Chicano (Park) Power
Members of Danza Mexicayotl perform under the arches of the MEChA mural at Chicano Park. Photo by Joe Orellana
In San Diego, an artist’s new masterwork cements the role of historic Chicano Park as a global icon and a monument to the city’s Latino community
Words by Roberto Camacho, @rob_camacho_SD. Edited by Ricardo Sandoval-Palos, @ricsand.
In many ways San Diego’s Chicano Park is a typical, urban public space: on most days — especially weekends — it’s filled with families enjoying the shaded picnic areas, the playgrounds, basketball courts, and even a tricked-out skate park.
The California landmark, however, is anything but typical. The 53-year-old park is located under a labyrinth of on-and-off ramps that connect Interstate 5 and the foot of the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, on the southern edge of the city’s downtown.
Chicano Park’s home is Barrio Logan, the city’s historically Latino community. Its iconic feature is a collection of murals that stand as a testament to “Chicano Power,” a catchphrase that drove a decades-long battle by mostly Mexican-American activists against urbanization and industrial encroachment that threatened to displace several square miles of working-class families already squeezed by junkyards, ship-building companies and a huge U.S. Navy base.
The park is the product of protest by one community that claimed its right to self-determination. Five decades later, it’s a municipal treasure, and its overwatch — Chicano Park Steering Committee (CPSC) — has a grant from the State of California to restore and finish its aging and uncompleted murals. The makeover is happening at a challenging time for the community: ethnic studies and Chicano and Latino history courses that challenge Eurocentric curricula are under attack. And the words diversity, equity and inclusion are twisted into pejoratives by owners of the status quo. So it’s a victory, of sorts, to see the park’s ambitious restoration project gain momentum and include some of the original artists who now get a chance to finally realize their artistic visions.
‘The grand vision from the beginning was to show the history of the Chicano community in a modern context.’
While murals throughout Southern California are being whitewashed by neglect or gentrification, the CPSC has taken steps to restore and preserve a radical legacy that speaks through the bold colors and surrealistic designs of Chicano Park’s storied murals.
(The word Chicano is thought to be rooted in the Nahuatl word “Mexica,” the original name of the people later called Aztecs by Spanish colonists. In the early 1900s the term was a common slur in the U.S. for people of Mexican descent before it was reclaimed in the 1960s by youth as a signal of camaraderie and empowerment.)
Today, completion of a new anchor mural signals the end of a decades-long effort to spruce up the park as a monument to the Chicano Movement, which grew out of the civil and student rights campaigns of the 1960s.
Chicano Park is also a National Historic Landmark and a global calling card for San Diego’s social diversity and eclectic arts scene. The massive new mural is dedicated to the student group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, known as MEChA. It was two decades in the making and celebrates the personalities, moments, and iconography of a movement that began with Cesar Chavez in California’s farm fields and spread to cities with student activists and the more radical Brown Berets.
Mural Restoration Project volunteers set up scaffolding in Chicano Park. Photo by Jesse Cannon
The first splashes of color for the anchor mural were applied in 2003 by muralist Jose Olague, who then periodically added details and touched up his masterwork in between his time as a teacher. This summer, the ambitious Mural Restoration Project revealed the efforts of a team of 65 people that helped Olague finish the 30-foot piece.
“The grand vision from the beginning was to show the history of the Chicano community in a modern context. The concept was always (to reflect) the resilience of the Chicano community in the Americas,” Olague said. After factoring in materials such as scaffolding, paints, brushes and sealant; as well as insurance and stipends for the artists who assisted Olague, the mural’s price tag hit $60,000 — part of the park’s overall restoration budget of $2.5 million.
There was no noticeable objection to the cost of the project, although some from the political right have bristled at portrayals of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro in an adjacent mural.
The MEChA mural is not the only addition to the park. Maira Meza, a San Diego native who describes herself as a Chicana artist and who also worked on the MEChA mural, is adding a new mural to a 12-foot section on the outer walls of the park’s restrooms. Meza is one in a wave of women muralists winning long-overdue credit for their contribution to the park. “Since the beginning of murals in Chicano Park, men muralists have been the ones to have the go-ahead on projects and acknowledgment,” Meza said. “It’s an awesome feeling that as time passes so are our old ways of thinking. Now there is starting to be a more proper way of acknowledging and letting the women muralist engage as a woman artist/muralist.”
Born of protest
Chicano Park was founded on April 22, 1970, when Barrio residents, a coalition of students and Brown Berets staged a 12-day people’s land takeover that succeeded in stopping the construction of a California Highway Patrol substation that was to stand on the land under the new bridge. The community had held the city of San Diego to its promise of building a public park for residents of Logan Heights.
Muralist Mario Torero restoring his mural “La Virgen,” one of the park’s original pieces of public art. Photo by Jesse Cannon
Today, massive concrete pillars that underpin the Coronado Bridge and once threatened to fracture the community are instead adorned with illustrious murals that residents credit for helping preserve the area’s Chicano identity.
As the world’s most extensive collection of outdoor murals, the art depicts pre-Columbian and early Mexican history, and the civil rights struggles of Chicanos in San Diego and across the U.S.
Unlike art that might be locked away in museums or on the walls of private galleries, the Chicano Park murals are accessible to anyone, anytime. But accessibility is also a challenge. Rain, dirt, and the harsh sun have taken a toll. That’s why the CPSC Mural Restoration Project kicked off an effort this summer to finally restore dozens of aged and uncompleted murals.
