New Cisterra building rises behind Tony Gwynn statue at Petco Park in East Village.
As the local economy has improved, I’ve noticed a spate of new construction underway in downtown San Diego. Several skyscrapers are on the rise!
Last weekend I walked past the rapidly progressing Cisterra building which will overlook East Village. It stands just a block north of Petco’s Park at the Park. The future home of gigantic Sempra Energy, the high-rise is being built directly next to one of San Diego’s most interesting old buildings: Fire Station 4. The beautiful little firehouse is San Diego’s oldest, dating from the 1930’s. Once the shiny new skyscraper is completed, the two buildings side-by-side will create quite a contrast!
New skyscraper in San Diego to be headquarters of Sempra Energy.Steel lattice, glass grid and odd reflections make for an interesting photo.Construction of this gleaming high-rise can be observed in downtown San Diego.Stately little Fire Station No. 4 beside new modern skyscraper.This is the oldest firehouse in San Diego, in service since 1938.Fire Station 4, built as a New Deal WPA project, is a designated historical landmark.Beautiful old San Diego firehouse at the foot of what will be a shiny new skyscraper.
Here’s a bonus pic which I took on a morning in early February…
A rising skyscraper shines brightly in the early morning.
…and another I took in March…
Fire Station Number 4 at base of silvery, shiny new skyscraper.
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Blacksmith at Fall Back Festival in San Diego’s Gaslamp works the bellows.
Today I checked out a great event in downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. Called the Fall Back Festival: the Children’s Historical and Cultural Street Faire, this historical reenactment places visitors in a magical time machine, transporting them back to the 1880’s.
Three blocks of fun included a blacksmith, old western storefronts, pony rides, candle dipping and other educational activities. Many participants wore costumes and clothing from this early period in San Diego’s history. There was also an exciting High Noon shootout–which I unfortunately missed. But I did capture a few pics…
Lady in old-fashioned dress walks with her umbrella past Horton Grand Hotel.
I snapped the above photo as I headed toward the festival. The lady was just walking along through modern, shiny downtown San Diego like an image from the past.
These cowboys, the Alpine Outlaws, have a jailhouse downtown and a hanging noose!
Yikes! The first thing I saw was a bunch of crafty outlaws!
Festival celebrates the diverse and fascinating early history of San Diego.Wood cabinet at rear of wagon is packed with wares typical in 1880’s.A table full of rusty irons from the Old West!Temecula Valley Prospectors had kids panning for real gold.Realistic replicas of Native American tools and weapons were on display.
An interesting guy named Dave, of San Diego Survival History and Fitness, showed me a very cool display. He made all of the above implements and weapons by hand, using materials and techniques that were used by the Kumeyaay and earlier native peoples in the San Diego area. The Spaniards who built their first California Mission in San Diego feared the throwing sticks which you can see in the above photo. Shaped like a boomerang, they had the power to easily bring down a deer!
Historical exhibit has photos of Japanese settlers and community in San Diego.San Diego Model A Club had a row of old automobiles at the Fall Back Festival.Of course, there was live country western music for the crowd to enjoy!
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Lights come on inside Casa del Prado in Balboa Park as another day ends.
Balboa Park in San Diego’s bright sunshine is wonderful. At night it becomes magical.
As darkness seeps in and night gentles the world, Balboa Park transforms into an entirely different place. Take a look…
Plaster statues of Spanish painters become shadowy in courtyard of Casa del Prado.Faces above blue-lit fountain by Botanical Building.Ornate building facades on El Prado take on new, amazing depth at dusk.Walking down an elegant, golden corridor as night descends.Passage along El Prado becomes mellow and mysterious.The sky becomes dark blue after sunset and faint stars slowly emerge.Balboa Park after dark transforms into a fantastic, fairy tale world.Foliate capitals on the columns of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion colonnade.Illuminated fountain beside patio beneath The Prado restaurant in Balboa Park.One last juggle by the slowly darkening fountain near Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.
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The facade pipes of the Spreckels Organ have been removed to be refurbished.
