ON THIS SITE IN 1897 NOTHING HAPPENED. A funny plaque on the Inner World Smoke Shop building.
This morning I took the first scheduled Coaster train up to Oceanside. I wanted to watch the annual Annual Labor Day Oceanside Pier Swim, but it was already over when I arrived. Oops!
But I did go on a long random walk and discovered a bunch of cool stuff!
First off, enjoy this collection of amusing photos. It appears many people in Oceanside have a good sense of humor!
I spotted these as I sauntered down various sidewalks…
Only COOL people allowed. A humorous COVID-19 sign.It seems even the chef at Mary’s Family Restaurant has to wait in line.Yellow hand seats at Alfredo’s Mexican Food.Beer speaks. People mumble. Here’s lookin’ atcha, Oceanside!Is he heading for Trestles? Malibu? The Jetties?Beware the hammerhead shark at the entrance to Sandy Toes Gift Store. That’s one big mouth!A slice of metal pie is included in the patio fence at Carmine’s Pizza.A giant rooster guards the entrance to Carrillo Pottery.A funny face painted on a window at Knuckleheads Barbershop.O’side or No Side. Humorous graphic at the Real Surf Shop, on the rear of their old Chevrolet Apache.
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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 Twitter!
Check out these unusual, wildly creative sculptures. They were recently placed on columns near the center of Spanish Village Art Center’s large outdoor patio. I had to stop in my tracks to look up during my Saturday walk through Balboa Park.
These five unique pieces are the work of two artists in the San Diego Sculptors Guild, which is located in Spanish Village. I’ve identified the artists in the next photo caption.
I don’t know if there’s a unifying theme. But this art does makes you look twice, to say the least!
From left to right, the sculptures are: Cupid’s Hammer by Sergey Gornushkin, Pinocchio by Yuriy Akopov, Holy Surf by Sergey Gornushkin, Seal the Deal by Yuriy Akopov, and Gotem by Sergey Gornushkin.
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Three years of construction at Balboa Park’s House of Charm is completed. The reimagined, redesigned, greatly enlarged Mingei International Museum, which occupies most of the historic building, has finally reopened!
The multicultural Mingei Museum, whose focus is crafts and design, opened its doors to the public yesterday. To celebrate, admission to the upstairs galleries will be free during Labor Day weekend through Monday, September 6.
I slowly walked through the new spacious indoor pavilion that occupies the ground level. The ground floor will always be free to the public.
A big seating area invites visitors to relax. Several large glass cases display colorful museum pieces. There’s a nearby gift shop and café, too. Through one door anybody can go outside to sit in a beautiful courtyard at tables under shady umbrellas. (That might become a favorite place to read and write!)
The second floor’s main galleries are approached up stairs through the House of Charm’s tower. As you head up the steps, look up. You’ll be wowed by renowned artist Dale Chihuly’s glass sculpture chandelier! (Lights in the stairwell walls cast intricate shadows, which one guide at the museum said he really likes!)
I walked about the upstairs galleries and admired the many exhibits. I particularly like folk art. I laughed at some pieces, stood in wonder before others.
Artwork handcrafted by “ordinary” folk from all around the world often feels more powerful and authentic than so-called fine art. Because its creation typically flows from human experiences that are unique but universal. Folk art represents what day-to-day people consider desirous or meaningful in life.
By the way, if you’re an artist in San Diego seeking inspiration, or if you want to do some art research, there’s a huge library on the second floor! The Frances Hamilton White Art Reference Library features a specialized collection of over 12,000 books!
I took some photos to provide a taste of the new, more-extraordinary-than-ever Mingei International Museum.
Next time you’re in Balboa Park, you definitely need to check it out! And make sure to venture outside on the second floor, to enjoy amazing views of the Plaza de Panama!
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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 Twitter!
There’s a very cool project now underway in Balboa Park’s always colorful Spanish Village Art Center. Artists from various Spanish Village studios have begun to paint metal trashcans that are placed around the big central patio!
It appears to me any subject matter is fair game. In this special place, where you can say hello to local artists and even watch them at work, it’s all about creativity!
These are the trashcans I spotted today…
What will appear here?
