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A History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: Oscar and Rosita Torres

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By Maria Garcia

Oscar is now 80 years old and yet his memories of Neighborhood House are as clear as if they had happened yesterday. Like other boys in his age bracket, board games, baseball and basketball and the field trips stand out his memory. He also credits Neighborhood House for being the “baby sitter” for him and his brothers and sisters. Both of his parents worked and Neighborhood House provided a place to spend the day in a safe environment.

Most non-school days he played at Neighborhood House from 8:00 in the morning until 9:00 at night. They would go home and eat dinner and return to continue playing outside until Neighborhood House closed.   [Read more…]

A History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: Mary and Helen Marston

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By Maria Garcia

Editor Note: New installments in the continuing History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights will resume on Saturday January 17, 2015. This is an encore of an article published earlier in the series.

The Marston family history is synonymous with the history of San Diego. Volumes have been written about their philanthropy and their contributions to the history of San Diego. For those of us that grew up in San Diego, we remember the Marston Department Store. My biggest memory of the department store is of the escalator and the smell of perfume.

I am sure we never bought one thing there. Despite her fear of escalators, my mother would take us there for the express purpose of riding the escalator. It was our simple version of the “E” ride at Disneyland. We would walk around the store, go up to the second floor and ride the escalator down with that beautiful smell greeting us at about the halfway point. In my mind the “Marston” name and “rich” are one and the same.   [Read more…]

A History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: Joe Serrano

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SDFP exclusive series The History of Neighborhood House: From 1918 to the occupation in 1972

By Maria Garcia

From the moment Joe Serrano tasted bread for the first time he loved it. Until he attended kindergarten at Neighborhood House in the 1920’s Joe had never eaten bread. He remembers their snack of milk and bread coming from Mike Amador’s store, right across the street. I have surmised that there was some type of an arrangement between the Neighborhood House and Mr. Amador.

After kindergarten at Neighborhood House, Joe attended Burbank Elementary. His principal was Miss Barbara. If students did not behave, Miss Barbara would put her hands on your shoulders and dig her rather long fingernails right into your skin. Even today, almost 80 years later, Joe remembers when a black woman came to enroll her son at Burbank and was told by Miss Barbara that her son would have to have to go to “their” school–Logan Elementary, which was a mere three blocks away.   [Read more…]

A History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: Dr. Armando Rodriguez and Bea Serrano Rodriguez

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SDFP exclusive series The History of Neighborhood House: From 1918 to the occupation in 1972

By Maria Garcia

Armando and Bea Rodriguez welcomed me into their home to look at old newspapers clippings about Neighborhood House that I had brought. Those clippings set off a conversation filled with memories and untold stories from the 1930’s and 1940’s. One of the pictures that received the most attention was taken at a party at the Marston House. The Marston family played a seminal role in providing both financial support to Neighborhood House and direction. Their garden parties were particularly memorable.

A group of dancers in traditional Mexican dress are all lined up together in one of the clippings. I had no idea who the dancers were other than boys and girls from the Neighborhood House. Much to my surprise, Bea states “Oh my God, that’s my sister and me.” Taking a closer look, the boy with a zarape over his shoulder and a fake mustache was indeed a girl. Bea and her sister Consuelo were the dance partners.   [Read more…]

The History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: Bill Breitenstein, Athletics Director

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SDFP exclusive series The History of Neighborhood House: From 1918 to the occupation in 1972

By Maria Garcia

This history of Neighborhood House has introduced readers to some of the programs and activities that placed this organization firmly at the center of life in the Logan Heights community in the 1920’s and 30’s. Past articles have referred to the popularity of formal sports training at Neighborhood House, particularly for baseball. Neighborhood athletes were coached, provided with the required equipment and could participate in tournaments. The team was a source of enthusiastic neighborhood pride.

The Neighborhood House baseball team provided children with tremendous opportunities while it also exposed them to discrimination, as the recent interview with Dr. Bareño revealed. Memories of Coach Bill Breitenstein are inextricably intertwined with the accounts of so many people I have interviewed for this series. Mr. Breitenstein died in 1928, but his influence was felt well into the 1930’s. This “shining star,” as Dr. Bareño called him, deserves a special place in the history of Neighborhood House.   [Read more…]

A History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights : John Bareño, 1930’s

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SDFP exclusive series The History of Neighborhood House: From 1918 to the occupation in 1972

By Maria E. Garcia

One conversation about Neighborhood House always leads to another. When I told Kiko I was working on a research paper about Neighborhood House he told me “You have to talk to John Bareño.” “Kiko” is Frank Peralta, one of the people who spearheaded the effort to construct a war memorial in Chicano Park. I took Kiko’s advice and on a Thursday in May I drove to Spring Valley to interview Dr. Bareño in his home.

