Fifty years ago this week, Los Angeles voters narrowly OK'd a ballot measure approving the city's gift of land near Chavez Ravine for the Dodgers' Walter O'Malley to build his stadium. Proposition B only passed by 25,785 votes out of more than 677,000 cast, after a campaign in which opponents called it a give-away of public funds to benefit a private interest. The argument worked in the Valley, where all of the city council districts voted against the measure. The Valley hadn't even hit a million people by then, so the suburbs did not have the numbers to change the outcome. The Eagle Rock area also opposed the stadium, but nine council districts voted for it. Keith Thursby at the Daily Mirror blog has the numbers. Interesting observation: a commenter notes that Councilman Ed Roybal had been the most vocal opponent of the Dodgers, but his Eastside district approved the stadium overwhelmingly. He went on to a long career in Congress.

Spotted at Dodger Thoughts