Author: Richard Schulte

Downtown San Diego has been my home for many years. My online activities reflect my love for writing, blogging, walking and photography.

The forgotten Seiko clock in San Diego.

There’s a street clock in downtown San Diego that few seem to know about. It rises at the southwest corner of 7th Avenue and B Street. Perhaps you’ve seen it. Many of the people I’ve questioned over the years haven’t.

The clock is slender and about 20 feet tall, and appears a bit like a sleek, elevated wristwatch–indeed, the word SEIKO appears on the clock’s face.

I did a little research and discovered this “Solar Post Clock” was a gift in 1983 from Seiko to Jacobs & Sons Jewelers, a family business that used to be located on this city corner.

According to an interesting National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors web page, this Seiko street clock is an unusual and novel device that was supposedly the first solar powered clock to be installed in San Diego…. It has a very accurate time only quartz movement and runs on a solar powered battery system that theoretically can run for 90 days without sunshine.

The clock’s hands no longer move. While our San Diego sunshine continues, it seems time eventually ran out for this unique street clock.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

San Diego River floods during heavy rain.

It rained very heavily in San Diego today. I heard that some coastal areas received up to four inches of rain. That’s a staggering amount of water in less than 24 hours for our naturally arid climate.

Not surprisingly, many parts of the city flooded. A couple of highways partially closed. All three trolley lines had service disruptions.

Severe flooding often occurs in Mission Valley as the San Diego River rapidly swells. As you can see in my photos, that happened again.

Late this afternoon I observed two cars half underwater where Mission Center Road crosses the San Diego River. I hope those drivers are okay.

Holding my umbrella, I then walked along the leaf-strewn pathway beside the swollen river.

The above sign west of Mission Center Road explains the San Diego River’s peculiarities, and why periodic flooding is actually helpful:

A River in Flood

Under historical conditions, the seasonal variation in San Diego’s rainfall creates strong fluctuation in the amount of water flowing within the San Diego River. The low rainfall and the geologic composition allowed for the river to run below ground during much of the year; this lead to the River’s nickname, the Upside Down River.

Habitats and vegetation adapted to flooding in the winter and subsurface flow in the summer. Flooding helped restore the natural river bottom, flushed out debris, created new sand bars and kept the river healthy.

Large flooding events were common and are natural along the river course. Over time, with the construction of regional reservoirs, El Capitan in 1934 and San Vicente in 1943, these large flooding event have been reduced and flows constrained.

Every year we’re reminded: Avoid driving in flooded areas!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Concert Series kicks off at San Diego Library!

The 2024 Winter/Spring Concert Series kicked off today at the San Diego Central Library. Sue Palmer and her Motel Swing Orchestra entertained a packed house inside the library’s Neil Morgan Auditorium.

The audience really dug the jazzy selections, including music by Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and great pieces written by San Diego’s “Queen of Boogie Woogie” Sue Palmer. A few audience members felt inclined to dance during the upbeat performance!

Sue Palmer is an inductee into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame. Her top notch Motel Swing Orchestra includes piano, saxophone, guitar, drums, trombone and bass. Each musician wowed the crowd, receiving spontaneous applause. The strong vocals were provided by Jazz and Blues singer Liz Ajuzie.

More concerts are scheduled in the months ahead. Several make use of the Central Library’s Steinway piano and will feature some of San Diego’s top pianists!

Believe it or not, this marks the 68th season of free concerts at the San Diego Central Library.

To see what’s coming up, check out my next photo, or visit the library’s web page here.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

K-pop dancing in the rain in Balboa Park!

An unexpected K-pop dance party in San Diego’s always surprising Balboa Park?

Take a look!

This afternoon the PRISM4TIC’S Pajama Party had dozens of K-pop fans dancing in the Plaza de Panama. Visitors to Balboa Park who watched or wandered nearby were invited to join!

The dancing brought a community of local K-pop lovers together. Many immediately recognized the randomly played songs and jumped onto the outdoor dance floor.

PRISM4TIC is a San Diego-based Kpop Dance Cover Group.

Every walk through Balboa Park brings new surprises. Even on a drizzly January afternoon!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Children play in rain, and hope for the homeless.

As it rained in San Diego yesterday, children played hide and seek on a sidewalk near Father Joe’s Villages. The bronze sculptures of small children caught my eye as I rode a bus past the Saint Teresa of Calcutta Villa, where homeless people transition into permanent housing.

I had discovered the Father Joe Memorial Promenade.

The promenade was completed two years ago. It honors Father Joe Carroll, who during his life helped thousands of unsheltered people in San Diego. His footprints are in the sidewalk. A memorial plaque remembers his unselfish love. There are words to be read on several planters. More plaques can be read near the Saint Teresa of Calcutta Villa entrance.

The Father Joe Memorial Promenade and its hopeful sculptures were designed by architect Jowaan Lee from J2 Ventures.

Would you like to follow Father Joe’s footsteps? Will you touch many in San Diego who feel hopeless, and provide hope?

Learn more, and perhaps provide a donation to Father Joe’s Villages on their website here.

THE FATHER JOE CARROLL MEMORIAL PROMENADE

During his 40 years of service in downtown, Father Joe Carroll taught the San Diego community to see those living on the streets as neighbors. Through the eyes of grace, he looked beyond the difficulties of the past and the challenges of the present to believe in a better future for each person he met, and taught others to do the same.

