Chicano Park shots - Heritage & Beauty

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

02/15/2005 12:30:38 AM · #1

Greetings all,

While out trying to do something for the Bridges II challenge, I wandered down into Chicano Park out of fascination for the culture and artwork on the underpass supports & walls. This is not an area that is typically where a "White Boy with an expensive camera" wanders around, and have never been through the area on foot in the 20+ years of living in San Diego.
The area is protected as a historical site now by the State of California, and the artwork proudly displays the heritage and pride of the Chicano Identity residents are so proud of, and have chosen people to look up to, like Cesar Chavez and Che Guevara.

Here are some real basic no frill edits of some of what I saw, and wanted to share them with my "virtual family" here:

Obviously the lighting wasn't that great and went with something completely different for the challenge.

Pretty amazing work.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

02/15/2005 12:40:42 AM · #2

Those are great -- and great that they're being preserved!

I know of a lot of great murals around here (Oakland/Berkeley) which have been subsequently painted-over. I'll have to cruise around and post some of the wide variety of "ethnic" murals we have enjoy ... these are a couple of others which have made it into recent challenges.

02/15/2005 01:38:21 AM · #3

Very nice, Brad, but I think if you could have cloned out that bridge...

02/15/2005 01:57:49 AM · #4

Originally posted by aronya1:

Very nice, Brad, but I think if you could have cloned out that bridge...

Eh... which one? These are on-ramps and freeway overpasses.

Bridges? We don't need no steenkin bridges!
LOL

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

02/15/2005 02:14:07 AM · #5

Originally posted by BradP:

Eh... which one? These are on-ramps and freeway overpasses.

Bridges? We don't need no steenkin bridges!
LOL

Sorry. I'm still working on my chat technique. That comment was tongue-in-cheek; I see lots of comments on candid shots complaining about things that can't (sometimes shouldn't) be avoided in the moment.

sdshutterbug

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

02/15/2005 02:24:37 AM · #6

I've lived here all my life (26 years) and have never wandered through Chicano Park either....nice shots.

Makka

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

02/15/2005 02:36:52 AM · #7

It's amazing when I look at everyones photos how boring my local neighbourhood is (Perth, Western Australia)! There isn't really anything very interesting to photograph! Maybe I just need to look at things from a different perspective?? Besides that, it's 41 degrees celscius outside so I'll stay indoors today I think!

02/15/2005 02:37:42 AM · #8

Originally posted by aronya1:

Sorry. I'm still working on my chat technique. That comment was tongue-in-cheek

I kinda' figured that - no apology needed. Which cheek by the way?
LOL

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

02/15/2005 02:39:04 AM · #9

Originally posted by MakAttack:

(Perth, Western Australia)!

I've been there! Was a friendly city to visit.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

02/15/2005 02:51:33 AM · #10

I remember this very well; on several occasions we were hired by different magazines to document this work-in-progress.

The back-story is interesting. When the Coronado bridge was built, back in the 60's, they designed this breathtaking, curving, cantilevered bridge instead of a more conventional, truss or suspension bridge. It had to be high enough to allow aircraft carriers under it. Prior to "the bridge" the only practical way to Coronado was the ferries that went back and forth, big old car ferries. The residents did not want the bridge, the tourist industry and the military did.

This sweeping, curved bridge was designed with its mainland terminus wiping out the entire waterfront of "Barrio Logan", the biggest Chicano neighborhood in San Diego at the time. They had no political clout then, and this bridge absolutely demolished their community. The areas under the on and off ramps became a concrete wasteland, gangs were hanging out there and so forth. It was scandalous.

Then some of the locals took "control" of the situation, reclaiming the space and making a hardscrabble park of it, and the local artists bewgan doing totally unauthorized mural-sized work on the pillars. These weren't "real" artists to most San Diegans, they were more like an example of graffiti run amok. The city was trying to erase these things, everyone was up in arms, and the community rallied and defended "their art" in "their place", and over a course of some years Chicano Park became a reality.

This was the first real example of an ethnic neighborhood in San Diego rallying together to "save" something, even if it did come too late to save their waterfront (the bridge was already built). A similar Bad Thing happened when they built the freeway, Interstate 5, which curved gracefully around the periphery of San Diego's business district and arrowed straight to earth to bifurcte out San Diego's Italian community, splitting the entire length of it right up the middle. The freeway could have been kept raised for another mile, but they didn't care about the Italian Village and the community they were destroying.

Allt hat's left of it now is some Delis and quite a few restaurants, parallelling the freeway on India and Kettner streets.

That's my little memory trip for the day.

Robt.

Makka

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

02/15/2005 02:58:01 AM · #11

Originally posted by BradP:

I've been there! Was a friendly city to visit.

Hey Brad! It is a nice place but boring to photograph! Hmmmmm... and hot as hell today!!

Message edited by author 2005-02-15 02:58:28.

Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

02/15/2005 03:02:14 AM · #12

Originally posted by BradP:

Originally posted by aronya1:
Sorry. I'm still working on my chat technique. That comment was tongue-in-cheek

I kinda' figured that - no apology needed. Which cheek by the way?
LOL

Well, I'll say this; it's above the waist!

Kathy

Canon EOS-50D

02/16/2005 03:40:50 PM · #13

Gosh, I loved the bridge segments - they're part of the main design itself (the paintings are just the embellishments!)

Now, having said that - I'll tell you that I always shoot high to capture the "lines" of the overhead bridge/highway ramp at the Renssellaer end (across the Hudson from Albany's Empire Plaza.)

These areas show the artistic side of engineering. My reaction to concrete is usually "WoW" - now there's a photo op!" Of course, that's my usual reaction to trees, water areas, grass, leaves, snow, ice, water, puddles, clouds.......... See the pattern? Wow to anything designed by God or Man.

Kylie

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35

02/16/2005 03:49:07 PM · #14

Originally posted by Kathy:

These areas show the artistic side of engineering. My reaction to concrete is usually "WoW" - now there's a photo op!" Of course, that's my usual reaction to trees, water areas, grass, leaves, snow, ice, water, puddles, clouds.......... See the pattern? Wow to anything designed by God or Man.

I can relate and it drives my husband out of his mind!!!! lol