How many times have you driven over the Coronado Bridge? If you’re a native of San Diego, it’s probably been many. Still, many San Diegans don’t know the interesting history that lies beneath the bridge – a history that is celebrated every year on Chicano Park Day.
Barrio Logan, located in southeast San Diego, is home to many Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants who have been settling into the community as early as the 1890s. During the 1960s, the landscape of Barrio Logan began to change greatly. In 1963, Interstate 5 cut right through it, and when the Coronado Bridge opened up in 1969, on-ramps and support pillars went right through the community. Families became dislocated and, as a result, the population of the barrio greatly decreased.
Feeling angry and hopeless, community leaders began to demand a neighborhood park to be located under the support pillars of the Coronado Bridge. In 1969, their hard work finally paid off; the state of California agreed to lease 1.8 acres of land to the city of San Diego to be used as a neighborhood park.
Read the entire article from The Vista here.
