Ry Cooder
Chavez Ravine
Nonesuch/Perro Verde
79877-2
I liked riding through Los Angeles when I was a kid. Going
west was toward the future; east was definitely in the past.
You could take a bus eastbound from where we lived, in Santa
Monica, for about fifteen miles, transfer to the street car,
and get off in Downtown L.A. - a world back fifty years in
time, maybe more. Then you might take the little trolley up
Bunker Hill to an even older and dilapidated miniature world
of weird Victorian mansions, ancient trees, the old people
who didn't always speak English. It was my favorite thing to
do. But I never went to Chavez Ravine. I heard about it in
the early '50's: the evictions, the power struggle in city
hall a scant mile away, the Pachuco Scare, the Red Scare,
and the greasy handoff of the ravine to the Dodgers ball
club. Occasionally there would be photographs in the paper
of some poor Mexican family from the ravine watching some
bulldozer tear up their little house while being harassed by
the LAPD or lectured to by some city politician. I didn't
understand any of this until later, long after the deal had
gone down. In those days, they called such things
"progress."
I never liked the grid of Santa Monica streets, the
sidewalks and little lawns, or the tract houses we lived in
that looked like they had all sprouted up in a day. It was
too flat, it lacked history and mystery, and that bothered
me. Smog appeared in Santa Monica in 1955, which was bad,
and Johnny Cash appeared on Radio KXLA, which was good. I
had a 78 record album by Roy Rogers, called Lore of the
West. Roy and his buddies sang western songs and told
western stories, all much more interesting than my life was
at the time. The story had something to do with poor sheep
ranchers struggling against a wicked outlaw gang that was
backed up by a secret cartel of corrupt politicians,
railroad interests, and greedy land speculators. The sheep
ranchers lost, but the winners were contaminated and ugly.
"A hard-boiled egg's always yellow inside," Roy said.
It was 1950 Los Angeles. The power-seeking right-wing
politcos and "bigness"-obsessed planners and developers were
getting busy deciding the future of everything. They were
also learning to use the techniques of red-baiting and
character assassination (as advanced by Joseph McCarthey, J.
Edgar Hoover, and Richard Nixon), in their effort to topple
the progressive city administration and the public housing
program. This they did, and Los Angeles was paved over,
malled up, high-rised and urban-renewed, as fortunes were
made, power was concentrated, and everything got faster and
bigger.
But there is a lot I miss now. The texture of certain older
neighborhoods, like Bunker Hill, a rural feel in urban
places, like Chavez Ravine and the timbre of life there, and
just peace and quiet. You can see why a lonesome Space Vato,
searching for El Monte Legion Stadium, would ask directions
in Palo Verde instead of Santa Monica. Chavez Ravine, where
the sidewalk ends. Nobody from Santa Monica ever went up
there.
____________________________________________________________________
1. Poor Man's Shangri-La
(5:28)
(Ry Cooder/William Garcia/Gene Aguilera)
Hi-Lo Shag Music (BMI)/Wagamita Music (BMI)/Carmlina
Music (BMI)
It's night in Los Angeles. A traveling Space Vato is trying
to get oriented, honing in on a local radio signal. "Lonely
Lonely Nights," by Lil' Julian Herrera, sounds just right;
he's been out there for so long now. The radio DJ chants,
"El Monte Saturday Night," over and over. Why El Monte?
Looking down, he sees a good-size patch of ground surrounded
by city lights in every direction. It looks easy, beckoning.
He sets his little spacecraft down, and steps out to have a
look around. What does he see?
Ry Cooder - Vocal, guitar, organ, tres
Juliette Commagere - Vocal
Jim Keltner - Drums
Mike Elizondo - Bass
Joachim Cooder - Timbales
____________________________________________________________________
2. Onda Callejera
(3:50)
(William Garcia/David Hidalgo) Wagamita Music (BMI)/Da Vince Music (BMI)
Saturday night, 1943. Someone in the naval armory up on
Chavez Road called the yellow-cab dispatcher downtown and
requisitioned 100 taxi cabs. At three sailors per cab,
that's roughly 300 sailors who were taken by cab down to
Broadway, a mile away. They hit the boulevard, looking for
Pachucos. When they found them, they beat them up and tore
their clothes with razor sticks. What was the code? Code
Zoot? Who worked up the profile: who gave the orders? The
LAPD looked the other way. Who told the beat officers to
cool it? Who told the MPs to get a sandwich? Next morning
the Los Angeles Times screamed Riot, Criminal Element, Slum
Clearance, Race War, Nazi Influence, Public Outrage. The
fate of Chavez Ravine, a Mexican-American place, was sealed.