Those who attended last Sunday’s free concert at Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ Pavilion enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
According to Dale Sorenson, Co-Curator of the Spreckels Organ, this is the first time he’s seen San Diego’s historic outdoor organ without the facade pipes. These big pipes, which interfere with the sound from the organ’s many other interior pipes and instruments, have been removed temporarily. They are in the process of being gilded–not with gold leaf, which is very expensive and a long tedious process, but with mica. The renovation is in preparation for the Balboa Park Centennial celebration. A very special concert will be presented this New Year’s Eve, on the organ’s one hundredth birthday!
Without the facade pipes, last weekend’s concert was heard at full power! Among the majestic pieces played by San Diego Civic Organist Dr. Carol Williams were Toccata, Symphonie V by Charles-Marie Widor, Prelude in B minor, BWV 544 by J. S. Bach, and Te Deum by Charles Tournemire.
Here are some behind the scenes photos of the organ, from outside and from within!
The facade’s temporary removal allows a very rare look at the interior pipes.Mechanical instruments now visible include cymbals, gong and snare drum.Civic Organist Dr. Carol Williams before once-in-a-lifetime concert with booming sound!People line up near gift shop to see and hear organ up close during the concert!Entering the organ pavilion building where offices, displays and the instrument reside.A hallway contains dozens of historical photos of concerts, organists and Balboa Park.Visitors can often go inside after the free 2 o’clock Sunday concerts.Heading up west stairs to see and hear the pipes and complex organ workings.Looking behind where the facade pipes are usually located.Looking up we see swell shutters and a big bass drum!Turning to the right we find even more ranks of pipes.Cluster of long and short pipes seen from east side of organ.Banners and informative exhibits in stairwell on east side of building.Visitor checks out display inside organ pavilion building.Opera star sings at crowded pavilion during memorial service for President Harding in 1923.Mice near pipes comment that all hell breaks loose on Sunday!Albert Einstein in front of Spreckels Organ in 1930.1915 photo of John D. Spreckels on Electriquette wicker cart among pigeons in Balboa Park.Demonstration of how air pressure affects the pipe organ’s action.2005 bust of John D. Spreckels by sculptor Claudio D’Agostino.1915 San Diego Union newspaper announces America’s First Out-Of-Door Organ.Looking out onto the stage from inside.
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Día de los Muertos displays at Bazaar del Mundo are filled with life and color.
Día de los Muertos, also called Day of the Dead, is a popular holiday in Mexico and in many other cultures around the world. It’s a celebration that honors the memories and spirits of loved ones who have passed away. It closely follows Halloween, a holiday that is similar but actually quite different. Día de los Muertos, rich with images of skeletons and decorated skulls, is neither scary nor morbid; it is joyous!
This weekend, Old Town hosted its annual Day of the Dead special event. Altars, costumes and other sights that are common during the holiday could be found throughout the park and surrounding area. I took lots of photos!
Día de los Muertos altar at Bazaar del Mundo in a corner of Old Town, San Diego.Kids decorate sugar skulls, a fun and tasty tradition of Day of the Dead.Ethnic and folk crafts are abundant at Bazaar del Mundo.Young lady has face painted to celebrate Día de los Muertos.A traditional Catrina. A female skeleton in old-fashioned hat and dress.Altar at Fiesta de Reyes features Virgin Mary and photos of departed loved ones.Fantastic sign above pumpkin shows lively, dancing skeletons.Lady working in San Diego’s Old Town arranges bright frilly flowers in the sun.Folk dancers on and off stage at Fiesta de Reyes during Día de los Muertos.This scarecrow and skeleton seem happy together on this perfect Autumn day!Bench at Fiesta de Reyes painted with sombrero-wearing, flower-bearing skeletons.Small crowned image in crude wooden frame in a larger altar.Prayers are directed toward radiant image of Virgin Mary above altar candles.Altars often contain food liked by the deceased, to entice their spirits back.Mariachi skeletons strum guitars at entrance to Fiesta de Reyes.This big flower and heart-covered calavera faces Old Town’s central square.Larger-than-life Day of the Dead mannequin wears a beautiful red dress.Dead couple sits in lobby of Old Town’s historic Cosmopolitan Hotel.Bartender offers drink to skeleton cowboy at the Cosmopolitan Hotel’s bar!The bony fellow at the bar was called Calaca McAlvarez!Stylish bystander is resting near one of the many Old Town shops.Musician entertains on pipes at Old Town’s Day of the Dead festivities.Día de los Muertos display with a strong Mexican flavor.Photographs remember loved ones who have passed into the spirit world after death.Snow White has been transformed into lavish Day of the Dead artwork.This guy is sitting on a wagon near popular entrance to Old Town State Historic Park.Sculptor recreates face of living tourist posing for a unique souvenir.Prints on display for the big crowds attending Old Town’s Day of the Dead.This elegant couple was spotted among the many historic buildings in Old Town.This well-dressed family all had their faces painted to resemble skulls!Author A. B. Curtiss was signing her acclaimed books at Día de los Muertos.