I found a man with a wealth of information about Logan Heights, baseball, discrimination and Neighborhood House. Dr. Bareño was born in Loreto, Baja California. His father had been offered $500.00 to move the family to Mexicali. They were going to work picking cotton there.   [Read more…]

The History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: 1930’s, the Maids’ Story, Art Classes and More about Summer Camp

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Part of the ongoing series The History of Neighborhood House: From 1918 to the occupation in 1972

By Maria Garcia

The Maids’ Class

During the 1930’s a maids’ training program came to Neighborhood House. It was established under the Adult Education Department at San Diego State University. This portion of the paper was very difficult to write in the 1970’s when I was doing my first research on Neighborhood House. My first reaction was to jump up and feel anger that these women had been put in such a class. I have had to evaluate my biases and try to put myself in the place of young girls and women of the 1930’s who needed employment. I also reviewed pictures of their graduation to try and understand their point of view and sense of accomplishment.
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A History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: Angel Negrete, the 1930’s

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SDFP exclusive series The History of Neighborhood House: From 1918 to the occupation in 1972

By Maria E. Garcia

Mr. and Mrs. Angel Negrete were kind enough to invite me to their home to discuss his memories of Neighborhood House. Most of Mr. Negrete’s memories are from the 1930’s. He asked me several times why I wanted to interview him. He is one of the most modest men I have had the privilege of interviewing.

Mr. Negrete learned wrestling at Neighborhood House. It was a skill that he took to San Diego High School, where he became Southern California Champion. Their team went to San Francisco for this event and he remembered it was “a big deal.” Later in the late 1940’s he would become a volunteer wrestling coach at Neighborhood House.   [Read more…]

A History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: The Construction of a Community Oven

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SDFP exclusive series The History of Neighborhood House: From 1918 to the occupation in 1972

By Maria E. Garcia

In the 1930’s many of the homes around Neighborhood House did not have the facilities for the women to bake. Mr. Tijerina, an unemployed baker who lived at 4650 Cersa Street, volunteered his services. He reconstructed an oven in the yard at Neighborhood House. With the help of other men in the neighborhood, they dismantled an oven, which had been used in an old bake house near Neighborhood House. The bricks from the oven were donated by Mrs. P.J. Benbough. The only cost to Neighborhood House was twenty-five cents for a bar of angle iron that was used over the oven door.

The oven offered the women opportunity to bake and to once again gather and socialize and in today’s parlance, network.   [Read more…]

A History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: Jane Addams and the 1930’s

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SDFP exclusive series The History of Neighborhood House: From 1918 to the occupation in 1972

By Maria E. Garcia

Jane Addams was born in 1860 to a prosperous Northern Illinois family. As a young child she had tuberculosis of the spine. This health problem would affect her the rest of her life. Her father was a founding member of the Republican Party. Her dream of becoming a doctor died after her first year of medical school due to health problems and a nervous breakdown. So why would this woman who wanted to be a doctor and came from a rather wealthy family have any role or influence in San Diego, California? Why would she have any roots in a settlement house in the middle of a Mexican Barrio?

In 1887 she read a magazine article about a settlement house. It became her dream to establish one. She and her close friend Ellen Gates opened Hull House in Chicago. Many women who came from wealthy families and were in the college in the 1920’s developed a similar interest and involvement. College had made them progressive in their thinking. They had a sincere interest in social issues as well as a desire to help immigrants and the less fortunate.

This social philosophy took root in San Diego among various educated, wealthy women who included Helen Marston.
  [Read more…]

A History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: 1918-1929

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SDFP exclusive series The History of Neighborhood House: From 1914 to the occupation in 1972

By Maria E. Garcia

From its inception in 1914, Neighborhood House became the heart of the Latino, Mexican-American and Mexican community. The building was known throughout the barrio as Neighborhood House, the Neighbor or Big Neighbor. It was modeled after Hull House, a settlement house established in Chicago.

The local history of Neighborhood House is in many ways the history of prominent San Diegans. People in the community who had a sincere interest in helping others would donate time and money to assure that the settlement house located at 1809 National Avenue was serving the community.

One family that gave of their time as well as their money was the George Marston family. …
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A History of Logan Heights’ Neighborhood House: Becoming Maria

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An introduction to the SDFP exclusive series The History of Neighborhood House: From Inception to Occupation

By Maria E. Garcia

I was born in Yuma, Arizona and came to San Diego at the age of three. With the exception of one year, when my mother had TB and we returned to Yuma so my aunts could help care for us, my whole life has been in San Diego County. Our first apartment in San Diego was at 33rd and Imperial Avenue. My parents, thinking a Catholic education was of value, sacrificed to send me to Saint Jude School. That’s where I learned that there was something wrong with being Mexican, and my name was changed to Mary Helen Garcia.

St Jude was my first experience with racism, a concept a shy six-year-old girl had not experienced until she met the nuns. In fifth grade we moved to an old house in Encanto. I attended Encanto Elementary, O’Farrell Jr. High and Morse High School. The blessing with all three of those schools is that they were multi-ethnic and we all learned to play together.   [Read more…]

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