RIP/QEPD Pablo Aceves, Raul Jaquez, Felipe Adame, Howard Hollman, Rebecca Romero, Chunky Sanchez, Rico Bueno, David Savage, Cruz & AnnaMarie Contreras, Andre Banks, and Francine Jimenez
49th Chicano Park Day, Sat. April 20, 2019
 Organized by the Chicano Park Steering Committee, Stewards of Chicano Park
The 49th annual Chicano Park Day celebration was held on Saturday, April 20, 2019, in historic Chicano Park, located in the Logan Heights community, south of downtown San Diego under the San Diego-Coronado bridge. The theme for this year's celebration was 'Danzantes, Protectors of Our Traditions and Chicano Park, 500 Years of Anti-Colonial Struggle.'
 Thank you to all the performers including Ballet Folklórico CalifAztlán, Ballet Folklórico Aztlán de CSUN, La Rondalla Amerindia de Aztlán, Mujeres en Resistencia, DJ Rambo One, Quinteto Caballero, Chocolate Revolution, Tall Can, Ruby Clouds, Karina Frost & The Banduvloons, Almas Fronterizas, Quetzalcoatl Band, DJ Viejo Lowbo, Pancho Villa's Skull, Santana para Ti and all the danzantes coordinated by Danza Azteca Calpulli Mexihca. Additional thanks to Amigos Car Club for coordinating the car show and Giovanni Cerda coordinating the kids arts workshop. And mil gracias to all the volunteers, both those who contribute on the day of the event as well as those who work throughout the year to ensure a great celebration. And thanks to the community for attending this year's event!
The 50th annual Chicano Park Day celebration will be held on Saturday, April 25, 2020!
Established by Chicano activists on April 22, 1970, Chicano Park has received international recognition as a major public art site for its commanding mural paintings of Mexican and Chicano history. The Park was recognized as a San Diego Cultural Resource by the San Diego Historical Society in 1980. In addition, Chicano Park has been listed on the California Register of Historical Resources since 1997, on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in December 2016.
 The Chicano Park Steering Committee is on Facebook.
Chicano Park Calendar: Commemorating 50 years of Chicano Park!
Support the all-volunteer Chicano Park Steering Committee by purchasing a 50th Anniversary Chicano Park calendar, a joint project of the CPSC and Amigos Car Club. The publication is $15 (+$3.50 for mailing if outside San Diego) for this 17-month calendar (January 2019 to May 2020) and includes a pull-out insert keepsake of the history of Chicano Park and the mural map. Bulk rates are: 50 calendars - $13 per copy; 100 calendars - $12 per copy; 500 calendars - $10 per copy; 1,000 calendars - $8 per copy, plus the cost of mailing if needed. Orders: chicanoparkcalendar@gmail.com
 
The next meeting of the Chicano Park Steering Committee is Sunday, May 26, 3pm at the Kiosco!
 
Raul José Jaquez, presente!
We received the sad news that Raul José Jaquez has passed. Raul's work in Chicano Park includes both murals and sculptures including "Aguila en Aztlán : Through Love You Gain Strength-Through Strength You Regenerate” (1986), La Trinidad Es Amor, (1997), "Sombras Nada Más" (1997), "Nuestra Tierra Sagrada" (2012), "Varrio Sí-Yonkes No!" (1977, restored 2012)
    
Thank you to all our volunteer tour guides and all the students, teachers, community members, and numerous other visitors from far and wide who take part in learning about Chicano Park's history and monumental murals.
 
Chicano Park Herb Garden
The Chicano Park Herb Garden is a collective community herbal garden for healing, restoring, learning, working and playing. Firmly rooted in the park's history, the garden is a testament to the vision and resolve of the Barrio Logan community. Established in 2015, the garden is the realization of a need to create safe, healthy, and open spaces for local families and visitors alike. Environmental Health Coalition (EHC), a non-profit organization fighting social and environmental justice in the region's low-income communities of color for more than 39 years, had been listening to community request for such a garden space in the park. The land parcel for the garden project is located next to the cactus garden adjacent to 'Return of Quetzalcoatl' mural. An active group of volunteers ranging from Barrio Logan community members, local business owners, area organizations, college/universities, and local K-12 schools, to people just walking by and lending a hand, maintain the Chicano Park Herb Garden. While EHC serves as a co-sponsor and coordinator of the space, the CPSC oversee all aspects of the park.
During the spring and summer, EHC coordinates free public events at the garden so community members can learn about gardening, soil amending, green spaces, and how building open spaces like the herb garden connects community members to each other, the natural world, and to environmental justice. The Chicano Park Herb Garden is a work in progress, constantly evolving in the hands of dedicated caretakers such as Jiapsi Gomez and the Gohlke family. A new mural project is currently underway, and if approved, will be the biggest in the park. This new mural's title, "Haawka: May the Fire in Your Heart Burn Bright" -- is a traditional Kumeyaay greeting. It represents the hisotyr of the Kumyaay, indigenous people of Southern and Baja California. True to the vision behind the Chicano Park Herb Garden, the mural presents visitors with an invitation to experience the community garden and live life in harmony with nature. EHC looks forward to sharing the mural with the community. Jorge Gonzalez is the Barrio Logan Organizer with EHC. If you are interested in volunteering or a group visit, please email him at JorgeG@environmentalhealth.org
Chicano Park Bathroom Expansion Project
Five new murals will be painted on the outside walls of the new bathrooms. The sketches below (by Patricia Aguayo, Hector Villegas, Giovanni Cerda ("MEX") and Sal Barajas) received the most votes at our July 2017 meeting.
Chicano Park approved for National Historic Landmark status
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced the designation of 24 new National Historic Landmarks on January 11, 2017. Chicano Park is among those sites. "On April 20, 1970, community residents occupied Chicano Park in San Diego, California, in an ultimately successful effort to prevent the construction of a California Highway Patrol substation on land where the City of San Diego had promised the neighborhood a community park. Representative of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, Chicano Park has become a cultural and recreational gathering place for the Chicano community and is the location of the Chicano Park Monumental Murals, an exceptional assemblage of master mural artwork painted on the freeway bridge supports." Read complete press release here. Chicano Park has been listed on the California Register of Historical Resources since 1997 and was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 23, 2013.
Chicano Park Recreation Improvements Completed
Ribbon-cutting held on November 5, 2015
Join the San Diego Urban Corps and the Chicano Park Steering Committee on November 5, 3pm to celebrate the improvements/additions including the children's playground, tiny tots area, new handball court, adult outdoor fitness area (and new grass planted adjacent), skate lane, Raul Jacquez metal artwork restored (and fountain tile work),and landscaping alongside the placita.
Read about SD Urban Corps's work in Pablo J. Sáinz article in La Prensa from July 24, 2015.
   
