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Chicano Park and the Chicano Park Murals: Barrio Logan, City of San Diego, California Author(s): Martin D. Rosen and James Fisher Source: The Public Historian, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Fall 2001), pp. 91-111 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the National Council on Public History Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/tph.2001.23.4.91 . Accessed: 06/10/2011 13:38

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The Public Historian, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 91–112 (Fall 2001). ISSN: 0272-3433 © 2001 by the Regents of the University of California and the

National Council on Public History. All rights reserved. Send requests for permission to reprint to Rights and Permissions, University of

California Press, 2000 Center St., Ste. 303, Berkeley, CA 94704-1223.

Chicano Park and the Chicano Park Murals: Barrio Logan,

City of San Diego, California

MARTIN D. ROSEN and JAMES FISHER

After the disastrous Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes of 1989 and 1994, respectively, then-Governor Pete Wilson mandated that the Califor- nia Department of Transportation (Caltrans) make the highway bridges of the state safe for the motoring public. Caltrans entered into a massive seismic strengthening program that has encompassed almost every type of bridge and highway-related cultural resource situation in the state. One of

MARTIN D. ROSEN prepared the Section 106 and PRC§5024 documentation for this project, including the Historic Property Survey Report, Historical Resources Compliance Report, and the Negative Archaeological Survey Report. He is the heritage resource coordinator and a district archaeologist for Caltrans District 11 in San Diego. Mr. Rosen’s education in- cludes a B.A. and M.A. in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a Registered Professional Archaeologist, with archaeological experience in California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Guatemala. He has authored some two dozen articles in his field and served as an editor of the Society for California Archaeology’s Proceedings for its first eight years, the last five of those as editorial chief. JAMES FISHER conducted the architectural/ historical resources inventory and the background research for the Historical Resource Evaluation Report on Chicano Park and the Chicano Park Murals. He is an architectural historian and historian with the California Department of Transportation, Environmental Program, Sacramento. Dr. Fisher’s education includes a B.A. and an M.A. in history from Sacramento State University, Sacramento, and a Ph.D. in history from State University of New York, Stony Brook. His experience includes three years as a state historian in the California Office of Historic Preservation, Department of Parks and Recreation; ten years with Caltrans working in cultural resources survey and Section 106 compliance; and twenty years of teaching U.S. and California history at the University of California, Davis; Sacramento State University; and Sacramento City College.

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the most challenging projects has involved the retrofit of the San Diego– Coronado Bay Bridge and its approach ramps. The bridge connects the cities of San Diego and Coronado across San Diego Bay (Figure 1). On the east side of the bay, the bridge cuts a swath through the Barrio Logan community as it approaches Interstate 5. Within that community lies Chicano Park, located under the bridge’s five approach ramps. The park is the site of monumental Hispanic mural art, which uses the bridge’s columns as its canvas.

Because the seismic retrofit project had to comply with federal and state laws regarding its impact on significant cultural resources, part of the process for this undertaking required researching and evaluating Chicano Park and the Chicano Park murals. Based on the authors’ research,1 the park and murals were found eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and for placement on the California Register of Historical Resources.2 Prior to the Caltrans undertaking, the murals had only been formally recognized by the City of San Diego Historical Site Board.

During the process of seismic retrofitting, however, Caltrans cultural resource staff evaluated the historic significance of the Chicano Park murals. As a result of this evaluation, Caltrans successfully determined the murals, all under fifty years old, to be eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. This essay examines this unusual combination of circumstances that led to the formal recognition of Latino art in San Diego as an important cultural resource.

Located in southwest San Diego some 17 miles from the United States- Mexico border, Logan Heights was once a predominantly upper-middle- class community known as the East End. It was annexed to San Diego in the late 1880s, and its name was changed to Logan Heights in 1905. It is one of San Diego’s oldest communities and the location of one of the longest established Mexican-American (“Chicano” hereafter) communities in San Diego County. Barrio Logan quickly took on a separate community flair with a distinctively Latino identity and came to represent a major center for Chicano culture and social activities.

As commerce and industry began developing along the bay during and after the turn of the century, Barrio Logan prospered and continued to increase in population through World War II. When the war ended, however, much of the area’s employment ended as well. Later, in the 1950s, the city of San Diego

1. James Fisher, Historic Research Evaluation Report for the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge [#57-857], Chicano Park and the Chicano Park Murals, San Diego County (Sacra- mento: California Department of Transportation, 1996). Martin D. Rosen, Historic Property Survey Report, San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, Seismic Retrofit Project 4; 11-SD-75, P.M. R21.9/R22.3, 021941 (San Diego: California Department of Transportation, 1997). Martin D. Rosen, Historical Resources Compliance Report, San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, Seismic Retrofit Project 4; 11-SD-75, P.M. R21.9/R22.3, 021941 (San Diego: California Department of Transportation, 1998).

2. Chicano Park and the Chicano Park murals were found eligible for the National Register and placed on the California Register on January 31, 1997.