Who paid for the cabs?
Little Willie G - Vocal
Juliette and Carla Commagere - Vocal chorus
Ry Cooder - Guitar, laud
Joachim Cooder - Percussion
Mike Elizondo - Bass
Joe Rotondi - Piano
Gil Bernal - Tenor saxophone
Mike Bolger - Trumpet
Ledward Kaapana - Guitar
____________________________________________________________________
3. Don't Call Me Red
(4:58)
(Ry Cooder) Hi-Lo Shag Music (BMI)
Frank Wilkinson reckons that if he had stayed in public
housing, working for the city of Los Angeles, his life would
have been less interesting than it turned out to be, but he
enjoys knowing that he outlived the people who wrecked the
public housing program and sent him to prison for refusing
to testify before the HUAC.
Now in his 90s, Frank Wilkinson is more than a footnote to
the McCarthy Era, which he prefers to call the "J. Edgar
Hoover Era." But in 1950, he was a young idealist given the
task of doing something for poor people in Los Angeles who
were, in the New Deal sense, ill-housed. Architect Richard
Neutra wasn't busy at the time, and he agreed to come work
for Frank and the federal government on a plan to build
utopian, low-rent housing in Chavez Ravine. Today, you can
drive to the result. Strike one.
Ry Cooder - Vocal, guitar
Juliette and Carla Commagere - Vocal chorus
John Hassell - Trumpet
Jim Keltner - Drums
Joachim Cooder - Timbales
Mike Elizondo - Bass
____________________________________________________________________
4. Corrido de Boxeo
(3:21)
(Lalo Guerrero) Barrio Libre Music (BMI)
Talking over old times in Los Angeles with Lalo Guerrero was
like watching old black and white movies: Salon Mexico meets
Criss Cross. Lalo knew the boxers Carlos and Favela Chavez,
who lived in the neighborhoods of Palo Verde and La Loma.
Carlos did well, and was California featherweight champion
for a time in the late ‘40s. The Olympic Auditorium,
downtown, was the top-of-the-line venue for East L.A.
fighters in those days. But your life can change at the end
of one punch. Chavez Ravine – The Set Up.
Lalo Guerrero – Vocal
Ry Cooder – Bajo sexto, guitar
Joachim Cooder – Drums
Mike Elizondo – Bass
Joe Rotondi – Piano
Flaco Jimenez – Accordion
____________________________________________________________________
5. Muy Fifi (4:03)
(William Garcia/Joachim Cooder/Juliette Commagere)
Wagamita Music (BMI)/Zegema Beech Music (BMI)/Half
Mexican Music (BMI)
A mother-daughter conversation about style and propriety.
Little Willie G. wrote they lyrics from his memory of such
talk in the homes of his relatives. I like the idea that
Smiley Chulote gets respect outside home turf, that he gets
Fifi back home safe. No guns, no slaughter, no noche de
terror. The word around Santa Monica High School was that
all the Mexican Girls had rusty hat-pins and razor blades
stashed up in their big hairdos. I never asked, so I
don’t know if they did or not.
Ersi Arvizu – Vocal
Little Willie G – Vocal, Chorus
Ry Cooder – Guitar
Joachim Cooder – Drums, sampling
Mike Elizondo – Bass
Chucho Valdes – Piano
____________________________________________________________________
6. Los Chucos Suaves
(3:08)
(Lalo Guerrero) Barrio Libre Music (BMI)
Originally recorded by Lalo in Los Angeles, in 1949, for the
Imperial label. You might have seen Fifi and Smiley out on
the dance floor at La Bamba, El Hoyo, or El Capital,
downtown clubs where “Lalo y Sus Cinco Lobos”
played regularly, where every night was Thursday night. What
was it like? Check out Yvonne de Carlo in Criss Cross, also
1949. Does your neighborhood band groove like this? Are you
having this good a time? Are these the Pachucos that
threatened all of Los Angeles, the ones the Nazis recruited?
Did Smiley and Fifi ever make it back to La Loma?
