In the shadow of San Diego’s massive naval and shipbuilding industry, Barrio Logan has spent decades fighting for clean air, safe streets, and the right to exist.
Both proximity and resistance define San Diego’s Barrio Logan. It is a place pressed against naval shipyards, fenced in by freeways, and crowned by the Coronado Bridge. For decades, the community has lived with the noise, the pollution, and the promises that never quite came true.
When the USS Bonhomme Richard went up in flames in 2020, the Navy said there was “nothing toxic in the smoke.” Residents knew better. It was just the latest chapter in a long story of long-unresolved damage — one that began when the war effort led to the seizure of the waterfront and continued through decades of rezoning fights, health crises, and a ballot-box battle that pitted neighbors against the city’s most powerful industry.
In this episode, Things That Go Boom travels to San Diego to ask: What does it mean to live — and keep fighting — in the shadow of the military’s hometown? Featuring voices from across the neighborhood, we trace how a community beneath the bridge built its own language of survival.
Dr. Alberto López Pulido, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of San Diego; Brent Beltrán, Publisher, Calaca Press; community activist; Ramón “Mr. Ray” Fino, Vietnam veteran, lifelong Barrio Logan resident; Angel Garcia, Commander, VFW Post Don Diego 7420
Environmental Health Coalition: Barrio Logan Community Plan
Chicano Park Museum: Logan Heights Archival Project
Intersectional Health Project San Diego: Barrio Logan
“Fallout From Trump’s EPA Cuts Includes Long-Sought Barrio Logan Park,” Philip Salata, inewsource
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