Stretched between North Park and Golden Hill, South Park only stretches a few small blocks. Blink, and you might just miss it.
But what this community lacks in size, it makes up for in style and strength. As home to leading independent businesses and art culture, the atmosphere is unique to its tree-lined streets and the people who walk them with pride.
Held four times a year, South Park's upcoming Spring Walk About taking place on March 29th from 6-10pm is an event that defines the area's vision and community character. Visitors get to literally walk about the neighborhood and enjoy its many boutiques, restaurants, and coffee shops while enjoying live entertainment and art exhibits.
One spot you won't want to skip is the newly opened Junc Boutique and Gallery, formerly Magpie Boutique and Gallery, and the anticipated "Hello, I love you..." interactive art show going on within. Presented by GRRRRRL Power (GP) and featuring 18 of the local group's female artists, this show will promote the concept of the South Park community and reflect a positive collaboration between art and boutique business.
In lieu of San Diego's serious lack of shopping variety (no offense, Pacific Beach), more fashion-savvy folk are beginning to head to the local boutiques that have sprung up along 30th, starting in North Park and crescendo into South Park. Innovative shop owners are more than willing to step up and fill the void generic stores leave with well-sought after vintage finds and independently designed pieces.
Culminating this philosophy is Junc Boutique and Gallery owned by Jeffrey Parish. Located on 30th next to Citizen Video, this whimsical but tastefully modern shop is home to a diversified range of style: a designer green satin dress with ruffles hangs facing a rack lined with brightly colored skirts with vintage patterns and cuts. Stacks of jeans, rows of dresses, and second hand men's shirts decorate the store while music plays, emulating a premeditated stance on style in an effortless breezy space. Come March 29th, art of all media will hang alongside the clothes on Junc's no-longer-blank walls.
"There's something for everybody," says Parish who bought the space in early spring of 2008, after leaving his smaller shop in Hillcrest. A larger boutique meant more room to support his friends in the local art community.
Enter GRRRRRL Power, a feminist art collective born from the mind of an affluent member of San Diego's art scene, Bill Pierce. Pierce created the group when he noticed a lack of female representation in the art shown in San Diego. Now completely run by women artists, GP has grown into an influential artistic force city-wide.
Curator and artist Jasmine Worth recounts the story of GP's inception in 2004. "Pierce saw a need for showing [women's work] in a forum where women aren't the minority." By selecting themes and hosting events together, members of GP get the advantage of being inspired by other artists inhabiting varying degrees of success and style. "We get to pick each other's brains," says Worth, "I enjoy having other women artists around. It's empowering."
"Hello, I love you..." is a new wave of event collaboration between Junc and GP, a shaking hands of artistic and business venture, introducing the public to the South Park vision that art and commerce can create community, not competition.
Crosby Noricks, another curator who helped start the group says, "GP is looking to establish new contacts in San Diego, and there's a natural synergy that emerges from a partnership like this." When participating in a GP show, an independent store owner provides his shop as an art space to promote not only local, independent art, but also to promote women.
But it isn't so much the South Park style that's impressive as it is their sense of community. A community is created from and defined by the bonds and close-knit relationships of its residents and members. In South Park, such self-directed style isn't just an effort to stand out from the crowd; it comes from a self-supported, ostensibly solid community base.
South Park has an edge on the rest of San Diego's inner city, and it's evident to all who walk upon its quirky streets. Community-based commerce, an insistent stance on individualized style and an acceptance of artistic expression truly makes South Park the place to discover and realize your personal tastes and attitudes.
Perhaps understanding this best, Parish's mantra for Junc (which will be painted on the shop floor, visible the second a customer walks in) goes hand in hand with the South Park appeal: "Truly the juxtaposition between old and new creates a style that transcends time."'
"That's really what South Park is all about," Noricks adds. South Park's solidarity comes from a confidence that knows individuality isn't as simple as putting your clothes on in the morning, but rather from a strongly developed sense of community.
"Life becomes more colorful, playful, and vibrant when you're surrounded by people who are striving to push their own creative boundaries and live out their creative expressions" Noricks says. If you seek color and brilliance, set your gait in South Park's direction where creativity, community and artistic fashion are seemingly entwined within the city streets.
It's rumored that Citizen Video's Walk About party is always the craziest, and this year is no exception. Hosting four DJs and savory pizza from Luigi's in Golden Hill, South Park's favorite indie and foreign film shop will be shaking the walls next door to Junc celebrating their two year anniversary.
"Hello, I love you..." will transform Junc on Saturday, March 29th from 6 to 10pm, featuring the art of Paige Luneau, Jasmine Worth, Celene, Anna Woerman, Shayna Yates, Macroe, Jocille Flores Ady, Nicole B. Schmidt, Kim Schwenk, Maria Todaro, Kristal Molina, Brittsart, Krosby Noricks, Deidra Perino, Lara Tamalunas, and Jen Lawson.
"Hello, I love you..."
Junc Boutique and Galley
2205 Fern Street
San Diego, CA 92101
619.283.2611
Pictured: Past GP event and Junc Boutique and Gallery
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