A color-splashed sunset in Point Loma materialized before my eyes this afternoon.
I was walking through Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park, when I paused to watch an artist working on a canvas in front of Studio 26. He was painting the Bessemer Path along San Diego Bay in Point Loma. The scene that flowed from his hand was suffused with sunset light.
I soon was talking to Edward Moores, who has been a local artist in Spanish Village for over two decades. He has lived in San Diego most of his life, and you can see a deep love for the city in his paintings.
Ed showed me inside his Studio 26 and I recognized many San Diego places that he has painted. I saw the Hotel Del Coronado’s elegant Victorian boathouse. I saw Balboa Park’s light-filled Lily Pond. When he learned I lived on Cortez Hill, he brought out a wonderful sketch of the historic El Cortez!
Marveling at his careful dabs and streaks of color, I was privileged to see our beautiful city through his eyes. He described his art as somewhat impressionistic. It flows from a place inside him. He said no work of art is ever really finished.
I found the visions and moods he creates to be both subtle and powerful.
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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!
Today I went on an amazing winter whale watching adventure!
We were able to watch a gray whale as it migrated south toward Mexico along the coast of San Diego!
I and other passengers aboard the Adventure Hornblower tour ship left San Diego Bay as the sun broke through morning clouds, and we set about searching for whales and other marine wildlife off Point Loma.
Not only did we get a great view of a gray whale repeatedly surfacing, spouting, then fluking before its longer dives, but we spotted a pod of feeding dolphins out on the beautiful Pacific Ocean, too!
I must say the crew of the Adventure Hornblower was super nice and provided a really memorable experience!
Here come my photographs…
As I waited on the Embarcadero for our departure, I was able to rest on a bench and regard our whale watching ship, the Adventure Hornblower.
Looking back at the city as we head across San Diego Bay toward the ocean.
As we cruised down the channel, we got a good look at beautiful Point Loma.
I see two iconic landmarks in San Diego! The Old Point Loma Lighthouse, and the slender statue of Cabrillo to the right of those Torrey Pine trees.
The end of the Point Loma peninsula. We’re almost out on the wide Pacific Ocean!
We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect early January day. It was a good idea to wear layers and a jacket, however!
Here and there you’d see other boats out on the blue ocean. Those hazy mountains way in the distance are in Mexico.
This big fantastic sailboat had reported seeing a whale. The captains of competing tours cooperate out on the water, sharing their sightings, for the benefit of all.
We’re slowly, carefully nearing a solitary gray whale as it journeys through the ocean.
A spout! The passengers all rushed forward!
Our first look at a fluke!
This gray whale has lots of barnacles! Hence the gray appearance.
We keep following at a safe distance, not wanting to disturb a graceful giant of the deep.
Wow! A great zoom photo of a spout!
The gray whale has spouted, leaving a watery mist above. The enormous mammal begins to dive under again.
Another fluke, which means the gray whale will be submerged for perhaps five minutes.
As we head back in to San Diego after a couple of amazing hours on the ocean, we pass many sailboats heading out. Beyond the one in this photo is Point Loma’s modern lighthouse, down near the water.
The hazy downtown skyline is up ahead in the distance, on the other side of Coronado.
After entering San Diego Bay, we slowly swung by the live bait barge to check out lots of sea lions.
What a life. Catch a few fish, take a lazy nap in the San Diego sunshine.
Getting closer to home.
Back at the Embarcadero. That’s the Coronado Ferry about to dock in front of us.
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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!
Do you know anything about this huge colorfully painted engine?
The very unique public artwork sits near a welcome to the city sign at the north end of National City Boulevard, by Division Street. I believe it was placed here outside the National City Auto Center about a year ago.
I took these photos yesterday as I walked past. What kind of engine is this? Where did it come from?
Please leave a comment if you know anything!
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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!
Hopefully we’ll eventually return to a more normal state of affairs, once vaccines are widely distributed and the devastating COVID-19 pandemic has subsided. The past year has been extremely difficult.
