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.

Fine stamp collection displayed at Central Library.

Postage stamps from the award-winning Helen Cushman Philatelic Collection are now being exhibited at the San Diego Central Library. Several large display cases inside the Special Collections Center contain dozens of colorful stamps that should interest art lovers and philatelists alike.

As one sign explains, Helen Cushman, a prominent civic activist in San Diego, participated in many regional and national competitions that showcased her Topical stamp collections. Her 1974 book entitled “San Diego Vacation” won the top prize at the national SOJEX Stamp Exposition. The book illustrated the best of San Diego using postage stamps to illustrate why San Diego is a great place to visit.

Peering into the display cases, I noticed postage stamps of different shapes and sizes from many nations. Her collection, in fact, spans 234 countries and over 160 years of production. Many of the stamps she collected commemorate events and/or people of historical significance, capturing a glimpse in time.

I fondly remember collecting stamps when I was very young. I would carefully tear away the corners of received mail, soak the stamps in a sink to separate them from the envelope, dry the stamps on a towel, then use a licked hinge to attach my new finds to the correct pages of a big stamp album. That was long ago. I’m not sure what became of my album. Sold at a swap meet, perhaps. It’s fun to imagine that those stamps I gathered might now be in the collection of another young person!

If you’ve never visited the San Diego Central Library’s rooftop Ninth Floor, you really should. There are beautiful views of the city, an art gallery, and the Marilyn & Gene Marx Special Collections Center, where you’ll find not only these stamps, but a museum-like collection of research materials, fine art and rare books!

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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)!

Cool rooftop eatery overlooks Petco Park!

There’s a cool eatery that overlooks Gallagher Square at Petco Park. It’s called Fairweather Rooftop Bar and Grill. Check out their website.

Friendly bartender Chris saw me taking photos of construction at Gallagher Square and invited me up to their rooftop patio for a much better look. How could I say no!

What a fantastic view!

I enjoyed a long talk and was shown a little of the historic Simon Levi Company building, where Fairweather is located. I also spied some beautiful artwork by the outdoor bar.

It might be a bit difficult to find the rooftop bar and grill, so follow the signs. As you can see from my first photograph, this would be an ideal place to watch a future Gallagher Square concert or hang out during a Padres game!

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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)!

Construction improves Gallagher Square at Petco Park!

Gallagher Square at Petco Park is being greatly improved. Construction is now underway outside the Padres’ home ballpark in East Village, and I was able to take photographs that include a bird’s-eye view of the activity!

A sign on the fence surrounding the construction site indicates the new Gallagher Square will include an expanded playground and play area, an off-leash dog park, an improved Play Ball Field for kids, a new Tony Gwynn Terrace viewing deck and picnic space, plus state of the art technology and sound mitigation. The latter might be helpful during future concerts here.

I remember when this innovative outdoor area beyond Petco Park’s outfield was called Park at the Park. Several changes have occurred since then! I believe the Tony Gwynn statue will be moved onto the viewing deck that will bear his name.

A special thank you to Chris, super cool bartender at Fairweather Rooftop Bar and Grill, whose outdoor patio overlooks Gallagher Square. What a perfect place to sit, drink and dine, while watching a live concert, or taking in the ambience of a baseball game . . . or viewing the progress of this project!

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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)!

Extinct mammoth unearthed near Petco Park.

The skull of an extinct Columbian mammoth that was unearthed near Petco Park is presently on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum!

The approximately 500,000 year old fossil, which includes two large molars, was found in 2009 about two blocks from the East Village baseball home of the San Diego Padres. The rare discovery occurred 25 feet below street level, during the construction of Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

Here’s an article about the dig and the rare find.

Visitors to the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park can view the remnants of this Mammuthus columbi on Level 3 near the building’s north stairs. The upside-down skull is massive! These extinct mammals were even larger than woolly mammoths!

Would you like to see early San Diego artifacts found by archaeologists during the grading of Petco Park? If so, click 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)!

The amazing Rock House in Normal Heights!

If you’ve driven down Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, just west of Interstate 15, there’s an excellent chance you’ve seen the amazing Rock House. Walking past it recently, I wondered about its history and construction.

The Rock House, with its distinctive cobblestone façade, was built in 1926 in the Mission Revival Style. It was designated a historic landmark almost a century later, in 2016.

This City of San Diego Report to the Historical Resources Board document provides detailed information about the Rock House, including: The cobblestones used to cover the house are native to the region and were most likely found in a nearby canyon. Homes constructed of cobblestone are rare in California and required a skilled craftsman to construct. The stones are loosely laid in courses and give the appearance of quoins at the building’s corners. An interior fireplace is also constructed of cobblestones and is included in this designation.

The way the rounded cobblestones protrude from the symmetrical exterior is very pleasing to my eye. The house appears a bit like a castle carved from a sheer rocky cliff or river bank. Like something fantastic from a fairy tale.

One real estate website that I found includes photographs of the home’s interior. See those here.

Next time you drive down Adams Avenue and spy the unique Rock House, you’ll know a little more about it!

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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)!

Cool photo memories from January 2019.

