Feared throughout a galaxy far, far away, relentless bounty hunter Boba Fett has mysteriously arrived on planet Earth and has been spotted surfing in Leucadia!
Perhaps Boba came in search of another boba, because there Boba is, now bonded with his boba and board in a BOBA BY THE BEACH mural!
This cool Star Wars mural is painted at Sip-N-Sea: Coffee + Açaí. The artist signature is @JM47ART.
Thought you’d enjoy 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 X.
This very beautiful mural was painted in Leucadia by local artist Skye Walker in 2023. It’s called Remember California.
The artwork, gracing the 101 Wine Company building at 1496 North Coast Highway 101, is the result of the Paint Encinitas Mural Arts Program.
The mural is absolutely gorgeous. Notice that even the posts near the wall were painted so they fit the image.
A plaque to one side provides description.
Skye Walker’s “Remember California” mural is a visual ode to the state and its natural surroundings, amongst them being the Pacific Ocean, endless sunsets, and golden poppies. The woman figure represents Mother Nature in all her beauty, reminding us that we are responsible for protecting and nurturing her delicate, life-giving abundance. Walker hopes people are inspired by the mural not just to appreciate the natural, but also to witness the need for humans to be in balance with nature, each other, and ourselves.
…The building, originally called Ruby’s Bar, was once part of Leucadia’s early, colorful business district. Owner Ruby Nelson was known for staging dancing girls without a license, selling hamburgers to Marines, and smoking cigars soaked in Cook’s Rum. The property where the mural is located las been owned by the Georges family since 1987…
You can see an earlier version of this mural on the same building by checking out a blog post from 2019 here. That older mural is very similar, but noticeably different.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Should you visit the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla, make sure to step into the Krichman Family Gallery. That’s where you can experience eye-opening effects of light, caused by apertures cut in glass windows overlooking the coast.
This site-conditional installation is the work of Robert Irwin, who passed away in 2023. According to a nearby sign, his art is foundational to a certain West Coast minimalism, referred to as Light and Space. He was a longtime resident of San Diego.
Window areas with no glass bring new light into the viewer’s eyes. Standing in the gallery makes one wonder: to what extent do we fully experience reality and its acute beauty? Is there “glass” in our eyes that can be cut away?
Those open spaces in the windows also allow our senses to feel and smell the fresh ocean breeze. Now, if only human hands could reach out and feel the ocean’s vastness.
Robert Irwin is also responsible for the Edwards Sculpture Garden’s radiant Spanish Fan, which you can see in the lower left of the above photograph.
Inside the museum’s adjacent galleries are more of Irwin’s beautiful works. Perhaps I’ll cover those at some future time.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
This amazing bronze sculpture can be found in front of the National City Fire Department Headquarters Station 34, at the corner of D Avenue and 16th Street. It was commissioned in 2007 and created by local artist Richard Becker. It’s called Ring of Fire.
Fire stations around San Diego County often feature great public art. This might be one of my favorites!
I love the dog to one side!
Here’s a Facebook page that shows photographs of the sculpture being created.
I see, from this online history of the National City Fire Department, that in 2003 an old fire station located here was demolished and rebuilt, creating a station that was larger and more modern, and that in 2007 (same year as the sculpture) they launched their Paramedic Program.
Richard Becker has created amazing sculptures throughout our region. Enjoy photographs of four examples by clicking here and here and here and here.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The Comic-Con Museum will be opening an exhibit celebrating Mexican lucha libre wrestling on May 22, 2025. The exhibition is titled Sangre, Sudor y Mito and will feature masks and costumes worn by legendary luchadores, collectibles, original art, video and much more.
To kick things off, Lucha Fest is being held in San Diego at the Soap Factory this afternoon.
The free, family-friendly event features food, music, art, lowriders and live lucha libre wrestling! Lucha Fest is supported by the Comic-Con Museum, Museo de Lucha Libre Tijuana Mexicana, and the Office of the Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego.
I arrived as it opened, which turned out to be much too early. The wrestling, I learned wouldn’t begin for a couple hours, so I walked around checking things out for a short while.
A highlight of Lucha Fest is the official unveiling of a huge mural across the street, which features legendary luchadores, including Chula Vista’s own Rey Mysterio. It was created by prolific local artist Dentlok. I had photographed the mural in early April, not knowing anything about it. See those photographs here.
The Soap Factory is a mostly outdoor venue east of downtown San Diego. It has many cool murals. I’ve focused my few photos today on the fun event as it barely got started. (Yes, I neglected to photograph the ring–there was nothing going on at the time.)
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The bright yellow building at 510 North Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas is hard to miss. It was the original train station in Encinitas, as its appearance suggests. Today it’s home of Pannikin Coffee & Tea, a popular community gathering place.
