San Diego History Center exhibition documents neighborhoods lost to freeways

The San Diego History Center opens a new exhibition on Thursday titled "San Diego's Lost Neighborhoods," chronicling historically Black and Latino neighborhoods that were lost to freeways and other forces of displacement.

The exhibition, which was co-produced with the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art, features photos, newspaper clippings and TV newsreels documenting moments of history that shaped the demographics of neighborhoods like Southcrest, City Heights, La Jolla and Julian. Visitors can also see more materials via augmented reality on their smartphones.

Gaidi Finnie, the museum's executive director, said the idea for the exhibition started with his research into Black-owned businesses in the Gaslamp Quarter where celebrities like Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Cab Calloway performed.

Living

San Diego, National City receive grant to reconnect communities divided by freeways

Andrew Bowen

Listen • 0:57

"The Gaslamp Quarter is very different now, but at one time was this really bustling African American area," Finnie said. "From the 1880s to the 1950s, we called it 'Harlem of the West.'"

As Finnie got deeper into the research, he realized the story was much bigger than he initially realized.

"We had to get students from UCSD to help us do all the research, and all the community members who had lived through this wanted to take part in it," Finnie said. "It got to be very complex and bigger than we ever thought it was. And then when the History Center decided to collaborate with us, then we had a home for it."

As the Gaslamp Quarter gentrified, much of San Diego's African American population moved to Southeast San Diego — where they faced even more threats of displacement from the construction of freeways like Interstate 805 and State Route 94.

A large portion of the exhibition focuses on Highway 252, which Caltrans wanted to build through Southcrest. The land for the freeway was cleared in the 60s and 70s, but was ultimately stopped by a popular uprising led by the San Diego Black Federation.

Finnie said while the neighborhoods in the exhibition were lost, they tell a story of resilience.

"It's important to know those kinds of things from your past and to know that you can fight, also," Finnie said. "You can fight for some of these things in order to keep your community together."

Freeway Exit

Freeways are not free. We pay for them in all kinds of ways — with our tax dollars, our time, our environment and our health. While freeways have enabled huge amounts of economic growth, they've also caused displacement and division. Learn the forgotten history of our urban freeway network, and how decades after that network was finished, some communities are still working to heal the wounds that freeways left behind. As climate change threatens to wreak havoc on our cities, freeways are not just a part of the problem. They can also be part of the solution.