Heritage: Latino

Living Culture

Spanish is the colorful and beautifully textured thread that connects all Latino communities to each other, and it's an important part of the daily lives of all non-Hispanic Californians. Indeed, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento are all Spanish names. Each Latino community brings to California its unique history—its vitality, its struggles and triumphs, its passions and humor. A visit to California's Latino neighborhoods, its plazas, parks, restaurants, and shops, offers and delivers an authentic experience of these diverse cultures.

In the state's capital, Sacramento, the Southside Park RCAF Mural, at 7th and T Streets, was created in 1975 by a group of six artists, all of whom are still working today. Founded in 1969, and initially named the Rebel Chicano Art Front, the collective is now known internationally as the Royal Chicano Air Force. The RCAF artists have produced murals and exhibitions from Seattle to San Diego; the Southside Park Mural is one of their earliest and most significant pieces…

24th Street in San Francisco's Mission District is a lively block lined with taquerías, Mexican bakeries, and fresh produce markets. The largest concentration of murals in the city is located near 16th and Dolores Streets…

Plaza de la Raza, in century-old Lincoln Park, the heart of East Los Angeles, is a locus of Latino activity that includes The School of Performing and Visual Arts. The Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) is committed to socially responsible art-making and has created murals in almost every ethnic community in L.A.

Located in the heart of San Diego's Barrio Logan, the Chicano Park Murals grew from a community empowerment effort in the early 1970s, and is known as "the museum without walls." The city's Centro Cultural de la Raza, housed in a former water tower in gorgeous Balboa Park, has for more than 30 years promoted the contemporary art and culture of the Latino people with a variety of projects and programs.

Highlights

Los Angeles:

Plaza de la Raza (323.223.2475)

Social Public Art Resource Center (310.822.9560)

Sacramento:

Southside Park Mural

Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF)

San Diego:

Chicano Park Murals

Centro Cultural de la Raza (619.235.6135)

San Francisco:

24th Street - Mission District

Murals at 16th and Dolores Streets

California State Parks:

La Purísima Mission State Historic Park (805.733.3713)

Monterey State Historic Park (831.649.7118)