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.

Planting rare trees at Torrey Pines State Reserve.

An important reforestation effort is underway at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.

In recent years the critically endangered Torrey pine population has been reduced significantly by bark beetles, particularly in the park’s North Grove. So over 450 Torrey pine seedlings and 581 native shrubs grown in the nursery at the San Diego Safari Park are being planted in different locations around the Reserve.

You can read more about the project, an effort of California State Parks, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and the U.S. Forest Service, by clicking here.

I walked the loop of the Guy Fleming Trail yesterday, where visitors can see many of the dead Torrey pines. Among dead trees, clustered close to the ground, stand strange blue tubes. These plastic protectors shield growing trees and other plants from animals and drying winds.

Native shrubs that have also been planted, mostly above the west-facing bluffs facing the Pacific Ocean, include sea dahlia, jojoba, lanceleaf liveforever, fingertips (San Diego dudleya), lemonade berry, coast lilac, and San Diego mountain mahogany.

As I walked along, observing all those blue tubes, I paused to read signs that explain how bark beetles kill the rare and beautiful Torrey pine. This tree’s natural protection against beetle infestation is sap. During drought trees produce less sap than usual and become especially vulnerable.

Without sufficient water, trees cannot produce enough oleoresin, an oozy sap-substance, and one type of chemical defense that can flush beetles from trees…

Bark Beetle Trapping and Observation in Progress.

The Five-Spined Engraver Beetle is a native insect that survives by burrowing in the Torrey pine tree. During normal conditions, the pines will excrete sap to prevent beetles from laying eggs within the tree. The sap simultaneously protects the damaged bark from fungus and disease…

…The stacked black funnels that are seen on a dead Torrey pine contain a specialized chemical pheromone to attract and trap beetles…

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

Padres playoffs: Hungry For More!

Excitement is running high in San Diego! The playoffs begin this evening!

The San Diego Padres are going up against the New York Mets. The pitching match-up for this first Wild Card game: Yu Darvish vs. Max Scherzer. Two of Major League Baseball’s best.

Will the Pads handle the Mets, as they did during the regular season?

Our team has the talent. The arms. The bats. (And we have baseball’s best fans.)

We’re hungry for more!

Here are a few photos that I’ve taken while walking around San Diego, to get the juices flowing…

Time to Shine!

Sky’s the Limit!

Let’s Go Padres!

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

Art grows in San Ysidro’s Cultural Corridor!

Many new murals have blossomed in San Ysidro’s creative Cultural Corridor!

During the last year artists have been busy adding life to fences along and near Cypress Drive, north of San Ysidro Boulevard.

I’ve noted other murals along this Cultural Corridor in the past. You can see those photos here and here and here!

So what new artwork did I see during my walk up the corridor today?

Corredor Cultural–Cultural Corridor. The Cultural Corridor along Cypress Drive is Casa Familiar’s current effort to engage in advocacy, public safety, greenery, and art. Join our community effort!

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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!

Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts.  If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!

To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Mural in San Ysidro encourages vaccination!

A mural full of whimsy decorates a fence at the north end of San Ysidro’s Cultural Corridor. Painted by local artist Gerardo Meza (@mezarte), the colorful street art encourages residents to become vaccinated against COVID-19!

I walked up the Cultural Corridor today and noticed a variety of new murals that were painted since my last visit. I’ll be sharing the rest of them in my next blog post, but this particular mural is so creative and visually fun I thought I’d post it first, to get things started.

Last time I passed this section of the fence–about a year and half ago–it featured Día de los Muertos artwork, also created by Meza. You can see a portion of it in the final two photos here.

As you can see, the San Diego Trolley passes very close by–just southeast of the Beyer Avenue station. The Cultural Corridor, with its many murals, runs south down Cypress Drive.

Casa Familiar, a nonprofit service and community development organization, reminds those passing by that Las Vacunas Salvan Vidas–Vaccination Saves Lives.
Composite creatures, seemingly emerged from mythology, capture the eye.

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

The faded Serra Museum mural at Hazard Center.

If these photos appear strangely dark, that’s because I’ve increased contrast to bring out the details of a badly faded mural.

This large old mural was painted on the south side of the Hazard Center shopping center in 1996 by an artist whose signature is Duff. The artwork faces the San Diego River and is exposed all day long to the sun.

That building you see in the mural is the Junípero Serra Museum. It stands across the river several miles to the west. The museum’s tower (which is often mistakenly thought to be the San Diego Presidio) can be seen rising above trees from various spots in Mission Valley.

Do any of you know who the artist Duff is? I can find nothing by searching the internet. I documented another Duff mural in Mission Valley, which was painted beneath Friars Road, here.

Please leave a comment if you know anything more!

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

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Cool photo memories from October 2017.

A gigantic fire-breathing robot! Strange theatrics inside miniature houses! Extreme sailboats flying on San Diego Bay! A Day of the Dead altar for Shakespeare! Breeders’ Cup horses running loose down sidewalks!

