Welcome to We Made San Diego!

Inspired by Maria Garcia’s book, we share and celebrate the Latino contributions that shaped our city. Explore WMSD podcasts, events and more! Learn about WMSD HERE.

Thank you for helping us keep Latino history alive.

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August 2025 Feature - Adela Garcia: "A Life of Leadership"

In the We Made San Diego August 2025 Podcast, you will have the opportunity, to learn about a woman in our community who has not had an easy road but has stayed on course to help our community achieve and move forward…

June 2025 Feature - David Bejarano: "El Paso Kid becomes San Diego‘s 1ST Latino Modern Times Police Chief"

I met David Bejarano when he was a Sergeant with the San Diego Police Dept. I became very fond of this man from El Paso Texas who spoke Spanish and related to my community with very little effort…

May 2025 Feature: Lisa Montes - “Did you know- Solana Beach’s first community was Mexican- American!”

Have you ever wondered why so many Mexicans and Mexican Americans ended
up in Solana Beach? Were you even aware that there is a large Latino population
in a community named Eden Gardens…

February 2025 Feature - Bea Zamora & Dr. Mario Aguilar: "Dancing Through Life”

Bea Zamora and Dr. Mario Aguilar are two community members who have contributed to the Latino community for well over 40 years…

Podcast 1: Bill Virchis- “So Much Drama!”

The Story about the Consent Decree Lawsuit in 1977

I recently met on the phone with Bill Flores, a friend of Joe Cordero. Joe thought that Bill had a good understanding of a lawsuit filed by 3 minority-based organizations who had jointly filed suit against the County of San Diego. The suit alleged that blacks, Mexican...

We Made San Diego Fundraiser

Show your support at the WE MADE SAN DIEGO Fundraiser! By B. Chayer & D. Sawicki The stories in “We Made San Diego” by Maria E. Garcia continue to be told, in video format, because of your support! The “We Made San Diego” fundraiser took place on 📆 December 12,...

COMING JANUARY 2025… The WMSD Students Page!

A place for kids and their parents to learn and share their history.

Announcing: We Made San Diego: Video Podcast Series

By Brayden Chayer & David Sawicki Preserving Latino, Chicano and Mexican-American history is a priority for the “We Made San Diego” Project. While recent successful sold-out screenings of the short documentary, “We Made San Diego- For All” made an impact on the...

New Documentary Offers a Way for San Diego to Reconnect With Its Latino Heritage

"We Made San Diego- For All” Shines a light on Untold Stories from the Latino Community SAN DIEGO - YoungPop announces their nomination for the 2024 San Diego Film Week. A documentary short, titled: “We Made San Diego- For All” was written and produced by David...

Video: “MAAC has Your Back” Part 1, Doc Short. Watch now!

MAAC serves tens of thousands of San Diego every year — check them out, in this documentary short.Stay tuned for Part 2, coming soon! When you click the subscribe button, you will be notified, thank you.

WATCH NOW: “We Made San Diego” Video Series

We are excited to announce the "We Made San Diego" YouTube Web Series- episodes featuring Latinos that created a great impact on the San Diego region! The Series will launch with an overview of the project- why and how it will preserve and celebrate the...

Mural: “A Life of Activism”

The Mural: “A Life of Activism” was unveiled at the MAAC Community Center on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Many of the community members that are featured on the mural were present. Author Maria E. Garcia with a canvas reprint of the Mural

An Invitation to Create History by Preserving History

As a third grader, I did not know what the statistics were on Latinos in history books or about our drop-out rate. What I did know that as a little girl I did hang on to the first book I ever read about one Latino family. The book was fiction but there was a little...

Why I Wrote the Book

Why I wrote “We Made San Diego”Even as a third grader I would look for books that had someone that was Latino. In college I would write on index cards with facts about either historical facts or something I had learned about Mexicans or Mexican Americans. Sadly, our...