VARRIO SHERMAN 27 STREET

BARRIO SHERMAN “SM” IS ONE OF THE OLDEST VARRIOS IN THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO. IT’S TERRENO INHABITS THE COMMUNITIES OF SHERMAN HEIGHTS PROPER AND ADJACENT GRANT HILL aka THE HILL. THE VARRIO DATES BACK TO THE VERY EARLY 1900s AND GOES HAND IN HAND WITH THE VARRIOS OF LOS IN TERMS OF CHICANO GANG STRUCTURE … IN RECENT DECADES, STARTING OUT WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF INTERSTATE 5 (WHICH DIVIDED SHERMAN HEIGHTS INTO TWO SIDES) AND CONTINUING ON ONTO CURRENT TIMES, THE WESTERN PART OF THE VARRIO HAS BEEN FOR THE MOST PART DEMOLISHED AND GENTRIFICATION HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL ON THE OLD RESIDENTS IN THIS COMMUNITY. THE WESTERN PART ADJACENT TO DOWNTOWN S.D. CURRENTLY IS A MIXTURE OF HIGH RISE MODERN CONDOMINIUMS AND SKID-ROW TYPE STREETS LEFT IN NEGLECT BUT WITH MANY HOMES AND PEOPLE (BOTH BROWN & BLACKS) RESIDING IN OLD LIL HOUSES TUCKED IN-BETWEEN MODERN CONDOS…
IN THIS WESTERN PART OF SMHts, VARRIO SHERMAN HAD ITS START AND REACHED IT’S HEYDAY TO THE FULLEST. THE VATOS HAD THEIR VARRIO ON LOCK-DOWN AND HAD HANG-OUT SPOTS ON ISLAND AVENUE & 17TH STREET, MARKET STREET & 14TH STREET, ISLAND AVENUE & 14TH STREET, IMPERIAL & 13TH STREET, J STREET & 16TH STREET AND OTHER SPOTS IN-BETWEEN MARKET STREET AND IMPERIAL AVENUE FROM 12TH STREET ALL THE WAY TO 30TH STREET; BUT THIS WHOLE DOWNTOWN AREA NOWADAYS – ALTHOUGH STILL PART OF THE VARRIO – HAS BEEN LEFT BEHIND AND THE EASTERN PART OF THE VARRIO ACROSS THE 5 FREEWAY IS WHERE YOU WILL FIND VSM TODAY – MORE TOWARDS THE COMMUNITY KNOWN AS “GRANT HILL” WITH GRANT HILL PARK AS THEIR CENTRO…. GRANT HILL PARK ITSELF SITS ATOP OF A LIL’ KNOLL THAT HAS A MAGNIFICENT VIEW OF SAN DIEGO BAY, THE DOWNTOWN SKYLINE AND YOU CAN ALSO SEE ALL THE WAY DOWN TO TIJUANA (SOME 18 MILES SOUTH DOWN THE COAST)… GRANT HILL IS MORE OF A BARRIO LOOKING NEIGHBORHOOD, MORE SO THAN THE EASTERN PART OF SHERMAN HEIGHTS OVERLOOKING DOWNTOWN WHERE YOU’RE HARD PRESSED TO FIND “AFFORDABLE HOUSING.” IT IS HERE AT “THE HILL” WHERE THE “GRANT HILL PARK LOCOS” STONERS CLIKA OF VARRIO SHERMAN IS LOCATED AT, AND OVER TO THE NORTH ALONG THE MARKET STREET AREA YOU’LL FIND THE NEWER “CALLE 20 LOCOS”, AND TOWARDS THE SOUTH BORDER WITH LOGAN HEIGHTS, DOWN BY THE TROLLEY RAIL TRACKS IS WHERE YOU’LL FIND THE BAD ASS ORIGINALS “SHERMAN CALLE 27 LOCOS” … EL VARRIO SHERMAN EXTENDS FROM DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO’s 12TH STREET, TO 30TH STREET ON THE EAST, THE MLK 94 FREEWAY ON THE NORTH DIVIDES IT FROM VARRIO LOMAS 26 STREET AND COMMERCIAL STREET / THE TRACKS ON THE SOUTH SEPARATE IT FROM VARRIO LOGAN HEIGHTS…
UNLIKE LOGAN HEIGHTS WHICH IS ALL MOSTLY FLATLAND, BARRIO SHERMAN IS FULL OF HILLSIDES AND RAVINES, SO THEY HAVE ALL KINDS OF EMPTY LOTS AND LIL HILLSIDES, AS WELL AS TREACHEROUS ALLEYWAYS WHERE THEY CAN HANG OUT AND KICK-IT SOMEWHAT TROUBLE-FREE; BUT SANDWICHED IN-BETWEEN VARRIO LOMAS AND LOGAN, THEY ARE IN NO WAY SAFE-N-SOUND FROM ATTACKS.

http://artfromthestreets.blogspot.com/2006/01/barrio-sherman.html