Stories, Photographs, Artifacts from Palo Verde, La Loma, Bishop Residents Preserved in New Digital Archive Created in Partnership with LMU

"Chavez Ravine: An Unfinished Story" unveils community-curated collection documenting the lives of more than 1,100 families displaced from Los Angeles neighborhoods

LOS ANGELES - Former residents of Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop, commonly referred to as Chavez Ravine, have unveiled a digital archival collection documenting and preserving the histories of these Los Angeles neighborhoods from the 1910s to the early 2000s. "Chavez Ravine: An Unfinished Story," a public history project, partnered with Loyola Marymount University to create the community-curated archive, unveiled to the public on July 18, 2026, at the Los Desterrados Annual Picnic in Elysian Park.

"Chavez Ravine: An Unfinished Story" archival collection is a living archive that seeks to center voices and stories by community members and their direct descendants, preserve personal photograph collections, and increase access to stories that best reflect the Latina/o experience. It was co-founded and launched by Palo Verde resident Carol Jacques and LMU Associate Professor Priscilla Leiva.

During the 1950s, residents of Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop were forcibly removed and displaced by the city of Los Angeles in a decision colored by racism, politics, and the city's public housing crisis.

"We were vibrant communities full of life, and we contributed to the development of early Los Angeles," said Jacques, a lifelong activist. "The success of this collaboration is in preserving and further uncovering the richness and history of Chavez Ravine while ensuring residents and direct descendants as the curators and experts of their own stories."

LMU was selected as the academic partner to provide resources directly to community collaborators in support of a multi-year effort to recover, organize, and preserve artifacts and histories of Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop, and to ensure the accessibility of the collection through the university's William H. Hannon Library. LMU also serves as a funding and digitization collaborator alongside the California Latino Legislative Caucus Foundation and the Bill Hannon Foundation.

"It's critical for us that this is a community-led project, and we're grateful to have been entrusted with the care of these materials and their stories," said Leiva, associate professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies "It is very much a living archive, with new materials to be added over time. An important component of our ongoing work together is in uncovering new details, filling in historical gaps, and painting a fuller, more textured picture of these three communities both before and after their displacement - while reconnecting families and direct descendants to archival materials and their own stories."

All materials within the collection were voluntarily donated, and all donors were encouraged to retain copyright ownership.

"Libraries are mission-bound to serve communities," said Cynthia Becht, head of Archives and Special Collections at LMU. "It is a great honor for the William H. Hannon Library to serve the Chavez Ravine communities by preserving the history that they choose to share with the world."

Community collaborators, residents, and descendants were given a special preview of the "Chavez Ravine: An Unfinished Story" archival collection at the annual picnic organized by Los Desterrados, which has brought together community members with ties to Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop for more than 50 years. The "Chavez Ravine: An Unfinished Story" digital archive is open and accessible to the public. It features 200+ items encompassing personal family photos, oral histories, and archival documents.