A bunch of electrical boxes were recently painted with fun street art in San Diego’s East Village.
I happened to stumble upon another one today. It’s not far from Petco Park, which explains the Padres graphics!
I see it was painted about a month ago by artist Kate Caughey (@kcaughey).
To see more newly painted boxes near Petco Park, click here and here!
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
At the southeast edge of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park stands a building with a very interesting history. Beginning in 1908 as St. Joseph’s Rectory in downtown San Diego, it was moved to Old Town in 1940 where it became Old Town Convent.
Today, Historic Tours of America (Old Town Trolley Tours) operates a gift shop inside. The building contains one part of their Old Town Market, along with the adjacent Casa De Aguirre and Carriage House. The second floor is home to a Visitor Center operated by the Old Town Chamber of Commerce.
This website explains: Originally built as the Saint Joseph’s rectory at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Beech Street in downtown, the building was moved through the streets to Old Town San Diego in 1940. Once in Old Town San Diego, the building was a seminary, convent, community center, and, during World War II, it was a USO. The building was restored in 2003 by Historic Tours of America and is registered as San Diego Historical Site Number 323.
The photos I’ve included were taken at various times over recent years.
Visitors who walk through the front entrance will discover a display that tells The Story of The Old Town Convent, in the words of Sister Catherine Louise LaCoste in the early 1980s…
…a three-story edifice known today as the Convent of the Community of the Holy Spirit… The Convent soon became the permanent quarters for the first diocesan junior seminary, called St. Francis, when eight young men moved in on November 3, 1941… Plaster soon covered the wooden structure…
…During World War II, in 1942, a group of soldiers was quartered in the basement. They prepared meals for the anti-aircraft and searchlight batteries located in the area…
…the Religious of the Sacred Heart came to San Diego to open a College for Women, now known as the University of San Diego. The sisters were given the building to use as a rent-free convent that they called St. Madeleine Sophie Barat…
In front of the building is a sign that shows a timeline of Old Town’s history. It includes this:
Curious visitors might spy this interesting plaque on one wall, too…
This exhibit exposes the original redwood clapboard siding of the Convent when it was St. Joseph’s Rectory, built in 1908. The Craftsman-style structure also featured wood shingle siding on the upper stories. When the three-story building was moved to this site in 1940 it was surfaced with stucco and painted to match the exterior of the Immaculate Conception Church across the street.
One other plaque I’ve found…
Old Town Convent Preservation
The restoration and preservation of the Old Town Convent was made possible largely due to the efforts of Carmen and Joe Toigo, Old Town residents, who by their tireless actions and advocacy saved this building from destruction.
May 2003 Historic Tours of America, Inc.
The adjacent Casa de Aguirre, with its own unique history, contains a small, little-known museum that might interest you. You can find a blog post I published about it by clicking 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.)
It’s back! Gaslamp Urban Pickleball has returned to downtown San Diego for another summer of fun!
I saw the courts set up on Fifth Avenue as I walked along this afternoon, an hour before the event would begin. A couple guys were already practicing.
There are vendors to check out, too. Thank you Monster for the free drink!
If you’d like to play pickleball on summer Thursdays on the streets of downtown San Diego, go check out the event website here.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
Most visitors to Balboa Park never see this historical building. It’s situated in the southwest corner of the park, in an area called Marston Point. People who drive to the south end of Balboa Drive will see the building sitting alone behind a fence.
There’s a reason the Fire Alarm Building sits safely in isolation on a bluff overlooking downtown. When it operated between 1928 and 1970, it was the hub where signals telegraphed from the city’s many fire boxes were received, and communications made to appropriate fire stations.
The Fire Alarm Building was built in 1927. It was designed in the Spanish Colonial style by architect Robert Snyder. Snyder often collaborated with his partner William Templeton Johnson, who a year earlier designed the San Diego Fine Arts Museum, near the center of Balboa Park.
Here’s an extensive article about the Fire Alarm Building’s history.
In 1928, to equip the Fire Alarm Building, the City of San Diego purchased over $20,000 worth of fire alarm communications equipment from the Gamewell Company of Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts… There were three rows of tape-punching telegraph registers arranged on marble-topped tables. They were linked to the city’s fire alarm and police alarm boxes… A coded signal locating the particular alarm box was punched onto the register’s tape readout. The operator then read the coded message and set up the location of the alarm box on a master transmitter and sent a signal to all of the fire department’s fire engine stations throughout the city, ringing bells and turning on station lights. When selective transmissions were later installed, only those stations within the area of the fire would receive the alarm. This was affectionately known as the “silent night” program by grateful firefighters.
