Set up began early, around 7 a.m., for Vincent Yanez and Diego Salcedo.
As their team set up a booth at the 55th annual Chicano Park Day, the pair of City College student outreach ambassadors noticed something shimmering just above the neighboring booth.
That surprise glistening emanated from a 70-foot high mural that covers two massive pillars under the Coronado Bridge.
The giant cursive inscription atop the mural, adorned with muscle cars and the faces of the community, reads “Brown Image.” The same inscription that was on the booth next to the City Outreach team.
Yanez and Salcedo marveled at the mural depicting the life and history of the Chicano movement.
“Just seeing that was pretty amazing,” Yanez, a Biology major, said. “We were just in awe just because of how beautiful it is.”
The “Brown Image” mural was commissioned by Henry Rodriguez, a founding member of the Brown Image Car Club. Rodriguez and his family have been in the same spot celebrating Chicano Park Day for years.
“When the sunshine hits in the morning, that side will glitter and shine,” Rodriguez said. “Later on, when you see it at about two o’clock, this side will all shine up.”
Airbrushed in root beer brown, “Brown Image” San Diego was created in 2022, using a car-painting technique that gives it an almost metallic look. 10 different artists contributed to its completion by painting portraits depicting the history of Logan Heights and the detailed sections of a lowrider car.
Rodriguez added he wanted to give the younger generation an opportunity to see the different parts of the iconic cars that make up the neighborhood’s history. He used old photos as inspiration for the art piece, memorializing loved ones and capturing the spirit of the Chicano movement of the 60s and 70s.
“You have history up there,” Rodriguez said. “Chicano Park has always been united with the low riders, because we were the low riders when we started up.”
As a Hispanic-serving institution, City College has deep roots in the communities of Barrio Logan and Logan Heights.
That history and connection is why being at Chicano Park Day is important, said Saribel Morales-Rivera, City College’s Acting Outreach Coordinator.
“We are a community college, community comes first,” she said. “We have to be where our students are. We have to be where our students of color are. Where our brown students are. We really have to empower the San Diegans in our community to want to learn, want to grow, and to realize that those opportunities are right here,” Morales-Rivera said. “They don’t have to come to meet us, we’re coming to them.”
Chicano Park Day, held on the Saturday nearest April 22nd, includes a flag-raising ceremony commemorating when residents raised a flag to reclaim the land under the Coronado Bay Bridge.
Logan Heights, one of the oldest Mexican-American cities, suffered a split of the community and loss of homes when the Interstate 5 and the Coronado Bridge were constructed in the 1960s.
When residents in San Diego learned the land below the bridge, and the promise to make the land a park was broken, hundreds of community members, including students from City College, rose up to stop its construction.
The formation of Chicano Park was signed into law after the community came together to protest the building of a California Highway Patrol station in 1971.
Since that day thousands gather every year to celebrate Chicano and Mexican-American culture and to remember the struggle of those who fought to protect the land Chicano Park resides.
For Morales-Rivera, the spirit of Chicano Park Day aligns with the mission of City College.
“City College prides itself in empowering students to find their voice and to advocate for each other, to advocate for those who don’t have a voice in the moment and are unable to advocate for themselves, because that’s what lifelong learners do,” Morales-Rivera said.
M.E.Ch.A, a City College student club, and courses from the City Chicano Studies department seek to amplify underrepresented voices and can give curious students a stronger understanding of the Chicanx and Latinx movements.
“From taking a Chicano course, I was able to learn a little bit more of the history of Chicano Park,” Yanez said. “Some of the students from City College actually were able to save Chicano Park by stopping the construction that was going to go on. It’s amazing. And just to know the history behind most of the murals.”
Today, Chicano culture thrives throughout the park. Its connection to the community lives on and its history is reflected in the over 100 murals painted throughout this nationally recognized Historical Landmark.
Despite being Diego Salcedo’s first time at Chicano Park Day, he already understood the importance of the place.
“I like how the whole Chicano community, one community, all embrace what their ancestors did,” Salcedo said. “It’s so rooted in San Diego. It’s important to have moments like this.”
Edited by Bailey Kohnen
Sav Fink • Apr 26, 2025 at 12:41 pm
Sounds like a great event to celebrate history, culture, and the impact that voices have.