In an official statement, the park’s caretakers said:
“Our community, like many others throughout Aztlán (what Chicano and Indigenous mythology calls the southwest United States; the ancestral home of the Mexica nation) has served as the dumping grounds for the State and the City without any public input,” the CPSC said in a written statement. “The I-5 and Coronado Bridge divided our community and displaced thousands of residents while contributing to the pollution of our neighborhood. To this day we are still bearing the brunt for San Diego. With this history in mind we as the CPSC were able to successfully advocate for $2.5 million dollars in reparations from the State of California to atone for a history of neglect. With these funds, we will be able to restore over 20 Murals in Chicano Park so they may continue to educate and inspire our Raza to get involved in the Movimiento and keep Chicanismo alive.”
Young volunteers help artist German Corrales repaint a map key of Chicano Park’s murals. Photo by Jesse Cannon
In the park’s early days, artists used whatever materials they could get their hands on — from car paint to materials found in home garages. "Over time the murals start to deteriorate, even in some of the more recent murals you can see the damage already,” explained Lucas Cruz, Chairman of the CPSC. “A lot of the murals were fundraised by the artists themselves, so they might not have had the money for a great seal or the best paint, or they might even water down materials."
In 2022, Chicano Park’s Mural Advisory Committee surveyed space for potential new murals, and to determine which murals needed restoration.
Earlier work on some murals damaged by a major retrofit of the bridge span had been funded by a grant from California’s transportation agency (CalTrans). For the new and wholesale park restoration, the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center acted as a fiscal sponsor for money from various sources. Cruz ultimately hopes to have teams of artists and neighborhood volunteers complete the restoration of some 20 murals by June 2024.
A Mural Restoration Project volunteer prepares wall space for new art at Chicano Park’s playground. Photo by Jesse Cannon
The future is colorful
Although Chicano Park now receives unprecedented recognition and care, the appreciation is seen as a double-edged sword by residents concerned about being gradually priced out of their historically working-class community. Cruz lamented the unintended consequences of the park’s national historic landmark designation and the community's newly acquired status as a California Cultural District. “It's ultimately contributing to raising the rents. The national historic landmark status helps the park and community to some degree because it puts a lot more red tape and ensures that developers won't be able to expand certain things within the footprint of the historic site,” Cruz said. Although Cruz believes the historic landmark designation and the neighborhood’s cultural district status have benefited the park, he acknowledges that advocates have to be honest about how far these benefits can truly go. “The park is getting what it needs but what does that mean for the average resident?”
Barrio Logan faces more obstacles as it reconciles with welcomed economic growth and with fall out from gentrification. For now, however, the CPSC and the broader community have prioritized the preservation of their legendary and radical history as a springboard to the future. "Preservation is one of the most important things because it allows us to point to moments in time whether it's something recent or 500 years ago,” says Cruz. “It's a visual explanation of what's been happening to our communities, our people and our history which is often overlooked. So when people come to the park, they see themselves represented and there's a sense of pride."
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THE CHICANO PARK MURAL RESTORATION TEAM
The Chicano Park Mural Restoration Project would not be possible without the volunteers whose support helped drive the program:
Patricia Cruz, Raquel and Pedro Esquivias, Joni Nunez, Hector Villegas, Jesse Zamudio, Juan Arturo Granados Lopez, George Ramirez, Gabriela Simpkins, Eden Torres, Roberto Macias, Eddie Galindo, Alex Esparza, Joseph Castillo, Tonantzin Sanchez, Ramon Sanchez, Mauricio Sanchez, Albert Deras, Antonio Ledesma, Georgina Mercado, Armando and Jovanni Carmago, Javier Hernandez, Javier Rey Hernandez, Jhon and Marissa Monrreal, Daniel Acevedo, Jose Hernandez, Ricardo Murillo, Eduardo Pimentel, Samantha Sarzyniak, Jesse Cannon, Jonathan Aguirre, Sammy Salas, Viviana Lopez, Hector Esquivel, Miguel Pena, Maria Ramoz, Sarai Garcia, Saul Lopez, Crystal Rodriguez, Nadia Cruz Tapia, Nicholas Martinez, Brianna Carignan, Cesar Ploneda, Ray Flores, Juan Flores, Juan Caro, Christian Arreguin, German Corrales, Zoey Grande, Angel Herrera, Rafael Aguila, Jose Angel Diaz, Joe Velasco, David Coral, Juan Valenzuela, Caroline Carmago, Maira Meza, Tredesiderio Simmons, Adriana Torres, Lydia Castillo, Sebastian Garcia, Chyanne Valdovinos, Steven Monrreal, Charles Michel, Juan Carlos Lozano and all the brothers and sisters who’ve dedicated their lives for our sacred Chicano Park. C/S
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Roberto Camacho is a freelance Chicano journalist from San Diego, California. He is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. His reporting typically focuses on criminal justice reform, immigration, Chicano/Latino issues, Hip-Hop culture, and their intersections with social justice
Ricardo Sandoval-Palos is an award-winning investigative journalist and editor whose career has spanned four decades. In May, Ricardo was named Public Editor – ombudsman – for PBS, the nation’s leading public media outlet.