I made a discovery last weekend as I searched through hundreds of old pics on my computer. It seems I really like to photograph anything that floats in San Diego Bay! There’s just something very striking about purposeful objects that move across the sparkling water. Here’s a variety of photos…
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A pedestrian bridge in downtown San Diego spans Interstate 5. It’s almost never used. From the extreme end of a large, mostly vacant parking lot below the Veteran’s Museum, it arches high over the wide, busy freeway and descends to a securely gated parking lot next to San Diego City College’s sports fields. It leads mostly nowhere.
I’ve lived about a mile away for over a decade, but I’ve never set foot on the bridge–until this afternoon. Walking up Park Boulevard, I’ve often gazed at the distant bridge and wondered if it was open. Never once have I seen a soul on it.
I suppose people must visit this place at times, because the bridge is absolutely covered with both new and old graffiti. It’s a singularly lonely place, enclosed in fencing, suspended above unseen drivers flashing by in anonymous cars below.
Here are some random photographs. Who applied these small artistic faces? The eyes never blink.
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I headed down to the Embarcadero a good hour before the start of today’s 2014 Big Bay Balloon Parade. I hoped to capture some fun balloon pics. I succeeded!
The staging area, where the amazing, colorful balloons were being inflated, appeared like a vision in a wonderful dream, with gigantic faces and forms swaying high in the sky. It seemed as if they’d become magically alive!
These photos were taken in a large parking lot north of the County Administration Building. The Big Bay Balloon Parade, held every year in San Diego shortly before the Holiday Bowl, proceeded south on Harbor Drive and ended at Seaport Village.
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San Diego sports hero Meb Keflezighi seems superhuman when compared to most of us ordinary mortals. Meb’s long-distance running accomplishments are truly legendary. He has been 3-time national champion in cross country, Olympic silver medalist in the marathon, and winner of both the New York City and Boston Marathons. (What’s more, Meb is a terrific human being, who happened to graduate from San Diego High School, about a mile from where I now sit!) But as thousands of onlookers witnessed, even our biggest world-class heroes sometimes need a helping hand!
Meb was chosen to be Grand Marshall of today’s 2014 Big Bay Balloon Parade, a fun event held on San Diego’s Embarcadero in conjunction with the upcoming Holiday Bowl. (He also presided over a 5K run just beforehand.) Meb rode on the parade’s leading float to great applause. But his ride turned out to be somewhat unusual. Some leg muscle was required…
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Breaking news! Wienerschnitzel’s 2014 Wiener Nationals were held today on San Diego’s beautiful Embarcadero! The big race was witnessed by thousands just prior to the Holiday Bowl-related Big Bay Balloon Parade. This year’s wiener dog champ was none other than fan favorite Mr. Schnitzel!
I did my very best to cover the action. Unfortunately, mere bloggers like me had to witness the wonderfully funny dog race from a bit of a distance.
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I can’t stand being cooped up inside, especially on Christmas, so around noon I went out for a short walk around a sunny but very quiet downtown San Diego. I didn’t intend to blog about anything, but here I am posting a few pics anyway. That’s because I was impressed by the beauty of a very small spot along a popular walkway.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade runs along a portion of Harbor Drive, and it passes San Diego’s fun New Children’s Museum. In addition to a playground right next to the pathway, there’s a very small urban garden. The museum’s Garden Project is a demonstration area that allows children to explore a few plants and the basics of gardening. Some art is incorporated into the space, and a surprising poem!
I should’ve photographed this entire poem, but I assumed at the time that it could be found on the internet. I was wrong! The poem seems like a fun, playful bit of writing, and I can’t make heads or tails of it looking at my few photos. Oh, well. I’ll leave it to you to reconstruct the verses I’ve selected!
I did figure out that the poem was written by Quincy Thomas Troupe, Jr., who used to be a professor at the University of California, San Diego, just up the coast in La Jolla. He is known for his biography of Miles Davis, the legendary jazz musician. Quincy also helped to write The Pursuit of Happyness, a true story which was adapted into the popular film starring Will Smith. (I love that movie!)
Here are two photos I took the following spring of flowers in the garden:
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Wow! Check out this mind-blowing street mural, which caught my eye just across Dewey Street from Chicano Park. Titled Ancestors, it was spray-painted on a Barrio Logan building in 2013 by artists Maxx Moses and Isaias Crow.
A little online research reveals that Ancestors replaced another damaged mural on the same wall, which was titled Synergy. Maxx Moses likes to use spontaneity in his creative productions, and calls his unique art movement Concrete Alchemy. Isaias Crow’s artwork, which I believe is on the right side of the mural, is similarly awesome!
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A little over a week ago, the new Barrio Logan gateway sign had a dedication ceremony. The welcoming sign, arching over Cesar Chavez Parkway between Harbor Drive and Interstate 5, is similar to others that can be spotted in various communities around San Diego. Its design, however, is notably different. The cornice contains a variety of symbolic elements inspired by this neighborhood’s complex history.
Small displays near the base of each column can be read from either sidewalk. They explain the significance of the cornice design:
“This Barrio Logan sign was created with input from the local community. Their ideas resulted in this unique and relevant design, representative of one of San Diego’s oldest and most culturally rich urban neighborhoods.
The design pays homage to Kumeyaay, Aztec, Mayan and all other cultures, representing many concepts including creation, the cycle of life, and evolution into the modern world. The pyramids symbolize cultures coming together as one society. The fish and corn symbols refer to the reliance on the sea as a food source, and fertility of the lands.
The designs on the columns honor the kiosk in Chicano Park. The columns are also adorned with the Conch, Sky and Earth symbols, which were inspired by indigenous cultures.”
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I don’t know much about this mural, apart from the fact that it’s huge, colorful and super cool. For years, it seems, scaffolding has stood against the long portion along Harbor Drive. Just recently the scaffolding vanished, and the brilliant, dynamic street art is fully visible in all its glory!
You can find this urban art at the intersection of Cesar Chavez Parkway and Harbor Drive, just south of downtown in Barrio Logan. It decorates the high wall that encloses the parking lot at Restaurant Depot.
I took these photos as I walked south to north along Harbor Drive, then turned west at the intersection for a little more fun artwork.
Enjoy!
UPDATE!
I learned years later (shame on me) that this 1993 mural is titled The Kelco Historical Community Mural, by artist Salvador Roberto Torres and his wife Gloria Rebolledo Torres. It was restored by Salvador Torres in 2012, which explains the scaffolding I had previously seen.
Salvador Roberto Torres is one of the founders of nearby Chicano Park, the largest collection of outdoor murals in the United States. He saw the great freeway pillars supporting the ramps to the San Diego–Coronado Bridge as potential concrete canvases, and so created the Chicano Park Monumental Public Mural Program in 1969. He was also one of the founders of the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.
During that later walk I took additional photos of the mural!
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Perhaps you recall my blog post from early in the summer, where I was astonished at how the Fountain of Two Oceans sculpture in front of downtown’s Wells Fargo building had suddenly turned white! Well, yesterday I saw it has changed colors once again!
I’m guessing a number of people found the weird, mottled white color unattractive. (Personally, I thought it was ghastly.) Today, the human figures appear bronze again, but much darker than before, without the heavily tarnished surface. In my opinion, this is a big improvement. What do you think?
Before the figures were painted white:
Painted white, possibly to resemble marble:
Now much darker, matching the fountain’s base:
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Cool San Diego Sights! 