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revamped its zoning laws. Property in Barrio Logan was changed from strictly residential to mixed use, allowing the influx into the community of auto junk yards and wrecking operations and other light industrial plants. The cumulative effect of these land use policies resulted in the dislocation of families, business closures, and the construction of transportation facilities that required more and more land in the area. Barrio Logan’s population decreased precipitously, and by 1979, had fallen from a pre-war high of 20,000 to about 5,000.3

3. Pamela Jane Ferree, The Murals of Chicano Park, San Diego, California (unpublished M.A. thesis, San Diego State University, 1994), 26. Alan W. Barnett, Community Murals: The People’s Art (Philadelphia: The Art Alliance Press, 1984), 107.

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In the early 1960s, the construction of Interstate 5 severed Barrio Logan from the larger community of Logan Heights. Then the San Diego- Coronado Bay Bridge, constructed between 1967 and 1969 and sited in an east-west direction to link with Interstate 5, further bisected the barrio, essentially “completing the devastation,” according to long-time community activist Al Ducheny.4

Chicano Park is a 7.4-acre park located in San Diego City’s Barrio Logan beneath the east-west approach ramps of the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge where the bridge intersects Interstate 5. The park’s main section is bounded by Interstate 5 to the east and National Avenue to the west, with a smaller pan-handle section extending from National Avenue to Newton Avenue and flanked to the south by Dewey Street (Figure 2). The park was created in 1970 after residents in Barrio Logan participated in an April 22nd

“takeover” of land that was being prepared for a substation of the California Highway Patrol. Since 1970, Barrio residents have made extensive use of their new park for social and political events. Annually, on the Saturday nearest April 22nd, the Latino community of San Diego and the Barrio Logan neighborhood have celebrated the founding of Chicano Park with feasting, speeches, music, and dancing. The park’s facilities include children’s play- grounds, restrooms, a Kiosko or dance pavilion, a ceremonial kiva, sculp- tures, a water fountain, picnic areas, multi-purpose courts, open play lawns, a raised plaza, and two small parking areas accessed from Logan Avenue and National Avenue.

Chicano Park is distinguished by approximately forty prominent murals painted on twenty-four concrete pillars (columns or bents) and two abut- ments sited throughout the park area, which support the San Diego end of the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge. The murals depict images of Mexican pre-Columbian gods, myths and legendary icons, botanical elements, ani- mal imagery, the Mexican colonial experience, revolutionary struggles, cultural and spiritual reaffirmation through the arts, Chicano achievements, identity and bicultural duality as symbolized in the search for the “indig- enous self,” Mexican and Chicano cultural heroes and heroines such as La Adelita, Cesar Chavez, Father Miguel Hidalgo, Che Guevara, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and scenes based on contemporary Chicano civil rights history.

Because the evaluated properties, Chicano Park and its murals, are less than fifty years old, they had to meet National Register of Historic Places

4. Michael Granberry, “20 Years Later, Span is Loved and Loathed,” Los Angeles Times, 2 August 1989. Also see: Patrick McDonnell, “City Urged to Use Coronado Bridge Tolls for Barrio Logan Projects,” Los Angeles Times, 20 October 1990; Barnett, Community Murals, 107. It should be noted that the Interstate 5 and State Route 75 construction projects of the 1960s were implemented at a time prior to the enactment of NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act), CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), or the National Uniform Reloca- tion Act, which today helps to protect communities from the potentially devastating and disruptive impacts caused by major public improvement projects.

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Criterion Consideration G: Properties That Have Achieved Significance Within the Last Fifty Years, as well as the National Register Criteria for Evaluation, in order to be found eligible for the National Register.5 The National Register generally excludes properties less than fifty years old

5. National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation (U.S. Department of The Interior, National Park Service, Interagency Resources Division, Washington, D.C.), 41–43.

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unless those properties possess exceptional significance. The intent of the time limit is to ensure that sufficient historical perspective has been devel- oped to identify properties of enduring importance and avoid listing prop- erties of only passing contemporary interest. At the same time, the National Register provides for recognition of properties from the recent past when sufficient historical perspective and scholarly comparative analysis exist and can justify a finding of exceptional significance. Prototype transportation facilities, homes of important writers and artists, significant scientific re- search facilities, outstanding examples of modern architecture, extraordi- nary folk art, early examples of icons of popular culture, and properties associated with major themes of the recent past, such as the exploration of space, the civil rights movement, and cold war relics, are among the varied properties under fifty years old that have been listed on or determined eligible for listing on the National Register.

Barrio Logan’s Chicano Park was found eligible for the National Register under Criterion A at the local level of significance due to its critical association with the Chicano Civil Rights Movement and events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of the City of San Diego’s political and social history.6 The creation of the park has been recognized as a major defining moment in the history and development of the Barrio Logan community.

The Chicano Park Murals, even younger than the park, were also found eligible for listing on the National Register under Criterion A at the local level of significance for their association (1) with political and cultural activities identified with the Chicano Civil Rights Movement and (2) with a growing recognition of the significance of muralism in mainstream art endeavors. The murals have deep transcendent values and constitute a historic resource for which the Barrio Logan community has an unusually strong associative attachment. The importance of the Chicano Park murals has been underscored by local, national, and international recognition of their artistic and social value.

