This page was created by Gina Leon. The last update was by Taylor Robertson.
Chicano Park
Integration of Schools and White FlightOriginally, Barrio Logan stretched to San Diego Bay, allowing waterfront access for residents but was later denied during World War II when naval ships blocked local access to the beach. Denying beachfront access was the initial cause of the community’s resentment of the government, which increased throughout the 1950s when the area was rezoned as mixed residential and industrial, bringing air pollution, loud noise, and uninhabitable living conditions for residents due to repair shops and junk dealers. In the 1960s, resentment continued to grow as the barrio was cleaved in two and families were displaced by Interstate 5 in 1963 and in 1969 for elevated onramps to the San-Diego Coronado Bridge.
Following the attempted construction of a highway patrol station in 1970, Barrio Logan residents and Chicano activists protested the development, occupying the land for twelve days in a non-violent land takeover until an agreement was reached between the community, state officials, and the city of San Diego to support the creation of a community park. During the occupation, community members planted trees and other plants as a way of claiming the land. “La Tierra Mia” is the slogan of Chicano Park. Mural painting commenced on the highway pylons in 1973 as local artists shaped the area’s aesthetic development through vibrant explosions of color and Pre-Columbian, colonial, modern, and contemporary imagery.
In the Great Wall of LA three supporting pillars with murals are shown. ¡Varrio Si, Yonkes No! is one of Chicano Park’s most famous murals and was painted by Rual Jaquez, Victor Ochoa, Victor, and community residents in 1978. Coatlicue, the Aztec Goddess of the Earth was painted by Michael Schnorr and Susan Yamagata in 1978. Chicano Pinto Union was painted by Tony De Vargas in 1978.
Since 1971, the Logan Heights community has gathered to celebrate the anniversary of Chicano Park on April 22. Residents share food, listen to mariachi music and political speeches, and watch baile folklórico performed by local youth. Chicano Park Day is a reminder of the community’s powerful political voice and many view the park as the first land reclaimed by Mexicans since the end of the Mexican-American War, a vindication for their Mexican and Indigenous ancestors from the nineteenth and sixteenth centuries respectively.
Sources:
Delgado, Kevin. “A Turning Point .” The Journal of San Diego History 44, no. 1 (1988). sandiegohistory.org/journal/1998/january/chicano-3/.
Díaz, Eduardo. “Fifty Years Ago, Fed up with the City’s Neglect, a San Diego Community Rose up to Create Chicano Park: Making Tierra Mía, says the director of the Smithsonian Latino Center, proved transformative in giving voice to the people.” Smithsonian Magazine, April 28, 2020. www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/fifty-years-ago-fed-citys-neglect-san-diego-community-rose-create-chicano-park-180974764/.
Fox, Maura. “Why Chicano Park Is One of San Diego’s Must-See Cultural Landmarks.” The California-Mexico Studies Center, Inc., April 19, 2023. www.california-mexicocenter.org/why-chicano-park-is-one-of-san-diegos-must-see-cultural-landmarks/.
SDSU Digital Humanities Center. “Chicano Park.” SDSU University Library Digital Humanities Center, 2023. https://exhibits.sdsu.edu/s/monumentsandmemory/page/chicanopark.
UCSD Library Digital Collections. “Chicano Park: Kiosko/Tenochtitlan: Artist Painting Gazebo Ceiling Mural.” UC San Diego Library | Digital Collections, 2021, library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb72389863.
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