Preparing a maypole in Balboa Park!

The House of Sweden in Balboa Park is having their Midsummer Celebration this afternoon at 2 pm!

As I walked among the International Cottages this morning, I saw members of the House of Sweden preparing their beautiful maypole. And a nearby garland!

The celebration this year will be on a smaller scale than usual, as we try to finally shake free of the waning coronavirus pandemic.

It’s June 20, and a flowering spring has led to summer. Once again regenerative nature will be celebrated by many hands.

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!

Cool photo memories from June 2016.

Please enjoy a bunch of cool photographs from five years ago!

Back in June 2016, I enjoyed a special tour at the San Diego Museum of Art, checked out incredible wood art and other fun stuff at the Alice in Wonderland-themed San Diego County Fair, saw that Comic-Con was on the way, observed the installation and debut of important downtown public art, and got a rare look at one of William Shakespeare’s First Folios!

And even more amazing stuff!

Coming up are the links where you can see it all!

Click the following links for loads of photos…

Amazing animal bronzes at San Diego Museum of Art!

Amazing photos: Fantastic, incredible wood art!

Alice pops out of rabbit hole at San Diego County Fair!

Son of Zorn and The Exorcist on a Comic-Con trolley!

Public art “Tide” rises in plaza by Marriott Marquis!

Carved stone Chinese lions unveiled in San Diego!

Photos of Shakespeare’s First Folio exhibit in San Diego.

Costumes from Shakespeare’s plays at Old Globe Theatre!

New mural in San Diego extols humility, nobility.

The Art Club of San Diego showcases fine pieces!

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.

Stars on colorful mosaic walls in National City.

A few weeks ago, as I waited for a Memorial Day ceremony at National City’s War Memorial and Veteran’s Wall of Honor, I walked around the nearby intersection of 12th Street and D Avenue, where there’s a traffic roundabout.

In the center of the roundabout I discovered five medallion-like plaques that honor five branches of the United States Armed Forces. But what really caught my eyes were the colorful red, white and blue star mosaics that decorate several walls surrounding the intersection!

I believe this public artwork was part of the 2015 improvement project that you can read about here.

I love the how the stars in the patriotic mosaics look like they’re flying, bouncing and dancing, or unspooling like musical notes. They also sort of appear like bursting fireworks!

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!

Beautiful flowers throughout Little Italy!

I took these flower photographs last Friday morning in Little Italy.

I found blooms in sidewalk planters, leaning against painted restaurant walls, and adding color near outdoor dining tables. I saw them in front of homes and shops, and inside windows. And I came upon some fun floral artwork, too!

I’m tardy posting these photos because I’ve been a bit under the weather. But these flowers have been patiently waiting.

A life lesson, maybe.

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!

Ghostly branches of a cottonwood in spring.

In late spring and early summer the branches of a cottonwood tree can become very ghostly!

I walked under a Fremont cottonwood by the San Diego River this morning. My eyes were intrigued by the windblown white “cotton” that had collected on its own gray limbs and branches.

Check out the upcoming photos. Those drooping white puffs that resemble cotton candy are actually a fruit called achene. Seeds are dispersed by the wind.

I’m no botanist, so I don’t pretend to understand much about it.

I do know, however, that these seeds can plant themselves in a fertile imagination. The cottonwood’s fuzzed branches appear ethereal, like phantom forms from some unearthly world…

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!

Sculpted children at the Poway Library.

Two children–a small girl and boy–linger in the outdoor courtyard area near the entrance to the Poway Library. Both are made of bronze.

I spotted the sculptures last weekend during my walking adventure in Poway.

These two works of public art, according to a nearby plaque, were created by Ardel Uvon Bloomquist and are dedicated to children of all ages. In 2000 they were donated by the Poway Woman’s Club.

As the girl sits reading a book, the boy walks along carrying his own book, no doubt checked out from this Poway Branch of the San Diego County Library.

I found an old article that describes the Poway Woman’s Club and their acquisition of this artwork 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!

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!

A huge, amazing mural is hidden in East Village!

There’s a 7 story tall mural that was painted three years ago in East Village that practically nobody sees!

The mural, painted in a nook of Broadstone Makers Quarter, is titled Growing Harmony, and it was created by talented local artists Carly Ealey and Christopher Konecki.

If you’ve ever driven downtown east on E Street, to merge via that curving ramp onto southbound I-5, you might have barely glimpsed the hidden mural in your rear view mirror. From certain high spots in Golden Hill and Sherman Heights you might be able to see it in the distance. But the absolute best view is from the small, little-used 17th Street bridge that passes over the freeway onramp, just south of Broadway. I took these photos from that bridge.

A hand holds a hummingbird’s house made from many objects, some natural, some artificial. Human creativity can sustain and uphold life.

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!

Flowers and gratitude for two fallen officers.

Flowers and messages of condolence and gratitude now surround the memorial for fallen officers by the downtown headquarters of the San Diego Police Department.

These heartfelt expressions were placed at the memorial by residents of San Diego after the tragic deaths of two married detectives in a wrong way car collision last Friday. Detectives Ryan Park and Jamie Huntley-Park attended the police academy together, and both were promoted to detective at the same time. A fund for their families has been set up here.

I was walking down Broadway early this morning to check out a mural in East Village when I saw the flowers. I had to stop and read one large message which you can see in my final photograph.

I’m certain many in San Diego share the same feelings.

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!

Mural at southwest corner of continental USA!

Walk out to the end of the Imperial Beach Pier and you’re standing near the most southwesterly point in the continental United States!

And if you turn around at the end of the pier to look at one side of the Tin Fish restaurant, you’ll see a big mural created late last year by the local artists of Pandr Design Co. The mural includes geographic coordinates in degrees of latitude and longitude that prove its assertion!

While walking along the pier I noted a few other cool murals which were also painted recently by Pandr Design Co….

AS LONG AS THERE’S BEEN SURFING THERE’S ALWAYS BEEN THE QUEST FOR THE PERFECT WAVE
GOOD VIBES ONLY
IMPIERIAL BEACH CALIFORNIA Forever

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!

Markers and monuments at San Ysidro border.

Two historical markers can be seen just north of the San Ysidro Port of Entry border crossing. They stand near the entrance to the pedestrian bridge that crosses over Interstate 5 to Camino de la Plaza. I spotted them during my last walk around San Ysidro and took photographs.

A granite monument, marker number 255, reads Boundary of the United States–Treaty of 1853–Re-Established by Treaties of 1882-1889. The opposite side contains the same information in Spanish. The monument’s two other sides show the principal names from the international commission that precisely determined the previously disputed boundary with Mexico in 1892 to 1896. It was one of 258 markers placed along 689 miles of border.

The fascinating story of this particular marker includes a flood, a replacement duplicate, and the original marker’s rediscovery and relocation to this spot. Read more about its complicated history here.

Behind the granite boundary monument, a historical sign on a post marks the Blue Star Memorial Highway. The sign describes the highway as A tribute to the Armed Forces that have defended the United States of America.

Perhaps you’ve seen these signs elsewhere across the United States. Read more about the Blue Star Memorial Highway (which is in fact numerous highways) 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!

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!