After the earthquakes, Caltrans was committed to find a way to retrofit the bridge and ramps to achieve increased public safety, while at the same time, protect the murals as significant community resources. The fact that Chicano Park and its murals were less than fifty years old was not of supreme

6. The National Register criteria, as cited in 36CFR§60.4, state that the quality of signifi- cance in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and (Criterion A) that are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or (Criterion B) that are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or (Criterion C) that embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or (Criterion D) that have yielded or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

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importance. Even if they had not been found eligible for the National and California registers, Caltrans was determined to limit the adverse impacts that the project might have on the subject resources. From the very beginning of the project, community input was actively solicited and inte- grated into project proposals and such input was viewed as vital in the successful implementation of the undertaking. Consequently, the engi- neers’ initial and standard retrofit technique of wrapping the columns in steel cylinders and in-filling with concrete was completely unacceptable because it would have destroyed the murals. The engineers were tasked to develop an alternative that would achieve the seismic goals of the project and preserve the murals. The resultant strategy involved work in the diaphragm areas above the columns, where the bridge deck meets the tops of the columns, and around the bent footings below ground, thereby leaving the column faces untouched (Figure 3). Only one mural in the park, located on Bent G46, was painted above the columns into the diaphragm area, that being Death of the Farm Worker by Michael Schnorr. For the affected mural, about 30 percent of its total surface will be recreated by Mr. Schnorr after construction. Scaffolding will be provided to Mr. Schnorr for this purpose and then donated to the park for future mural projects. (A fairly complete listing of the murals, their dates of construction and original artists, is presented in Appendix A.)

To ensure mural protection during construction, Caltrans hired art conservator Molly Lambert to oversee the contractor’s operations. The contractor was also required to hire art conservators to prepare a mural protection plan and develop the protection strategies. That work was undertaken by Donna Williams and Aneta Zabata. Photographer Phillipp Rittermann and Ms. Lambert completely photo-documented the murals prior to construction to provide a comparative record of before-and-after conditions to make sure the murals were not damaged during the retrofit process. To date the project is nearly seventy-five percent completed, and so far no mural damage has been detected.

With community input, Chicano Park itself is being enhanced to include a new children’s playground, additional landscaping, new decorated walk- ways (hardscaping), benches, picnic tables, shade structure, barbeques, lighting, electrical outlets, and irrigation. It is Caltrans’ intent to leave the park in much better condition than when it arrived.

Even though this project was not a federal undertaking, Caltrans still had to fulfill its cultural resource requirements under state law (PRC§5024.5). Caltrans’ cultural resource process closely follows Section 106 of the Na- tional Historic Preservation Act, as promulgated in 36CFR§800. The pro- cess involved defining the project limits, or what is known as the Area of Potential Effects (APE). Cultural resources within the APE were invento- ried and evaluated for their potential eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register of Historical Resources, or both. Finally, determinations were made on how the project affected those

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resources deemed significant. It is Caltrans’ policy to avoid adverse effects first, minimize effects second, and consider mitigation as the last resort. Given that the project was only going to effect a portion of one mural, and as mitigation that affected portion was going to be recreated by the original artist, Caltrans avoided causing an adverse effect to the park and murals through its redesign efforts.

The present authors began their studies by researching Chicano Park history and the history of the murals in the park. To place the resources in their proper context, the importance of muralism in mainstream art and in

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particular to Latino/Chicano cultural heritage had to be researched and documented. A significant body of literature was reviewed in this respect. Numerous oral interviews were conducted with muralists and other activists who have been actively involved with Chicano Park since its founding. Libraries in both San Diego and Sacramento were utilized and newspaper archival materials were particularly useful. Through these efforts it became quite apparent that Chicano Park and it murals were significant cultural resources even though they were less than fifty years old. The authors had no trouble developing an argument in favor of significance. The authors’ roles involved analyzing all the various cultural resources studies conducted for the project, including the Chicano Park and mural evaluations, prehis- toric and historic archaeological surveys, bridge evaluations, historic build- ing surveys, and underwater archaeological surveys, and synthesized them in a report for State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) review. In the formal submittal to the SHPO, Caltrans requested concurrence that the park and the murals be found eligible for the National and California registers. The authors continue to work with the Chicano Park Steering Committee to help secure future funding for mural restoration projects.

At the same time the cultural resource efforts were underway, other Caltrans staff, mostly from the environmental (Geralda Stryker) and land- scape architecture (Tom Ham and Beth Hall) departments, continued to meet with the community to share information with them about the project and to seek their input on the kinds of park amenities they desired. The project was quite complicated in terms of construction staging, as Caltrans wanted to minimize the impact of the project on the public’s use of the park. As the engineers continued to develop the strategy that allowed for seismic retrofitting work while leaving the bridge columns relatively untouched, Project Manager Ramon Ruelas, Project Engineer Carlos Cortez, and Project Resident Engineer Dennis Wilder helped tremendously to ensure that the environmental commitments were carried through during con- struction.

