Crackers, candy and San Diego history!

Many ordinary appearing buildings in downtown San Diego have surprising histories. That is certainly the case for the Olde Cracker Factory Building at 448 West Market Street.

The 1913 brick building might now contain retail, office and residential spaces, but would you believe it was once a cracker and candy factory?

According to its website, the building was home to the Bishop and Company Cracker and Candy Factory from 1913-1931, and then Nabisco Biscuit Company until 1941. In 1930, the Bishop Cracker and Candy Factory employed 100 men and women who produced cookies, crackers and peanut butter. Over ten tons of products were produced here annually…

Check out the above website for more detailed history and intriguing old photographs. You’ll see antique delivery trucks parked in front of the Bishop & Company building, and busy factory workers and machinery inside.

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Greetings from Oceanside surfer girl mural.

A beach scene mural that shows the Oceanside Pier, a woodie and three girls with a surfboard on the sand has appeared in downtown Oceanside. You can view it on the parking lot side of Finney’s Crafthouse restaurant. Postcard-like words read: Greetings From OCEANSIDE.

The artist is Jerry Ragg. The mural was painted in 2024 in memory of JT Ragg.

I spotted the cool artwork during my weekend walk in Oceanside and took these photographs into the sun. Consequently, I had to increase the contrast of each image quite a bit.

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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 X.

The golden age of surf culture in Oceanside!

Are you old enough to remember the golden age of surf culture? You know–those years when the radio was filled with pop music by The Ventures, Jan and Dean, and The Beach Boys. Back when surfing movies were on the marquee of your local theater, and Gidget was a popular show on television.

If you love nostalgia, the California Surf Museum has a really great exhibit that might tickle your fancy. It might also bring back memories. Star, Cars and Guitars – The Birth of the Modern Surf Era: 1958 to 1965 features photographs, posters, rare artifacts and memorabilia from those days when the surfing subculture sprang forth and quickly took center stage in the popular culture.

I visited the California Surf Museum last Saturday and enjoyed looking at the extensive display.

This era came right before I was born, but in my youth echoes of it still lingered on the radio and on television. I remember I had the incredible Endless Summer album by The Beach Boys which I loved to hear on my scratchy record player. Yes, that was a long time ago!

(How many San Diego area locations are mentioned in The Beach Boys hit song Surfin’ U.S.A.? Well, let’s see: Del Mar, Trestles, Swami’s, San Onofre, and La Jolla!)

The museum exhibit covers those golden days when surfing’s popularity exploded across California, the U.S.A. and the world, including the era’s trailblazers and athletes, surfboards, fashion, cars, popular surf spots and early surfing competitions.

Honestly, all of the exhibits in this one-of-a-kind museum are cool. If you live in Southern California and you’re at all into surfing or the lifestyle, and you haven’t visited the California Surf Museum, you’re really missing out!

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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 X.

Smile like a sunflower in San Diego!

Sunflowers are smiling on the windows of the Hamilton Building at 640 C Street in downtown San Diego. The painted windows encourage passersby to Smile like a Sunflower!

I don’t know why these happy flowers recently appeared. The building has been vacant for years now. Back in 2019 images of musicians were mysteriously painted on these same windows!

When I first moved to downtown San Diego over 20 years ago, the Hamilton Building was home to the San Diego Computer Museum. All sorts of cool old computers were displayed in a gallery. The museum continues to have an online presence here.

The one time I visited the San Diego Computer Museum I was excited to find a few of the machines I had programmed in my youth, such as the ZX-80, ZX-81, TS-1000 and Commodore 64. A pair of interactive text adventure games that I created in the very early 1980s were published by the now defunct software company Softsync.

You can still play one of my old Commodore 64 games, which is titled Super Clue! Simply click here!

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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 X.

Author promotes books with sandwich board!

When you self-publish, it can be difficult selling your book. Friends, coworkers and relatives are potential buyers, but reaching new customers in this great big world can be daunting. Author websites are numerous and precious few rise to the top of general search engine results. Most people scrolling through social media have short attention spans, and few are interested in purchasing a book. Conventional marketing requires money, and the result might be less than satisfying. So what is one to do?

Well, I met indie author Daniel X Ostenso (D X O) this weekend while exploring Balboa Park. He was strolling through the crowd wearing an advertising sandwich board!

What a great (albeit unusual) idea! Signed books for sale, a special offer, an outgoing personality, and the sheer novelty of his sandwich board immediately caught my attention.

His gumption in getting out there while appearing a bit strange is commendable. And you never know how gumption might be unexpectedly rewarded.

Check out the science fiction novels and other works authored by Daniel X Ostenso by clicking here.

He has traveled extensively with a beloved dog. Check out his YouTube video Kaylee’s Life in Five Minutes by clicking here.

Daniel donates money to animal shelters with every sale.

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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 X.

Hungarian dance and culture in Balboa Park!

The House of Hungary presented a wonderful lawn program today in Balboa Park.