What was going on back in 2016?
Plenty!
It’s time to look back at photographs that I took five years ago…
Click the following links to see some of the photographs I shared on Cool San Diego Sights in January 2016!
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.
Enjoy these photos of an amazing mural in National City!
In 2014, local artist Gloria Muriel, who often signs her work with the moniker Glow, painted three colorful faces on the front of the One-Ten Liquor Store and Puff Bar, located at the corner of National City Boulevard and 1st Street.
She painted additional images on the building’s side and rear, but I didn’t take photos because parked cars blocked the most interesting parts.
These three elemental faces, themselves a little weathered and faded by the passage of time, still stand out beautifully as you drive (or walk) past! (I did add a little contrast to my photographs, however.)
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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!
It’s hard to believe, but today is New Year’s Eve. 2020 has been a year for the history books, to say the least!
What better time to share interesting photos from San Diego’s history?
A year ago I blogged about downtown electrical boxes along Fifth Avenue that feature old photographs from the Gaslamp Quarter. See them here.
During subsequent walks I’ve observed that more boxes on nearby streets have been decorated with similar photographs.
These examples were discovered on sidewalks throughout the Gaslamp!
Horton Plaza Park features the iconic 1910 Broadway Fountain, designed by Irving Gill. The unique fountain incorporated the first successful use of colored lighting and water.
If you’d like to see photos of Horton Plaza Park’s redevelopment in 2015, including the fountain and the park’s many historical monuments, click here.
Bum was San Diego’s beloved town dog in the 1880’s. He was a great friend to everyone in the city.
If you’d like to see a sculpture of Bum, San Diego’s famous town dog, and learn more about his history, click here!
In 1887, the people of San Diego were thrilled to see circus elephants parading down city streets!
San Diego’s first meter maids began to enforce parking violations in 1953.
The 1894 Mercantile Building was typical of Victorian commercial business of the era. It housed the Ingersoll Ice Cream and Confectionary, and a Japanese art goods emporium.
Ah Quin was the unofficial mayor of Chinatown. He arrived in San Diego in 1881.
To learn more about Chinatown’s history, see my blog post concerning the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum here.
The Downtown Celebrates electrical box in the Gaslamp Quarter includes a photo from the 1941 Soap Box Derby in San Diego. The 1946 winner, local boy Gil Klecan, was featured on the cover of Life Magazine. Another photo is of Joan Embery, world-famous spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo.
To see photos of the 2014 All-American Soap Box Derby, which was held in nearby Sherman Heights, click here!
To see photos of a 2016 Bonita Museum exhibit titled My Animal World concerning Joan Embery, which highlights her many guest appearances with Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, click here!
Happy New Year!
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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.
Visitors to Balboa Park walking between the Desert Garden and Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden might notice a single olive tree. It grows a short distance from the winding pathway, near some logs at the edge of Florida Canyon where people can sit while listening to ranger talks.
What they probably won’t observe is a plaque describing the tree. The plaque, which is not easily seen from the busy walkway, explains the olive tree was donated to the City of San Diego by the local Greek community in November 1976.
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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!
San Diego Stadium, built in 1967, once home of the baseball Padres and football Chargers, which has been known over the decades as Jack Murphy Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium, and most recently SDCCU Stadium, is presently being demolished!
I walked down Rancho Mission Road this afternoon to take a couple of photographs through a construction fence surrounding the old stadium parking lot.
I see the big mural at the back of the scoreboard titled The Fan Game, by artist Mario Uribe, is still standing. If you want to see photographs of this cool sports mural from earlier this year, click here.
Eventually the area occupied by the stadium and its parking lot will be transformed into a huge extension of San Diego State University. I’ve heard the new campus referred to as either SDSU West or SDSU Mission Valley. A new 35,000 person capacity Aztec Stadium will also be built at this site, as well as a beautiful new river park.
Cool San Diego Sights! 