Santee Senior Living Community To Unveil Mural Honoring San Diego History

SANTEE, CA — A newly completed mural celebrating San Diego's people, places and history will be unveiled during a public ceremony at Lantern Crest Senior Living in Santee.

The free event will be held from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Aug. 5 outside The Plaza and will feature a ribbon-cutting ceremony and remarks from muralist David Ybarra and Lantern Crest leadership. Attendees will also be invited to The Legacy for light refreshments, additional artwork by Ybarra and live music.

Ybarra, a longtime San Diego artist, spent several months creating the large-scale mural, which depicts local landmarks, community icons and historic moments, including the Hotel del Coronado, Coronado Bridge, Pacific Beach Pier, Belmont Park, the USS Midway, the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, the Padres, the Chargers, the Gaslamp Quarter, the Lakeside Rodeo, local missions and scenes from the civil rights movement.

The mural also pays tribute to Harold K. Brown, a civil rights leader and former Lantern Crest resident. Brown was the first African American to hold an administrative position at San Diego State University and helped establish local chapters of the Congress of Racial Equality. In 2011, the university established the Harold K. Brown Civil Rights and African American Experience Collection to preserve photographs, documents and oral histories from the civil rights movement, many from Brown's personal archives.

Organizers said the mural honors the late Brown's lasting impact alongside the people, places and events that have shaped the San Diego region.