2024 has been an amazing season for the San Diego Padres. 93 wins. 3,314,593 fans at Petco Park. 56 home sellouts.
This afternoon fans learned the Padres will be playing a home Wild Card Series against the Atlanta Braves, beginning tomorrow evening. Downtown San Diego and the Gaslamp will be going crazy.
Two themes are helping to motivate our team to victory in 2024. Fighting for the ever-patient, ever-hopeful, loudly cheering Friar Faithful. Winning for Peter Seidler.
You can see and feel it everywhere.
I walked around Petco Park late this afternoon with my camera. I noticed that anticipation is growing for the Padres Postseason at the ballpark and on the streets around it.
Do it for Seidler.
Let me share this downtown mural of Peter Seidler one more time. Fans can find it north of Santa Fe Depot…
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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.
In this photograph and the next two, you can see art created by and artist who has been called “one of his era’s greatest sculptors.” Can you find it?
These photos were taken a couple days ago behind the old luggage terminal of Santa Fe Depot, in downtown San Diego. The historic terminal, needed back in the days when train travel was a very common mode of transportation, would become the downtown home of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. A year or so ago the museum moved entirely up to their beautiful La Jolla location.
What you see here is the patio between the old luggage terminal and a Santa Fe Depot trolley platform.
What are those metal cubes?
Those six large cubes, together weighing 156 tons, is an art installation commissioned by MCASD in 2004 titled Santa Fe Depot. The artist is Richard Serra.
Richard Serra was a giant in the art world. He died earlier this year, March 26, 2024, at the age of 85.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 Day of Music was held today at the San Diego Symphony’s newly renovated Jacobs Music Center. Artists and musicians from communities in San Diego and Tijuana gathered for the free cultural event!
Out in the Box Office Lobby, live performances would take place throughout the day. I listened for a minute or two, but I was anxious to see the inside of greatly redesigned Copley Symphony Hall–now called Jacobs Music Center. (I frequently walk past Symphony Towers, and have observed construction workers coming and going for years it seems now!)
After craning my head this way and that to take in the renovated stage, seating and other features of the historic venue, I settled down to enjoy a very fine hour-long performance by the 1st Marine Division Band out of Camp Pendleton. San Diego Symphony President and Chief Executive Officer Martha Gilmer, in her introduction, stated that the group is one of the finest military bands in the United States.
The 1st Marine Division Band played a variety of symphonic pieces, including Let Freedom Ring by Ryan Nowlin, Colonial Song by Percy Grainger, and an amazing, very energetic Slava! by Leonard Bernstein.
San Diego Symphony Music Director Rafael Payare came on stage to conduct a simply exquisite Concertino for Flute by Cecile Chaminade, with Ana Paola Rincones masterful on flute.
Of course, there had to be Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa. A rousing performance received a standing ovation!
According to the program, many performing groups would follow, including the San Diego Children’s Choir and the Voices of Our City Choir.
As you can see from my photographs, the interior of the Jacobs Music Center is more magical than ever. The completed renovation also included measures taken to greatly improve the listening experience–the very softest of notes can be discerned with crystal clarity.
On the sidewalk outside Symphony Towers, performers from Animal Cracker Conspiracy welcome arriving guests.The Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra creates beautiful music inside the Box Office Lobby.A smile greets me at the Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra table!The Coronado School of the Arts has a theatrical performance of The Addams Family coming up! I learned Lurch is one of the characters!Joey’s Wings performs, in an effort to fight childhood cancer. (See my previous blog post.)Actors from Project [BLANK] perform in one corner of the San Diego Symphony concessions area. You provide the subject matter and they act it out!Here I am walking into the breathtaking Jacobs Music Center.Gazing to one side. Long ago, the San Diego Symphony’s home was a luxurious FOX Theatre movie palace. The skyscraper Symphony Towers was built above and around it!The 1st Marine Division Band takes the stage.All stand for the Star Spangled Banner.An outstanding musical performance by our local Marines.Looking up toward the balcony seating when the performance ends. The Jacobs Music Center is like a splendid palace.I’m now on the upper level looking down between performances. The general lighting has turned from blue to purple.Another look toward the ceiling. Wow.Our Youth, the next segment of the day’s program, is about to begin. It’s a free community Day of Music inside the spectacular Jacobs Music Center!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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.
