Several months ago this beautiful mural was unveiled in Pacific Beach. Featuring marine life such as a sea turtle, leopard shark and gray whale, it promotes the message Protect the Locals.
The organizations WILDCOAST and BeautifulPB teamed up with artists Jon Hamrick (@just_jon1) and Victor Rodriguez (@tone__dog) to celebrate 25 years of marine conservation with this wall. The artwork is painted on Garnet Avenue one block east of Crystal Pier, on the side of Ananas Pacific Beach.
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The House of Ireland in Balboa Park hosted their lawn program today, two days before St. Patrick’s Day.
As usual, there was a lot of green, Irish food, Irish dance and Irish fun!
A big crowd on the lawn enjoyed the sunshine anticipating exciting cultural entertainment. Irish stew was being served at the House of Ireland cottage. Tasty baked goods, too!
The cultural program began in earnest at two o’clock. A festive procession onto the lawn and up to the stage was led by the bagpipers and drummers of The Cameron Highlanders. Several dancing groups in colorful traditional costume would follow them.
Soon thereafter, the Irish dancing would begin!
Dancers young and old, including members of several academies of Irish dance, would kick it up on the stage. Reels, jigs and hornpipes had the performers moving energetically to the rhythm of live music.
Enjoy a few photos…
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I was given a friendly greeting as I examined various displays. Most prominent was a very beautiful backgammon set. I’ve learned backgammon is derived from games going back to Mesopotamia in ancient times, such as the Royal Game of Ur. I also spotted some tasty Syrian sweet pastries!
Like other International Cottage members, the House of Syria is very welcoming. Their website states: Our members are volunteers passionate about preserving Syrian culture and sharing it through events, exhibitions, traditional music and dance, and authentic Syrian cuisine. Whether you have roots in Syria or simply want to learn more about its culture and history, House of Syria welcomes you as part of our extended family.
Like other nation members who don’t have a cottage yet, that’s a future goal. Get in touch with these good people if you’d like to learn more.
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Oh my goodness! What is this impressive new structure being built in Balboa Park? With those elegant columns, is it some sort of ancient Greek temple?
No! It’s the new pergola that will stand west of the Botanical Building!
The Botanical Building Pergola recreates one of twelve pergolas that originally graced Balboa Park during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. And you can tell already that it’s going to be amazing!
San Diego Pysanka Festival 2026 was held today in Balboa Park. The event was hosted by the House of Ukraine. Participants gathered in the Santa Fe Room at the Balboa Park Club building.
What is Pysanka? It the tradition of egg decoration in Slavic cultures. You’ve no doubt observed beautifully, intricately decorated eggs in museums or elsewhere. The San Diego Pysanka Festival allowed visitors to view the craft up close, learn its history, purchase finished eggs, and even participate in pysanka creation workshops!
As this Wikipedia article explains: The pysanka (Ukrainian: писанка, писанки (pl.)) itself, a wax-resist type egg, is one of Ukraine’s national symbols, and is known throughout the world.
Why the festival now? It’s almost spring and Easter is coming. These are the original Easter eggs!
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The parade this morning was as epic as ever, lasting well over an hour as it headed through Bankers Hill. The festival is taking place on the west side of Balboa Park, near Laurel Street.
Everyone was wearing green–parade participants and those lining the sidewalks cheering them on.
Irish organizations were front and center, with Irish clubs and societies and dance school students strutting their stuff. Law enforcement and fire fighters were a huge presence, too. There were Shriner clowns, high school marching bands, Irish setters, Irish wolfhounds, roller skaters doing their routine, cars decorated with shamrocks, dignitaries, beauty queens, ballet folklorico dancers, fierce Vikings in their longship, happy leprechauns . . . you name it!
I took many photos before the parade and during it. These are some of my better shots…
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Captain America has arrived in San Diego. He was spotted in Bankers Hill this morning with his awesome Capmobile!
The Marvel superhero and Avenger would participate in St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Festival 2026!
This was too cool not to share right away. I’ll be posting photos of the parade coming up once I sort through them all.
I learned this gentleman who was engaged in Captain America cosplay is part of the Science Fiction Coalition. I’d never seen his car before because, he told me, it was wrapped with these cool graphics just recently.
Red Skull, Hydra and Baron Zemo, BEWARE!
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I’ve recently learned a bit of unsettling news. A petition has been launched to save Bill of Rights as Chula Vista’s official tall ship.
Here is the text of the petition:
The Schooner Bill of Rights has called Chula Vista, CA home for decades. In fact, she is the official tall ship of the city. Recently, we were notified that her home dock had decided to terminate our lease…and we have less than 2 months until the date they’ve decided we have to leave.
The Bill of Rights has been instrumental in thousands of people’s lives, between Sea Cadets, Boy Scouts, and sailors from around the world. We want the lease renewed so we can continue to be an accessible, contributing member of our local community and to the tall ship community as a whole.
If you have known her personally, please share how she has affected you and why it was so important. We’d love to hear from you.
Please, sign and save the Bill!
To visit the petition website, and perhaps add your own name and remarks, click here.
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The Coronado Historical Association museum has a new exhibit. It celebrates the Rotary Club of Coronado’s 100 year anniversary in 2026.
With historical photographs and artifacts, A Century of Service: 100 Years of the Rotary Club of Coronado covers the history of the club, from its founding in 1926 by 21 members to the present day. More importantly, it details how club members have improved the local community, and have worked to help people all around the world.
I was stunned to learn about the sheer amount of charitable work these Rotarians have done!
The Rotary Club of Coronado has worked to train community members in emergency preparedness. During COVID they created a Neighbor to Neighbor program to help keep people informed and connected. They support the Coronado Hospital Foundation. They offer scholarships, mentorship and leadership opportunities to local youth. They support the Rotary Youth Exchange, Model United Nations, Music Scholarship Competitions, Speech Contests, Athlete Awards and more!
Helping people around the world, the Rotary Club of Coronado fundraises to eradicate polio. They support grants for organizations like Tanzania Hospital and Orphanage, Project Mercy Baja, and the Pan American Institute school in Tijuana, Mexico. They support Limbs of Freedom which provide prosthetics in Mexico. They also support Thousand Smiles, providing cleft lip and other care in Mexico, too.
So much good work!
Go check out the exhibit and prepare to be impressed!
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These metal benches line the boardwalk behind the San Diego Convention Center. They face San Diego Bay. They were commissioned in 2008 and created by noted artist Nance O’Banion.
As her website explains: Nance produced 13 original designs, each of which was fabricated, once in its original form and once as a ‘mirror image’, in plasma-cut powder-coated steel. The installation of 26 art benches was titled Reverie.
I took these photos yesterday…
Today, a plaque can be seen embedded in the boardwalk near the benches, very close to the entrance to the Fifth Avenue Landing Superyacht Marina. It resembles the Reverie plaque shown in the gallery on Nance O’Banion’s website. The plaque includes her name and the same 2008 year.
But the title of the current plaque is different!
Why is the title Caesure, and not the original Reverie?
At some point, was the name of the installation changed to Caesure? The Latin word caesūra means “a cutting” or “a separation,” which might apply to the mirrored bench designs, or possibly how these benches were made.
Or . . . does Caesure concern another work of public art somewhere nearby? If so, what and where?
It’s a mystery with no solution that I can find!
If you know more about the history of this art bench installation, and why there have been different plaques with two different titles, please leave a comment!
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Cool San Diego Sights! 