Art and creativity were busting out everywhere at today’s big, very colorful Goldenpalooza festival at the Golden Hill Recreation Center! Check it out!
The festival offered families creative opportunities at turn. There were multiple art-making stations and workshops for every age. You could learn how to make a cyanotype, a monster and a zine!
Friendly artists were painting, printmaking, demonstrating their technique and showcasing fantastic creations. There was even a cool, highly original video game created by San Diego locals that kids (or adults) could play!
All this while listening to live music from the stage!
Literacy also had a big presence at the festival. Kids were encouraged to read. Reading is fun and expands your mind!
Okay, can you tell I really loved Goldenpalooza? It was my first ever visit to the festival, and will likely not be my last.
Words Alive San Diego encourages children to read. It’s done with art and adult participation.A lot of activities for Makers!Sun Art! Golden Hill is the perfect place for this!The Joey, Jeremy & Camille Trio wave from the Goldenpalooza stage.INSIDE:ART (@insideart_sd) supports the fostering of identity for adults with developmental disabilities through dignified access to the creative arts community of San Diego.The Wall of Questions & Colors by Compagnia Creativa (@compagniacreativa) asks festival goers “What makes you smile?”Made me smile!Testing out the cool, locally developed Behemoth video game (find it on STEAM). A bit like the classic arcade game Joust.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
Everyone was smiling at Goldenpalooza in Golden Hill today, especially those at tables stocked with free healthy food, courtesy of Feeding San Diego!
The cost of living seems higher than ever in San Diego, so keeping food on the table is a struggle for too many residents. Feeding San Diego is there to fill in the gaps (and hungry stomachs).
At the Goldenpalooza community festival, people could fill a bag with potatoes, melons, tuna, low fat milk, and other nutritious essentials.
On behalf of so many in San Diego, thank you!
If you’d like to help Feeding San Diego fulfill their mission, or receive help putting food on your own table, visit their website here.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
Another fun Dogs of Downtown event was held today in San Diego! Canines were the furry superstars on the outdoor WeWork Terrace at 600 B Street!
Downtown residents and four-footed best friends enjoyed free live music, a pup fashion show, dog-centered art, crafts and goods, and the opportunity for dog adoption. There were even VIP tickets available if you wanted your pet to be drawn by a caricature artist, have its tag engraved and more!
It was a great way for people and dogs who live at the center of San Diego to make new friends. And take a pic or two!
The tail-wagging annual event is courtesy of various supporters and the Downtown San Diego Partnership.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
This morning I noticed somebody freshening one of the hanging planters in downtown San Diego’s Cortez Hill neighborhood. On a ladder above the sidewalk, he was adding geraniums and other flowering plants!
It was a friendly worker from Downtown San Diego Partnership’s Clean & Safe program!
Voice Out 2026 is a youth media art exhibition that officially opens today inside San Diego’s downtown Central Library.
Young creators from across the San Diego region were invited by Outside The Lens to explore the idea of Wonder through photography, digital illustration and mixed media. Nearly 200 pieces are now on display on the first floor of the Central Library.
I checked the art out yesterday after the displays were set up!
Wonder stretches our curious minds, leading us to places beyond our accustomed horizons. Places that can be fantastic and strange. I saw images full of dreams, discovery and possibility.
The art of Voice Out 2026 will be on display at both the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the San Diego Central Library throughout June 2026.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
Walk for a few minutes south down Seacoast Drive from Imperial Beach Boulevard and you will come to the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge Viewing Station.
Near a pair of benches, two free scopes allow curious people to view the wide green Tijuana River Estuary and search for birds. Four information signs help describe what is seen.
I took photos of the signs, but glare from the bright sun can make them difficult to read. I altered the contrast quite a bit.
The first sign explains that Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge is the largest remaining coastal wetland in Southern California.
The Tijuana River touches the lands and lives of people of three nations: the Kumeyaay Indian Nation, United States, and Mexico. Starting in the mountains of Baja California, the river crosses the international border just four miles from here before emptying into the Pacific Ocean…
In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt established the first wildlife refuge in Florida. Today there are more than 560 refuges… Tijuana Slough shares the mission of all refuges: to conserve wildlife, restore habitat, and protect threatened and endangered species for the benefit of present and future generations.