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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 Twitter!
The historic OB Wonderland is depicted in a happy Ocean Beach mural that was painted by kids back in 2014.
Wonderland was San Diego’s very first amusement park, operating in Ocean Beach from 1913 to 1916. Read more about this short-lived beachfront attraction here.
The children’s mural also features whales, dolphins, sharks, seahorses, eels, jellyfish, snails, parrots, pelicans and mermaids! And hearts and sunken treasure! And the OB Pier! And the Old Point Loma Lighthouse! And Hodad’s! And a whole lot more!
Last weekend I took the following photos of the Fantasy Seascape Children’s Mural.
The faded mural is painted on a long fence by Sunset Gas and Market, at the corner of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and Point Loma Avenue.
Fantasy Seascape Children’s Mural. Designed and provided to the community by Young At Art Children’s Creative Center . . . Inspiring, Encouraging and Providing Opportunities in Art to All Children.
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Unusual lifeguards occupy Tower 2 in Imperial Beach!
I know it’s not quite Friday yet–there’s still a few hours to go as I post this. But no matter.
The weekend is almost here!
For your enjoyment, I now present these random fun photographs that I took in the past few weeks!
A nostalgic Pinball Machines sign in a Gaslamp Quarter window.A colorful koi pond mural in Ocean Beach.Flowers are like friends…they bring color to your world.Ladies who were dancing on the Embarcadero this evening pose and smile for my camera!Colorful graffiti art on the side of a produce delivery truck in Mission Valley.An awesome calavera San Diego shirt in a shop window!A happy wood stove. I spotted this neon art on Main Street in Ramona.A beautiful flower at the County Center/Little Italy trolley station.Gazing out at San Diego Bay from the Broadway Pier, shortly before sunset.
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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 Twitter!
Strange to say, but one of the most iconic landmarks in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood is a gigantic water tower.
Even stranger, should you wander around North Park, you’ll discover not one water tower, but two! The one is absolutely enormous, but the other is much smaller–and in fact isn’t a genuine water tower at all!
I took photos of the mini-water tower several weeks back. Drivers coming down Interstate 805 might glimpse it by looking up as they pass north of El Cajon Boulevard. It’s located at the intersection of Meade Avenue and Boundary Street.
The smaller tower is actually an AT&T cell tower that was erected several years ago. North Park signs on the disguised antenna greet alert travelers coming in either direction down the freeway. I was surprised to find a small, somewhat neglected garden beside the unique cell tower.
The genuine, gigantic, historic North Park Water Tower is over 140 feet tall. It stands near North Park Community Park just south of El Cajon Boulevard and was built in 1924.
According to this article, there were claims that it was “largest elevated tank in the world” when constructed, and held more than one million gallons of water but now is decommissioned and empty since the 1990s.
Today the tall North Park Water Tower is an iconic landmark that can be seen from many city blocks in every direction. Its unique design and historical importance has been recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
I can’t believe it. A couple days ago WordPress notified me that this Cool San Diego Sights blog is now eight years old. Time flies.
I see that five years ago, in September 2016, there were many interesting events going on in San Diego, particularly during the Labor Day weekend.
Among other things, I took photos at the Festival of Sail, the U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge and Fleet Week. Later in the month I also documented the departure of a popular Civic Organist and a beloved Padres broadcaster.
Check out the upcoming links and you’ll see my camera was very busy back then!
Click the following links for lots of photographs…
This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
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A beautiful, thought-provoking mural was painted earlier this year on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. I saw it last weekend on the parking lot wall of Little Lion Cafe. The mural, I learned, was painted by Aaron Glasson, an artist who lives in Ocean Beach just a few blocks away.
Next to the mural I found an article printed in the Point Loma-OB Monthly concerning the artwork and its creation. You can read the article online here. The four women in the canoe form a racially diverse group. If there’s a basic message in the mural it’s that Ocean Beach is a diverse and welcoming community.
The mural is located just north of Sunset Cliffs Natural Park. Should you visit this scenic coastal stretch of Point Loma, keep your eyes peeled for the Little Lion Cafe!
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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 Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 