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Iconic Caliente Mural Not Designated Historic
July 2016
By A. Hayes
 The mural, one of the last and largest such art forms left in San Diego. |
 A group of 30 Los Cruzadores meet up at the Caliente mural to ride in solidarity of saving the mural to Tijuana's Agua Caliente to tour the historic remains of the historic track. Photos courtesy Bruce Coons |
SOHO was greatly disheartened by the inability of the Historical Resources Board (HRB) to designate the Caliente mural under any criteria.
The HRB listened for the second time to public testimony and deliberated about this iconic sign for over two hours at its June 23 meeting. While AECOM updated its severely deficient report, prepared for the owner of the California Theatre on whose walls the mural is painted, and SOHO commissioned Legacy 106 to prepare a rebuttal report, which was also submitted to the city. However, HRB staff would not be swayed in their recommendation that the Caliente mural is not a significant historic resource to San Diego, despite the abundant research, photographs, and ephemera presented in both these reports and presentations.
When it came time for the board to discuss the matter, five out of six board members were in favor of historic designation, in multiple categories: Criteria A, C and E. Criteria A and C were presented in the Legacy 106 report and presentation by Kiley Wallace (also a SOHO board member), as the mural reflects a special and unique element of San Diego's development, and is both a valuable and distinctive example of craftsmanship. In addition, Legacy 106 verbally supported the Agua Caliente mural's significance under Criteria B, for a direct association with John Alessio who invented and marketed the 5-10 betting strategy that is part of the mural. Further, Boardmember Silvas commented there is significance under Criteria E; as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places with bi-national importance.
However, since the HRB requires a super-majority vote to designate a historic resource, meaning that all 6 board members must be in support, the audience was crushed when Boardmember Larimer blocked two separate motions under Criteria A and C to designate. His uneducated reasoning was that it is inappropriate for the HRB to glorify a criminal, referring to Alessio and to celebrate Agua Caliente's vice industries. While this reasoning provides a biased, inaccurate, and less colorful version of history, even more concerning is his proposed reappointment to the HRB. Nevertheless, SOHO is evaluating next steps and will continue to thwart attempts that aim to destroy this beloved icon.
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