As they beckon us to join in their game of hide and seek, the carefree children playing along this path–Faith, Grace, Hope and Peace–remind us that everyone we encounter was once a child whose life was full of possibility…

Faith sees the light in your heart when all your eyes see is darkness.

Grace silences the past and opens you to the opportunities of a brighter future.

Peace hears the calm within you amid the noise of life.

Father Joe’s Villages has always been about neighbors helping neighbors. This is a place where people from all walks of life–rich and poor, educated and not, needy and well-off–come together as equals to change peoples’ lives. –Father Joe Carroll

In 2013 the Congressional Medal of Honor Society honored Father Joe Carroll as a Citizen Hero for his selfless service and dedication to all…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Dean, Rosie, Nat and Sinatra appear in National City!

Four legendary singers are coming to National City. Dean Martin, Rosie Hamlin, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra are gradually materializing outside Cafe La Maze Streakhouse!

Check out this amazing spray paint mural that is being created by Paul Jimenez and Signe Ditona of Ground Floor Murals!

Most people know Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. But do you recognize the name Rosie Hamlin?

Rosalie “Rosie” Hamlin was lead singer of Rosie and the Originals. The musical group’s 1960 hit single Angel Baby is now considered an oldies standard. Versions of the song has been recorded by numerous famous artists, including John Lennon and Linda Ronstadt.

Rosie Hamlin wrote Angel Baby while attending Sweetwater High School in National City!

Very cool!

Curious about all the squiggles and tiny figures in the mural? Ground Floor Murals begins painting their artwork this unique way.

Next time I walk by it, I’ll take photos of the completed mural and post them as an update.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Monsters, myth and love in National City!

At the corner of Plaza Boulevard and Highland Avenue in National City, you’ll find monsters, myth and love!

These four electrical boxes have been painted this way for many years. Today I enjoyed a long walk through National City before the rain started. As I approached the intersection, I remembered that I hadn’t yet photographed this particular street art!

So here we go!

One box has a cool design that appears to have been inspired by mythology. Another shows Godzilla battling King Ghidorah. Then there’s the abstract elephant, a feline rocket ship and a rainbow-powered cat! And love on roller skates!

As always, if you know more about this very creative artwork, please leave a comment.

Stay tuned for more street art photos from my walk. The next blog post will be amazing!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Art at Wellness Garden in Southeast San Diego.

A beautiful new Wellness Garden opened last year in Southeast San Diego!

The sunny, park-like space, filled with colorful art, is located outside the new Southeastern Live Well Center in Valencia Park. The garden can be freely accessed by anyone via a pathway on the south side of the large health and social services facility.

A plaque near the pathway indicates that the garden’s public art was created by Jean Cornwell Wheat. It’s titled Spirit of the Community featuring Bird Song. Additional information is provided:

Commissioned; painted and mosaic embellished totems; concrete, poured resin, lime stones.

Artist Statement: These totems represent the community cultures of African American, Mexican/Chicano, Latin American, Filipino, Polynesian, and Asian. The final meditation totem is the artist’s personal statement of peace, love and unity. The centerpiece, Bird Song, represents the Kumeyaay Nation’s symbol of the oak tree. Images on the four sides symbolize earth, air, fire, and water.

Across the Market Street from the Southeastern Live Well Center, at the Malcolm X Branch Library and Performing Arts Center, a beautiful mosaic was created by the same artist. You can see it by clicking here.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Stepping Beyond at the Southeastern Live Well Center!

The Southeastern Live Well Center opened last year in Valencia Park, an urban community in Southeast San Diego. The impressive facility, which provides a wide range of health and social services, features diverse works of art, both inside and outside.

Take a look at the inspiring bronze sculpture that stands at the front entrance of the Southeastern Live Well Center. Stepping Beyond is dated 2023.

The artist Manuelita Brown’s statement is on a plaque at the base of the sculpture. Her words include: This sculpture signifies a human being pressing beyond current circumstances, leaving one space toward another while moving an obstacle out of the way… Eight medallions representing the flora of cultural identities in the community adorn the banner to represent our diversity and commonality.

You can see more very fine sculptures by local artist Manuelita Brown by clicking here and here and here and here!

(I walked around the perimeter of this large San Diego County facility last weekend and discovered a Wellness Garden filled with very colorful artwork. I’ll blog about that shortly!)

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

A morning walk along MLK Promenade.

Today, January 15th, is Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

As the sun rose early this morning, I strolled along Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade in downtown San Diego. A few other walkers were out, too.

I photographed public art along the linear park that honors a great civil rights hero. (You can see more of the three sculptures here and here and here.)

Many famous and thought-provoking MLK quotes are engraved along the pathway. I randomly aimed my camera at two. (See more of the quotes here.)

I started near the intersection of Harbor Drive and Market Street, headed southeast past the newly renovated Children’s Park, then concluded my walk at the Convention Center trolley station.

Just a few photos…

Shedding the Cloak, by artists Jerry Dumlao, Mary Lynn Dominguez, and Tama Dumlao.

DREAM, by artist Roberto Salas.

Breaking of the Chains, by artist Melvin Edwards.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!