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Cultural Murals at San Diego's Chicano Park
San Diego State UniversityCoronado, CA 92199 Phone: (619) 437-8788About
Known locally as "the museum without walls,” this park is awash with history. San Diego’s Chicano Park contains murals that celebrate Mexican history, folklore and culture, painted on the pylons of the Coronado Bay Bridge. Why here In 1970, residents of Barrio Logan, a historically Chicano neighborhood in San Diego, saw bulldozers clearing land for construction at a site that they thought was supposed to become a public park. They quickly organized an occupation at the site, forcing the work to stop. During the 12-day occupation, residents worked with city and state officials to ensure the site would become a public park, and created a desert garden in what is now Chicano Park. Soon afterward, the Chicano Park Monumental Public Mural program began, conceived by local artist Salvador Torres. In 1980, the city of San Diego designated the park a historic site.