Distinctive dome of the restored Balboa Theatre seen from Broadway.
It’s going to be chilly and drizzly today, so I might not be going out for my customary walk. Instead, I thought I’d share a few photos of downtown’s beautiful Balboa Theatre that I took at various times last summer.
The Balboa Theatre has a long and interesting history. Built in 1924 as a vaudeville and movie palace, the large multi-story building containing offices overlooking Fourth Avenue has undergone a complex series of transformations. During World War II, it was used to house sailors waiting to ship out from San Diego. At one point the aging building was saved from demolition; finally it was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, the Balboa Theatre reopened after a thorough remodel, and it is now considered one of the foremost performance venues in the world. It was recently named by CNN Travel as one of the world’s 15 most spectacular theatres! Not bad!
Here are a few more pics of the exterior. I often steer my feet so that I walk past this beautiful building!
Balboa Theatre sign is a landmark in San Diego’s Gaslamp.People walk past box office of the historic Balboa Theatre.Close look at artwork on Balboa Theatre’s cool marquee.The Balboa Theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places.The Balboa Theatre stands next to downtown’s equally cool Horton Plaza.
One more pic I added on a later date:
Window display of old photograph and letter B from Balboa Theatre sign. These can be seen a short distance down the sidewalk.
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Lizards undergo transformations in a very creative street mural in San Diego.
Here’s a very cool mural I spotted last weekend after I watched the Boulevard BOO! Parade. I was just walking along through a neighborhood west of San Diego’s College area.
You can find this artwork at the corner of 56th Street and El Cajon Boulevard.
Ant and cacti grown to gigantic proportions beside an ordinary sidewalk.Cool urban art attracts the eye and stimulates the mind of those passing by.Colorful images on a building at 56th Street and El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego.
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Family-friendly fun and games lined Balboa Park’s El Prado the weekend before Halloween.
So what happened today in Balboa Park? Here are some photos!
Sign explains Balboa Park Halloween Family Day.Crowds were huge and many imaginative costumes added to the color.House of Pacific Relations had a booth with cool Halloween stuff.Street performer is a bronze version of Shakespeare, the Bard!Masks and other crafts could be worked on by the creatively inclined.Of course, Halloween is all about kids having fun.Boy emerges from a magical boo-box!Guys creating origami courtesy of the Japanese Friendship Garden.One pumpkin is devouring another in a festive nook in Balboa Park!A studio in Spanish Village has skulls, spider and a skeleton hanging around.Fine glass in the form of pumpkins created by local artists.A puppet-dog on strings prepares for the canine costume competition in Spanish Village.Dog enjoying the festivities in wonderful, colorful Balboa Park.Yum! Look at this basket of Halloween candy!SDSU School of Music and Dance kids perform before the Sunday Spreckels Organ concert.Fiona the Humane Society butterfly mastiff hangs out in Spreckels Organ Pavilion.The House of Scotland performed with their booming drum at the International Cottages.Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater is showing The Polka Dot Ghost.The San Diego Dachshund Club’s Hallo-Wiener Picnic was held in Balboa Park.San Diego Air and Space Museum was the scene of the traditional pumpkin drop!A crowd gathers to watch a pumpkin descend and explode into a million pieces!The pumpkin can’t escape gravity. Will it reach terminal velocity?Yeah. It got terminated. The pumpkin predictably busted apart to the great delight of kids.