Lalo Guerrero – Vocal
Ry Cooder – Guitar
Jim Keltner – Drums
Mike Elizondo – Bass
Joe Rotondi – Piano
Gil Bernal – Tenor Sax
____________________________________________________________________
7. Chinito Chinito
(4:52)
(Felguerez/Diaz)
Imagine waking up in the morning thinking, “Today, I
will write a song about a pidgin-Spanish-speaking Chinese
laundryman who rattles his change-box as he walks along,
while being heckled by two loudmouthed
Chinanas…” Mexicans and Chinese had been living
side-by-side downtown since the late 1800s. little Willie
G.’s aunts used to say, “Here comes Chinito,
toca la malaca.” Playing his change-box. Just a
comment, I should judge – no race hatred, no gang war,
no police crackdown. Chief Parker let it pass, this time.
The great Don Tosti recorded the song in 1949. Mike Stoller,
of Leiber and Stoller, had the record as a high school
student at Belmont, in Boyle Heights on the East Side, but
he had lost tack of it, and Tosti hadn’t seen a copy
for years. Chris Strachwitz didn’t think he had one,
but Chuy Varela did. I guess it’s the only one
left.
Juliette Commagere – Vocal
Carla Commagere – Vocal
Ry Cooder – Guitar
Joachim Cooder – Drums
Jared Smith- Bass
Mike Bolger – Organ, Trumpet, Valve Trombone
Joe Rotondi – Piano
____________________________________________________________________
8. 3 Cool Cats
(2:57)
(Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller)
Leiber and Stoller Music (ASCAP)
Evening in the Ravine. There’s a 1939 Chevy parked on
the corner of Effie Street and Boyleston. You must have a
’39, because every little feature on this car that
year was teardrop-shaped, coming to a point, which is cool.
So, these three guys are sitting in the car there, and after
a while three sharp-looking Chucas walk by. Great idea,
great song. The neighbor’s dog gets inquisitive, and
sirens start wailing, but that’s just the night sound
of the city down below. The police academy is still in use,
up on Academy Road, but it’s quiet and deserted at
night. L.A. Jazz pianist Hampton Hawes actually recorded an
all-night session in the academy gym in 1955, 3 cool cats
did 3 big flips for Hamp.
Little Willie G – Vocal
Rudy Salas, Michael Guerra, Juliette Commagere, Carla
Commagere – Vocal Chorus
Ry Cooder – Guitar
Jim Keltner – Drums
Joachim Cooder – Timbales
Jared Smith – Bass
Joe Rotondi – Piano
Gil Bernal – Tenor Sax
Mike Bolger – Organ
____________________________________________________________________
9. El U.F.O. Cayo
(8:22)
(Juliette Commagere/Ry Cooder/Joachim Cooder/Jared Smith)
Half Mexican Music (BMI)/Hi-Lo Shag Music (BMI)/Zegema
Beach Music (BMI)/Privy Seal Music (BMI)
The Space Vato returns on a mission of prophecy. Scrolling
through his catalog of intercosmic languages, he speaks to
the folks in Calo, an L.A. slang variant. “Your time
is up; the Gabachos will build a big stadium here. Come with
me, you’ll be better off.” They reply,
“You’re mistaken, sir, we have rights, it
can’t happen here,” the cherished myth that Good
Americans always use to comfort themselves. They don’t
want to go, why would they, life is good, que sera, sera.
Don Tosti recorded the voice of the traveler before passing,
in 2003 – his last session. Adios, baby.
Juliette Commagere – Vocal
Don Tosti – Vocal
Ry Cooder – Tres
Mike Elizondo – Bass
Joachim Cooder – Sampling
Jared Smith – Keyboard
____________________________________________________________________
10. It’s Just Work For Me
(5:54)
(Ry Cooder) Hi-Lo Shag Music (BMI)
It cost about 7 million dollars of public funds to regrade
Chavez Ravine according to Richard Neutra’s housing
site plan. But there wasn’t going to be any housing,
public or otherwise, because there was just too much heat
over the whole thing, so the city council worked out a sweet
deal with Walter O’Malley and brought the Dodgers out
there. Because baseball was clean, you couldn’t argue
with it, and it was good for the town. O’Malley loved
money and a good deal, maybe even as much as he loved the
game itself, so you can’t blame him. Nor can you blame
the equipment operator who drove the bulldozer that smashed
up the little houses. I read that some people tried to stop
the machines by throwing rocks and bottles at them. Like
spitting at the Sun.
