City of Dreams: Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles
4/5
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About this ebook
On the sixtieth anniversary of the Dodgers' move to Los Angeles, the full story of the controversial building of Dodger Stadium and how it helped transform the city.
When Walter O'Malley moved his Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1957 with plans to construct a new ballpark next to downtown, he ignited a bitter argument over the future of a rapidly changing city. For the first time, City of Dreams tells the full story of the controversial building of Dodger Stadium—and how it helped create modern Los Angeles by transforming its downtown into a vibrant cultural and entertainment center.
In a vivid narrative, Jerald Podair tells how Los Angeles was convulsed between 1957 and 1962 over whether, where, and how to build Dodger Stadium. Competing civic visions clashed. Would Los Angeles be a decentralized, low-tax city of neighborhoods, as demanded by middle-class whites on its peripheries? Or would the baseball park be the first contribution to a revitalized downtown that would brand Los Angeles as a national and global city, as advocated by leaders in business, media, and entertainment?
O'Malley's vision triumphed when he opened his privately constructed stadium on April 10, 1962—and over the past half century it has contributed substantially to the city's civic and financial well-being. But in order to build the stadium, O'Malley negotiated with the city to acquire publicly owned land (from which the city had uprooted a Mexican American community), raising sharply contested questions about the relationship between private profit and "public purpose." Indeed, the battle over Dodger Stadium crystallized issues with profound implications for all American cities, and for arguments over the meaning of equality itself.
Filled with colorful stories, City of Dreams will fascinate anyone who is interested in the history of the Dodgers, baseball, Los Angeles, and the modern American city.
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Reviews for City of Dreams
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joy's review: I read this book while on a trip to LA during the World Series and it was the perfect book for the occasion. Great fun to watch the games and see the great pictures of the stadium and downtown LA just after reading a few chapters about how the Dodgers came to be in LA. O'Malley was an owner with great vision regarding making baseball in LA a family and multi-ethnic activity. He also showed incredible attention to detail in building the stadium to maximize the location. Poder also presents the background politics of LA at the time. He gets a bit repetitive at times justifying his sub -title "Birth of Modern Los Angeles", but really fun thing to read during the World Series.