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Boy dressed as tin man enjoys Boulevard BOO! Parade in San Diego.
I’ve heard about San Diego’s only Halloween parade for years. Today I checked it out!
The Boulevard BOO! Parade is now ten years old. It takes place every late October on El Cajon Boulevard near College Avenue. The neighborhood, just south of San Diego State University, appears to have really embraced this annual Halloween event!
Hundreds of families turned out to view the fun spectacle. The BOO! Parade is mostly for kids, and many young spectators had trick-or-treat bags and were in costume themselves!
Here are my best pics!
10th annual BOO! Parade took place on El Cajon Boulevard.Two scary zombie kids were seen lurching down the street before the parade began.These pirates were being rascally and rambunctious in the parade staging area!BOO! Parade kicks off a few blocks west of College Avenue in the late morning.
The tall ghostly blue creature is the character Boo!
Super tall Boo is blue, and he seems to blend in with the clouds.Looks like all the regular monsters have shown up for this big Halloween parade!There were a few not-so-scary clowns around, too!Marine Corps marching band gets things rolling near start of parade.One of many creative floats seen during the fun late October parade.Two different Ghostbusters cars were in the parade.Kids get goodies from a ghostbuster patrolling El Cajon Boulevard.Costumed parade participants from San Diego Center for the Blind.Here come some smiling SDSU cheerleaders.The San Diego State University mascot Aztec Warrior gives a high five!Lots of cars in the parade were draped with creepy cobwebs.Kids marching in the parade wore every sort of cool costume you can imagine!Here comes a long line of classic cars with spooky decorations.A witch waves to a passing skeleton!The San Diego Police Department must be hiring guys with evil pumpkin heads!One of two pirate ships I saw. This was most definitely very cool.Little zombies do a dance routine!Several schools were in the parade and everyone was having a blast.Here come the Shriners in their Halloween-themed mini-cars!And here come more clowns out of the woodwork.The second pirate ship rolls along with some waving beauty queens.A beauty queen is wearing a big, golden pharaoh headdress!I suppose these young ladies are the queens of Zombieland!And this beauty queen is dressed up as macaroni and cheese!Looks like the ROTC is recruiting young monsters.Headless parader thrills girls and shocks poor old mom.A whole lot of fun was enjoyed by thousands today, young and old.Utility box on El Cajon Boulevard painted with scenes from BOO! Parade.
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Man points out a recent fleet carrier name on the Aircraft Carrier Memorial.
Take a stroll down the Greatest Generation Walk on San Diego’s Embarcadero and you’re likely to see people standing beside the Aircraft Carrier Memorial, just gazing at the long list of historic Navy ships. Many will run their hand along the black marble obelisk as they search for the ship on which they or a loved one served.
The listed names include every fleet carrier, training carrier, light carrier, escort carrier, and amphibious assault ship from American history. Well, almost. I’ve noticed the fleet carrier section has run out of space, and the last ship named is the Ronald Reagan (CVN-76). No room remains to engrave the more recent USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77).
Sculpture of a sailor who served aboard a flattop.Obelisk of Aircraft Carrier Memorial remembers past ships from naval history.
The memorial, whose bronze figures were sculpted by artists T.J. Dixon and James Nelson, contains the following words:
The advent of the aircraft carrier revolutionized modern naval warfare. This memorial was conceived by aircraft carrier veterans to honor this nation’s carriers and the personnel who proudly served aboard them. Powered by the human soul, these ships changed the course of history.
This site is known as the old navy “fleet landing”…where countless thousands of servicemen boarded boats that transported them to their ships.
The names of all U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and their hull numbers are inscribed hereon…from the smallest to the largest. Every “flattop” is of equal distinction…none above the other. The personnel who manned, fought and in some cases perished aboard these ships were and are a part of the finest Navy and Marine Corps in the world.
Sculpture of a naval aviator who flew from a carrier.The Aircraft Carrier Memorial can be found on San Diego’s Greatest Generation Walk.
The Greatest Generation Walk is located on San Diego Bay, just south of the USS Midway Museum.
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