Ry Cooder – Vocal, guitar
Joachim Cooder – Drums
Mike Elizondo – Bass
____________________________________________________________________
11. In My Town
(5:40)
(Ry Cooder) Hi-Lo Shag Music (BMI)
Who’s that weird guy across the hall? You ever see him
or hear anything; what does he do all the time; does he have
a girlfriend? Any pets? Answer: no. This is an invisible
man, an isolated man, but a dreamer; a secret deacon in the
crypto-fascist Church of the Next Big thing. When you
finally do see him, he will own and control people and land.
Your land, your place, your town. Only by then, it will be
his town.
Ry Cooder – Vocal, Guitar
Sunny D. Levine – Drum programming
Jacky Terrasson – Piano
____________________________________________________________________
12. Ejercito Militar
(3:16)
(Rita Arvizu) Arvizu Music (BMI)
The Arvizu family lived on Fisher Street, in East Los
Angeles. Lalo Guerrero was an uncle on the father’s
side. All the brothers and sisters were taught the
traditional Mexican vocal music repertoire from early
childhood. But their mother, Rita, also wrote songs. Music
came to her late at night, while the family was asleep. She
was awakened by song lyrics and got up to write them down in
a notebook hidden under the bed. Few have survived, because
their father, Arturo, disliked the idea that his
wife’s mind kept wandering off somewhere in the dark.
“Music is for the day; the night is for
sleeping,” he said.
Ersi Arvizu – Vocal
Rosella Arvizu – Vocal
Ry Cooder – Bajo sexto, guitar
Joachim Cooder – Drums
Mike Elizondo – Bass
Flaco Jimenez – Accordion
____________________________________________________________________
13. Barrio Viejo
(4:42)
(Lalo Guerrero) Barrio Libre Music (BMI)
Lalo’s old neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona, where he
was born and raised, is called Barrio Viejo. You used to see
photographs in the paper of city big-shots pointing to a
large-scale street map with pins stuck in it: a battle plan,
the next big move. They don’t take pictures like that
anymore because it’s bad public relations, but in the
days of Chavez Ravine there wasn’t any public
relations, just public displays of raw power. Here’s
builder Fritz Burns, looking like the cat that ate the
canary, sleek and confident. There’s Cardinal
McIntire, always in the loop. Chief Parker appears
regularly, stern-faced, brooking no disrespect. Outside, on
the street, however, emotion and memory remain long after
the maps are rolled up and put away and the black-and-white
photographs are boxed up and taken down to the basement.
Personally, I think Lalo’s homage to his old barrio
will probably outlive all the venues of power, but, sadly,
not Lalo himself. He passed into the legend of history on
March 17, 2005. Viva El Chicano Inolvidable.
Lalo Guerrero – Vocal, guitar
Flaco Jimenez – Accordion
Joachim Cooder – Drums
Mike Elizondo – Bass
Ledward Kaapana – Guitar
____________________________________________________________________
14. 3rd Base, Dodger Stadium
(5:45)
(Ry Cooder/William Garcia/Joe Kevany)
Hi-Lo Shag Music (BMI)/Wagamita Music (BMI)/Matoots Music
(BMI)
Ravine old-timers locate themselves by a memory plum line,
straight down through the playing field of Dodgers Stadium,
to the town underneath all that cement. “I’m
from 3rd base” “we’re from home
plate,” etc. I asked Bla Pahinui to come and sing with
us. Homey of homies. Bla lives in Honolulu, a place where
memory is erased every day. It’s like losing language
or bird species. The overhead construction crane is the
state bird of Hawaii, no doubt about that. Now they’re
talking about building a new stadium for the Dodgers farther
downtown and putting up luxury condos in the Ravine –
what will they be called? “Ranchos de Chavez Estancias
– Gated, patrolled, exclusive, restricted: The bygone
ambience of a kinder, gentler Los Angeles”? Who will
want to live there? Not me, friends and neighbors. The
U.F.O. is never coming back.
