Category: Uncategorized

A poet, a didgeridoo, and Balboa Park.

I spent a couple hours today with my friend Mitchell. He plays didgeridoo in Balboa Park.

We went on a walk and got lunch at the Japanese Tea Pavilion. Then I listened for a while to his extraordinary pulsating music.

During the concert a traveling poet came by, watched and listened.

After I said goodbye to Mitchell and began down El Prado, I came upon the poet sitting at a small table before his manual typewriter.

His name is Ben Bernthal. He will write an original poem based on words passersby give him. I gave him the word “didgeridoo.”

What I received was an exceptional piece of poetry and a friendly chat.

After I headed off on my way, it occurred to me that Balboa Park is one enormous, colorful poem. In the way every life is a sort of poem.

Visit Ben Bernthal’s website and learn more about a really great writer by clicking here. You can request a poem online. He will type the poem on high quality paper and mail it to you!

Better yet, if you’re in San Diego, look for him sitting at his typewriter in Balboa Park . . . before life’s grand adventure turns him elsewhere.

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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!

Permanent murals coming to Automotive Museum!

Today, during my walk through Balboa Park’s new Pan American Plaza, I saw that four long-anticipated permanent murals are now being installed above the entrance of the San Diego Automotive Museum!

Over three years ago I posted photographs of temporary murals above the museum entrance. But now the real deal is coming! Once finished, beautiful ceramic tile artwork will replicate murals created in 1935 for the California Pacific International Exposition.

If you’d like to learn more about this historic project, and see photographs of each individual mural, check out my old blog post here.

Here’s a bit of the sign on the construction fence that provides more information…

And here’s an image of those four temporary murals, which anticipate what the permanent ceramic tile murals will look like!

(The building’s color appears different in this older photo. That’s because it recently received a brand new paint job.)

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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!

Colorful community mural at Sawaya Brothers!

A large, super colorful mural was painted last year on a wall of Sawaya Brothers Market, at the corner of Ocean View Boulevard and 30th Street.

The mural celebrates the dynamic life and culture of the community. Sawaya Brothers, a grocery store, tortilleria y panaderia (said by many to have the best tortillas in San Diego), is located in the Memorial neighborhood of Logan Heights.

Check out this great artwork! I see a profusion of diverse, positive images, including an Aztec dancer, kids playing soccer, a Don Carlos Ice Cream paleta cart, beloved musician Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez, social activism, Our Lady of Guadalupe, a lowrider, cool images honoring African Americans and the Kumeyaay, a lady making tortillas, Quetzalcoatl, a skateboarder, local school mascots, even the San Diego Padres and a trolley!

According to this article, the mural and its message of unity was painted over the course of a month by David Mena and several other artists with the help of local youth in 2020.

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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!

Walking through Little Italy in morning rain.

This morning I walked through Little Italy in a light rain.

Holding my camera under a big umbrella, these are the images I captured…

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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 times they are a-changin’ in Golden Hill!

Check out this fun, very colorful mural splashed on the west side of Influx Cafe in Golden Hill!

The mural, designed by Randall Christopher and painted by Grand Prestoz, was completed in August, 2019.

THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN’ . . . EVERYONE EVERYONE
LOST SOMEWHERE IN THE MENTAWAIS

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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!

House of Charm’s bell tower restored!

I couldn’t believe my eyes this afternoon!

I had just entered Balboa Park’s Alcazar Garden when I noticed something unusually colorful up in the sky. It was the bell tower of the House of Charm–appearing brand new!

Look at these photos! The restoration of the bell tower’s exterior has been so remarkable, my photos almost look like perfect, flawless paintings!

The Mingei International Museum, which occupies most of the House of Charm, is currently undergoing their big expansion and renovation, which, among other improvements, will provide visitors access to the bell tower.

The original building and its tower, created for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, were designed by architect Carleton Winslow. During the exposition the building was called the Indian Arts Building. The colorful bell tower was modeled after the tower on the Church of Santa Catarina in Puebla, Mexico. It was meant to complement Balboa Park’s iconic California Tower that rises across from what was then called the Montezuma Gardens.

Once the Mingei International Museum’s renovation is complete, the bell tower will feature a new inside staircase and skylight. It will also contain a hanging glass sculpture by acclaimed artist Dale Chihuly.

I’ve included an old black-and-white photograph from 1915 so you can see the original tower and building. The photo below was taken from the Plaza de Panama. Although the building was completely reconstructed in 1996, you’ll notice the bell tower today appears much as it did back during the Panama-California Exposition, over a century ago.

