PROPERTY RIGHTS

Thanks to the lingering aftereffects of the New Deal and the post-World Ward II boom, development in Los Angeles was in full swing in the 1960s. Bunker Hill began to tower over Downtown after a law restricting building heights in Los Angeles was lifted—and after tenants from the neighborhood's Victorian-style homes were evicted. Property owners were forced out of Chavez Ravine, their homes torn down without compensation after the land was taken for a never built housing project. These corrupt and high-handed practices mainly targeted low income families, displacing, among others, tens of thousands of Mexican-Americans.

As whites took flight towards the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, a Mexican-American working class from neighboring Northeast and East Los Angeles was being drawn to Highland Park by affordable property and the conveniences afforded by the Arroyo Seco Parkway. A tidal wave of development began to rumble through the sleepy neighborhood.

Above, Arthur Snyder, former city councilman, William Deverell, Professor of History Director of the USC-Huntington Institute, Eric Avila, UCLA professor and urban planner, The Duardo Family, longtime Highland Park residents, discuss changing terms of property rights and land use.