By Staff
A reader from Liverpool, England, wrote us recently requesting our help in finding “hidden gems of progressiveness and places of historical importance I should visit whilst I’m there.”
That request got us to thinking about how much local history we must be blissfully unaware of. So we’ve decided to create and continue to update a page where the local history of progressiveness and protest will come alive for visitors, students and locals.
Some things we already have, like Maria Garcia’s History of Neighborhood House. Others are obvious (or should be) like Chicano Park.
We want to catalog, photograph and map out local places of interest. We want everything: places where protests occurred, vignettes about relevant political events and locations where historical documents might be found. We want restaurants and businesses run by local progressives, or whose proceeds and purpose are to support progressive causes.
We want to be able to link to other internet content, via brief descriptions of what readers can expect. Jeff Smith’s series at the Reader about the IWW in San Diego is an example. Frank Gormlie’s articles about the days of yore at the OB Rag are another.
We’d like your help in putting this together. You can leave us ideas in the comments section of this article or email us at contact@sandiegofreepress.org with the subject line Progressive San Diego. Many thanks!
Staff
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I’ll be proud to help with anything arts related. For example, there are three or four sites where Progressive type theatre pieces were regularly presented, beginning in the 1960s, and some of these are almost forgotten. And there are the sites of love-ins and such in that same period. I’m sure pictures exist. I have some myself, including local appearances by the San Francisco Mime Troupe.
Pop music will be harder to pin down but probably even more rewarding. Art shows and fringe films, ditto. There’s a whole culture of pre-tape film exhibition (Unicorn Theatre anyone?) that either is or should be assembled and made accessible.
Need to start with a definition, in this context, of “Progressive.”
Welton, we appreciate your offer to help and will stay in touch with you. Many thanks.
And you are quite right that we need to provide a definition of “progressive.” I guess that “I know it when I see it” isn’t good enough…. :) Anna
I think it starts with the Kumeyaay living here for time immemorial in balance with the land, then enduring through 500 years of genocide. I’d encourage readers to educate themselves on the history of colonization, here, and then ask permission before visiting (uninvited) occupied Kumeyaay territory.
Oh! Don’t forget about the South Bay!
The Chicano history at the border and in National City seems very relevant. Cesar Chavez gave talks at the Civic Center in San Ysidro.
The utopian agricultural commune of Little Landers in San Ysidro.
The Surfer’s history of IB.
Mike McCoy saving the largest coastal wetland.
The history of the boundary monuments at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The history of sanitation and water, pioneered by environmentalists (including the sanitation plant).
This is such an important endeavor! Thanks, Anna!
Barbara, thanks for the suggestions. You are right about not overlooking South Bay communities. The credit for this search for our progressive history goes to editors Annie Lane and Doug Porter.
The Lemon Grove school where the nation’s first desegregation battle was fought.
Good one! Paul Espinoza’s The Lemon Grove Incident should be required viewing for all kids in SD schools.
Well, I’m not so sure it’s a progressive site, but the Guild theater was bombed by a right wing terror (The Secret Army Organization) in the early 1970s. They also tried to assassinate a SDSU professor around the same time. Not surprisingly, they never did time or even got arrested.
This is a great idea! I have some B&W photos I shot of Jane Fonda and some other activists speaking at a rally at the open air theater SDSU around 1970. Got a few other shots including Joan Baez performing at Peterson Gym (also SDSU). Let me know how I can help.