Those who came by the International Cottages could feast on Hungarian food, including Potato Paprikash and Crepes, and enjoy an introduction to Hungary’s history and culture. At the House of Hungary cottage, used books in Hungarian were for sale. Out on the lawn, dancers and musicians took the stage.

I arrived just before 2 o’clock and watched a performance by two professional ballet dancers: Hungarian born Reka Gyulai (principal dancer, California Ballet) and Lester Gonzalez. Their dance, as you might expect, was extraordinary.

Then came a performance by the Hungarian Children’s School. The symbolic dance was about creating New Bread. It was full of fun, family happiness and joy for life.

Later performances, which I missed, included jazz and folk music by The Hunglish Project, the Karpatok Hungarian Dance Ensemble, and a Rubik’s Cube demonstration and quiz show!

Another great time on another Sunday in sunny San Diego!

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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 X.

Official tall ship of California begins Sunday sail!

Californian, official tall ship of the State of California, set out today from the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Passengers aboard the schooner, a replica of a Gold Rush era revenue cutter, began another four hour Sunday sailing adventure!

I stood on the museum’s barge out on San Diego Bay as Californian’s volunteer crew prepared the tall ship to get underway. Once well out on the water, the sails would be employed, so necessary actions were performed beforehand.

At noon, when all was ready, lines were cast off and the ship moved away from the dock by using its motor.

I don’t pretend to understand the details of sailing a traditionally rigged tall ship, but I do enjoy watching the action!

If you’d like to go on one of these Tall Ship Adventures, visit the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s website here!

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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 X.

People rappel down 34-story building in San Diego!

People in San Diego could experience the thrill of a lifetime today! The annual fundraising Over The Edge event was held downtown, on the vertical side of the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel tower!

People who raised a certain amount of money for Reality Changers could rappel 34 stories straight down! I stood at ground level in front of the hotel and zoomed my camera lens to capture a bit of the action.

Reality Changers helps disadvantaged high school students go to college. They prepare youth to become first-generation college graduates and agents of change in their community. You can donate to this worthy cause by visiting the Reality Changers website here.

That’s rather high, don’t you think? Looks scary! But these events, running for many years now, have never had an accident. Safety is the first priority.

Why don’t you consider participating next year?

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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 X.

Bold disruption at Oceanside Museum of Art!

Visitors to the Oceanside Museum of Art might have their view of the world suddenly disrupted! Nearly fifty paintings by Southern California artists challenge the way we view familiar things. The exhibition is titled More Disruption: Representational Art in Flux.

Flux is defined as the action or process of flowing. Flowing implies change, movement. These paintings are full of dynamism, drawing the viewer in with bold strokes and color, exciting curiosity with abstraction that can be strangely fluid.

The surprising art reveals unexpected contrasts and inner mystery. In the age of social media, where images flash by on a phone with the flick of a finger, these paintings might cause one to stand for a minute and consider.

The pieces chosen for display were selected from over 1,700 entries. As one sign explains: The concept for this juried exhibition was to present outstanding paintings by Southern California artists that showed signs of being disrupted, either formally or thematically. Disruption, in this framework, means that the forces of contemporary life and existence somehow altered or affected the way the work was created and challenged the norms of representation…

A very friendly museum docent struck up a conversation with me and shared some of her favorite pieces. She was amazed that one of the pieces, exuding youthful hipness, was painted by an 80-year-old artist. But that’s the limitless potential of human creativity!

By disrupting familiar things, reshaping what we know, our minds and hands can bring to existence anything that we imagine. We can change this old world–enlarge it–even make life more meaningful.

More Disruption: Representational Art in Flux will be on view at the Oceanside Museum of Art through September 15, 2024.

I can tell you this art is certainly not dull! My photographs provide a few examples.

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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 X.

A wonderful used book store in Oceanside!

The city of Oceanside is very lucky to have such a wonderful used book store. Jane and Evie’s Used Books is where you want to shop if you love to read, watch movies, listen to music . . . or solve jigsaw puzzles or view walls filled with art!

Whenever I’m in Oceanside I like to drop by, simply to look around and possibly add to my collection of books and digital media, including CDs and DVDs. That’s what I did today!

A cool thing about shopping at Jane and Evie’s Used Books is that all of the sales benefit The Friends of the Oceanside Public Library. When you enjoy a purchased book, others might enjoy a library book, too!

The store’s volunteers are all super friendly!

I asked about the history of the bookstore and was shown a photo of Evie Magana and Jane Cheadle, who were early members and officers of The Friends of the Oceanside Public Library. They were both known for their love of books and their dedication to the Oceanside community. The bookstore was named in their honor.

Unlike certain used book stores, it’s spacious and very well organized. Like a library! Linger, peruse the shelves, and talk to friendly people!

Jane and Evie’s Used Books is located at 323 North Coast Highway. Hours are Monday through Wednesday 11 am – 3 pm; Thursday through Saturday 10 am – 6 pm.

Procrastireading: The Art of Reading, instead of doing whatever else it is you should be doing.

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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 X.