Have you noticed a super colorful shipping container in City Heights? In a corner of the lot east of I-15, north of University Avenue? I found out its purpose yesterday!
The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, working with Love City Heights, has created this cool little bike workshop, where they have a bicycle mechanic apprenticeship program. Donated bikes are repaired and given away to residents of the community!
I learned the shipping container was painted for free by muralist Erick Delarosa, who believes in showing love for others. That’s why he signs his work ShoLove! Learn more about him and his other work by clicking here!
…
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 first annual (hopefully) North Park Book Fair was held today!
Book lovers, authors, poets, artists, and everyone and anyone who loves reading, writing and creativity showed up for the two block long festival!
As you can see from the upcoming photos, North Park Way between 29th Street and Ray Street was absolutely alive!
At first I just wandered past the booths, trying to absorb it all, amazed by everything that I saw. Then I figured I’d blog about the event and began to record smiles!
Read the photo captions to learn more about what I discovered…
Not only was there live painting, local authors and small presses, but one could enjoy poetry readings, storytelling for kids, and perusing thousands of books for sale! And food, too!When I reported the street was packed, I wasn’t kidding!A friendly North Park Main Street volunteer smiles for a pic. Thanks for the great event!The San Diego Public Library had tables full of used books for sale.Friends of the San Diego Public Library smile! I’ve purchased oodles of used books at the Central Library over the years.I almost bought this book about San Diego. I have too much to read, already.Kids could draw fun comic panels at the Little Fish Comic Book Studio booth.Keithan Jones of KID Comics smiles. Look at all the cool independent comic book art he created!He did this great Wonder Woman sketch!I listened for a while as poets presented their words to the gathered crowd.Live poetry at the North Park Book Fair! This animated poet received big applause!A smile from an Accidental Aliens writer!Smiles from two Accidental Aliens artists!Beatrice Zamora wrote award-winning children’s book The Spirit of Chicano Park. She’ll be dancing at the big Danza event at Chicano Park tomorrow!Book, books, books everywhere!Armando Elizarraras created some very cool artwork based on portraits of famous authors. Check out his tattooed Edgar Allan Poe with The Tell-Tale Heart!MORE. LESS. etc. Three sequential books by artist, author and poet Ted Washington! Can poems include mathematical formulas?The folks of Write Out Loud were at the North Park Book Fair, presenting this fun, fishy Kamishibai street theatre story!Book fair goers could indicate with chalk the place where they most like to read…In bed, on the toilet, by the pool, at the beach, with a cat . . . or anyplace!The smile of superhero creator @boypoetic!Tamra L. Dempsey took photographs for the beautiful book A Journey Through Literary America! It includes literary passages by famous authors.One smile and one semi-smile. It’s all good. Keep on creating!Cynthia Diamond wrote all these Wyrd Love books. I remembered seeing her years ago at a big Liberty Station book event!Douglas W. Mengers wrote a book about San Diego Trolleys. I learned some interesting history when we chatted.This book contains lots of old images of rail transportation in San Diego.Lots to see and do at the North Park Book Fair!
There’s a special alley in Normal Heights that’s an outdoor gallery for many of San Diego’s most creative and known graffiti artists. It’s called Flash Alley. The alley is a few steps north of El Cajon Boulevard and City Heights, just east of 34th Street.
In my last blog post I shared photos of a very cool Junior Seau mural. It was painted a couple months ago at the south end of the alley.
After taking those photos, I walked north along Flash Alley and aimed my camera at lots of amazing, super colorful spray paint art. It all was painted in the last year or so.
I last visited Flash Alley in May 2020, and as you can see by comparing those old images here, all the current artwork is new. I recognized several artist signatures, including Sake, Persue and the Tortilla Crew.
…
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!
If you’ve driven down El Cajon Boulevard between 34th and 35th Street in the past couple months, you might have seen this incredible huge mural celebrating San Diego Chargers superstar linebacker Junior Seau!
The mural was painted in early May by the artists of Ground Floor Murals. (Two days ago I posted photos of their new Manny Machado mural in Chula Vista here.)
Junior Seau is one of San Diego’s most beloved sports heroes, an NFL football legend whose life ended tragically nine years ago. It’s hard for me to believe that almost a decade has passed already.
Ground Floor Murals is composed of Paul Jimenez and Signe Ditona, a couple who began painting murals in earnest during the COVID-19 pandemic. They now have many cool murals all around the city! Read their story at their website here.
Their awesome tribute to Junior Seau is located at the border of Normal Heights and City Heights.
