Chicano Park Steering Committee, Stewards of Chicano Park
Chicano Park was founded on April 22, 1970 when the community of Logan Heights & Chicano movement activists joined forces to protest the construction of a Highway Patrol station on the present site of the park. This was a final insult to a community that had already been degraded by the demolition of hundreds of homes to make way for Interstate 5, the Coronado Bridge, the placement of toxic industries & junkyards, lack of community facilities, proper schools, jobs, social or medical services.
Protesters led by the Brown Berets, community activists, artists, M.E.Ch.A. and others took over the site and faced police and bulldozers for days while negotiations took place that resulted in the land being given over for a community park. The struggle for Chicano Park came to symbolize the Chicano Mexicano people's struggle for self-determination and self-empowerment.
Designated a National Historic Landmark on December 23, 2016.