Category: Uncategorized

Mural painted by youth celebrates San Diego!

Have you seen that incredible mural that celebrates San Diego, painted on a wall where National Avenue turns into Logan Avenue, at South 43rd Street? It has become a very cool landmark where two southeast San Diego neighborhoods, Mountain View and Southcrest, meet!

The mural was painted a couple years ago by local youth! The project was organized by Concrete and Canvas, whose stated mission is “to mobilize the neighborhood to collaborate in creating community transformation through art, murals, and mentors.” Check out their website here.

This very colorful mural pays tribute to many of the places that make San Diego a special city. Looking at my photos, I recognize (among other things) the Hotel del Coronado, the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, the Padres, Mount Soledad, coastal cliffs and beaches (and sea lions), the Belmont Park roller coaster, downtown, the Unconditional Surrender “Kiss” statue, California golden poppies and bear, the Del Mar racetrack, the trolley, the Old Point Loma lighthouse, the Blue Angels, Balboa Park, the Coronado Bay Bridge, and the words: America’s Finest City.

I see two artist signatures: Irieanna Sesma (@SD_IRIE) and El Artista (@ILLUMIN8_SD).

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Color lingers by the river after sunset.

One more blog post this evening, then I’ll give it a rest.

These photographs were taken in Mission Valley by the San Diego River right after sunset. Pinks, blues and oranges lingered in sky and water…

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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!

Dramatic clouds reflected from windows!

After I got off from work today, a little before sunset, the sky above Mission Valley was full of dramatic clouds. The weather has been unsettled lately.

As I walked past two tall glassy buildings, dark gray and bright white cumulus clouds in a blue sky were mirrored in the windows…

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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!

River ducks arrive, greet, depart!

These events were recorded in Mission Valley this morning. I watched from the middle of the pedestrian bridge that spans the San Diego River by the Fashion Valley Transit Center.

Two ducks splashed down. They exchanged quack-greetings with a duck that floated nearby. The single duck launched itself from the water. Contented ducks swam happily along….

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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!

Morning light and rainbow from Cortez Hill!

As I started my day at the top of Cortez Hill, I was greeted by magical morning light reflected from downtown buildings to the west and south.

Then I saw the rainbow!

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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!

Watermarks art at Mission Trails Regional Park.

Extraordinary public art can be found at one entrance to Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego. Titled Watermarks, the long, curving mosaic wall stands adjacent to the water pump station at Mission Gorge Road and Deerfield Street. Hikers proceeding through a gate in the beautiful wall find themselves on the Deerfield Crossing Trail.

Watermarks was created in 2000 by Lynn Susholtz and Aida Mancillas of artist collaborative Stone Paper Scissors. According to this page of the San Diego Civic Art Collection website: “Applied to the wall is a highly detailed mosaic of tile, indigenous rock and metal pieces etched sporadically with petroglyphs, text and animal tracks…(the wall) serves to illustrate the ecological, historical and cultural importance of the park and the San Diego River. Once used by the Kumeyaay Indian tribe and the Spanish missionaries, the San Diego River connects our histories, cultures and lives.”

I took these photographs on a gray day between winter showers.

I love how the blue tile mosaic river flows and meanders along the earthy wall. Native plants like mesquite, wild onion, yucca and sage appear like fossils on river stones, each labeled with both their English and Kumeyaay names. On the ground and bench, you can see how nature’s fallen leaves, and rain water collected in the sculpted animal tracks, imbue this amazing artwork with even more life.

Six miles downstream, in 1769, the Spanish established the Misión San Diego de Alcalá, creating the demand for a mission waterworks system which was continually modified from 1775 through the 1830’s. The Old Mission Dam, located at the top of the gorge, was constructed of local stone, clay deposits from the river, and a cement mortar mixture over a solid foundation of bedrock. The dam provided a reliable water source for crops and livestock brought in by the Spanish. The dam and subsequent aqueduct connection were fully operational for less than twenty years.

(If you’d like to see photos of a hike to the Old Mission Dam, click 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!

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!

Photos of historic St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church.

St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in National City is one of the historic churches I paused to look at during my most recent walk around South Bay.

I was taken by how uniquely handsome this church appears. To my eyes, its unusual fusion of Gothic Revival and Tudor architecture is simultaneously elegant and welcoming.