More than 370 species of birds frequent this area, including six threatened or endangered species, four of which can be seen from this spot. High diversity means healthy habitat, where many species find food and a safe place to rest or nest.
The landscape in front of you might appear flat and quiet, but there is more than meets the eye. Between the beach behind you and the bluffs at the southern end of this reserve, inches of elevation and slight changes in water level and chemistry create many different habitats–each specially suited to a surprising diversity of plants and animals. From the elusive long-tailed weasel hunting rodents to the tiny pygmy blue butterfly perching on pickleweed, fascinating creatures are everywhere.
This place has a pulse, and just like you, it depends on healthy circulation. At high tide, oxygen-rich ocean water pumps into the marsh, while the ebb of water at low tide carries sediment out to sea…
Scientists constantly monitor the marsh’s vital signs. Data loggers, placed around the estuary, record and transmit temperature, oxygen level, water level, and more…
The Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, one of 29 and counting, was established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study how human activities and natural events affect estuarine habitats in the United States. People that work at the reserve include staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California State Parks, City and County of San Diego, the U.S. Navy, and the Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Associates.
An old plaque is embedded in a nearby rock…
Tijuana Estuary Restoration Project
1.25 Acres
Dedicated March 24, 1999
Trying to put this plaque in context, I found this website.
Peer through one of the scopes and you might see a yellow-crowned night heron!
(At least, I believe that’s the species. I framed the nearby bird with my camera.)
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
At either end of the 3800 block of Grim Avenue in North Park you might see a street sign. Honorary Lucky Lane.
A couple days ago I photographed the sign while walking down University Avenue. And I wondered: What makes this lane so lucky?
Well, this article provides an explanation. The block was renamed Lucky Lane last year after “Lucky” Wong, who opened Lucky’s Golden Phenix Restaurant on the corner of North Park Way and Grim Avenue in 1975.
Lucky was known and beloved by many in the community. He ran his restaurant for an incredible fifty years, kindly greeting and serving everyone, never changing his prices. Lucky died in December at 90 years old, in the restaurant where he lived.
A petition to change the block’s name to Lucky Lane quickly gathered signatures. Within weeks, more than 4,200 people signed.
North Park residents who traveled down this lane for half a century were indeed lucky. They were fortunate to have Lucky call the place home.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
Bibbey’s in Imperial Beach has several cool new murals!
Over the years I’ve photographed different artwork painted on the exterior of the popular gift shop. In 2014 I shared this. In 2020 I shared this. Now another six years have passed…
I learned these latest murals were created a couple months ago by an artist named Brandon.
You can tell Bibbey’s is located near the beach, given how images in the murals include a giant octopus, mermaids and jellyfish. Many of the gifts and souvenirs visitors can purchase inside are also very beachy. There’s a big selection of beautiful shells.
Bibbey’s is roughly located across Seacoast Drive from the Imperial Beach Pier. Look for a gigantic octopus!
Enjoy some fun photos taken today!
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
Wanted posters picturing One Piece pirates and other scoundrels have been hung inside the IB Kitchen at the end of the Imperial Beach Pier! I looked right and left for pirates inside the restaurant today, hoping to receive a reward. No luck!
Imperial Beach Kitchen has operated at the end of the IB Pier for about 8 months now. They serve Korean food, seafood tacos, and good old American staples like hamburgers. Fish and chips, too! The friendly owner with whom I briefly spoke loves Asian anime and manga, including the very popular One Piece from Japan.
Arranged along the ceiling is a Who’s Who of pirates and other rascally characters in that fantasy world!
I’ll be blogging about San Diego Comic-Con trolley wraps in a couple weeks, most likely, so a post concerning pop culture is timely now. (If you’re interesting in seeing my past Comic-Con related coverage, click here!)
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
A football player has run through the shelter at a City Heights bus stop for a touchdown! Now he simply must leap over a trashcan!
This unexpected sculpture stands at the eastbound bus stop on University Avenue near 45th Street.
I asked someone who works on the same block about the strange sight. He indicated the football player statue was placed here by the nearby taco stand. A few weeks ago there was a moose on the sidewalk!
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
Cool San Diego Sights! 