I found few other indications of the building’s interesting railroad history: a marker near the front door (seen above) and an old Encinitas station sign.
I walked inside Pannikin Coffee & Tea and was disappointed there was so little on display specifically concerning the railroad station’s history. I asked two employees about it, who told me about the salvaged Encinitas station sign up near the ceiling.
According to this article, the original Encinitas train station was built in 1887. The building moved from trackside to its present location in the early 1970s and in 1980 became a coffeehouse.
It’s a uniquely attractive building, with its bright color and old Victorian charm.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
It’s springtime in San Diego, and the Sri Chinmoy Peace Garden in North Park is in full bloom!
Sri Chinmoy was a spiritual leader from India who taught meditation in the United States. What better place to meditate but in a place of tranquil beauty.
The Sri Chimnoy Peace Garden was established in 2013 and includes a statue of the spiritual leader and benches for quiet sitting.
The small garden, located off Adams Avenue just east of Arizona Street, has been maintained by the San Diego Sri Chimnoy Centre, which according to Google is permanently closed. As a sign explains, the natural setting is intended to enhance the beauty of the area and offer the community a place for reflection.
Spring is a time for renewal–perhaps for the soul as well.
Sri Chinmoy – STUDENT OF PEACE – CHAMPION OF THE INDOMITABLE SPIRIT OF MANKIND
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
There’s a tasty, mouth-watering exhibition ready to be devoured at the La Jolla Riford Library. Step into the Community Room and bring your appetite for art!
The Culinary Arts offers a buffet of paintings by 15 local artists that celebrates food!
As the library’s exhibition website states, you’ll find captivating oil paintings of everything from Cheeseburgers to Triple Decker Ice Cream Cones to delectable Beignets!
The visual feast comes to an end on May 18, 2025.
Fortunately, if you’re still hungry, all of these delectable pieces are for sale. By purchasing a painting or two, these treats can become takeout and brought home for your future enjoyment!
Yummy samples…
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Perhaps you’d like to join Balboa Park’s volunteer Rose Garden Corps. You’ll help beautify the world-class Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden!
I saw a small army of volunteers today in the rose garden, pruning, weeding, raking and fertilizing, while enjoying the San Diego sunshine. Rose Garden Corps members work Tuesdays or Thursday in the morning, and there is a monthly meeting.
If you think you’d like to join the Rose Garden Corps, check out this webpage to learn all about it!
Incidentally, the rose garden is in peak bloom right now. It’s spectacular!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park has plans to substantially expand. The proposed renovation of the West Wing celebrates the centennial of the museum in 2026.
A physical model of an early design concept for this new West Wing extension can be viewed today inside the museum. The design was conceived by the prestigious international architectural firm Foster + Partners, and the model is part of an exhibition that shows their other work around the world.
I got a look at the model yesterday and took some photos so you might visualize how Balboa Park might appear in the future. Obviously, this is important to everyone in San Diego.
Like other Foster + Partners projects, the design will create an experience that is spacious and full of natural light. The proposed expansion will add 37,000 square feet of gallery space, including an immersive digital space. There will also be a community engagement pavilion that will provide interactive space for artists and visitors alike.
As you can see, this large expansion will replace today’s sculpture court and garden.
Personally, I’m not really sure what to think of it.
I like the general idea, but how will this new structure fit in with the surrounding, entirely different Spanish Colonial Revival architecture? It will stand across Plaza de Panama from the much smaller Timken Museum, which also has a more sleek, modern appearance, perhaps creating a visual counter-balance.
The very first thing that struck me is how small the historic San Diego Museum of Art appears beside their wide, taller expansion. No other buildings are shown in the model such as the nearby House of Charm, but I imagine it, too, will appear small in comparison.
My main concern is how this fairly tall new structure might obscure or partially obscure views of Balboa Park’s iconic California Tower, which is arguably the most beloved sight in all of San Diego. The expansion will almost certainly hide the California Tower from people who are in the north part of the Plaza de Panama.
It also appears the design work at the sculpture court and garden by renowned modernist Malcolm Leland will disappear. You can see photographs of that in one of my past blog posts by clicking here.
Well, what do you think?
If you visit the model in the museum, there’s a nearby video that helps you better visualize how this expansion will appear, and an opportunity to leave your own comment.
Here’s a photo I took a few years ago from a short distance up El Prado. You can see the present-day sculpture court with its columns and banners to the right of the California Building’s dome.
The proposed expansion, to my eye, appears to be about three times the height of the sculpture court. So imagine that. The California Tower should remain visible down El Prado, fortunately.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
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