Political Activism and Muralism

Since at least 1967, many residents in Barrio Logan had believed that they would be given some land for a park. On April 22, 1970, the formal struggle for a park in Barrio Logan began when José Gomez, a long-time resident of the neighborhood, and students, families, and children occupied the land under the approach ramps of the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, after they learned that a California Highway Patrol station would be built there. Between 250 and 500 people representing a wide cross-section of the community disrupted grading work that was already in progress. They occupied the site for twelve days and demanded that a park be created

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immediately. To emphasize their point, the occupiers began the work of creating a park by using shovels, pickaxes, hoes, and rakes to prepare the ground for the planting of grass, shrubs, and flowers.7 Forming the Chicano Park Steering Committee, the activists demanded that the property be donated to the Mexican-American community as a park in which Hispanic culture could be expressed through art.8

Community activists withdrew from the disputed land only after city officials promised negotiations regarding the use of the land. San Diego City Councilman Leon Williams, whose district included Barrio Logan, assured the neighborhood residents that they would have a city park under the Coronado Bridge. The City of San Diego, through the efforts of community spokeswoman Angie Avila and others, finally negotiated a settlement with the Chicano Federation, a consortium of various community groups, and the Chicano Park Steering Committee that required the city to exchange city-owned land for the disputed state land. The city would then build a 4.5- acre park (eventually to be expanded to a total of 7.4 acres) on the acquired land bounded by Logan Avenue and National Avenue. The creation of the park was a major defining moment in the history of the Barrio Logan community.9

The civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s inspired a revival of muralism, as did the Mexican Revolution of the 1920s and the New Deal of the 1930s; however, the differences are crucial. Modern Chicano muralism was generally not government sponsored. It grew out of a desire for change and was typically centered in barrios and ghettos of inner cities. Muralism inspired efforts to reclaim a community’s cultural heritage and was used as a means to develop individual and community self-pride. Murals were an expression of collective vision and tended to link the artists to the people to shape content in the genre of social realism. Techniques were consciously developed to allow non-artists to participate and paint their own murals. Indeed, community participation underscored community empowerment

7. Armando Acuna, “Saving a Slice of Chicano Park,” Los Angeles Times, 4 June 1989. Philip Brookman, “Looking for Alternatives: Notes on Chicano Art, 1960-90,” in Richard Griswold del Castillo, Teresa McKenna, and Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, eds., Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965–1985 (University of California, Los Angeles: Wright Art Gallery, 1991), 185–86. Brookman, “El Centro Cultural De La Raza: Fifteen Years,” in Brookman and Guillermo Gomez-Peña, eds., Made in Aztlan: Centro Cultural De La Raza Fifteenth Anniver- sary (1986), 20. “Work Halted by State At CHP Site Near Bridge,” San Diego Tribune, 23 April 1970. Titus Fisher, “City Holds Fate of Park for Chicanos,” San Diego Tribune, 24 April 1970. “State ‘Hold’ Grant Delay Affect Park,” San Diego Tribune, 4 March 1971. Nancy Ray, “Chicanos Vacate Bay Bridge Site,” San Diego Union, 1 May 1970. “Council Okays Bay Park Agreement,” San Diego Tribune, 12 November 1971. Bill Callahan, “Bay Bridge Art Shows Its Age,” San Diego Tribune, 28 March 1984.

8. Acuna, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 1989. Brookman, “Looking for Alternatives,” 185–86. Brookman, “El Centro Cultural,” 20. “Work Halted by State at CHP Site Near Bridge,” “Looking for Alternatives”; Fisher, “City Holds Fate.”

9. Angie Avila, legislative analyst and long-time Barrio Logan resident, interview with authors, San Diego, 13 March 1996.

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and its involvement in politics. Chicana muralist Judy Baca, founder of the arts organization known as SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center) and a major Los Angeles exponent of the mural art form, noted: “Chicano murals have influenced international muralism greatly and contributed to the shift in emphasis from Mexico to the United States as the center of mural production in the world.”10

Agreeing, Eva Sperling Cockcroft, muralist and author of Towards a People’s Art (1977), one of the first comprehensive studies of the commu- nity mural movement, concluded: “Nowhere did the community-based mural movement take firmer root than in the Chicano communities of California. With the Mexican mural tradition as part of their heritage, murals were a particularly congenial form for Chicano artists to express their collective vision of their community.”11 Not surprisingly, California has more murals than any other part of the United States. The revival of muralism in the barrio was a reaction to such contemporary concerns as high levels of gang and drug violence, restrictive employment opportunities, English-only laws, and a lack of political power in spite of an ever-increasing population base.12

The height of Chicano political activism occurred between 1969 and 1975 and not only dictated the specific social and economic issues the movement dealt with, but also coincided with the most productive period of Chicano muralism. Certainly this was the historical context in which the Chicano Park murals fit. Such grass-root muralism was generally funded by the artists themselves, local businesses, or community social and arts cen- ters, and projected the themes of Chicano nationalism and cultural identity.

