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Arts & Culture

Only Here Podcast: A Seamstress Weaves Her Way Into Barrio Logan

Seamstress Claudia Rodriguez-Biezunski works with a customer in her Barrio Logan studio in this photo taken January, 19, 2019.
Vito Di Stefano
Seamstress Claudia Rodriguez-Biezunski works with a customer in her Barrio Logan studio in this photo taken January, 19, 2019.
On this episode of “Only Here,” a story about a seamstress who’s trying to build community connections while building her business in Barrio Logan, a neighborhood that’s fighting to keep its Chicano culture alive.

Barrio Logan is a place in San Diego where the city's proximity to the border is palpable.

The celebration of Mexican-American culture is everywhere in the downtown neighborhood — in murals, parks, businesses, food and the low-rider car cruises and other community events that happen here.

As Barrio Logan grows and changes, some folks who live in the community are worried that the neighborhood will gentrify and eventually its Chicano culture will be lost.

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Seamstress Claudia Rodriguez-Biezunski is very familiar with the process of gentrification. She’s been priced out of two studios in San Diego. And now, she’s trying to find her way in Barrio Logan, where an artistic renaissance and gentrification are playing out side by side.

Seamstress Claudia Rodriguez-Biezunski's advertises her Sew Loka studio in Barrio Logan in this photo taken in December 2018.
Kinsee Morlan
Seamstress Claudia Rodriguez-Biezunski's advertises her Sew Loka studio in Barrio Logan in this photo taken in December 2018.