Evicted family battles stadium

May 9, 1959: A day after they were forcibly evicted and their Malvina Street homes flattened to make way for Dodger Stadium, members of the extended Arechiga family sat in the rubble, where they had pitched a tent. “We’re not budging. They will have to carry us off the land as they carried us out of our homes,” said Abrana Arechiga, whose family fiercely fought being displaced from Chavez Ravine.

The day before, 14 sheriff’s deputies had descended on Malvina Street to remove the family. Arechiga had thrown stones, while one of her daughters, Aurora Vargas, had to be carried out kicking and screaming before one of the homes was bulldozed, The Times reported.

Now, “their tent was pitched amid the ruins of their homes, razed with bulldozers after a whale of a fight by the family,” The Times said.

For her behavior on the day of the bulldozing, Vargas was charged with three counts of battery and one of disturbing the peace. She got 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.

The City Housing Authority acquired the land by condemnation in 1951. The city bought it in 1955.