In keeping with a long tradition of Mexican art as resistance, murals became the art form of choice, silent sentiments and creative yearnings that were vivid and eye-catching, explosions of lights that vanquished the shad- ows while merging the past and the future with the present. They spoke to the ever-increasing social consciousness of the barrio and Chicano sensibili- ties and reflected issues and symbols that ranged from Aztec icons to the United Farm Workers’ black eagle, combining the Spanish and Indigenous heritage, a significant source of California’s history. Most of the murals were painted between 1973 and 1980.13

10. Judy Baca, in Preface to Eva Sperling Cockcroft and Holly Barnet-Sanchez, eds., Signs From the Heart: California Chicano Murals (Venice, Calif.: Social and Public Art Resource Center, 1990), 1.

11. Cockcroft and Barnet-Sanchez, Signs from the Heart, 1, 9–10. Cockcroft et al., Towards a People’s Art (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1977).

12. Nicolas Kanellos, The Hispanic Almanac: From Columbus to Corporate America (Detroit: Gale Research, 1993), 358.

13. Ron Buckley, “City of San Diego Historical Site Board Register, #143” (unpublished San Diego Historical Site Board documentation, 1980), 2. Raul Jaquez, artist, interview with authors, San Diego, 1 March 1996. Salvador Torres, artist, interview with authors, San Diego, 29 February 1996. José Montoya, poet, artist, musician, Professor of Art, California State University, Sacramento, interview with authors, 10 March 1996.

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From the mid-1970s to the 1980s, muralism gained wider acceptance outside the barrios and was even introduced to audiences at more traditional art galleries. Books on murals were published, conferences held on the subject, and artists from other countries began to sing the praises of Aztlan muralists. In 1983, the quarterly magazine Community Muralists began publishing.14 By this time, new social and artistic themes served to augment the traditional symbols of the farmworkers’ black eagle flag, the Virgin of Guadalupe, the maguey agave (symbol of renewal), and pre-Columbian images of Quetzalcoatl and pyramids.15

Cockcroft believed that muralism gained a new vitality in the 1980s due to opposition to the rise of political conservatism in the United States and the military involvement of the United States in Central America, namely Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and the “war on drugs” program in South America.16 A growing Chicano population and emerging political power in the southwest helped to define social issues such as bilingualism in educa- tion, immigration, and trade. Through its own visual appeal, innate power, and innovative character, Chicano art at this time displayed an ability to cross over into the mainstream of society in spite of its often intense political content. The Chicano Civil Rights Movement attacked the stereotypes that maintained that barrio art was “folk” art and that true artistic recognition had to come through assimilation into the mainstream culture.

According to Marcos Sanchez-Tranquilino:

Chicano art is currently entering its “appreciation” period as it gains increased acceptance in the larger art market. It is highly valued for the art market as a new source of color, form, imagery, and text. However, the understanding of it can only be achieved through analysis of its historical roots and development. Paradoxically, its certified roots (through social art histories) in social resistance will increase its value in the market place. Chicanos, both artists and non-artists, in addition to everyone else in this country, are having to reformulate the contexts of their identities as the demands of living in an increasingly publicly acknowledged multi-cultural society begins to seriously impinge upon hard-earned recent social positionings.17

Chicano Park Murals

On March 23, 1973, mural making in Chicano Park began in earnest. Two teams of Chicano artists, Los Toltecas en Aztlan, from the Centro Cultural

14. Cockcroft and Barnet-Sanchez, Signs from the Heart, 13. 15. Shifra Goldman, “How, Why, Where, and When It All Happened: Chicano Murals in

California,” in Cockcroft and Barnet-Sanchez, Signs from the Heart, 33–34. Cockcroft and Barnet-Sanchez, Signs from the Heart, 14. Brookman, 1986, 40. Cesar Martinez, “Unpublished Statement,” in Griswold del Castillo et al., Chicano Art, 22.

16. Cockcroft and Barnet-Sanchez, Signs from the Heart, 16, 100. 17. Jacinto Quirate, Mexican American Artists (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1973), 68.

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de la Raza (Balboa Park) and El Congreso de Artistas Chicanos en Aztlan, began to apply paint to the concrete abutments of the bridge’s off-ramps flanking the east and west sides of Logan Avenue. On May 13, 1973, the San Diego Tribune took notice of the Chicano Park art project:

Their names are Mexican, so is their art. They paint on concrete. Work began on the bridge columns a month ago and many may not be completed for years. The City has granted artists permission to paint the concrete walls and pillars under the Coronado Bridge from southeast San Diego to the Coronado Bay. The walls are washed, then treated with an acid and primer. When dry, charcoal sketches are made and then filled with acrylic paints. . . . They said their work reflects, “our thinking, our background, the barrio, the struggle, la Raza (the Mexican people).”18

