makes her case for reparations; criticizes Wendy Carrillo, author of the vetoed Chavez Ravine Accountability Act, for using the neighborhoods' whitewashed name, failing to mention the Dodgers, & taking photographs with a Dodgers foam finger after meeting with descendants. (1:12:44) Proposes a 5-part reparations model. (1:20:16) Criticizes the Dodgers for their weak response to ICE raids in LA & around Dodger Stadium. (1:23:39) Explains how she would like this taught in & out of schools; shares how folks can support Buried Under the Blue.

    1h 28m
  • 3 Episodes

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About

In the 1950s, the City of Los Angeles used eminent domain to destroy the predominantly Mexican neighborhoods of Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop—first to make room for a public housing project that was never built, and later for the construction of Dodger Stadium. Through this oral history project, descendants trace their families' journeys to these neighborhoods, the lives they built there, and the impacts of displacement, while reflecting on the evictions, the Dodgers, reparations, and more. Full project can be found at CSUF's Center for Oral and Public History. Conducted by Carson Tomony.

Information