Photo: Cade Mullox / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Chicano Park sits in Barrio Logan, beneath the freeway ramps where Interstate 5 meets the San Diego–Coronado Bridge. It is one of the most important cultural sites in San Diego and one of the best-known public art sites in the country. Every September, as Mexico marks its independence, the park and the surrounding neighborhood are a natural gathering place.
How the park began
Barrio Logan was a large Mexican American neighborhood by the early 20th century. In the 1950s and ’60s it was cut apart by rezoning, the construction of Interstate 5 and then the bridge to Coronado, which opened in 1969. Residents had been promised a park. When bulldozers arrived on the site in April 1970 to build a California Highway Patrol station instead, neighbors occupied the land. The occupation began on April 22, 1970, and led to the land under the bridge becoming Chicano Park. The anniversary is celebrated each April as Chicano Park Day.
The murals
Starting in 1973, artists painted the bridge pillars and abutments with murals depicting Mexican and Chicano history, Indigenous imagery, labor struggles and local life. The collection has grown to dozens of murals, many restored in recent years. Chicano Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2017.
El Grito
Mexican Independence is commemorated on the night of Sept. 15 and on Sept. 16, recalling the “Grito de Dolores,” the call to revolt issued by the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1810. In Mexico, officials repeat the cry from balconies and plazas; in San Diego, community groups, consulates and cultural centers hold celebrations with music, dance and food in Barrio Logan and around the county.
Visiting
The park is open daily and free. The MTS Blue Line stops at Barrio Logan station a few blocks away. Nearby Logan Avenue is lined with galleries, shops and restaurants.
Source material: National Park Service: National Historic Landmarks program; Chicano Park Steering Committee.
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