By Maria E. Garcia
Mural by Mario Torero, Chicano Park
On October 5, 1970, Logan Heights resident Laura Rodriguez chained herself to the Neighborhood House doors, setting in motion what has come to be known as The Occupation. The fearless sixty-one year old grandmother chose this very public display of activism to force a decision on the future of Neighborhood House.
The services that Neighborhood House had provided to the community for decades were reduced and eliminated as that location evolved in the mid-1960’s into an administrative office. Laura and Logan Heights activists would ultimately win this battle, with Neighborhood House becoming a Centro de Salud– health clinic– as the community had demanded.
I will describe in much more detail the actual occupation in a future article. On this October anniversary, Laura Rodriguez deserves her own series of articles that traces her life from her Logan Heights beginnings to the years she lived at the Marston House and her return to Logan Heights.
Laura was born in 1909, to Amelia Fox and Italian immigrant John Gallo. Her mother left when Laura was four years old, leaving Laura, her sister Lugina, and her brother John to be raised by their father. John Gallo was blind and made his livelihood as a newspaper seller in downtown San Diego in front of the Lewis shoe store at Fifth and C.
His obituary describes the devotion of his young daughter Laura, who “would lead him to the corner in the morning, go to school, then return in the evening and lead her father to their home at 1740 Main Street.”
Laura told me this story about her early childhood. When she was around ten years old, her father became very ill and knew that he would not live to raise his children. He made the decision to place the girls in an orphanage in Los Angeles. At this point, Laura’s brother John had ditched school one too many time and had been placed in a boys group home.
On the train ride to Los Angeles both girls cried continuously, or as Laura put it “We wailed all the way up there.” Her father could not leave the sisters at the orphanage, so they all returned to San Diego. Mr. Gallo spoke to Miss Mary Marston about the situation he found himself in, adding the story about the Los Angeles train ride.
Mary and her sister Helen were the daughters of San Diego businessman and philanthropist George Marston. He owned the Marston Department store and was very active in the social and political activities throughout San Diego. Both Mary and Helen were involved with the operation and ongoing funding of Neighborhood House. Mary assured Mr. Gallo that when that day came the girls would come and live with the Marston family.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Marston House, it is located on Seventh and Upas on the north end of Balboa Park. At the age of twelve Laura went from the barrio of Logan Heights to live at the Marston house. During her childhood Laura had a lot of responsibilities in a family with financial struggles. In her new home there were cooks, maids and chauffeurs.
Laura once described the view from her bedroom window: “I could see Roosevelt Junior High out my window and across the canyon.” These were the days before Highway 163 was part of the view. Her ties to the Neighborhood House had gone from using the services provided there to being a part of the family that supported those services. Many of Laura’s later “causes”’ can be tied to her experiences at Neighborhood House or from living with the Marstons.
Laura met David Rodriguez at a dance at the old Pacific Ballroom and at the age of sixteen she got married. The story was that she met David at Neighborhood House. She herself said they went to dances at Neighborhood House but that she had met him at the Pacific Ballroom. The Marstons begged her not to get married at such a young age and assured her they would send her to college. Laura declined their offer.
Although she did work outside the home at one of the aircraft plants, most of the first forty years of Laura’s marriage were spent as a wife and mother. Her life was raising kids, cooking, sewing, and not at all the life of an activist. The Rodriguez home on Newton Avenue was purchased with a loan from the Marston family.
Laura continued to keep in touch with Helen and Mary Marston, who both lived into the 1980’s. David Rodriguez became the gardener for the Marston family. It was his responsibility to keep that garden in order for the many garden parties held there.
In the summer of 1969 I met Laura in a community leadership program sponsored by the Chicano Federation and conducted by Southwest Consultants. Gaspar Olivares and Teresa Williams, both of whom would hold leadership positions at work and in their community activities, also attended that program.
Laura and I became close friends—the college student and the señora from the barrio. In class she would ask questions or make statements always thinking of the community’s point of view. It should be said that Laura was not without faults. As a person she had her fair share, but what can be said is she loved Neighborhood House and what it represented to the Barrio where the majority of her youth had been spent.
Laura laid in front of a bulldozer to keep it from breaking ground for the substation. This transformation from the housewife who obeyed whatever her husband said, to the Chicana activist Laura Rodriguez, was a metamorphosis of unforeseen scope.
