Track 4: Take it as is

Portrait of Miki Iwasaki
Miki Iwasaki, Co-Founder of The Bakery, 2013
Remnants in studio from Panadería Nacional, 2013

By 2010, the majority of changes happening in Barrio Logan were just south of Petco Park. From this location, you can see the ballpark and the gentrified east side. As development spills into the barrio, the corner of National and Sigsbee has been completely transformed.

During the 2008-2009 recession, the barrio became a sort of a land grab, and abandoned store fronts and warehouses attracted working artists seeking large and inexpensive studios to rent. Typically, art studios and galleries are the first wave of gentrification: artists have been known to create favorable and trendy communities, and in effect, the area becomes ripe for development.

Miki Iwasaki, co-founder of The Bakery, talks to us about turning the former Mexican bakery, La PanaderĂ­a Nacional, into a studio collective. Miki is well versed and aware of potentially being fazed out by future development.

Miki Iwasaki stands where cashier left a mark on concrete
Panadería cashier leaves a mark, 2013