If you’re wondering about the graffiti directly beneath the Junior Seau mural, that’s part of extensive new art that was spray painted in the past year or two along Flash Alley. Yesterday I also photographed the fantastic urban artwork along the long alley and I’ll be posting those pics shortly!
…
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.
The brand new International Cottages in Balboa Park are finally finished! The construction site fences are down and the House of Peru is already moving in!
Late today I walked though the two new sections of the now expanded House of Pacific Relations International Cottages. Five structures have been built for nine nations or cultural units. As you can see from my photographs, the new cottages are beautiful!
Two new structures on the northeast side of the International Cottages will showcase Mexico, Panama and the Philippines; three structures on the southwest side will showcase Korea, India, Peru, Palestine, Chamorro and Turkey.
After years and years of bureaucratic delays and financial struggle, this truly historic project is complete!
I peered through many new cottage windows as I walked around and saw mostly vacant space. But the House of Peru has begun to move in and they’ll have a “soft opening” for the public beginning tomorrow!
If you’d like to see photos of the big festive groundbreaking event almost five years ago, click here!
…
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!
This evening, about an hour before sunset, after the daytime crowd had greatly thinned, I walked through Balboa Park.
In the Plaza de Panama some guys were producing beautiful music. The group is called the Sunshine Brass Quintet. I’ve seen them other days playing in the plaza.
When I finally walked past the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, I was excited to see the Twilight in Balboa Park concerts are returning for 2021!
The evening concerts will take place Tuesdays through Thursdays during the month of August. They start at 6:30 pm in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.
Performers include Marine Band San Diego, Mariachi Estrellas de Chula Vista, the Coronado Concert Band, and many others! Check out the photo I took of the sign below, or visit the concerts page here.
Here are a few more photos of the Sunshine Brass Quintet this evening in the Plaza de Panama…
…
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 super cool San Diego Padres mural debuted recently! This one, created last month in Chula Vista, depicts MLB baseball superstar Manny Machado with the bold words: SKY’S THE LIMIT.
I’ve already photographed a couple other Padres murals painted by Ground Floor Murals, which you can see here and here.
This awesome Manny Machado mural reflects the third baseman’s intensity and team leadership, and both his offensive and defensive prowess. The artwork was illuminated early in the morning when I walked past it.
The mural is located in Chula Vista on Third Avenue, a short distance south of E Street, on the side of the historic Vogue movie theater building.
…
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!
I was walking through Balboa Park on Sunday, making my way toward Park Boulevard, when I noticed a newly planted tree with a shiny plaque beside it.
I veered across the grass to investigate…
The plaque states:
TREE BALBOA PARK
This tree and hundreds of others have been planted throughout the park by the Balboa Park Conservancy, Urban Corps, Tree San Diego, and Parks & Recreation.
Funding for this California Climate Investments grant project has been provided through the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), Urban and Community Forestry program.
…
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!
A small but very beautiful public park can be enjoyed in Carlsbad at the corner of Laguna Drive and State Street.
Maxton Brown Park is a quiet place. One can sit on a bench to read a book or gaze out at Buena Vista Lagoon.
During my recent walk in Carlsbad I rested on one bench that had a view of the lagoon. It was very peaceful.
I then briefly explored the park and found several memorial plaques that honor loved ones.
Here are a few photos…
The above plaque overlooking the lagoon reads:
LT. MAXTON BROWN PARK
515th SQDN
MARCH 5, 1915 – JULY 8, 1943
BUENA VISTA LAGOON CONSERVATOR
AMERICAN LEGION POST 146 MARCH 5, 1976
I did a little searching on the internet and learned that during World War II, on July 8, 1943, 2nd Lieutenant Maxton Brown of Carlsbad was downed over Sicily. He flew with the 515th Bomb Squadron.
The Buena Vista Lagoon is home of the Maxton Brown Bird Sanctuary. According to this page of the Carlsbad Historical Society, prior to the war Maxton “spent many hours at the lagoon sighting and recording over 150 species of birds.”
…
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!
An exciting community celebration will be held in Balboa Park at the end of July!
Everyone is invited to gather at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion on the evening of Saturday, July 31, 2021 to enjoy this amazing free event, featuring notable performers from all around San Diego.
Participating in the celebration will be Opera4Kids, San Diego Civic Dance Arts, San Diego Civic Youth Ballet, Grupo Folklórico Sabor de México, San Diego Master Chorale accompanied by San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez, and the fun Organ Pavilion Rock Band! The entertainment starts at 5:30 pm!
Cool San Diego Sights! 