Category: Uncategorized

Gaslamp mural remains from 2019 Comic-Con!

Did you know a cool mural painted five years ago in downtown San Diego for Comic-Con can still be viewed today? Yes!

Back in 2019, I took these photographs of celebrated comic artist Rob Prior painting the above mural halfway up the grand staircase at the Theatre Box movie theater. Today the building at 717 Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter is home to Mr. Tempo Sports Bar.

Because of several popular movies, the characters depicted in this pop culture mural were in the limelight five years ago. Climb the stairs today and you can still find Darth Vader and a stormtrooper from Star Wars, Thanos, Black Panther and Deadpool from Marvel Comics, and Wonder Woman from DC Comics.

Comic-Con 2024 will be here before we know it! As I walk around and discover related developments, Cool San Diego Sights will gradually be entering Comic-Con mode! I haven’t seen any Comic-Con trolleys yet, but they should be appearing soon!

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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.

Denise Cerro’s art: My Colors of Home.

I met a super cool artist today in Balboa Park!

Denise Cerro was working on a mixed media piece in Gallery 21, at the Spanish Village Art Center. With a great big smile she was greeting visitors to her solo exhibition My Colors of Home.

I looked at her artwork and immediately loved it. Denise tends to use the same color palette in her works–earthy colors that appeared to me like water, leafy green and the soil beneath our feet. She embraces the same palette in her house, dress and life. They are her colors of home.

To create art she utilizes all sorts of materials–from bits of wallpaper to newspaper and magazine clippings to other interesting found objects. She can find all sorts of odd little treasures at estate sales. The junkiest stuff is often best!

Denise loves to create art filled with flowers. She confided to me that after she produces an abstract piece, she feels compelled to return to flowers.

I learned Denise has her studio at Liberty Station in one of the old barracks. If you like what you see in my blog, you might want to pay a visit. Her website is here.

The exhibition My Colors of Home in Gallery 21 is about to conclude–it runs through tomorrow, June 3. I caught it just in time!

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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.

Young students perform on Spreckels Organ!

Wow! Did you hear the three young organ students in Balboa Park today?

American Guild of Organists Scholarship students from local San Diego schools received loud applause after playing difficult pieces on the Spreckels Organ.

Each young person strode onto the stage with poise, sat down at the imposing console and immediately dived into the music. They made playing a very complicated instrument look effortless. Each student has been training on organ for years.

The first young man was Yuhan Jackson, 11 years old, in 5th grade at Hawthorne Elementary School. He triumphantly played pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach and Gordon Young.

Next up came Elijah Prada, who brilliantly played complicated pieces by the same two composers. He’s 13 years old, a seventh grade student currently studying at the San Diego Piano Academy.

Then 17 year old Jonah Molina took the Spreckels Organ Pavilion stage. A student who attends Mission Bay High School, he also played pieces by Gordon Young and Johann Sebastian Bach. He was really great, too!

All three received gleaming trophies as the special Sunday organ concert concluded!

The concert was both excellent and inspirational. Organ students in San Diego are fortunate to have many outstanding local organists as mentors and teachers, including world-famous San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez!

Three more AGO Scholarship students will be performing next Sunday, June 9, 2024, at 2 pm. They’ll also play the majestic Spreckels Organ.

Do you love fine music? Do you want to cheer on very talented youth? Be there!

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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.

Beauty at the Cactus and Succulent Show.

The amazing beauty intrinsic to nature was highlighted this weekend at the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale in Balboa Park.

I moseyed down the aisles in Room 101 of the Casa del Prado, gazing at prize-winning specimens of very different cacti and succulents.

Some of the entries had flowers. Some were tiny, like gems. Many of the plants tickled the eye with perfect symmetry or an interesting geometric shape. Others appeared oddly misshapen.

If you missed this year’s summer show, make sure to check it out next year. Until then, enjoy a few photographs…

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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.

More art on South Cedros in Solana Beach!

South Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach is a place where creativity thrives. Walk down the sidewalk through the Cedros Avenue Design District and your eyes will discover surprising art wherever they turn.

I walked this way three years ago and found a bunch of cool stuff. See it here. I also stepped into the fun Art Alley on Cedros. See that here.

Yesterday I took a similar walk and found new sights that I hadn’t previously seen! In addition to a very colorful tile mosaic bench south of the Belly Up Tavern, I photographed the following…

The planet I live on is the planet you live on.

You turn graves into gardens – You turn bones into armies – You turn seas into highways – You’re the only one who can

Out of the Blue

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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.

Mosaic bench near the Belly Up Tavern.

This bench decorated with tile mosaics adds beauty to the edge of a parking lot south of the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

I saw the artwork yesterday during a leisurely walk down South Cedros Avenue. It was one of many new discoveries that I made in the very colorful Cedros Avenue Design District!

