The beautiful tall ship Exy Johnson is visiting San Diego. She’s now docked at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. I was told the Exy Johnson arrived in San Diego Bay so that she can be hauled out in Chula Vista for her periodic maintenance and inspection.
The last time I saw the two-masted brigantine was during the 2017 Festival of Sail on the Embarcadero. It’s hard to believe that was almost six years ago!
The Exy Johnson and her twin ship Irving Johnson are based up the coast at the Los Angeles Maritime Institute. The two tall ships take students out on educational sailing excursions. What an incredible opportunity for young people! Can you imagine sailing on her?
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If you’ve ever traveled by Amtrak or Coaster train through the Carlsbad Poinsettia station, you might’ve seen this fun artwork on the back of a fence!
I got off at the train station during my last Carlsbad adventure and took photographs!
At the south end of the station’s west platform, a pathway leads a short distance along the tracks before turning past residences toward the beach. From this path there’s a good view of the fence art.
I quickly asked the conductor of the Coaster, who was out on the platform making sure all passengers had boarded, if he knew anything about this folksy art. He told me it had been there for years and years–as long as he could remember.
The fence is painted blue, and it is populated by fish, a shark, birds and other ocean creatures. At the center of it all a small fishing boat, occupied by a mannequin, is suspended as if floating on water. At the left end of the scene, a surfer rides a three-dimensional tubular wave!
Do you know anything about this delightful fence? 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 Twitter!
I came across historical photographs of three buildings in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter that were taken in 1960. These photos, resulting from the Historic American Buildings Survey, were taken by an employee of the U.S. National Park Service, and are consequently in the public domain.
I thought it would fascinating to post a “then and now” blog, comparing the 1960 photographs of these buildings with how they appear at the beginning of 2023. That’s a span of almost 63 years. By looking carefully, you can notice changes that were made.
The first building is located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Market Street. It’s called the Backesto Building. When built in 1873, it stood at the center of New Town’s original business district.
According to a historical plaque, the grocer and general merchandise firm Klauber and Levi occupied the ground floor from 1878 to 1886. San Diego Hardware would occupy the building from 1892 to 1922. Its exterior reflects the turn-of-the-century style.
The Backesto Building, photographed in 1960.The Backesto Building, photographed in 2023.
The second building is also at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Market Street. It’s called the McGurck Block and was built in 1887.
The Ferris and Ferris Drug Store occupied this building from 1903 to 1984. I once blogged how the father of actor Gregory Peck worked there as the night druggist.
The building was also a post office and ticket booth for the Coronado Ferry. The upper floors of the three-story Italianate building were known as the Hotel Monroe in 1929.
The McGurck Block, photographed in 1960.The McGurck Block, photographed in 2023.
Finally, there’s the adjacent I.O.O.F. Building at Market Street and Sixth Avenue.
I.O.O.F. stands for Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
The 1882 building was a joint effort of the Masonic and Odd Fellows Lodges.
The Classical Revival building took almost a decade to complete. The cornerstone contains valuable coins, historic documents, and a stone from Soloman’s Temple!
I.O.O.F. Building, photographed in 1960.I.O.O.F. Building, photographed in 2023.
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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!
For over a hundred years, curious visitors have descended into Sunny Jim Cave in La Jolla. I recently ventured down into the sea cave for my very first time! And I’m glad I did!
What was this small adventure like?
North of La Jolla Cove is a series of sea caves, with entrances that can be approached by water. One of the openings is to Sunny Jim Cave.Visitors to The Cave Store can descend via tunnel into famous Sunny Jim Cave.Historical Landmark No. 380. Tunnel & Cave Store – 1902. The City of San Diego.Artwork in the Cave Store depicts someone sitting on a rock inside Sunny Jim Cave.History of the Cave. In 1902, a German entrepreneur named Prof. Gustav Schultz commissioned two Chinese workers to dig a tunnel into the sea cave through the cliffs of La Jolla with the idea of charging visitors a few cents to enter…During Prohibition, alcohol was smuggled through the tunnel and into San Diego…Its nickname, Sunny Jim, comes from the resemblance of (its) silhouette to that of an old cereal mascot named Sunny Jim.Starting down narrow stairs into the steeply sloping tunnel.145 steps…All persons entering this cave do so at their own risk.Here we go!I’ve been inside mines, and this experience feels similar.The stairs descend around several turns. In places the ceiling is rather low, and I had to stoop while carefully holding onto the railing.When people pass in the narrow tunnel, it’s a tight squeeze! The wooden steps become more wet and slippery the farther down we go…Almost there. The rock above and around is very damp now.Walking out onto the wooden deck just inside Sunny Jim Cave.The profile of Sunny Jim becomes apparent.Several people were already on the deck, gazing out at ocean waves surging into the cave.Sea lions sometimes hang out in the cave, but there were none when I visited.
The cave’s name Sunny Jim was suggested by Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum. Sunny Jim was the prominent-nosed mascot for Force, the first commercially successful wheat flake breakfast cereal!
Some of the world’s most amazing photography is now being exhibited in San Diego. The Sony World Photography Awards has come to the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park, with award-winning photographs that can be viewed nowhere else in the United States!
I ventured into MOPA yesterday with a combined sense of excitement and dread. Excitement to see a collection of absolutely stunning photography. Dread that my blog’s amateurish efforts pale by comparison.