Five years ago, during the month of January, I shared hundreds of photographs from a variety of interesting walks around San Diego. It’s time to revisit some of those old blog posts from 2019!

Roaming through diverse neighborhoods, I had fun discovering all sorts of public art. I encountered a group of superheroes in Balboa Park. I walked through snow in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in the mountains east of San Diego. I enjoyed a very cool museum annex that few people visit. But my favorite memory is the “book pass” event at the new library in Mission Hills.

Curious? Click the following links!

Click the following links to see many cool photographs!

Snow and winter beauty at Cuyamaca.

Two colorful, fun benches in Pepper Park!

Two colorful, fun benches in Tidelands Park!

San Diego’s drive-through art gallery expands!

Sand sculpture murals show San Diego history!

A visit to the Air and Space Museum Annex!

Justice League superheroes patrol Balboa Park!

I AM EELCO’s colorful Sea Walls mural!

Liquid Harmony mural at Encanto trolley station.

Photos of historic “Book Pass” in Mission Hills!

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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)!

The holiday Grinch Tree comes down!

You know the holiday season in San Diego is over when the Grinch Tree comes down outside the Old Globe in Balboa Park!

The joyful Christmas tree, with its candelabras, horns, wreaths and happy Whoville characters, was disassembled today and promptly hustled away. The Grinch, that old grouch, would applaud its disappearance!

What’s with that funny monkey mask atop the boxes? I was told by two of the smiling Grinch Tree disassemblers that the monkey face was embedded inside the tree. I don’t know if they were pulling my leg. For real? I asked. Yes, I was assured.

I suppose next holiday season, I’ll have to peer into the tree more closely!

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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)!

Celebrating the 109th birthday of the Spreckels Organ!

A special concert today in Balboa Park celebrated the 109th birthday of the Spreckels Organ!

San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez performed a crowd pleasing assortment of music, and received another standing ovation. Our city is fortunate to have a charismatic, world-class organist increasing the popularity of the Spreckels Organ, the largest outdoor musical instrument in the world!

During the free concert, audience members were invited to file through the organ building to watch and hear the incredible pipe organ in action. I myself entered as Raul began a medley from The Sound of Music. I wanted to take another look at historical photographs that line the walls of the building’s central hallway.

(You can see behind-the-scenes photos I took of the Spreckels Organ nine years ago by clicking here.)

The Spreckels Organ made its debut on January 1, 1915, at the opening of the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. The organ was donated by the Spreckels brothers to the people of San Diego and the people of all the world. They stipulated that all concerts must be free.

Free concerts can be enjoyed 109 years later every Sunday at 2 pm!

Crowd listens to Spreckels Organ 109th birthday concert during the holiday season.

The San Diego Union newspaper, Friday Morning, January 1, 1915. John D. Spreckels Gives to San Diego America’s First Out-Of-Door Organ.

Mr. Edward Crome, Spreckels Organ Installer, 1914.

Mr. Harrison Albright, Architect, Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

Dr. Humphrey J. Stewart, City Organist, 1915-1932.

The Spreckels Organ Pavilion Under Construction – 1914. The only surviving picture.

A 1915 Concert. Note the hooded console and umbrellas.

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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 damp New Year’s Eve walk in Balboa Park.

It was a bit damp on the morning of New Year’s Eve in Balboa Park. It had rained overnight.

Big weekend crowds wouldn’t turn out until the afternoon, which made my early walk quiet and easy.

I wandered about randomly, turning right or left with no clear destination. The sky was overcast and the air was chilly.

Kids splashed in puddles. Artists were setting up along El Prado. Street musicians were already filling the air with music. Ambitious tourists pointed at new sights, as they explored San Diego’s crown jewel. The faces of friends were already smiling.

Even on a gray, damp, chilly morning, Balboa Park is very alive.

I’m sure in the coming year this special place will bring more joy to you and me.

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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)!

Magical marionettes at Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater!

The Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park hosted Steve Taylor’s funny “Magical Marionettes Show” this weekend. I enjoyed a fun performance this afternoon!

Balboa Park’s historic Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater, which got its start back in 1947, remains a favorite destination for families looking for child-friendly, light-hearted entertainment.

I’m sure Steve Taylor’s puppeteering brought smiles to every face in the audience. Very young kids clapped and danced with the marionettes. Older folks like me were often chuckling at clever bits of gentle humor.

During the 30 minute show, we watched as King Kong’s baby played electric guitar, and as Charlie Chaplin adopted a lovable rescue dog. We watched ventriloquist dummy Rudy O’Reilly engage Steve in humorous dialogue. We saw an elephant take a bubble bath (and squirt the excited audience) and a goofy skeleton dance.

Steve Taylor has been putting on puppet shows for 55 years! He got his start as an apprentice to Marie Hitchcock when he was nine years old!

He’s awesome!

As I exited the theater, I noticed some information on a wall that might interest you. Workshops are offered by the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater where anyone can learn about Hand, Marionette, Shadow and Full Body Puppetry. You can also learn how to write a story, and be wild and crazy!

Read the contact info at the bottom of the next image!

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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)!