The murals in Chicano Park were executed over an extended period of time and in three main phases. The first phase of mural making, 1973–1974, involved two Chicano art collectives (noted above), Los Toltecas en Aztlan and El Congreso de Artistas Chicanos en Aztlan, and the work emphasized pre-Columbian motifs and the “dominance of Chicano nationalism and spontaneity in the imagery portrayed.”19 For example, the first phase murals include Quetzalcoatl (1973), Historical Mural (1973), and Children’s Mural (1973). Cockcroft notes that essentially this first phase represented the “possessing [of] the park, marking it with the placa or logo, of the commu- nity.”20

The second phase in 1974–1975 included invited artists from communities throughout California, most notably Los Angeles and Sacramento. An infusion of new ideas resulted from this period. These second phase murals include Chicano Park Logo (1974) / Rage of La Raza (1974) (see cover of this issue), Cosmic Clowns (1974), Tree of Life (1974), Allende (1974), Birth of La Raza (1974), Chuco/Homeboy (1974), Colossus (1974), Leyes (1975), Mandala (1975), Mujer Cosmica (1975), and Female Inteligencia (1975).

The third mural phase, 1977–1981, celebra ted a resurgence in com- munity pride by, for example, questioning the inordinate number of junkyards in the barrio and their visual and audio impacts on the quality of life. Marked by a twenty-day Mural Marathon organized by Victor Ochoa in 1978, this third phase utilize d the skills of some non-Chicanos and pla ced e mphasis on edu cational and historical th eme s. Ron Buckley, of the San Diego Historical Site Board, described this phase of the park murals as “art forms that represent the past history and culture of the Mexican-American community of the Barrio....”21 Examples of the third phase murals include: Varrio Si, Yonkes No! (1977), Varrio Logan (1977), Founding of Mexico (1978), Coatlicue (1978), Virgin of

18. Lee Grant, “Chicano Artists Go to the Walls,” San Diego Union, 13 May 1973. 19. S. Torres, interview with authors, 29 February 1996. 20. Eva Sperling Cockcroft, “The Story of Chicano Park,” Aztlan 15 (Spring 1984), 79–103. 21. Buckley, “City of San Diego,” 1.

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Guadalupe (1978), Los Gran des y Frida (1978), Roc ks to Huelga (1978), Che (1978), Chicano Pinto Union (1978), Sueño Serpiente (1978) , and Aztec Arc her (1981).22

Unlike the creation of the majority of the murals in the 1970s, the few done in the 1980s and early 1990s were accomplished under a set criteria of need, ability, subject matter, and the availability of funding. Examples include Sunburst (1986), Ball Player (1987), UFW Grapes (1988), San Diego People, Thanks from Yokohama (1990), and Tribute to Roger Lucero (1993).

By early 1984, a group of artists led by Salvador Torres and Mario Torero and members of the Chicano Park Arts Committee began the work of touching up the murals. Due to the fact that mural life is about ten years, maintenance is important. In 1991, the California Department of Transpor- tation trained numerous artists in repair techniques.23

It was the vision of individual artists and others that initiated the painting of murals on the huge, sterile columns that dominated the park site (see

Tree of Life (mural, 1974/1992). Original artists: Felipe Adame, Guillermo Aranda, and Arturo Roman. Located on bridge Bent T46 in Chicano Park. (Photograph by Martin D. Rosen, November 1999)

22. Ferree, “Murals of Chicano Park,” 40. Leonel Sanchez, “Murals Reflect Barrio’s Step Into Activism,” San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 April 1995. S. Torres, interview with author, 29 February 1996.

23. Ann Jarmusch, “Restoration Begins on Chicano Park Murals,” San Diego Tribune, 29 August 1991. Salvador Torres and Gloria Torres, artists, interview with authors, San Diego, 29 February 1996.

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Appendix A). They envisioned “a seemingly endless canvas, stretching to the waters of the bay four blocks away,” an opportunity to transform and “personalize” the dreary concrete landscape. The artists would crystallize David Siqueiros’ description of murals, that they must be “monumental

Mujer Cosmica (mural, 1975). Original artists: Esteban Villa and Ricardo Favela. Located on Bridge Bent S45 in Chicano Park. (Photograph by Martin D. Rosen, November 1999)

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and realistic,” and the Chicano Park murals would be “bigger than life itself.”24

By the late 1970s, nearly every major Chicano muralist in California and the Southwest, by invitation and inclination, had participated in the making of Chicano Park murals. For example, Rupert Garcia, internationally known painter from Stockton and San Francisco, designed the tribute mural to Diego Rivera, Clemente Orozco, David Siqueiros, and Frida Kahlo. The Royal Chicano Air Force from Sacramento, led by José Montoya Esteban Villa and Juanishi Orosco, placed its grand contributions on the park’s columns, as did muralist Charles “Cat” Felix, Jr., the driving force behind the acclaimed Estrada Courts murals in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles in 1973.