Front of Indian Arts Building during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. (Public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons.)
The beautifully restored House of Charm tower, seen from the Alcazar Garden.
Photo of restored House of Charm bell tower taken at a distance, from the rear of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. (As you can see, work is also being done on the Mingei International Museum’s roof.)

UPDATE!

Here are some pics that I took a couple days later…

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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!

A look at the historic Hayward-Patterson House.

During my walk through Golden Hill last weekend I passed dozens of charming old Victorian homes.

Golden Hill and adjacent Sherman Heights seem to have the greatest concentration of Victorian houses in San Diego. In the late 1800’s and very early 1900’s, many of the city’s elite residents built houses in these then-fashionable neighborhoods just east of downtown. The hillside locations offered panoramic views of the city and San Diego Bay.

As I walked down Broadway, I noticed one beautifully restored structure had a plaque indicating it was the Hayward-Patterson House, City of San Diego Historical Landmark No. 85.

A little online research shows the Italianate-style house was built in 1887 by Albert Moses Hayward, an early president of the San Diego Yacht Club and captain of the yacht San Diego. The second owner was Francis Elliot Patterson, a notable photographer and camera store owner who lived in the house for over thirty years.

Various owners followed. It’s currently the office of Finest City Homes and Loans.

As I walked past the Hayward-Patterson House, I snapped a few photographs.

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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!

San Diego’s original federal building and courthouse.

Few people ever see downtown San Diego’s original federal building and courthouse. It stands off the beaten track, surrounded by tall buildings, where few tourists or locals venture.

Some of those who approach the old federal building might have tried to avoid it. That’s because the historic building, built in 1911-13, is presently a U.S. Bankruptcy Court. It’s named the Jacob Weinberger United States Courthouse, home to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California.

According to the court’s website: “In 1906, Congress authorized construction of the first permanent federal building in San Diego, specifically designed to house the U.S. Post Office, the U.S. District Court, and U.S. Customs. It was commissioned on April 5, 1913 as the ‘U.S. Post Office and Custom House.’ The architecture of the building is an eclectic design, blending ‘monumental classicism and Spanish colonial revival,’ creating a federal building that uniquely recognizes San Diego’s Hispanic heritage…”

The building was designed by architect James Knox Taylor, who was Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1897 to 1912.

Over the years this old federal building has undergone restoration. In my exterior photographs you can see the colonnaded portico and distinctive square towers.

Make sure to visit the court’s website to read much more about the Jacob Weinberger United States Courthouse’s long, colorful history. Among other things, you’ll learn that horticulturalist Kate Sessions, who introduced many of the trees and plants now found throughout Balboa Park, landscaped the building’s grounds, and how in “August of 1917, Postmaster Barrow asked for permission ‘to plow up the large lawn to the south of the building and plant the ground to potatoes, beans, or some other useful vegetable,’ to locally support the World War I war effort.”

I see that tours of the Jacob Weinberger United States Courthouse are available by appointment. One day I’ll go on one and experience the historic building’s interior. Unless I go bankrupt first…

For tour information, 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!

Mother Teresa mural expresses unconditional love.

A beautiful mural depicting Mother Teresa expresses the potency of unconditional love.

Roman Catholic nun and missionary Saint Teresa of Calcutta stands in a field of grain and flowers holding a small orphaned child. White doves raise a banner containing the words: “Saint Mother Teresa never judged people, she took more time to love them.”

Indeed, Mother Teresa and her sisters devoted themselves to loving and aiding the poorest of the poor, providing comfort for those suffering with leprosy, AIDS and other awful diseases, caring for those who lived in hopeless situations of homelessness and extreme hunger.

She loved those whom others would not love.

Would any of us do that?

This gentle but extremely powerful mural was painted in San Diego, California, in the Memorial neighborhood of Logan Heights. You can find it in an alley off 30th Street, north of Franklin Avenue.

The mural was painted recently by the artists of Arte Atolondrada. To visit their website, 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!

Amusing sayings outside Rockin’ Baja!

Worrying works! 90% of the things I worry about never happen.

Here’s are a few photographs that might amuse you!

I was walking through the Gaslamp Quarter past Rockin’ Baja Lobster this morning when I noticed a number of funny sayings posted around their outdoor street dining area.

Some of these sayings almost seem wise. Others–not so much…

If it weren’t for the last minute nothing would get done.
Two wrongs…are only the beginning.
It’s bad luck to be superstitious.
I can resist everything but temptation.
Laws of gravity strictly enforced.
Friends may come and go but enemies accumulate.

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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!