Bla Pahinui – Vocal, guitar, ukulele
Ry Cooder – Guitar
Joachim Cooder – Drums
Mike Elizondo – Bass
Joe Rotondi – Piano
Gil Bernal – Tenor sax
Mike Bolger – Trumpet, Valve trombone
Ledward Kaapana – Guitar
____________________________________________________________________
15. Soy Luz y Sombra
(3:15)
(Music by William Garcia/Joachim Cooder/Ry Cooder)
Wagamita Music (BMI)/Zegema Music (BMI)/Hi-Lo Shag Music
(BMI)
The Cloud Forest Poem If you go hiking in the Cloud Forest
in Costa Rica, you might come across this poem inscribed on
a plank by the footpath. Willie G. adapted the text, adding
a chorus. I like the idea that the earth has the last word,
telling her side of things as in a love song, accompanied by
a celestial ice-cream truck that cruises by and moves off
through the streets of Palo Verde in the cool of the
evening.
Ersi Arvizu – Vocal
Little Willie G – Vocal
Juliette Commagere – Vocal
Ry Cooder – Guitar
Joachim Cooder – Drums, sampling
Jared Smith – Bass
David Hidalgo – Guitar
____________________________________________________________________
Thanks
The photographs of Don Normark set the mood. From Dana Cuff
came the story map and the guidance to read it right. Then I
just started showing up on doorsteps, something I never did
before. Everyone I met was happy to help, more than kind,
and I hope I may say that we had some real good times
together. My deepest thanks to one and all, Beto Arcos, Gene
Aguilera, Desi Barraza, Carolyn Kozo Cole and Glen Creason
of the Los Angeles Public Library Map and Photograph
Collections, Mike Davis, Phillip Ethington, Genie Guerard of
the Charles E. Young Research Library, Dan Guerrero, Mark
Guerrero, Carolyn Kelly, Michael C. McMillen, Ruben
Martinez, Michael Jacob Rochlin, Phillip Rodriguez, Tracey
Shiffman, Chris Strachwitz, Chuy Varela, Donna and Frank
Wilkinson. Paul Glass and Doris Hostetler at Provident
Financial, Macklam/Feldman Management, Candice Hanson,
Digital Fusion, Truetone Music.
At Nonesuch Records, Robert Hurwitz and David Bither
My special thanks to my family, Susan and Joachim, for their
interest, support, and insight into this project and other
topics not yet designated.
Finally, as always, saludos a todos los musicos. Who could
ask for anything more? Not I, friends and neighbors.
____________________________________________________________________
Produced by Ry Cooder
Recorded by Rail Jon Rogut at Village Records (Los Angeles,
CA) and Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, CA
Assisted by Okhi Kim and Pete Martinez
Additional recording by Jerry Boys, Sunny Levine, and Don
Smith at Sound City Studios, Orange Stella, and Capitol
Studios, Hollywood, CA
Mixed by Don Smith at Drive-By Studio, Los Angeles, CA
Digital Editing by Martin Prader
Mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen Mastering,
Hollywood, CA
Music Contracting by Leslie Morris
Dragnet Radio and The Original Dragnet samples courtesy of
Universal Studios Licensing, LLLP
Song translations by Chuy Varela and William Garcia
Management: Macklam/Feldman Management Inc.
Package Design: Tracey Shiffman
Album artwork: Front Cover and Jewel Cast insert
illustrations by Michael C. McMillen; background housing
plans by Robert C. Imbrecht; Pogo cartoon by Walt Kelly
© 2005 OGPI, used by permission, Chavez Ravine Study,
1948
Nonesuch Records
Production Supervision: Karina Beznicki
Production Coordinator: Eli Cane
Editorial Coordinator: Robert Edridge-Waks
Photography:
Peanuts © Tracey Shiffman Design; Pg. 1, Los Angeles
Times photo by Harry Chase; Pg. 2, map of Los Angeles, c.
1946, courtesy Los Angeles Public Library Map and Photo
Archive, Pg. 6, Hollywood Citizen-News Archive, courtesy of
Los Angeles Public Library, Pgs. 3, 8, 18, 19, 25, 34, 35 by
Don Normark, Pgs. 20-21, 48 by Susan Titelman; Pg. 14,
collection of Vince Delgado, Pgs. 16, 38, 39, courtesy of
the Arvizu family; Pg. 30 by James Kollar, collection of Don
Tosti; Pg. 51 by Nelson R. Farmer, collection of Little
Willie G.
