Category: Uncategorized

Tom Selleck lives in San Diego Made Factory!

Tom Selleck lives inside San Diego Made Factory!

Visit the San Diego Made Factory creative workspace and event venue, and you might encounter the larger-than-life actor! He’s dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. His mustache is immaculate. Perhaps Tom Selleck wants to reprise his iconic role in that 1980s television series Magnum, P.I.!

This cool mural was painted on an inside wall of San Diego Made Factory’s old warehouse building back in 2013. The work is by artist Mark Paul Deren, aka Madsteez. If the name sounds familiar, it was Madsteez who painted that big “WEENosaurus Rex” dinosaur mural in North Park, which was removed in 2018 by a new Target store.

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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 Twitter!

Balboa Park’s forgotten Roads of the Pacific.

Wander a short distance down the hill west of the San Diego Air and Space Museum and you’ll stumble upon what appears to be a weedy, forgotten roadway paved with flat stones. What you’ve found is a bit of Balboa Park’s history.

These photographs show remains of the Roads of the Pacific, an attraction visitors could enjoy during the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition.

The looping Roads of the Pacific ran beside the Ford Building, which is now home to the Air and Space Museum. Exposition visitors could ride the latest Ford automobiles on a short curving course and experience different types of road surfaces.

I found some old photographs showing the Roads of the Pacific. Check out this page of the San Diego Air and Space Museum’s website.

The page also provides a description, including: the circuit roads were more than half a mile long and featured 14 different segments demonstrating everything from the Santa Fe Trail with natural packed soil, to the Old Spanish Road with cobblestones, clay, and gravel. Designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, each section was approximately 196 feet long and 12 feet wide. To enhance this experience, the roadways were planted with native trees and plants from the Pacific nations…

…it was reported…that more than 480,000 people rode the Roads of the Pacific…

Today, almost a century later, this is a sample of what remains:

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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 Twitter!

Let’s Get Strainge on a San Diego sidewalk!

Carnivorous plants drooling on a San Diego sidewalk? I suppose that’s what happens when we heed the words: Let’s Get Strainge!

I saw this fun street art today on the side of San Diego Made Factory – Creative Event Space, which is located on Commercial Street east of downtown San Diego.

I was about to enter the building for an Our Walls Speak event (celebrating outdoor murals!) when my attention was grabbed by this spray painted artwork. It’s by Encinitas artist Skye Walker. Apparently the mural, filled with ocean surf and images from nature, promotes Strainge Beast Hard Kombucha. It was painted in 2022.

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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 Twitter!

Cancer survivors to paddle dragon boat marathon!

An inspirational event is coming up this Sunday, May 21st!

TEAM Survivor San Diego is a dynamic, positive group of women who are cancer survivors. They have a dragon boat team called the Sea Dragons. In the past I’ve seen the team racing out on Mission Bay.

I’ve learned the TEAM Survivor San Diego Sea Dragons will be celebrating their 15th anniversary by paddling a marathon circumnavigation of the entire Mission Bay! People are invited to come on out Sunday to cheer them on!

The epic paddle will begin and finish at the youth aquatic facility on Fiesta Island with seven stops along the way. The event starts at 8:00 a.m. and finishes around 4:00 p.m.

If you’re curious to learn more about this great event or would like to support women cancer survivors, check out the Sea Dragons’ Facebook page 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 Twitter!

Fun art outside Logan Avenue Galeria de Arte!

I enjoyed a long walk around Barrio Logan this morning and what did I discover? Some super fun artwork!

Both of these were painted outside LOGAN AVE Galeria de Arte.

The first mural, depicting a fierce jaguar, was created in 2022 by Miguel Falcon and Armando Nunez: the gallery owner and the curator.

The second work of art was painted above the gallery’s front entrance by Connie Perez in 2021. Frida Kahlo has seemingly turned into a colorful multi-scoop ice cream cone! Perhaps that’s because the ice cream shop Nevería Los Mochis is located inside the gallery!

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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 Twitter!

Nearly 1000 photos of San Diego street art!

San Diego boasts an amazing quantity and variety of street art. Artists have added color to almost every community. Head down any street and there’s a chance you’ll discover a new mural or unexpected bit of art!

