See you at the 43rd Annual Chicano Park Day Celebration, Saturday, April 20, 2013
Organized by the
Chicano Park Steering Committee
Thank you to all the volunteers, performers, speakers, lowriders and all the beautiful gente who came out to enjoy the 42nd annual Chicano Park Day celebration!
The 43rd celebration will take place on Saturday, April 20, 2013 from 10
am to 5 pm in historic Chicano Park, located in the Barrio Logan community,
south of downtown San Diego, under the San Diego-Coronado bridge. This family
event is always free and open to the public.
Chicano Park Mural Restoration Project
The Chicano Park Mural Restoration Project began the week of June 20,
2011. As of April, 2012, murals that have been restored include "Undocumented Worker" by lead artist, Michael Schnorr; "Chicano Park Takeover" by Guillermo Rosette and Linda Velarde; "Los Ninos del Mundo" by Norma
Montoya; "Aztec Archer" by Felipe Adame (including a portrait of the original muralist, Vidal M. Aguirre, who passed away in
1979); "Varrio Logan" by Victor Ochoa and team; 'Leyes -- La Familia by Jose Montoya; 'Inlakesh' by Juanishi Orosco; 'Mujer Cosmica' by Esteban Villa; 'Adelita' by Felipe Adame and Guillermo
Rosette; 'Hasta La Bahia' by Victor Ochoa and team; "Allende" by Mario Torero, Guillermo Rosette, and Norma Montoya; the Kiosco by Felipe Adams and team; and "La Revolucion Mexicana" by Victor Ochoa and team.
For published articles, photos and videos of the restored murals, click here or go to the 'Murals' and 'Press' links at the top of the page.
Next meeting of the Chicano Park Steering Committee is Sunday, May 27, 2012, 3 pm in the Kiosco.
Chicano Park was
founded on April 22, 1970 when the community of Barrio Logan
and Chicano movement activists joined forces to protest the
construction of a Highway Patrol station on the present site of the
park. The Highway Patrol office was at the time the final insult to a
community that had already been degraded by the demolition of hundreds
of homes to make way for Interstate 5, the Coronado Bridge, the
placement of toxic industries and junkyards, lack of community
facilities, proper schools, jobs, social or medical services.
Protesters led
by the Brown Berets, community activists, artists, M.E.Ch.A. and others
took over the site and faced police and bulldozers for days while
negotiations took place that resulted in the land being given over for
a community park. In the following days and months similar actions by
the same groups led to the forming of a Chicano Free Clinic, now known
as the Logan Heights Family Health Center, and the Centro Cultural de
la Raza in Balboa Park.
The struggle for
Chicano Park came to symbolize the Chicano Mexicano people's struggle
for self-determination and self-empowerment. The murals in the park
painted by Chicano artists such as Victor Ochoa, Mario Torero, Yolanda Lopez,
José Montoya, Sal Barajas, Juanishi Orozco, Berenice Badillo,
Carmen Linares and many others portray the social, political and
cultural issues that form the struggle for the liberation of Chicano
Mexicanos.
Every year the
community of Barrio Logan, the greater community of San Diego and people
throughout the Southwest and across the US come tgether to celebrate
the takeover of Chicano Park.

Students Document Chicano Park History
A group of USD, under the
guidance of Professor Alberto Pulido, volunteered to be a
part of the Chicano Park-University of San Diego Documentation Project from January to May 2011.
Through the collection of oral histories, students documented
the history of Chicano Park, Chicano/a history, and five unique aspects
of Chicano/a cultural expression that emerged as a result of the
establishment of Chicano Park. The five cultural expressions captured by this year's project are:
- Chicano Art as seen in the public and political biography of Victor Ochoa.
- Chicano Music as seen through the life of Ramon 'Chunky' Sanchez.
- Community Organizing (Chicano Park Steering Committee) as seen through the life of Tommie Camarillo.
- Danzantes (indigenous dance) as seen in the life of Rosa Olga Navarro.
- Chicano Car Culture (low riders) as lived and experienced by Rigo Reyes.
Click Here To download the Chicano Park Brochure (updated 2010)
Click Here to download the 2011 Chicano Park Day poster
Click Here to download the 2010 Chicano Park Day poster
Click
Here To see a slideshow from the 2006 Chicano Park Day
Click
Here To see a video (Pt. 1) of the 2010 Chicano Park Day by Rico Bueno
Click
Here To see a video (Pt. 2) of the 2010 Chicano Park Day by Rico Bueno
Click
Here To see a video from the 2010 Chicano Park Day
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