Barrio Logan Arch

This archway welcomes residents and visitors to Barrio Logan, a community adjacent to downtown San Diego that is home to one of San Diego’s oldest Mexican American or Chicano communities. The area was originally called the East End during the 1880s and later renamed to Logan Heights in 1905. Following the Mexican Revolution, the area saw a wave of immigration and the growth of this area came with the name change to Barrio Logan. The residential area saw change in 1920 when a navy dock and fleet repair base was established. The Post-WWII period saw more industry. As the years progressed, the people of Barrio Logan continued to establish and promote their culture throughout the area, in the form of art, cuisine, music, and more.

Barrio Logan was primarily a residential area up until World War ll. Between 1910 and 1920, a large wave of Mexican immigrants entered the US on permanent visas, with half a million in 1920 alone. Some of these immigrants settled in what is now Barrio Logan.

The Barrio Logan area of Logan Heights first gained its name around 1910, with the arrival of refugees who were displaced by the Mexican Revolution. Some of the oldest established residential buildings in the Barrio Logan area were built in the 1880s, and feature Italianate, Folk Victorian, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival style architecture. The architecture shifted in the early 1900s to feature Craftsman Bungalows, False Front Commercial, and Mission Revival style housing.

Some notable historical buildings in Barrio Logan include the New Mexico Tortilla Factory at 1784-86 Newton Ave. (est. 1929) and the tortilla factory and restaurant at 1857 Logan Ave., which are both still owned and run by the original families. The Barrio Logan area was initially a residential area that had access to the beaches of San Diego Bay. Still, this beach access was restricted during World War II when the Naval Base expanded, and additional Military buildings were established on the waterfront.

The neighborhood experienced an increase in industrial areas throughout the 1950s and 60s due to rezoning the city from a residential zone to an industrial one, resulting in the degradation of the city. NASSCO was founded in 1905 and moved into the neighborhood during World War II and got into the shipbuilding business. The base was redesignated as a U.S. Naval Repair Base in 1943 and continued until the war ended. Much of the economy in the area was dictated by the base. Because of the area was rezoned, it got an influx of junkyards and eventually lost a huge portion of its residents due to the construction of the Interstate 5 freeway and loss of housing. Today the industry of Barrio Logan is beginning to shift from big industries to include more locally owned restaurants, breweries, stores, and art galleries due to relatively low rent. The area gets comparisons to a nearby neighborhood named North Park.

Barrio Logan’s transformation into an art-inspired neighborhood came about due to the Coronado Bridge’s encroachment of its highway cutting through the city; furthermore, this allowed the expression of artists in the form of murals, art galleries, and culinary expression. For instance, when talking about the murals at Chicano Park they are the world’s most expensive murals in relation to Chicano art and culture. The art can be seen ranging from the revolutionaries of Mexico, a throwback to the initial population migration of the fleeing refugees of the Mexican Civil War in the early 1920s to contemporary Chicano activists such as Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez.

Chicano Park holds significant cultural value to the residents of the neighborhood who fought tirelessly for self-determination. Barrio Logan has several restaurants, including Las Cuatro Milpas, a restaurant founded during the inception of Barrio Logan that uses a traditional method of frying everything in pig lards. Abandoned buildings have recently been converted into cultural spaces such as art galleries, including La Bodega which now holds music nights, exhibitions, and many more events.

City of San Diego City Planning & Community Investment Community Planning & Urban Form Divisions. Barrio Logan Historical Resources Survey. February 01, 2011. Accessed October 31, 2018. https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/planning/programs/historical/pdf/2013/201304blhistoricsurvey.pdf.

San Diego Tourism Authority. Barrio Logan A Hidden Hub for Art. SanDiego.org. . Accessed October 31, 2018. https://www.sandiego.org/articles/downtown/barrio-logan.aspx.

Schoenherr. Barrio Logan in San Diego. December 04, 2000. Accessed October 31, 2018. http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/projects/178/barriologan00.html.

Robels, Kathleen R.. Chicano Park Takeover. The History of Chicano Park. . Accessed October 31, 2018. http://www.chicanoparksandiego.com/history/page1.html.

Marquez, Stacy. Spend a day in Barrio Logan. Pacific San Diego. . Accessed October 31, 2018. http://www.pacificsandiego.com/things-to-do/travel-staycation/pac-spend-a-day-in-barrio-logan-20180712-story.html.