I’ve been posting photographs to Cool San Diego Sights for almost ten years now. During my walks around San Diego, my camera has scored numerous such discoveries. So many, in fact, that I created a Pinterest page that now contains almost 1000 street art images!

Links on my Pinterest page allow you to navigate to the associated blog posts on Cool San Diego Sights, where I usually provide a description of the artwork.

This week the big Our Walls Speak event is being held in and around Barrio Logan. Given the renewed interest in our city’s outdoor murals, I figured now would be a good time to share that Pinterest page.

Check out nearly 1000 photographs of San Diego street art 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 Twitter!

San Diego art show: Murals Projected in Light!

A special, very unique art show will take place in San Diego this Thursday. The public is invited to experience PROTOTOPIAN VISIONS + SOUNDS: Murals Projected in Light!

The free art show, part of the Our Walls Speak multi-day cultural event, can be enjoyed May 18th between 7 pm and 11 pm at San Diego Made Factory, a creative event space located at 2031 Commercial Street. Read the information on the above flyer.

San Diego’s amazing outdoor murals, many of which you’ve seen here on Cool San Diego Sights, will be celebrated! You might recognize some of the artist names. I’m told several of my photographs will be used!

Perhaps I’ll see you 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 Twitter!

Steam and Splendor arrive Memorial Day weekend!

What promises to be an excellent new exhibit opens this Memorial Day weekend at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. I glimpsed a small preview today as I walked through the historic steam ferry Berkeley, hub of the Maritime Museum.

The exhibition is called Steam and Splendor: Treasures from the Ocean Liner and Cruise Ship Ephemera Collection.

The thing that immediately caught my eye was the absolutely amazing work of art you see in the above photograph. I noted that the mural is titled Mermaid with Guitar. The ceramic and teak panel was created by artist Helen Webber in 1985 and decorated the Carnival Cruise Line ship MV Holiday. That ship was demolished in 2022 and the exceptionally beautiful mural was thankfully salvaged.

Some guys were setting up displays for Steam and Splendor and I paused to snap a few quick photos. The exhibit will obviously be extensive, as it will occupy two different Maritime Museum galleries. If you’re looking for something to do this coming Memorial Day weekend, or any time this summer, you might want to check this out!

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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 Twitter!

Reclaiming a city park from gangs, drugs, crime.

For many years, Teralta Park in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood was a place you might want to avoid. Drugs, gang activity and fights were too common.

Yesterday, when I visited Teralta Park to watch the Fern Street Circus, I saw lots of kids at play in the sunshine. I observed families at picnic tables, friendly games at basketball courts and a happy, active playground. What happened?

I learned from community leader Edwin Lohr that what happened is many people became passionately engaged. Community meetings and concerns turned to action.

New lighting has been installed. New benches now invite a stroll through the park. The playground is newly painted with bright colors. An incredibly positive community mural has been painted along one long wall.

Workers in the San Diego’s Parks and Recreation Department saw how the community had a new passion for their neighborhood park, and became passionate, too. During my visit I saw no weeds, no trash, just green grass, flowers and smiles all around.

It was great to see how this spacious public park–the only such park built over a major freeway–is now a welcoming retreat where people want to relax and recreate. I guess the not-so-secret formula for Teralta Park’s reclamation is people caring, and doing.

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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 Twitter!

Fern Street Circus magic in City Heights!

San Diego’s own Fern Street Circus performed in City Heights today! They set up in Teralta Park and commenced their big show at 2 o’clock.

Many families in the community came out for the fun. City Heights was one stop during Fern Street Circus’s free Neighborhood Tour 2023!

As usual the skits were delightfully silly. A chicken was chased about with a net in order to make soup. Somehow that pollo always got away. Kids encouraged the bird to run, and laughed. Adults laughed, too.

And there was the happy, upbeat music and the audience singing along. Lyrics were all about the value of Cooperation.

And there was the hilarious ringmaster with his wonderfully absurd interjections.

And there were, of course, traditional circus acts galore, many featuring super talented circus students.

The whole experience was one of pure joy.

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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 Twitter!