According to Wikipedia: St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church …was built in 1887. It was designed by Chula Vista architect William Herman…inspired by a picture of a small church in the south of England…An Episcopal Society for National City was formed on January 30, 1882; the secretary was Frank Kimball, founder of National City.

In the late 19th century ambitious builder Frank Kimball hoped to make National City the western terminus of a transcontinental railroad. If you’d like to learn much more about his efforts and National City’s early history, you can check out a more detailed old blog post here.

I walked around the church and took some photos that you might enjoy…

The above sign near the church’s entrance reads:

National City Historic Site

St. MATTHEWS EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Built on land originally set aside for a church by the Kimball brothers, but the gift of Elizur Steele. First services held July 3, 1887. Timbers were brought around the Horn. Construction is of California Redwood.

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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!

Four more Museum of Art utility boxes!

Look what I spotted this morning!

Four more SDG&E utility boxes are now being painted just south of Balboa Park for the Young Art: Outside the Frame project of the San Diego Museum of Art!

These four boxes are clustered together near the intersection of Park Boulevard and Russ Boulevard, west of San Diego High School and City College.

Twenty five utility boxes are being painted by assorted San Diego artists, all coordinated by Mindful Murals. I blogged about this unique outdoor exhibition a couple days ago. You can read much more about it, and see the first box that I discovered a couple days ago, by clicking here!

I’ll post an update after these four boxes are completed, and I learn more about these particular artists!

UPDATE!

I walked past these boxes a little over a week later and noticed progress had been made in painting two of them. I also became excited to see a fifth box has been started!

I observed that the box with the light bulb on top is by Nhuy Reid. The box with the elongated neck is by Mensah Bey. The box with the turtle is by Brise Birdsong. (She has many works of street art around San Diego–I’ve photographed quite a few.) Finally, the new box with the beautiful red rose is by an artist named Jazmine, with whom I spoke very briefly one day just as she was getting started.

ANOTHER UPDATE!

And another week later…all five boxes appear to be completed!

I see the artist to whom I briefly spoke, who painted the box with the rose and animals, is Jazmine P. (@crystalizedbonez). The box painted like a jigsaw puzzle is by @cuatrovecesiete.

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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!

Two colorful murals on 43rd Street.

I spotted these two very colorful murals while walking down 43rd Street in southeast San Diego. Both contain symbolic elements.

The first, combining Aztec imagery with humor, I saw at 43rd Wash & Wax…

The second mural I discovered at the corner of 43rd Street and Boston Avenue. It includes an image of President Obama paired with what I believe is the Egyptian god Horus as a royal falcon…

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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!

Young Art: Outside the Frame at Balboa Park!

The San Diego Museum of Art, in partnership with San Diego Gas & Electric and Mindful Murals, will soon showcase an inspiring community project titled Young Art: Outside the Frame!

Twenty five SDG&E utility boxes near Balboa Park and along Park Boulevard into downtown are now being painted with artwork selected from the museum’s biennial exhibition of local student art.

The museum’s upcoming exhibition is titled Young Art 2021: My World, Our Planet.

I was walking up Park Boulevard by Balboa Park’s Pepper Grove Playground this afternoon when I noticed one of the utility boxes is now being painted! San Diego artist Amanda Saint Claire was mentoring Katie Flores as the two created some beautiful new public artwork!

I was shown how the youth art that was selected for this particular box appears. You can get an idea with the following photo:

All the boxes are being painted by professional artists, under the coordination of Mindful Murals. (You might remember I saw some of Mindful Murals’ inspiring work at Edison Elementary School in City Heights a couple years ago and posted photos here.)

The 25 utility boxes should be finished by March 22. The San Diego Museum of Art’s exhibition Young Art 2021: My World, Our Planet will be on view March 26 to May 9, 2021.

A map showing the location of each utility box will be provided!

Stay tuned for more!

UPDATE!

I walked past the box early the following morning and saw more progress has been made. I didn’t have a chance to go by later in the day, but I’ll visit it again in the next few days to see if it’s completed! Here are the photos…

As you can see, butterflies have appeared on top of the box!

SECOND UPDATE!

I went by the next morning, too, and this is what I saw! I’m not sure if the box is finished, but it looks great!

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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!