Today, the Fire Alarm Building is home to San Diego’s Park & Recreation Department Administrative Services section. Peer through the fence and you’ll see the handsome Spanish Colonial inspired entrance and a beautiful little garden area.
I took these photographs during many walks through Marston Point. They’ve been sitting in a computer folder. Time to share them!
…
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.)
About a month ago, I discovered a very beautiful garden in front of the Solana Beach Post Office. It was obvious that people have carefully tended the green space that includes paths for strolling and public art.
Those people, I’ve learned, are the volunteer SeaWeeders of the Solana Beach Garden Club. Their mission is to promote the sustainable beautification of the City of Solana Beach through social interaction, garden education, and home and civic enrichment.
Here’s a webpage that describes the Solana Beach Post Office garden rejuvenation project. (Other community projects by the SeaWeeders, too!)
The colorful sculpture you see in my photos is by artist Christi Beniston. It was originally created for the El Paseo Invitational Sculpture Exhibit “Topiaries” in Palm Desert. For a while it had been located on North Cedros Avenue.
You can join the SeaWeeders to help keep Solana Beach green and beautiful! Learn more about this opportunity 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.)
I had intended to rest a day or two after San Diego Comic-Con, but I became restless this morning. Still in the Comic-Con mood, I wanted to check out some finished street art painted during the Meeting of Styles event held the week before Comic-Con 2026.
On July 16th I walked along Commercial Street east of downtown San Diego and saw how international graffiti artists were painting several approved walls with cool pop culture images.
Three of the walls in particular contain characters from Marvel’s X-Men, Dragon Ball, and Transformers.
If you want to see more from these murals, and compare the finished art that I’m sharing today, you can find my previous photographs by clicking here.
First photos are of the X-Men wall….
Next, photos from the Dragon Ball wall…
Finally, the Transformers wall…
…
If you’d like to view my full coverage of Comic-Con (and related stuff), which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Enjoy one final collection of photographs taken during San Diego Comic-Con 2026!
This long, final walk through the Gaslamp and around the San Diego Convention Center was simply amazing.
Lots of people were still about, checking out the offsite activations that remained open on Sunday. Lots of cosplay still.
I got the impression many fans didn’t want Comic-Con to end. But, alas, it’s Sunday late afternoon as I type this. All good things must come to an end.
It’s Dr. Peepers!
At the Nickelodeon offsite, the slime dunk tank was still active!
Well, that does it for this year’s Comic-Con coverage!
Cool San Diego Sights will now return to my more usual blog posts… after a couple of days rest!
…
If you’d like to view my full coverage of Comic-Con, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Galactus has arrived in San Diego for Comic-Con 2026, and the giant devourer of planets appears to be hungry!
The cosmic menace came striding through the city past Petco Park, bewildering curious bystanders. Was he here to sate his enormous appetite?
No!
Galactus had traveled from deep space to Earth to delight Comic-Con’s many Marvel fans!
Check out this big human-driven puppet! I tried to get the creator’s name, without success.
If you know more about this cool puppet, please leave a comment!
…
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
One of the coolest offsite activations at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, particularly if you’re a Star Trek fan, celebrates Star Trek’s 60th anniversary. The mobile game Star Trek Fleet Command has assembled original uniforms and props from every live action television series of the science fiction franchise.
On this final day of SDCC 2026, I got in line early and enjoyed a visit!
Fans would love the displays, photo ops, a Holodeck virtual reality experience, and a claw machine with Star Trek prizes. I skipped the latter attractions and focused my camera on the many uniforms and props. If you missed experiencing this offsite, you might enjoy my photographs!
…
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
It’s Sunday morning outside Comic-Con 2026 in San Diego. Less crowded. Some of the con goers have left. Some of the activations have closed.
Today is the day many local families come downtown to enjoy the Comic-Con spectacle and fun.
Photos from a morning walk…
Here’s the Apocalypse Hellfire 6×6 truck inspired by Super Troopers 3.
Watch out! Sharks approaching behind you!
Wiley Jawhary of KUSI television was getting ready to interview folks in the Hulu Animayhem line…
…
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!