The development of Chicano Park and its murals remains an ongoing process (“a work in progress,” in the words of Salvador Torres).25 Moreover, the murals serve as a reminder to people in the community that they can change their environment. Victor Ochoa emphasized that the “community needs the murals to speak up on certain issues.”26 Larry Baza, executive director of Centro Cultural de La Raza in Balboa Park, suggested that “murals are illustrated sentiments” designed to overcome the limitations of

Sueño Serpiente (mural, 1978/1989/1991). Original artists: Soccoro Gamboa, Felipe Adame, and Roger Lucero. Located on Bent R43 in Chicano Park. (Photograph by Martin D. Rosen, November 1999)

24. David Alfaro Siqueiros, “Art and Revolution” (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1975), 18. 25. S. Torres, interview with authors, 29 February 1996. 26. Jarmusch, “Restoration Begins.”

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Tribute to Roger Lucero (mural, 1993). Original artist: Mario Torero. Located on Bridge Bent F42 in Chicano Park. (Photograph by Martin D. Rosen, November 1999)

physical conditions and non-literacy.27 Since 1973, the murals have become the icons they depict. Their maintenance involves the city, the people of the barrio, and especially the artists, who are continuing their work on the pillars of the bridge.

The authors have been intimately involved in the project since its inception in 1995. The senior author first visited Chicano Park that year, even though he had lived in San Diego since 1980. All it took was one visit to the park to convince him that the murals were a significant resource worthy of nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. His enthusiasm was equally shared by the junior author, who at the request of Caltrans District 11, undertook the task of developing the arguments necessary for the park and its murals to be found significant, even though they were less than fifty years old. Once the research was committed to paper and presented to the California State Historic Preservation Officer, no one ever asserted that the murals and the park were not eligible for the National Register. Quite to the contrary, at every step in the process, enthusiasm for the resources was unbounded. Caltrans engineers very early realized that the traditional seismic retrofit approach, wrapping the col- umns in concrete, would not work for Chicano Park. The murals could not be harmed. That was Caltrans’ rallying cry, from all divisions, right up to the

27. Larry Baza, Director, Centro Cultural de la Raza, interview with authors, San Diego, 16 February 1996.

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District 11 Director, Gary Gallegos, who stated that “the murals must be protected at all costs.”

Caltrans went to extraordinary efforts to see to it that the murals would be protected. The project contract contained stipulations that the contractor had to hire art conservators to assist in the development of mural protection guidelines. Caltrans then hired its own art conservator and photographer to review the contractor’s plans and to photo-document the murals prior to construction. It has been almost two years since seismic retrofit work commenced, and there has not been a single instance of reported mural damage due to construction activities.

Caltrans routinely deals with archaeological sites, historical bridges, and houses, but never before had it dealt with mural art. Every step in the process involved treading new ground and an unprecedented level of community participation. Caltrans, to be sure, was trying to make up for past sins, for those days when nothing stood in the way of building new freeways. Barrio Logan was just one of hundreds of communities nation- wide that felt the brunt of the nation’s efforts to establish its interstate highway system.

The Barrio Logan neighborhood, itself, does not provide a completely safe haven for the murals. Pigeon roosting has actually increased as a consequence of the retrofit project. Their guano is now causing damage to both murals and new hardscaping placed around bridge columns. It must be dealt with. Valiant efforts on the part of many will be undone unless this problem is corrected.

Graffiti has increased, even as the park has been enhanced. There seems to be a greater disconnection among the barrio’s youth and these magnifi- cent murals. Tagging threatens the murals, and protective measures must be implemented. New park lighting fixtures are broken, almost as soon as they are put up. The homeless, moved from neighboring downtown envi- ronments as a result of redevelopment have taken up residence in the park. Garbage from adjacent businesses encroaches as both Caltrans (responsible for the freeway rights-of-way) and the City of San Diego (responsible for the park grounds) struggle to maintain the park’s appearance and amenities.

Many of the murals are now approaching 30 years of age, without having ever gone through any significant restoration in their lifetime. Many of them were not originally applied with longevity and their future historical impor- tance in mind. They desperately need work. To this end, Caltrans is seeking federal, state, and city grant funding for their restoration. The Chicano Park Steering Committee is taking an active role in helping to prioritize the murals most urgently in need of work. Together, it is hoped that many of the problems that face the park and its murals can be solved so that these valuable cultural resources survive into the future.

Everyone involved in the seismic retrofit project has considered the murals to be important works of art. The park has been viewed as an outdoor

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museum, and the bridge columns as the canvases upon which that art has been rendered. While standing in Chicano Park surrounded by these monumental works of art, one feels that one is looking at San Diego’s version of the Sistine Chapel. Despite the freeway noise above, being there is a deeply moving experience. Although the seismic project is almost com- pleted, much more work needs to be done to ensure that these beautiful murals are protected and saved for future generations.

