Rating: 
Summary: A book of photos backed up by great, sensitive text.
Review: This book is a collection of photos taken by a professional photographer in his youth. Normark took the photos as a twenty year old photography student in 1949, full of passion--and it shows. Fifty years later, he assembled the photos and found amd interviewed some of the original subjects. The result is a photo essay that captures a place that no longer exists with sensitivity and insight to a culture that was displaced by the construction of Dodger Stadium. Anecdotal stories abound: the one about hot wiring a stolen jukebox into the only streetlight for Saturday night dances is only one of the fascinating stories about the area and its people. Good stuff!
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Photos In Service To A Poignant Story
Review: This book is full of classic, socially-conscious photography that bears a spiritual kinship with Dorothea Lange's Depression Era photos of Dustbowl Families. The images are doubly rich: as Old School black and white images shot on a reasonable speed film, with a broad and caress-ably subtle range of grays, and also as a record of a time and place that was stolen, and will simply never be again. For those who don't know the story, in a nutshell: The residents of Chavez Ravine, who were almost entirely Latino, were offered the promise that their community would be replaced by public housing as part of a renewal project of sorts. (Some had called their neighborhood blighted.) But as the land acquisition proceeded, and as various official pledges were reneged and political cards played (including exploitation of the then current fear of creeping Socialism/Communism-- after all, I ask you, what could be more unAmerican than affordable replacement housing?), the project proved to be a lie. The final hold-outs at Chavez Ravine were bodily removed by deputies as the last remnants of the neighborhood were cleared to make way for a sports field and parking lot. (!) This volume is great because these photos, which speak so eloquently of one specific place and time, also speak clearly of universal things. Children play; young couples tie the knot as family celebrates; honest and good people work to protect what is theirs, to better their lot, and just to get by. -- It is about nothing less than the struggle and joy of life itself. If there is any uplift to the wistful story this book tells in beautiful images and words, it is in that the displaced people survived, persevered, and that their old home, and what happened there, is remembered today. Sometimes, you have to search for the bright spot. A thought-provoking read. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A great journey to the past
Review: While reading this book I was transported back to my old neighborhood, Montebello, California. It was a great journey and really brought back a lot of childhood memories. The author really captured the Mexican spirit and heart of the hispanic community. Anyone who grew up in the early part of the century, regardless of which town you lived in , should read the book.
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