Chicano Park Steering Committee

P.O. Box 131050
San Diego, CA 92170

For Info : Please email the CPSC  cpscchicanopark70@gmail.com

For Tours : Please email the tour coordinator, Crystal Rodriguez at Chicanoparktours@gmail.com

 Steering Committee Instagram

The Chicano Park Steering Committee YouTube Channel

The Chicano Park Steering Committee

---

CPSC website hosted by:

¡Eddie Alvarez, presente!   

Free Public Wi-Fi Available in Chicano Park, Select Network 'SDAccess4All'

Link to Chicano Park Calendar

Upcoming Events (click on link above for full calendar): CPSC monthly meetings are held on the 4th Sunday of the month, 1pm, at the Kiosco.Next meeting will be held on Sunday, January 26, 2025, 1pm at the Kiosco. Meetings are open to all, but only CPSC members are eligible to vote.

Election results (one-year term, through November 2025): 

Chair: Tlaloc Bustillos ; Vice-Chair: Hector Villegas ; Secretary: Ixcatli Sanchez ; Treasurer: Melissa Grande ; Sargeant-at-Arms: Arturo Turee Granados ; Community Liaison: Cesar Ploneda ; Tour Coordinator: Crystal Rodriguez 

       

Chicano Park was founded on April 22, 1970 when the community of Logan Heights and Chicano movement activists joined forces to protest the construction of a California Highway Patrol station on the present site of the park. The CHP 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 construction of the Coronado Bridge, the placement of toxic industries & 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  portray the social, political and cultural issues that form the struggle for the liberation of Chicano/Mexicanos.

Chicano Park has received international recognition as a major public art site. Since 1980, the Park has been listed on the Historical Landmarks Registry (San Diego Historical Resources Board), and since 1997 on the California Register of Historical Resources. In addition, Chicano Park was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 23, 2013, and was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 23, 2016.

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 commemorate the takeover of Chicano Park on the Saturday closest to the April 22nd anniversary. 

 54th Chicano Park Day April 20, 2024 

The 54th Chicano Park Day commemoration was held on Saturday, April 20, 2024, 9am to 4pm. This year's theme was 'Bringing Back the True Spirit and Energy of the Chicano Park Takeover'. Poster sketch was created by Jose Olague based on this theme and Ray Flores added the text and overall graphic design. Visitors to Chicano Park Day experienced traditional music and dance, including one of the most largest performances of Aztec Indigenous dance (thanks to Calpulli Mexihca for coordinating), lowrider exhibition, performers, children's art workshops, arts and crafts vendors. Thanks to all the organizing committee members, speakers (Herman Baca was the keynote speaker), performers and the countless volunteers who contributed to this year's commemoration. The 55th Chicano Park Day commemoration will be held on Saturday, April 19, 2025.

*NO ALCOHOL AND NO PETS are allowed at the Chicano Park Day. Thank you for your cooperation.*

54th Chicano Park Day Program (2024)

53rd Chicano Park Day Program (2023)

  Instagram 

Facebook

YouTube Channel

Permanent Goals Installed for Futsal

With San Diego Wave FC, Bridge Barkada, and the Over Under Initiative (OUI is a non-profit dedicated to increasing access to sport by converting pbulic basketball courts and blacktops into multi-sport play spaces), CPSC celebrated the new permanent goals installed on the basketball courts. Bridge Barkada street soccer (futsal) has been a part of Chicano Park since 2018.

Little Amal at Chicano Park

Little Amal is a 12ft. puppet of  a 10 year old Syrian refugee child. She has become a global symbol of human rights, especially those of refugees. Little Amal carries a message of hope for displaced people everywhere, especially children who have been separated from their families.Between September 7 and November 26, 2023, Amal is journeying 9,000 miles across the United States and Mexico in one of the largest free public festivals ever created. 40 towns and cities from Boston to San Diego and 7 cities from Tijuana to Tapachula will create 100+ free public events to welcome her.Since July 2021, Little Amal has travelled over 6,000 miles to 14 countries, and been welcomed by more than a million people on the street, including hundreds of artists and civil society and faith leaders, as well as by tens of millions online.

Grand Opening of the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center (CPMCC)

   Saturday, October 8, 2022 was the grand opening of the long-awaited Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center! The event included the inaugural exhibition 'PILLARS: Stories of Resilience and Self-Determination," a collective historical narrative of Chicano Park and Logan Heights, Turning Wheel bus, a muralists symposium, performances in the community room, danza, mariachi, teatro & música on the Kiosco. 

More information available on the CMPCC website and Instagram @chicanopark_museum

The Spirit of Chicano Park / El Espíritu del Parque Chicano

A new bilingual children's book by Beatrice Zamora with illustrations by Maira Meza. Available in hardback and paperback from Tolteca Press. Proceeds go to the Chicano Park Steering Committee and the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center. Interview with author Bea Zamora

California Funding for Chicano Park Mural Restoration and Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center

 Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, Chicano Park muralists, and members of the Chicano Park Steering Committee announced on July 16, 2021 that $7.5 million will go toward the museum at Chicano Park (CPMCC) and $2.5 million will fund Chicano Park mural restorations. Photo: Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, Berenice Badillo (her mural is backdrop), and CPSC members Diane, Josie, Tommie, Annie, Rocky, and Isabel.  

        

---

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 history 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 approved for National Historic Landmark status

53rd Chicano Park Day (April 22, 2023) Printed Program

Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center website

'Chicano Park 51: Healing our Past, Educating the Present, Leading into our Future' (YouTube playlist)

Chicano Park @ 50 Renewal & Self Determination Through Poster Art Exhibition (USD, CPMCC)

Video (pt 1) of the 2010 Chicano Park Day celebration by Rico Bueno

Video (pt 2) of the 2010 Chicano Park Day celebration by Rico Bueno 

Video from 2010 Chicano Park Day

Slideshow from the 2006 Chicano Park Day celebration

---

.