As I stood staring at these great works of art, I felt drawn into worlds that were almost like dreams, but somehow more than alive. Lenses had magnified small details and emotions. Shutters had caught ephemeral moments that are otherwise lost in time.
The annual Sony World Photography Awards consists of four different competitions: Professional, Open, Youth and Student. And there are many categories in which photographs are judged. It all results in an impressive diversity of images and artistic viewpoints.
My photographs of photographs don’t do the originals justice, so I’ve included just a few to provide a tiny idea of what you might see. And you have to really see it all in person!
The traveling exhibition departs San Diego on April 16, 2023.
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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!
If you’re interested in printmaking or the production of visual art, don’t miss 7 PRINTMAKERS in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center.
Tomorrow, January 2, 2023, is the special exhibition’s final day!
When you step into Spanish Village’s Gallery 21, you’ll enjoy the very fine work of seven master printmakers: Raymond Brownfield, Jacqueline Dotson, Igor Koutsenko, Kathleen McCord, Sfona Pelah, Julianne Ricksecker and Angelika Villagrana.
You’ll also learn a good deal about the art of printmaking. As I wandered about the gallery, artist Angelika Villagrana explained to other visitors several printmaking processes. In the past I’ve worked at a print shop, so I had to eavesdrop!
This is the 26th Annual Exhibition by these amazing printmakers. If you’re in San Diego and need something to do tomorrow, you might consider heading to Balboa Park!
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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!
It’s a breezy and drizzly New Year’s Day in San Diego. But a visit to Balboa Park proved to be just as wonderful as ever!
I was surprised that a few museums were open. Several studios in Spanish Village were also open. And, of course, there was the reliable two o’clock Sunday concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, where, due to the threat of rain, audience members got to sit right up close to the guest organist on stage!
The photo captions describe what I experienced…
Not the usual Sunday crowd on El Prado, but still pretty busy.Roger, a regular Balboa Park busker, somehow managed to escape again!Leaves and puddles in front of a colorful Spanish Village studio.Gallery 21 was open. The 26th Annual Exhibition of 7 Printmakers continues through tomorrow, January 2, 2023. (I’ll be blogging about it shortly.)I was greeted by a smile in Studio 9. Glass bottles were being converted into cool wind chimes!A videographer records a street musician on El Prado.The Palisades part of Balboa Park was unusually quiet on New Year’s Day.Color in a tree and on the grass is a reminder that winter has arrived in San Diego.Guest organist Jeobon Hwang rehearses before the Sunday afternoon Spreckels Organ concert.Jaebon Hwang, organist at First United Methodist Church of San Diego, comes on stage.I got to sit up close. The mighty Spreckels Organ thundered music directly into my bones!Some people listening on the benches have umbrellas at the ready.A flawless performance of classical music by one of San Diego’s outstanding organists!
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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!
Several interesting sculptures can be found at the Pier 32 Marina in National City. Two sculptures I documented six years ago here. A third I hadn’t noticed until a couple days ago. It stands among trees by a parking lot at the south end of Marina Way, near the entrance to the Bayshore Bikeway.
The kinetic sculpture is called Helicoid III. Created by Robert Pietruszewski in 2007, it was once part of an Urban Trees outdoor exhibition along San Diego’s Embarcadero.
Helicoid III silently moves about in the sea breeze, its metal arms turning in different directions like a complex three-dimensional clock marking time. A timely analogy when you consider today is New Year’s Day. We continue to quietly swing into the future.
As I continued my walk and approached Pepper Park, I noticed another sculpture from an old Urban Trees exhibition. It’s the Sea Dragon, by Deana Mando in 2006.
Sea Dragon once stood on the boardwalk between the USS Midway and Seaport Village. Today it makes its home between the National City Aquatic Center and the Pepper Park Boat Launch Ramp. You can see photos I took of Sea Dragon seven years ago here!
Both of these outdoor sculptures are now part of the Port of San Diego Tidelands Collection of public art.
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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!
Another year has passed by already? It’s now 2023? Yikes!
Even as we proceed forward through time, once a month it’s fun to look back and recall what has been. Now that another January has begun, let’s revisit some posts on Cool San Diego Sights from five years ago!
The Marina Gateway in National City contains a small cluster of buildings located at the intersection of Bay Marina Drive and Marina Way. On the south side of the Marina Gateway parking lot, a walkway and outdoor plaza overlook Paradise Creek. The creek flows through a marsh into nearby Sweetwater River. Two signs at the edge of Paradise Marsh concern the history of the Native American Kumeyaay.
The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation owns property at the Marina Gateway, and I believe this plaza was built since my last visit almost seven years ago. The same plant and wildlife information signs remain, but, if I recall correctly, back then there was no plaza and the overlook was less developed.
One sign I didn’t spot years ago features a topographical map showing Kumeyaay ancestral village sites within 1000 feet of the Sweetwater River. It also describes how the Kumeyaay would move up and down the river as they traveled between desert, mountain, and coast.
The Kumeyaay people lived here for thousands of years, long before European explorers and settlers arrived. It is their ancestral homeland–a place of comfort, beauty, and enjoyment, a place that honors our past and that will be enjoyed by future generations.
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 