   
Tommie Camarillo Day at San Diego City Council, Sept. 20, 2016
Councilman David Alvarez on behalf of the San Diego City Council proclaimed September 20, 2016 to be Tomasa 'Tommie' Camarillo Day
..."WHEREAS, Tommie Camarillo has been a faithful steward and protector, dedicated to her love for a park that serves as a cultural anchor and symbolizes the importance of struggle, sacrifice, and equality; and..." (part of the proclamation)
   
Students Document Chicano Park Mural History
In 2012, Dr. Alberto Pulido's students at USD, in consultation with the Chicano Park Steering Committee, worked to update documentation of the murals at Chicano Park. The students worked diligently to re-create/update the Chicano Park mural map and have produced a gorgeous publication. A big thank you to the students!
Now a revised Chicano Park Murals Documentation Project publication (2015) is available. This revised book includes images of all the restored murals, along with information on the original artists involved in the restoration. At the front of the book is an easy-to-read map of all the murals and their location in the park. The book is available for $25 from Dr. Pulido (apulido@sandiego.edu) or at the monthly CPSC meeting and/or contact the CPSC at cpscchicanopark@sbcglobal.net
  
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A group of USD students, under the guidance of Professor Alberto Pulido, volunteered to be a part of the first 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; and Chicano Car Culture (low riders) as lived and experienced by Rigo Reyes.
Go to http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/es/students/chicano_park.php to view the presentations & posters.
  
Congratulations to Chunky Sanchez
NEA National Heritage Fellowships Concert was held on September 27 at Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University and the awards ceremony on September 25! For those of us not in Washington DC this week, the NEA streamed the concert live on its website: www.arts.gov
Chicano Park Mural Restoration Project
The Chicano Park Mural Restoration Project was completed in August 2012. CalTrans announced the completion of the project on August 21, 2012. More news coverage here.
For articles, photos and videos of the restored murals, click here or go to the 'Murals' and 'Press' links at the top of the page.
Thank you to all who joined us on Saturday, August 25, 2012 to celebrate the newly restored/revitalized murals. The festivities began with the blessing of all the newly-restored murals by numerous Danza Azteca groups including Danza Azteca Calpulli Mexihca, Danza Mexi'coyotl, Toltecas en Aztlan, Danza Atlachinole, Danza Coatlicue Chemilitzli and Danza Quetzalhuzlin. In addition, Agua Dulce also performed and artists had their art on display.
Awards: On September 20, 2012, the Chicano Park Steering Committee, along with CalTrans and Ghiradelli received the Rosa Parks Excellence in Diversity award at the Women's Transportation Seminar Annual Awards celebration. On October 11, 2012, the Chicano Park Mural Restoration Project received the "Grand Orchid" award at the 2012 Orchids & Onions Awards Ceremony held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla.
Josie Talamantez & the Chicano Park Steering Committee were selected as the recipient of 2013 People in Preservation, Lifetime Achievement Award by the Save Our Heritge Organisation (SOHO). The 31st annual awards ceremony took place on Thursday, May 23, 2013. Shown below: Arturo Casares, Diane Bolivar, Tommie Camarillo, Josie Talamantez and Joe Le Blanc
 
National Register of Historic Places:
Chicano Park has been listed on the California Register of Historical Resources since 1997. The nomination of Chicano Park and the Chicano Park Monumental Murals for the National Register was approved by the California State Historical Resources Commission at their quarterly meeting on Friday, November 9, 2012. After the nomination was approved by the California State Historical Resources Commission, it was forwarded for consideration on the National Register of Historic Places. Chicano Park was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places on January 23, 2013. The National Register focuses on buildings and structures, so the uniqueness of Chicano Park would set a different kind of precedent for the National Trust. Mil gracias to Josie Talamantez for her dedicated, diligent work behalf of the Chicano Park Steering Committee in this endeavor.
To read the approved nomination registration form, go to http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/weekly_features/2013/CA_12001192.pdf
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 Orosco, 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 together to celebrate the takeover of Chicano Park.
  
Slideshow from the 2006 Chicano Park Day celebration
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