Category: Uncategorized

Creating clouds full of energy in San Diego!

Inspired artist James Watts works in downtown San Diego. His studio is a fantasyland jammed wall to wall with amazing creativity. I like to swing on by occasionally to see what he’s up to!

Having finished his whittled fingers and toes project, James is now sewing together one hundred pillow-like clouds. Not ordinary clouds, mind you, but ones that gather and radiate orgone life energy like a battery!

James, whose creativity has no limit, intends to use the finished clouds to form a portal–an art installation on a wall where people can experience heavenly orgone energy. The carefully handsewn clouds are made of canvas, filled with steel wool and cotton, and painted in twenty shades of blue. It’s the same canvas the artist used for his fantastic Jekyll and Hyde project.

James explained that artists are like alchemists. They transform otherwise ordinary materials into things of immense value. Of course, he’s exactly right.

His unique visual art stirs up complex, subtle ideas. His surprising art inspires those who gaze upon it with an open heart and mind.

James Watts has also painted clouds–like ancient wisdom–on scrolls!

Check out his whittled fingers and toes, the cool project that preceded his clouds…

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Padres baseball windglyphs return to San Diego!

Three colorful banners that celebrate the early history of the San Diego Padres returned in late October to Lane Field Park! I’ve noticed them flying near the corner of Harbor Drive and Broadway during recent Embarcadero walks.

Thanks to the nearby InterContinental Hotel, these windglyphs, depicting Pacific Coast League (PCL) San Diego Padres baseball players Ted Williams and Eddie Erautt, have replaced the originals that eventually became weather-beaten after debuting in 2017. The windglyphs are titled Spirits of the West Wind. They were designed by local artist Lisa Schirmer.

If you’d like to learn more about the inspiration behind these beautiful windglyphs, and see photographs taken the day the originals were first raised, 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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Beautiful face on North Park street corner.

For many years, the face of Jimi Hendrix could be seen at the corner of Adams Avenue and Ohio Street in North Park. The cool spray painted art decorated a tattoo parlor. You can see a photo of that now vanished mural here.

During a recent walk, I noticed a new image has appeared in the same spot! Do you recognize this beautiful face? Leave a comment!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Merry Christmas from Cool San Diego Sights!

It’s Christmas Eve. It’s the perfect time to gather with loved ones, and create meaningful, lasting memories.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Here are some fun photos that you might enjoy. I took these while walking around San Diego the past few days.

I spotted lots of Santas greeting passersby from shop windows. I found Frosty, Woodstock and some ugly sweaters, too! And a magical unicorn that doesn’t mind the chilly North Pole!

Cool San Diego Sights will take a pause tomorrow. I’ll be mostly offline. Perhaps we can all put our phones down for the day and experience life as it should be.

We remember warm Christmas experiences for the rest of our lives–not moments on small screens.

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Flaming woman: hidden art in Middletown!

Extraordinarily beautiful public art can be found in a seldom seen corner of San Diego’s Middletown neighborhood. A tile mosaic appears to depict a fiery, spiritual woman, rising above surging waves of colorful artwork composed of individually made tiles.

The mosaic is mostly hidden in a cranny by Kettner Boulevard, east of the Middletown trolley station, near the bottom of stairs that climb to the pedestrian bridge over Interstate 5. Few people use these stairs.

I can find no information about this mysterious public art. I took these photos today. The last time I observed it, about four years ago, the mosaic hadn’t been completed. You can see those images here.

If you know who created this stunning, very complex mural (perhaps a community project?) please leave a comment below!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Is this America’s most haunted Christmas tree?

The historic Whaley House in Old Town San Diego is widely considered to be the most haunted house in America. So it’s possible that what you see in these photographs (which I took today) is America’s most haunted Christmas tree!

When you think of Christmas ghosts you probably conjure up Ebenezer Scrooge’s visitation by Jacob Marley and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. While those are literary creations, ghosts believed to have been observed at the Whaley House have many real life witnesses.

Over the years, I’ve been told about ghostly presences in the Whaley House’s small upstairs theater. The theater is located behind those balcony windows.

I spoke to several Whaley House Museum tour guides today and asked if there have been any strange incidents concerning their Christmas tree. They did say that the ornaments are securely fashioned, but one was found on the ground beside the street below.

Did a Christmas tree hating Scrooge-like ghost utter bah humbug and toss the ornament from the balcony?

You decide!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

San Diego wonderland of Christmas ornaments!

One of San Diego’s most beautiful Christmas displays can be enjoyed inside the Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park. Jewels of the Season has returned for 2023!

Over a thousand uniquely hand-crafted, jewel-like ornaments dangle from the museum ceiling, frame bright windows, fill display cases, and decorate a large Christmas tree. Visitors stepping into the Timken might feel they’ve entered a twinkling Christmas wonderland!

Thank goodness a lady at the Balboa Park Visitors Center reminded me of this annual display. I really loved last year’s Jewels of the Season and blogged about it. Check out that past blog post if you want to read about the artists and learn why these ornaments are so special!

The photographs that you see here were taken today.

Would you like to experience this magic? Visit the free Timken Museum of Art before New Year’s Day!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Superheroes, supervillains lurk in Balboa Park!

The world of Batman features crazy, mad characters. So it’s not surprising that superheroes Batman, Batgirl and the supervillain Mad Hatter are lurking in one of Balboa Park’s most crazily creative corners: the San Diego Sculptors Guild courtyard in Spanish Village!

Batman and Batgirl together form a bench on which anybody can sit. Snap a selfie with two legendary heroes! The artwork, titled Bats United, was built by artist Kim Ogburn.

Across the courtyard of sculptures, a Mad Hatter chair invites fans of DC Comics supervillains. It’s the Mad Hatter Chatterchair!

Are you an Alice in Wonderland fan? Perhaps this Mad Hatter isn’t part of Batman’s rogues gallery, but merely mad. The chair might make the perfect accessory for a Mad Tea Party!

Both fun seats are for sale outside Studio 36, home of the San Diego Sculptors Guild!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Chula Vista resort and convention center rises!

The massive Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center now under construction in Chula Vista is looking very impressive. I walked past the project site last December and saw nothing but mounds of dirt and several large cranes. Look at how the main hotel building has risen since then!

When completed, the hotel will have 1,600 guest rooms and suites, as well as more than 477,000 square feet of function and convention space. Upper floors of the hotel will offer views of the Pacific Ocean across San Diego Bay and the Silver Strand.

I took these photos on a sunny South Bay morning, just before my visit to the Boston Tea Party anniversary event near the Chula Vista Marina. My first (and most picturesque) photograph is from the Bayside Park fishing pier.

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Cool labyrinth under the San Diego Trolley!

I know some of my readers like to walk winding labyrinths. Here’s a new one that anyone can enjoy–under the elevated tracks of the San Diego Trolley!

The new river park at SDSU Mission Valley has many recreational features, from basketball courts to exercise stations to a large children’s playground. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover this cool labyrinth while I explored the newly opened park!

You can find the beautiful labyrinth by walking west from the Stadium trolley station about a quarter mile (my estimate). Look for a cluster of picnic tables.

A relaxing way to meditate while walking off lunch?

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!