LA COLONIA JARDINES DEL EDEN
"THE BROWN SIDE OF TOWN"
N ~ Lomas Santa Fe
S ~ Via De La Valle
E ~ Interstate 5
W ~ Cedros (The Tracks)
…Wikipedia
Eden Gardens
The neighborhood of Eden Gardens (also known as La Colonia), one of the oldest residential areas of Solana Beach, was a community formed in the 1920s by Mexican farmers who were hired by the owners of large ranches in Rancho Santa Fe. These farmers wanted their families nearby, hence the formation of La Colonia (The Colony).
"The name Eden Gardens came later from a land developer who thought it would be a good marketing tool." Many residents still refer to the area as La Colonia. Famous residents include Chicano rapper Lil Rob and comedian Rene Sandoval who were born and raised in the community.
Colonia EDEN GARDENS in SOLANA.
EDEN GARDENS was a deragatory name that the gavachos baptized the barrio with where the Mexican and Indios population lived, right next to the “working” fields. The Colonia was grungy looking, wild and desolate, filled with shrubbery and nothing but dirt and rocks on the streets; hence the reason why the gavachos would call it “EDEN” GARDENS as a way of laughing at this Mexican earthly paradise. The name stuck, and La Raza adopted it for themselves, and like everything else that was used as a way of insulting our people and our ways, La raza took it and turned it around, made it into a name of Pride. . The same deal was con TORTILLA FLATS from Encinitas -no relationship with the TxFlats from Comptone or Torrance- the gavachos used the name as a derogatory reference when pointing out to the area where the Mexicans folks lived. They would call Mexican people "tortilla eaters" and their homes "Tortilla Flats" because tortillas were like flat pancakes to them, just like the poor flat shacks that Mexican folks lived in. The derogatory names stuck, but out of those racist origins came..
~> La Colonia Jardines del Eden, and Ensenitas Tortilla Flats
Varrio names, which live on to this present age!
If you ever head down south from the big LA basin urban sprawl during the month of June, and you stop by the Del Mar Fairgrounds for the annual San Diego County Fair, you'll be passing by right at the heels of the old colonia.
