03/03/2026
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1520821896712963&id=100063555011641&post_id=100063555011641_1520821896712963&mibextid=CDWPTG
On a typically cool spring morning in San Diego, muralist Daniel Angeles took a phone call that chilled his soul: His first piece of public art in the city’s Latino-centric Barrio Logan, a large mural called “Birth of the Hummingbird,” was being erased. He clicked on a live video and was horrified that his masterwork was being painted over — the vibrant colors of his mural gradually covered by mundane, muddy browns.
Angeles called the property’s owner, who, years before, had allowed him to paint the building’s street-facing wall and fence. Property owners are supposed to send notice three months before demolition or repainting, giving artists time to remove, document or relocate their murals.
“I was shocked. I couldn’t do anything since I was at a music performance for my oldest daughter,” Angeles said. “She was performing when this youngster FaceTimed me as he was running toward the wall to show me a couple of guys were going over the art with rollers and dark paint. I couldn’t believe that it was going away.”
Angeles, who paints under the name Dentlok, is a celebrated muralist, tattoo artist and long-time resident of the neighborhood. He said he received no warning before his prized mural was erased.
But with the erasure, Angeles became a focal point in a simmering conflict in a neighborhood that Latinos have spent generations transforming from an overlooked, low-income enclave into a vibrant hub for art, food and culture.
The Barrio Logan fight over gentrification and public art became another in a series of similar, complicated struggles in communities around the country.
📝: Roberto Camacho/Palabra
📸: Photo by Jesse "T.C." Cannon/Palabra
Read the article here: https://timesofsandiego.com/life/2026/03/01/barrio-logan-murals-gentrification/