Seven young musicians performed today at the San Diego Symphony’s downtown Jacobs Music Center. The musicians represented Joey’s Wings. The mission of Joey’s Wings is to fund research that focuses on kidney cancers affecting children and young adults, raise awareness and provide support to families affected by childhood cancer.
Joey’s Wings was one of many community groups performing during the San Diego Symphony’s special free Day of Music at the newly renovated Jacobs Music Center. I spotted the young musicians around noon performing for a gathered crowd in the Box Office Lobby.
At a nearby table, Kathy Liu, President and Founder of the organization told me briefly about Joey, her son who passed away from cancer at age ten. Joey started to play violin when he was six. He loved music and painting. Learn more about Joey here.
Friends of her second son, David, who are members of the San Diego Youth Symphony and Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra, came together to today make beautiful music. And to make the lives of people better.
As I understand it, the crocheted figures you see on the table were created by the mother of one young musician. I think I see San Diego Symphony Music Director Rafael Payare!
If you weren’t at the event today, and wish to help out, visit the Joey’s Wings website by clicking here.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 Trolley Dances are back in 2024! The San Diego Dance Theater has been putting on the iconic event for 26 years now, and the dances this weekend are more exciting than ever!
Today and tomorrow, mobile audiences will gather at the Old Town Transit Center and follow tour guides on the trolley’s Green Line to various stations, where dances are performed. Cool idea, right?
I hung out at the Gaslamp trolley station and took some photographs of the first dance. The stage was Gaslamp Square, beneath the big new MTS video board! The three “brick” columns supporting the video board were vital parts of this unusual outdoor stage.
If you’d like to learn more about the 2024 Trolley Dances, check out their website here! More dances tomorrow–Sunday!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 Symphony is making history today! Their redesigned, greatly renovated Copley Symphony Hall debuts this evening as the Jacobs Music Center! A big gala Opening Night Celebration will mark the exciting transformation!
If, like me, you are a more ordinary San Diego resident, tomorrow is our day! Beginning at 11 am, the San Diego Symphony will welcome the public to a free event inside the new Jacobs Music Center!
The Day of Music will welcome talented artists and arts organizations from across the vibrant San Diego-Tijuana region as we celebrate the opening of the Jacobs Music Center. If you’d like to see a list of the many artists and musicians that will participate, click here.
Performers include 1st Marine Division Band, Animal Cracker Conspiracy, Ballet Folklórico Jalisciense, Coronado School of the Arts’ Musical Theatre and Drama Conservatory, Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra – Giocoso Quartet, and many more!
Bring the family to this very special community day. There will also be food and other activities!
This is your chance to freely step into the new Jacobs Music Center and see the breathtaking transformation of a historic San Diego venue. I’ll be there tomorrow. I plan to take photographs! I’m excited!
(Seven years ago I enjoyed a behind-the-scenes architectural tour of old Copley Symphony Hall. If you’d like to see those photos, click here.)
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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.
Día de Los Muertos is about a month away, but Old Town San Diego is already preparing for the big event!
For 2024, Día de Los Muertos will be as big as ever, spilling from Old Town San Diego State Historic Park down San Diego Avenue. For three days the public is invited to the free celebration!
On Friday, November 1, there will be a fun family screening of The Book of Life. The movie will be shown in the grassy plaza at the center of Old Town State Park.
That Saturday and Sunday, the Día de Los Muertos Festival will take over Old Town. In addition to entertainment, there will be tours of more than 40 unique Day of the Dead altars, and anyone can join the annual candlelit procession from Immaculate Conception Church down San Diego Avenue to El Campo Santo Cemetery.
