Border Trolley Tours • PARKEOLOGY
LiVE TOUR + ORAL HISTORY PROJECT June 10, June 17, June 24, 12-8 PM 2017 SAN DIEGO, CA
Image credit: Ale Uzarraga
Despite the fact that the San Diego/Tijuana border is the most transited in the world, only 1 in 4 San Diegans take the drive south to cross. 100 years ago, during the Panama-California Exposition, locals and tourists visiting the Spanish dancers, gem exhibitions, and Native American reenactment villages of Balboa Park often hopped on a trolley and for an “enjoyable 20-mile ride” to “Tia Juana.” Many of the popular restaurants, casinos, and racetracks in Tijuana were funded by the same American dollars that built Balboa Park. Yet in less than a century, the public imagination of fluidity between San Diego to Tijuana has hardened in sync with the concrete border wall itself.
In collaboration with Cog•nate Collective and in partnership with members of Kumeyaay Community College and the teen docent program of Casa Familiar, Parkeology will provide a free public tour between Balboa Park and border territories of San Ysidro. Live storytelling and audio recordings will trace the animals, humans, and materials that have migrated through the region. Trolley services will also provide free round trip visits to Balboa Park for San Ysidro locals.
During tour hours, the Plaza de Panama in Balboa Park will be transformed into the Border Trolley Tours interpretive center for tour participants and passerbys. Cog•nate Collective’s Mobile Institute for Citizenship and Art (MICA) trailer will serve as the ticket booth and information center.
Production + Direction
Parkeology and Cognate Collective
In Collaboration with
Teen Docent Program at the Front:
Hector Castro
Shania Quiambao
Miguel Garcia
Andres Perez
Lourdes Alcala Guerrero
Ana Ortiz
Erick Rincon R.
Christopher Mendiola
Brienneth Durazog
Kumeyaay Community College
Audio Engineering
Steve Flato
Parkeologists
Diana Benavidez
Jeszi McPeak
Annie Meitchik
Melissa Magdalen
Video
Ren Ebel
Photo
Ale Uzarraga