1970 was a momentous year in Logan Heights and it’s recently created community of Barrio Logan. Interstate 5, constructed in 1963, served to separate the area that is known today as Barrio Logan to the south, from the rest of the Greater Logan Heights communities. By her late fifties, Laura had become a community activist. One of her first stands would be at Chicano Park in what we now know as Barrio Logan.
Walking to the store one day in April 1970, she saw the earth movers on the land that is now Chicano Park. She asked what was going on and was told that a Highway Patrol Substation was to be built on land that had been promised for a park. She used to say after that “I never went home,” much to the chagrin of Mr. Rodriguez.
Laura laid in front of a bulldozer to keep it from breaking ground for the substation. This transformation from the housewife who obeyed whatever her husband said, to the Chicana activist Laura Rodriguez, was a metamorphosis of unforeseen scope.
The mistake made by the Neighborhood House administration was not understanding what that building and the services from that building meant to the community. They had assumed that the change to an administrative office, now referred to as the Big Neighbor, would not be a problem.
The Neighborhood House of 1970 was not the Neighborhood House of Laura’s childhood. Laura’s youth had been spent at Neighborhood House where she learned to cook and sew. Medical services had been available at Neighborhood House since her childhood. They included visiting nurses, well baby clinics, nutrition services and the provision of tonsillectomies on site. Whole generations of young men were introduced to sports at Neighborhood House and played on Neighborhood House teams.
The heart of the barrio had been reduced to administrative offices. The services Laura had seen and known as a child were no longer offered there. The few that were left were in limited in scope.
The sudden eruption of activism that followed in October of 1970 at Neighborhood House, like the take over of Chicano Park six months earlier, had its roots in the changes brought about by President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and Urban Renewal policies.
Neighborhood House initiated Head Start programs in 1964 with funding made available with these policies. It also broke ground for a 41st Street Campus in March of 1970. The mistake made by the Neighborhood House administration was not understanding what that building and the services from that building meant to the community. They had assumed that the change to an administrative office, now referred to as the Big Neighbor, would not be a problem.
The need for a clinic was one concern that was constantly discussed. This was the natural next step to Laura. A decision was made to “take back” the building and restore the services that had once made Neighborhood House the heart of the community.
The night before the occupation, Laura, José Gomez, who is immortalized in a Chicano Park mural wearing a white tee shirt and holding a pick ax, and I met to discuss what could go wrong. Among the three of us there was general agreement that this would be quick and easy.
This was not how it turned out, but the general consensus was that such a just cause would not be denied. Both Laura and José were adamant that because I was studying to become a teacher, I should not do anything that would be considered illegal. At the time, I did not appreciate how protective they were being.
The occupation would be announced on a Monday night at the CAC (Community Action Council) meeting held at Lowell School. In order to preserve the announcement, I took a tape deck to the meeting. Looking at this from today’s vantage point, I wonder what was I thinking. Did I really think that attending a CAC meeting holding a tape deck and yelling out that I knew something big was about to happen was not at all obvious?
Of special interest was the fact that you did not hear backlash from the people attending the meeting. Al Johnson, who owned the El Carrito restaurant, stands out in my memory as being at the meeting and listening with great interest. At that time I had no idea what an important role Mr. Johnson had played in the development of the social clubs that originated and met at Neighborhood House.
On that particular night, there were some surprised people. However, I don’t remember any real objections to the take over. I attribute that to those attending the meeting who remembered what the Neighborhood House of yesteryear had meant to the community and how what it had become had failed it.
After I left the CAC meeting, I joined Laura on the steps of Neighborhood House. On this 44th anniversary of The Occupation, I will leave Laura Rodriguez chained to the Neighborhood House doors–temporarily. Next week will continue with more about Laura and the occupation, tamales and more tamales, a presidential visit and Laura’s legacy.
The complete History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights is available here.
Maria E. Garcia
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WOW, another great chapter of the MY. I admired Laura as a teenager. She was a legend! I can’t wait for the next part of Laura’s story.
Gloria
Gloria, thank you for your comment. Do you wonder what Laura would say about all the attention she has received? I especially want to thank you for following the stories every week. I just remembered you have family members teaching at LR Elementary how neat is that!
Wow, this really creates mental pictures for me of a spirited time in our city’s history. I’m grateful for the Lauras of the world.
Ernie, so am I.
I can not begin to tell you how much I enjoyed reading this. I felt like I was there and I look forward to the next! So happy to learn that my present supervisor is part of San Diego’s Chicano movement history and is sharing this story.
Norma, Thank you for the comment. The staff would be more than a little surprised if they knew my history in the movement. Those were the best days!