What Happened in the Elysian Hills Before the Dodgers?
Contemporary Los Angeles best knows its Elysian Hills as a backdrop to baseball. Beyond the outfield pavilions of Dodger Stadium, their green slopes fade to brown each season beneath "cotton candy skies," in the words of the retiring Vin Scully. But long before such legendary names as Scully, Koufax, and Lasorda emerged from the hills, the landscape gave rise to legends of a different sort: man-eating lions on the prowl; an incredible "moving mountain"; an Edenic garden of exotic trees.
These earlier legends point to a long history that preceded the Dodgers' arrival in 1962 -- a history that "Lost LA's" second episode explores in depth. Below are the stories that inspired the episode, debuting Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 8:30 p.m., accompanied by several others.
Click on the links below for the full story.
1) Millions of years ago, the Los Angeles River carved a series of ravines into the hills.
2) In 1886, much of the hilly land became one of L.A.'s first public parks.
3) One hilltop, Mt. Lookout, attracted artists and photographers with its sweeping city views.
4) Mountain lions stalked the hills through the last decade of the 19th century.
5) In the 1890s, horticulturalists planted an arboretum of rare and exotic trees in Chavez Ravine.
6) Figueroa Street burrowed through the hills in the 1930s. A freeway runs through the tunnels today.
7) An incredible "moving mountain" - a massive, slow-moving landslide - captivated the nation in 1937.
