On a recent morning, artist Kim Phillips-Pea led two women on a walking tour of a gray city block in Encanto that a couple of decades ago was a hub for Black arts, culture and community.
Today, the area is dominated by a trolley line, a handful of businesses, some homes and apartments and some abandoned buildings.
But it is slowly coming back to life with public artwork by local artists, Phillips-Pea said.
The women stopped to marvel at murals of Malcom X, Elbert Howard, Nipsey Hussle and Dolores Huerta, all on a building behind a barber shop which residents call mural alley. As cars zoomed by on the busy Imperial Avenue, the women noticed artfully painted utility boxes and Phillips-Pea spoke about past community leaders who grew up in the area.
Phillips-Pea is president of the Southeast Art Team, an artists’ group that provides public artwork for southeastern San Diego. She also is among a group of longtime residents and activists who are asking city officials to designate a nearly 1 mile stretch of Encanto along Imperial Avenue — from 61st to 68th street — as San Diego’s first Black Arts and Culture District.
Kim Phillips-Pea leads a tour down Imperial Avenue in the Encanto neighborhood on Saturday, Sept. 18, with LaShon Wiggers (center) and Lisa Ivory (right).
(Nancee E. Lewis/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
She said creating the district would bring more resources to Encanto that could help showcase the area’s diversity and culture and preserve the history of prominent Black leaders, many of whom played significant roles in the neighborhood’s and the city’s economic development. For instance, community leaders such as former council members Charles Lewis and George Stevens fought to transform Encanto during their leadership.
An arts district would help shed light on a neighborhood the city has long ignored, she said.
“We are tired of this invisible state that we are in,” Phillips-Pea said.
Supporters launched an online petition three weeks ago that has more than 100 signatures. Phillips-Pea organized her tour of the proposed district Saturday to raise awareness about the proposal.
LaShon Wiggers, whose family once lived in the area, said of the tour, “I’m from this community, and I’m learning so much.”
Encanto is a hilly, urban neighborhood in southeastern San Diego. It is part of the 92114 ZIP code, which includes several racially diverse neighborhoods where 43 percent of residents are Latino, 20 percent are Black, 17 percent are Asian and 16 percent are White.
Longtime activist Dajahn Blevins said he has waited nearly 30 years for a cultural district in the area to come to fruition. Despite the area not have the designation, there are creative activities taking place and artwork that showcases it’s potential, he said. Community members decades ago launched the Encanto Street Fair to highlight arts and culture, and other organizations such as the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation, which has ceased operations, worked on plans to redevelop the area.
“It would give the Black community a sense of identity” to have an official arts district,” said Blevins, artistic director of the San Diego Urban Warriors, a performing arts group. “It would give the black community an identifiable place of pride and culture.”
In addition to the tour on Saturday, proponents of the district idea hosted a Black Family Empowerment Day at Marie Widman Park in Encanto. Community leaders and elders were honored for their years of service and contributions to the community.
Phillips-Pea said it’s not uncommon for the stories of people who were pillars of the community to be known only by residents in the neighborhood, but not throughout the city, which is why it’s important to create a space that allows for those stories to be preserved and celebrated.
She also pointed to several panels along Imperial Avenue of artwork by the late Eddie L. Edwards, a muralist. The panels were faded and falling apart, Pea pointed out, with paint cracking or peeling off, further evidence of a need for an arts district, she said.
In San Diego there currently are two state-designated cultural districts — Balboa Park and Barrio Logan. The city helps community organizations apply for the designations through the state, a city spokeswoman said Thursday.
Local residents and family members gather in Marie Widman Memorial Park in Encanto for the “Honoring the Elders” event on Saturday, Sept. 18
(Nancee E. Lewis/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The city also can declare an area a cultural district through a City Council resolution that applies to a community’s plan.
The city did something like that last year in Kearny Mesa when it designated a Pan Asian Cultural and Business Innovation District there. That enables community leaders to attract businesses, cultural organizations, events and tourism to the area, proponents said.
Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe, who represents the Encanto neighborhood, said she supports creating an arts district and her office is committed to working with community partners.
“Intentional investment in the Imperial Avenue Corridor is long overdue, and using this space to preserve the history and contributions of Black San Diegans is key to revitalizing the area,” she said in a statement.
City officials said their departments are in regular communication with community members on this topic and are waiting on them to provide information describing what is unique to that stretch of Imperial Avenue to be included in a proposed resolution.
Proponents also plan to send a formal letter to Mayor Todd Gloria about the district, Phillips-Pea said.