During a morning walk today, I saw a beautiful altar set up already at Casa de Freds restaurant, and one being prepared in the park next to the Whaley House Museum. Many fancy Catrinas are already set up at Fiesta de Reyes. Calaveras, marigolds and sugar skulls are appearing all over!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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.
A new line of the San Diego Trolley is set to open tomorrow–Sunday, September 29th!
The Copper Line will run from the El Cajon Transit Center to the Santee Town Center trolley station, taking over a short stretch of the present Green Line. The change is being made by MTS to provide better, more reliable service.
I happened to be walking through downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp trolley station this morning when I spied these workers replacing some signs. The old signs on this side of the tracks indicated To Santee. The new signs tell passengers the Green Line will now end at El Cajon!
A big smile appeared for my camera! The San Diego Trolley is number one!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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.
Various works belonging to the San Diego Civic Art Collection can be experienced by visitors to the Rancho Bernardo Library. I took photos of three prominent examples a couple weekends ago.
The first work is titled Ampersand. Matt Rich, Assistant Professor of Art at the University of San Diego, created the eye-catching acrylic on canvas in 2018. It hangs on a wall above the library’s main stacks.
This particular painting is part of a series of works that riffs on the symbol of the ampersand. The ampersand holds, both symbolically and formally, the ability to represent the idea of connection.
Connection perfectly describes any library. Shelves connect readers with unexplored worlds.
The next artwork I observed in the library hangs high on a wall roughly opposite the front desk. It’s titled Salta pa’ lante (Jump Forward), by artist Alida Cervantes. The dynamic art was created in 2020. A pair of aluminum panels come alive with acrylic spray paint and oil.
Alida Cervantes is a Mexican artist who lives and works in the Tijuana and San Diego border region. Traveling daily between the US and Mexico, Cervantes’ work is characterized by an interest in power relations between race, class, gender and even species.
This diptych…is part of the artist’s exploration into the Mexican casta (caste) paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries…Cervantes presents two figures that are the offspring of individuals not only from two different races but also from two different times in history: the present and the colonial…
Finally, here’s a piece titled Primary Waveform (half circle), by artist Kelsey Brookes. The optically mysterious acrylic on wood was created in 2018. You can find it up on the second floor of the Rancho Bernardo Library, at the top of the stairs.
Kelsey Brookes is a research scientist turned artist. His paintings experiment with pop, abstract, and traditional styles while exploring scientific subject matter, including molecules, atoms, and modern biochemistry...
This sculpture is one of a series of works inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and waveforms...
From a distance the painted wood almost appears like basketwork, but give it a closer look. What are those tiny figures? Is that a reflection you see, or a complete circle that curves beyond your reach?
Stand near Primary Waveform (half circle), then gaze across the library for a commanding view of those first two works of art!
Additional works in the San Diego Civic Art Collection can be found at the library’s glass wall and gate entrance, exterior courtyard, and in the library’s study rooms.
Why not visit the Rancho Bernardo Library and see it all for yourself?
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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.
You don’t need to visit Australia to experience Waltzing Matilda in the morning light. Simply wander along downtown San Diego’s waterfront as the sun rises, and check out this sculpture at the new Research and Development District (RaDD)!
The sculpture, as you might have guessed, is titled Waltzing Matilda. It was created in 2014 by artist Alice Aycock.
When I photographed this newly installed public art back in February, there was no accompanying plaque with information. At the time, I thought the wavy, folded layers made it look like a head of lettuce! Long-time reader Paul commented it appears like a shell.
As you can see, a plaque did finally appear describing the playful sculpture. Waltzing Matilda references the expressive qualities of wind and water, its flowing form reminiscent of nature’s own characteristics. This monumental fiberglass sculpture defies gravity and explores movement, transformation, and perception in art…
According to Wikipedia, Alice Aycock was an early artist in the land art movement in the 1970s, and has created many large-scale metal sculptures around the world. Aycock’s drawings and sculptures of architectural and mechanical fantasies combine logic, imagination, magical thinking and science… Learn more about her work here.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 