Back in October 2017, I spied all sorts of cool stuff around San Diego!

Yes, it’s time for another “five years ago” blog, so I’ve assembled a handful of past posts that feature all sorts of fun, inspiring or unusual photographs!

Without further ado, here come the links…

Cool robots invade Maker Faire San Diego!

Give Love event adds kindness to San Diego!

Colorful photos of the Old Town Fall Festival!

La Jolla Playhouse enlivens Horton Plaza Park!

Photos of Extreme Sailing on San Diego Bay!

Breeders’ Cup horses race on a Del Mar street!

Tijuana Zine Fest at Museum of Contemporary Art.

Day of the Dead celebration at the Old Globe.

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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!

Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts.  If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!

To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Roaring San Diego opens with historical exhibits!

Roaring San Diego officially opened today in the lobby of the City Administration Building!

Throughout the month of October, the Office of the City Clerk is presenting the 4th Annual Archives Month. In 2022 the event focuses on the history of San Diego a century ago during the Roaring 1920s. The educational event includes an exhibit, lectures at the Central Library, and a very special tour of the City Archives!

I listened this morning as the City Clerk and other notable speakers introduced Roaring San Diego in front of the exhibit inside the City Administration Building.

The archive photographs in the exhibit provide a fascinating window to our shared past. I paused to gaze at notable moments in history, wondering what life might have been like during the 1920s. It was a very different era–and yet people remain people, and you can see the humanity in their faces.

To learn more about Roaring San Diego, and how you can attend a lecture or take a tour of the City Archives, click here!

The City Clerk Archives has been preserving public records in San Diego since 1850.

San Diego City Clerk Elizabeth Maland introduces Roaring San Diego.

San Diego Mission Beach, Opening Day. August 4th, 1925. The historic old wooden roller coaster looks much the same today!

Early Black Firefighters in Logan Heights, circa 1927.

Several dresses in the Roaring San Diego exhibit represent American fashion in the 1920s.

Morena Bridge during the Great Flood in 1927.

People in pose front of Charles Lindbergh’s plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, which was custom built by Ryan Airlines in San Diego.

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

Artists exhibit Explorations in Urban Sketching.

Are you intrigued by the process of human creativity?

Answer yes, and you need to check out an exhibition in Gallery 21 in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center.

Explorations in Urban Sketching brings together the work of the San Diego Urban Sketchers.

Quick renderings of scenes provide a sense of how very talented artists might glimpse this beautiful and complex world during a walk through life. Many of the images are of familiar San Diego locations.

Some of the works in different media appear like very brief sketches, while others works seem a bit more detailed.

Your eyes will move from piece to piece as if you are viewing ephemeral dreams– each canvas providing a unique moment of wonder.

Like a fast sketch this exhibition also ends soon–it runs through October 9th, 2022. So you better go check it out before, like a dream, Explorations in Urban Sketching vanishes.

Explorations in Urban Sketching is in memory of Dominique Eichi, an artist who shared a studio in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village.

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

Another fine Sunday walk in Balboa Park!

Early October. A walk in Balboa Park. Another fine Sunday full of sunshine and magic.

I headed nowhere in particular.

Visitors to wonderful Balboa Park stream down El Prado.

Does the Botanical Building appear strange? It’s in the middle of its big renovation! But the Lily Pond is as beautiful as ever.

A local artist smiles and shows her colorful work.

She makes awesome papier-mache figures. I recognize Frida Kahlo!

My friend Mitchell was on El Prado playing his didgeridoo.

I got a cookie. (And more smiles!) Proceeds help the San Diego Civic Dance Arts, whose home is the Casa del Prado Theater.

Why are peanuts in a pile inside the Spanish Village Art Center?

That’s why!

Lunch time for a squirrel in the park.

Here comes the Balboa Park Miniature Railroad! Kids love it. The small train ride is operated by the nearby San Diego Zoo.

A big Balboa Park Spooktacular is coming up at the Municipal Gym on Saturday October 29, 2022. There will be a costume contest!

The House of Austria had their lawn program today. I got a folk costume preview as I strolled early through the International Cottages.

Gazing down into the lush Lower Garden of the Japanese Friendship Garden.

Shortly after noon, not many had arrived yet for the two o’clock Sunday concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. San Diego Civic Organist Raul Prieto Ramírez rehearses up on the stage.

Spreckels Organ Society member pulls a sign out for the free Sunday concert.

Everyone loves Balboa Park. Including friends with four legs!

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

Evil clowns and ghouls arrive in Balboa Park!

Visitors to Balboa Park should be warned that an army of evil creatures is gathering in the southwest corner of the park, along what is known as The Haunted Trail.

Every October grisly ghouls, bloody demons and creepy clowns assemble under the trees to scare thrill-seekers in the dark of night.

Perhaps it all has something to do with the approach of Halloween.

Beware!

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