You have the opportunity to become part of history in Old Town San Diego!
An initiative is underway to support Old Town. Anybody can purchase a customized, engraved brick for the new Old Town San Diego Heritage Walk, which lines the east side of San Diego Avenue. As you can see in my next photo, some bricks are already installed.
Your special brick can honor loved ones, promote a business, or perhaps share an inspiring message.
To learn more about this opportunity, visit this website.
Hungry?
Feast your eyes on this tasty street art at a busy intersection in Escondido!
I used to drive past the corner of West Valley Parkway and Auto Park Way and think I should take photographs of this electrical box. I finally did yesterday.
The cheeseburger and fries looks particularly good.
Several eateries are located nearby. This colorful food art seems to be strategically positioned!
Yum!
The Bakers is the title of this really great, expressive public art in Escondido. Because the sculpture stands at the end of a seldom visited street, very few people see it or know that it exists!
Created by the amazing San Diego artists T.J. Dixon and James Nelson in 1993, The Bakers consists of three 7-feet-tall terracotta male figures that represent the process of baking bread. The lively art was commissioned by and for the Fornaca Family Bakery.
Today it stands by the driveway leading to Bimbo Bakeries USA, at 2069 Aldergrove Avenue.
Today I noted that progress is being made in creating Balboa Park’s Central Gardens. Work continues to be done around the Botanical Building and along one side of the Lily Pond!
The new pergola west of the Botanical Building is taking shape, the grassy area around the fountain to the east is all dug up (as you can see in the above photograph), and new grass and garden plants can be enjoyed by park visitors in various other places!
A fascinating exhibit at Balboa Park’s Japanese Friendship Garden will soon be ending. It concerns the history of Japanese American gardeners in San Diego. You can view the exhibit through Thursday, January 22, 2026.
Composed primarily of historical photographs from the early 20th century through World War II and beyond, the exhibit shows how first generation Japanese immigrants, with limited opportunities, brought beauty to San Diego through gardening.
It includes a look at Japanese Americans held as prisoners in Poston, Arizona during the war and their efforts to bring beauty into an ugly situation.
Photographs take the viewer into the present with amazing gardens in Balboa Park and Japanese inspired landscapes in San Diego.
The exhibit is made possible by the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego.
Alpha Project is collecting donations right now in Balboa Park’s Recital Hall. The urgently needed donations can be dropped off from 10 am to 6 pm.
Their shelter was flooded by the recent storms and had to be evacuated. Your donations of clothing, undergarments and hygiene items will benefit the homeless people who were affected.
You can email info@alphaproject.org if you have any questions.
Thank you!
Look who returned to Balboa Park today! It’s CleanUp Kitsune!
Lila and Corey Cleary-Stoner combine performance art with litter removal and call themselves CleanUp Kitsune.
I happened to notice the couple today outside the Japanese Friendship Garden.
They were kind enough to pose in full Japanese costume for a fun photo! Their fox masks come from Japanese folklore.
I first met the the couple about a year and a half ago leading a volunteer clean up in Balboa Park.
Their Instagram is @cleanupkitsune. Check it out!
(My blogging computer is out of action for several days so these posts, made from my phone, are more simple than usual. Stay tuned for more…)
I really love these dolphin mosaics at the Kellogg Park North Comfort Station in La Jolla Shores. They’re so lively and colorful!
I had to take some photos during my latest walk along the beach there.
A circular plaque in the structure, to the right of the showers, recalls how construction of the comfort station and its restrooms was primarily funded by the John G. Watson Foundation and supported by Friends of La Jolla Shores.
“Oceans of Thanks” is a phrase used by the Walter Munk Foundation for the Oceans to express gratitude to supporters, donors, and the community, particularly during annual celebrations like Walter Munk Day.
Walter Munk was a world-renowned oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He was often called the Einstein of the Oceans. The efforts of his wife Mary Coakley Munk were instrumental in creating the new comfort station.
The Kellogg Park North Comfort Station and its mosaics were dedicated on October 30, 2014.
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Without a doubt, these two murals delight the eyes of people driving down Third Avenue in south Chula Vista. Very beautiful artwork is painted on two sides of the Flowers Tino flower shop!
Both murals were created years ago by San Diego artist David Mena (@menamurals).
The bright, colorful images are bursting with many different types of flowers. It’s like a vertical garden with a bit of added Toltec imagery!
Here’s the amazing mural on the north side:
And here’s the south side:
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A time capsule was created during the Cabrillo National Monument centennial in Point Loma. It’s buried beneath a plaque in a brick planter near the entrance to the Visitor Center.
The plaque reads:
Beneath this sign lies a time capsule preserved in commemoration and celebration of the Cabrillo National Monument centennial, October 14, 1913-2013.
The contents inside this capsule are a collection of our first 100 years as San Diego’s only National Park unit. Its contents shall remain sealed for the next 100 years, not to be opened before October 14, 2113.
A message from the 2013 centennial employees: All that stand here before this plaque reading the words like so many who came before you; you are the future stewards of the National Park Service and we hope you continue to honor the tradition of protecting and preserving our most precious national treasures during this 2nd century of stewardship in our National Parks.
If you’d like to view an online “time capsule” of sorts, you can see photographs I took during the Cabrillo National Park centennial celebration back in 2013.
To see those photos click here!
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Cool San Diego Sights! 