I believe I see a starfish, garibaldi, seahorse and crab. The curving bench appears to show an underwater ocean scene. What do you see?

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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 photo memories from June 2019.

Do you have a curious mind? Five years ago, during the month of June, Cool San Diego Sights featured a whole universe of photographs. Perhaps you might enjoy viewing colorful moments from the past!

From Escondido to La Jolla, from North Park to City Heights, from Barrio Logan to National City to Chula Vista, my camera recorded many places and events. I took so many photos, in fact, that I’ve had a hard time choosing which posts to share!

The upcoming links will take you back to June 2019. It was a fine time to take a walk. Summer events were underway. San Diego Comic-Con was on the way. Human creativity, activity and possibilities could be discovered everywhere!

To see many photographs, click the following links!

Neighbors gather to beautify a city park!

Exhibit shows Kumeyaay history in the South Bay.

Art and history around the Chula Vista Library.

Art by Canyon Crest Academy seniors in Balboa Park!

More cool art seen during a National City walk!

Lots of street art on Logan east of Chicano Park!

Here come the 2019 Comic-Con trolleys!

Dance, food and fun at the Greek Festival!

Cool new bird mural at Red Crow tattoo studio!

Wearable art at San Diego Pin and Patch Con!

Learning to dance on a ferry.

Good times at City Heights’ colorful Fair @ 44.

Walking up the Snake Path at UCSD.

Beautiful complexity at La Jolla’s Athenaeum.

Amazing walk at Scripps Institution of Oceanography!

The gigantic bronze leaves of Kit Carson Park.

Photos of Queen Califia’s Magical Circle!

Naoko creates a flower.

Creativity at a museum helps to mend lives.

A summer whale watching trip in San Diego!

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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.

Fun summer events in Old Town State Park!

A couple of fun, free, family-friendly events are coming up this summer in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park!

On Thursday, June 13, 2024, from 10 am to 4 pm, everyone can enjoy the Pastimes of Old Town San Diego. There will be wheelbarrow races, tug of war, sack races and more 19th century games on the grassy plaza at the center of the park. If you’ve ever been to Old Town State Park and seen these games, you know how fun they are! This particular event is part of California State Parks Week.

Then there’s the Fourth of July! The annual Independence Day event starts at 11 am with a flag raising ceremony in the plaza, and patriotic fun will continue until 3 pm. Visitors can enjoy live music, crafts, and more historical games.

If you love history, Americana or nostalgia, you’ll almost certainly love these events. You might think you’ve stepped back in time to the days of early San Diego.

Here are a few photographs that I took in past years…

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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.

Bum . . . San Diego town dog, celebrity and drunk!

You possibly know about Bum, San Diego’s “town dog” during the late 19th century. He was the free-spirited dog who belonged to no one, but was loved by practically everyone.

An excellent History Talks presentation concerning Bum can be viewed here on YouTube. The video was produced by the Gaslamp Museum at the Davis-Horton House, where a sculpture of Bum can be enjoyed in the museum’s pocket park.

Bum was a stowaway on a ship from San Francisco, and when he arrived in San Diego he took ownership of the city, roaming about and doing whatever he pleased. He befriended a Chinese fisherman, a news reporter, newsboys, shop owners, restaurant owners (and their handouts), and practically everyone he met, particularly children.

Bum would lead parades. He led horse-drawn fire engines to fires. He jumped on the ferry to Coronado. He hopped onto a train at Santa Fe Depot and took a trip to Los Angeles, where he was greeted like a celebrity because a telegraph by his reporter friend told of his coming. When Benjamin Harrison visited San Diego in 1891, the United States President rode a special carriage in a grand procession. And Bum was provided with his own carriage, too!

Less known is that Bum travelled to El Cajon, where he was introduced to alcohol at a political event. And he became a drunk who’d often languish in the middle of the street. Those at San Diego’s downtown Army barracks thought it great fun to give him a drink. I didn’t know this about Bum until I viewed the YouTube presentation.

This great history presentation includes many old newspaper cartoons, photographs and stories concerning loveable but sometimes feisty Bum, San Diego’s famous Town Dog. To watch it, 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.

San Diego Cactus and Succulent event this weekend!

The San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society’s big annual Summer Show and Sale takes place this weekend!

Vendors and members of the society were setting up at the Casa del Prado in Balboa Park this afternoon. In addition to cacti and succulents, visitors this Saturday and Sunday can check out gardening information, art, crafts, and perhaps purchase something beautiful for their home!

I happened to be walking through the Casa del Prado’s outdoor courtyard when I saw the long tables full of potted plants that will be for sale. I then peeked into Room 101 where the show will take place.

To see the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society’s web page concerning their 2024 Summer Show and Sale, 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.