Appendix A Murals in Chicano Park

Bent Original Title, Date of Completion/ No. Artist(s) Renovation(s)

T47 Mario Torero, Mano Lima, Colossus, 1974/1989 Laurie Manzano

T47 Manuel Parsons Logan Cross T47 Manuel Parsons Four Decades T47 (this mural is not located on bent T47, (painted whale) but immediately to the northeast of it) T46/L Gato Felix Los Niños del Mundo, 1975 T46 Grupo de Santana Birth of La Raza, 1974/1992 T46 Felipe Adame Rocks to Huelga, 1978/1992 T46 Felipe Adame Chuco/Homeboy, 1974/1992 T46 Felipe Adame, Guillermo Aranda, Tree of Life, 1974/1992

Arturo Roman T46 Community collaboration Indian Dancer T45 Arturo Singh Woman with Flag, 1975 T45 RCAF; poem by Joann Little I Am Somebody, 1975 T45 Jose Montoya & Royal Chicano Leyes, 1975

Air Force (RCAF): Ricardo Favela, Esteban Villa, Juanishi Orosco, Louie “The Foot” Gonzalez

T45 Celia Rodriguez, Irma Lerma Female Inteligencia, 1975 Barbosa, Antonia Mendoza, Rosalina Balaciosos, Barbara Desmangles & volunteers; music by Javier Pacheco

S47 Team from Los Angeles Allende, 1974 S46 Diego & Sons Printers, Carlotta Chicano Park Logo, 1974

Hernandez Mario Torero Rage of La Raza, 1974

S46 CACA (Congreso de Artistos Cosmic Clowns, 1974/1992 Chicanos en Aztlan: Mario Torero, Pablo de la Rosa, Tomas Castañeda, Felipe Barboza)

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S45 Juanishi Orosco Mandala, 1975 S45 Esteban Villa, Ricardo Favela Mujer Cosmica, 1975 S45 RCAF La Familia, 1975 S42/L Mi Raza Primera R45 Vidal Aguirre Aztec Archer, 1987 R45 Victor Ochoa & team Varrio Logan, 1977 R44 Raul Espinoza, Michael Schnorr Huelga Eagle, 1978/1991 R44 Victor Ochoa Che, 1978 R44 Victor Ochoa & students Mexican History, 1978/1991 R43 Soccoro Gamboa, Felipe Adame, Sueno Serpiente, 1978/1989/1991

Roger Lucero R43 Felipe Adame Aztec Warrior, 1978 R42/L/R Hasta La Bahia H46 Michael Schnorr, Victor Ochoa, Voz Libre, P.H. Gonzalez, 1984

Guillermo Rosete, Yasue Doudera, Carlos Esparza

H45 Michael Schnorr Undocumented Worker, 1980 G49 Vidal Aguirre, Alvaro Millan UFW Grapes, 1988 G48 Vidal Aguirre Ball Player, 1987 G47 Low Rider Council G46 Michael Schnorr, Susan Yamagata Death of the Farm Worker, 1979 G46 Raul Jose Jacquez, Alvaro Millan, Varrio Sí, Yonkes No!, 1977/1989

Victor Ochoa, Armando Rodriguez G45 Susan Yamagata, Michael Schnorr Coatlicue, 1978 G45 Mario Torero Virgen de Guadalupe, 1978 G44 Tony de Vargas Chicano Pinto Union, 1978 G44 Rupert Garcia, Victor Ochoa Los Grandes y Frida, 1978 G43 Felipe Adame La Adelita, 1978 G43 Tomas Castañeda, Roger Lucero Chicano Park Takeover, 1978/1991 G29 Laura Rodriguez F44 Octavio Gonzalez O.G. Mural, 1978 F44 Yolanda Lopez & Mujeres Chicanas/Escuelas, 1978

Muralistas de San Diego: Julietta A. Garcia-Torres, Cecilia De La Torre, Rosa De La Torre, Eva C. Craig

F43 Dolores Serrano-Velez Nacamiento del Parque Chicano F42 Mario Torero Tribute to Roger Lucero, 1993 F42 La Tierra Mia F41 Victor Ochoa Revolucíon Mexicana T Abut. TEA, Guilberto “Magu” Lujan & Historical Mural, 1973/1988

M.E.Ch.A. group from U.C. Irvine T Abut. Victor Ochoa & Lowell Elementary Children’s Mural, 1973/1986

School children T Abut. Tony De Vargas Chicano Park Takeover, 1986

Bent Original Title, Date of Completion/ No. Artist(s) Renovation(s)

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Bent Original Title, Date of Completion/ No. Artist(s) Renovation(s)

S Abut. Toltecas En Aztlan (TEA) & CACA: Quetzalcóatl, 1973/1987 Guillermo Aranda, Arturo Roman, Salvador Barrajas, Sammy Llamas, Bebe Llamas, Ernesto Paul, Guillermo Rosete, Victor Ochoa, Jose Cervantes, Mario Torero, Salvador Torres

S Abut. Tomas Castañeda, Salvador Torres Corazon de Aztlan, 1975/1988-89 S Abut. Salvador Torres, Gloria Torres, San Diego People, Thanks from

Ruben Seva, Roberto Salas Yokohama, 1990 S Abut. Tony De Vargas Sunburst, 1986 F Abut. (bird and sun) Kiosko Tony De Vargas, Vidal Aguirre, Founding of Mexico, 1978

Felipe Adame