Today has been a pleasant Saturday in early December. I walked through Little Italy this evening after dark and looked about in wonder at the many holiday lights.
Crowds filled India Street. Diners sat at tables outside. Beautiful Christmas trees illuminated the night at Piazza della Famiglia and Piazza Basilone.
I took these photographs!
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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!
For as long as I can remember, the Marriott Marquis hotel on San Diego’s bayfront has maintained a holiday tradition. Every year they string up a huge red “Christmas tree” made of lights between their two towers!
I took a long walk after work and found myself in front of the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina (the hotel’s official name) shortly after nightfall.
The beautiful tree of lights was shining in front of my camera!
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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!
My last blog post concerning the COVID-19 pandemic in San Diego was unusually dark.
So I’ve decided to counteract the darkness by posting bright photographs!
Most of these photos were taken very recently. They’ve been sitting in a folder in my computer for the right moment. And this is it!
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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!
As I walk around San Diego, I try to find what is uplifting and keep a positive attitude. But these photographs from the past few days aren’t happy. They show tragic aspects of the long COVID-19 pandemic nightmare.
Throughout downtown San Diego it seems time has stopped. It seems the life of my city keeps draining away.
It’s now December and I still see posters for events scheduled last March or April. I see hundreds of boarded windows and a steadily increasing number of For Lease signs. I see people avoiding people. I see more and more who are homeless. And now we’re told a second lockdown in San Diego is imminent.
They tell us this terrible pandemic will finally end in the coming months as vaccines are distributed. But for the time being the tragic scene downtown seems to only worsen.
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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!
During a walk in Logan Heights a couple weekends ago I came upon these very cool murals northeast of Chicano Park, on the other side of Interstate 5.
I discovered this artwork as I walked around the old Webers Bakery building, which is now the home of community art gallery and cultural center Bread & Salt. After circling the historic building I returned along Julian Avenue to Cesar E. Chavez Parkway and walked past Calvary Baptist Church and the Revival Time Church of God in Christ.
The first five photos are of two murals on the northwest side of Bread & Salt’s unique old bakery building. You might notice the artist signature Panca, who has exhibited at Bread & Salt.
The following murals are in the alley next to the building…
The next mural, also by Panca, is on the southeast end of the building, where you can find Mujeres Brew House…
Here’s the front entrance to the building that years ago was Webers Bakery…
This graphic ode to the spray paint can is along Julian Avenue, at the north corner of the building…
The next two murals are on the end of one building at the Revival Time Church of God in Christ on Cesar E. Chavez Parkway…
And finally some fun artwork on a nearby electrical box!
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Here’s another batch of odd photographs that might make you look twice!
I captured all of these images in the past couple weeks during walks around San Diego.
Some of these are so strange and mysterious even I’m perplexed!
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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!
Late this afternoon, a little before sunset, I strolled around Old Town San Diego State Historic Park to enjoy their annual holiday decorations.
Even though all of the museums and many of the shops are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I noticed a few people walking about like me, poking their noses into scattered places that were open.
If a lockdown is mandated throughout California in the coming days or weeks, I’m sure Old Town will become a ghost town. Already there are no scheduled holiday events, such as the traditional Las Posadas procession. So if you’d like to see Old Town’s beautiful holiday decorations, now might be the best time to go!
I did notice during my late day walk that Fiesta de Reyes was open for dining, and I saw folks inside a few shops, including Cousin’s Candy Shop, Toby’s Candle and Soap Shop, and Miner’s Gems and Minerals. It appeared other shops might have closed a little earlier in the day.
As you can see in one photo, Old Town’s Cygnet Theatre is streaming two holiday radio plays this year: A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life. Learn how you can listen by visiting their website here!
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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!
One of the most colorful and fascinating landmarks in all of San Diego is the Euclid Tower in City Heights.
The 80‐foot tall Euclid Tower, located on University Avenue at Reno Drive, a block east of Euclid Avenue, was originally built in 1932. Today the extraordinary building is home to the Tower Bar and Tower Tattoo Parlor.
The Euclid Tower was originally a drive-in soda fountain, and its second floor served as an observation deck. Over the decades the building has been the unique home for a string of businesses, primarily restaurants. An example of the Zigzag Moderne Art Deco style, the Euclid Tower was designed by an unknown architect. You can learn more about its history and see old photographs of the building here.
By the 1980’s the old gray building had a look of neglect and decay. In 1995 a community art project painted it with colorful new designs. Third grade kids created pictures of the City Heights community, which ended up as the tiles you see in my photographs.
But structural degradation that occurred over the course of many years resulted in the tower tipping dangerously. In 1999 the tall spire of the building was removed.
In 2009 a somewhat shorter spire was erected and the building was restored using a design proposed by Cynthia Bechtel, Mark Messenger and Christina Montuouri. Their vision of the present-day Euclid Tower is what you see in my photographs.
You can read about the Euclid Tower’s restoration here.
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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!
Sheltering Wings is an extraordinary bronze sculpture that I discovered during my Saturday walk through the Coronado Cays.
I had reached the east end of Grand Caribe Causeway and was gazing out toward San Diego Bay when I noticed what appeared to be two herons standing on rocks in Grand Caribe Shoreline Park.
Upon closer inspection, I found this beautiful public artwork, the handiwork of renowned sculptor Christopher Slatoff. Sheltering Wings was commissioned by the Port District of San Diego back in 1996.
You can read the bio of Christopher Slatoff at his website here.
I was interested to learn he created another sculpture, The Illustrated Man, in collaboration with one of my very favorite writers, Ray Bradbury!
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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!
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