Comic-Con 2024 is less than three weeks away. Around San Diego there are more and more signs that the epic international event is fast approaching!
It seems that dozens of San Diego trolleys are now wrapped for Comic-Con–you can spot them all over the city. The fifth, latest Comic-Con related design I photographed this morning. It’s from Jack in the Box, and features Deadpool & Wolverine and new Mini Chimi Bang Bangs!
A couple days ago I saw Scarlett Johansson in a graphic on the big new video screen in Gaslamp Square. The video board will probably be busy during Comic-Con promoting upcoming movies and other popular entertainment. As I’ve walked around, I haven’t seen any offsite construction . . . yet. But I did see a guy with a cool shirt!
The Fantastic Four street lamp banners have expanded beyond the Gaslamp Quarter and can now be seen throughout downtown San Diego. Marvel appears to be going all out promoting the highly anticipated movie!
As usual, clever shops along Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp have displays in their windows that might appeal to pop culture fans.
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Independence Day was celebrated today, the Fourth of July, in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park!
A festival atmosphere drew families to the central plaza, where the public could freely enjoy live music, crafts, old-fashioned outdoor games like sack races and tug of war, and even a simulated telegraph office! The Boosters of Old Town San Diego, raising funds for the park, raffled off a valuable quilt and offered fun handmade gifts for those passing by.
California State Park employees and volunteers wore 19th century attire. With a little imagination, strolling through the grassy plaza would feel like stepping back in time. Lovers of Americana, nostalgia and San Diego’s early history were all smiles.
Red, white and blue could be seen throughout the State Park. The various museums were open and welcoming. Spinners and quilters were demonstrating their craft at Threads of the Past, while several blacksmiths were hammering red hot iron at the Blacksmith Shop. Curious visitors could listen to explanations as they looked on.
It was a special day in a very special place.
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Those planning to go to San Diego Comic-Con in 2024 should consider a side trip to the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park, which isn’t very far from the San Diego Convention Center. Museum visitors will enjoy a variety of great exhibits, and those who love cosplay will be stunned when they enter the gallery that features Masquerade, The Art of Cosplay.
Check out a few photographs!
Masquerade, The Art of Cosplay presents costumes worn by participants in Comic-Con’s always much-anticipated Masquerade. Fans of superheroes and other characters from the popular culture have devoted countless hours creating elaborate costumes that are absolutely amazing.
You’ll also see costume prototypes that have been used in movies and other visual media. These are from the collection of Allan Lavigne, who has worked on Marvel films including those featuring Captain America and Iron Man.
Jean Grey/Phoenix as a What If? By artist Belle Benson.Captain America costume. Allan Lavigne creates screen-accurate motion picture costume reproductions for museums.Villains League Poison Ivy. A cross of DC Comics bombshells, the movie A League of Their Own, and a deadly Batman supervillain! By artist Jennifer Brown.Noelle from Genshin Impact with Extra Kick. By artist VivSai.Space Marine and Sister of Battle from Warhammer 40,000. By artist Joe Ramirez.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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.
Check out very cool graphics on one side of a trolley car that was recently wrapped for Comic-Con 2024!
I got photos of the opposite side a couple days ago, and posted them here. (Those graphics promote George Orwell’s 1984 and The Safe Man.)
This second side promotes Audible originals The Sandman and Impact Winter. (Remember the amazing sand sculptures two years ago at Comic-Con based on The Sandman and Impact Winter? Those photographs can be viewed here.)
This morning I had to act fast to capture these new photos! (I think the trolley driver noticed me and paused an extra moment or two–if so, thank you!)
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Reed Richards and Johnny Storm on a Comic-Con street lamp banner in San Diego.
Banners promoting Marvel’s popular superhero team Fantastic Four and their upcoming movie (due to open in 2025), have appeared in San Diego for Comic-Con 2024!
The news that Marvel will have a panel in Hall H this year probably means they’ll be promoting Deadpool & Wolverine, which opens during Comic-Con, plus the highly anticipated The Fantastic Four.
I personally look forward to the movie. The Fantastic Four is one of my favorite teams. Cosmic enemies and super science and a warm family dynamic usually result in stirring, highly imaginative stories.
Hopefully the Reed Richards in the upcoming film is a wee bit smarter than the one who got himself turned into spaghetti by the Scarlet Witch!
Sue Storm and Ben Grimm.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Five years ago, during the month of July, there was a whole lot of excitement in San Diego!
The two biggest, most exciting events that Cool San Diego Sights documented back in July 2019 were the 250th Anniversary of San Diego and, of course, San Diego Comic-Con!
I shared hundreds of photographs that month. Please enjoy links to just a few of those past blog posts.
I’ll be covering Comic-Con again this year. I live in downtown San Diego and will take the week off from work. So stay tuned for more adventures!
Click the following links for loads of fun photographs…
Betty Boop has arrived in San Diego! The iconic cartoon character is now making her home at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park!
Last week the one-of-a-kind exhibition Becoming Betty Boop opened at the Comic-Con Museum. Thanks to a collaboration with Fleischer Studios, museum visitors can explore a large gallery filled with historic artwork and cultural artifacts found nowhere else.
Visitors can learn about the evolution of strongly independent and flirty, jazzy flapper Betty Boop, from her debut in the cartoon Dizzy Dishes in 1930 to modern characterizations. After nearly a century it seems her popularity has only grown. BOOP! The Musical will debut on Broadway in 2025!
Those who are curious about the history of cartoons will see how animators created the Betty Boop short films using a rotoscope, which had been invented by the Fleischer brothers using an old film projector, car parts and a wooden plank! They’ll learn that in the early 1930s, the creation of a six or seven minute cartoon involved about 90 artists and took about two months!
Visitors will also learn how Betty Boop was voiced by half a dozen women over the years, and that Lillian Friedman, who worked at Fleischer Studios, was the very first American female commercial animator.
Exhibition visitors can watch several fun cartoons in the museum auditorium, and those with a creative urge can learn how to draw Betty Boop!
Boop–oop–a–doop!
If you plan to attend Comic-Con this year, make time to check out Becoming Betty Boop, one of many great exhibitions now showing at the Comic-Con Museum!
Mae Questel (voice actress) and Max Fleischer (animator), with characters Betty Boop and Bimbo!Mae Questel has the voice most associated with Betty Boop. She also provided voices for cartoon characters Olive Oyl, Casper the Friendly Ghost–and even Popeye! She voiced Betty Boop in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.Betty Boop for President, 1932.Lillian Friedman made history as the very first female professional animator.A more modern take on Betty Boop. These two dresses were designed by global fashion designer Zac Posen. Pantone has officially designated Betty Boop Red.Sparkly costume worn by actress Jasmine Amy Rogers, playing Betty Boop in the musical BOOP! at Chicago’s CIBC Theatre.An Evening with Betty, by Myron Waldman.
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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 very fun and informative Garden Fair was held today outside the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. The event coincides with the recent opening of the nature trail that now encircles the museum.
The interpretive nature trail, which leads visitors past a wide variety of native Southern California plants, is a cornerstone of the San Diego Natural History Museum’s 150 year anniversary celebration!
All sorts of booths were set up on both the south and north sides of the museum. Organizations who care about protecting our natural environment provided information for curious passersby. I took these photographs…
Smiles from Forever Balboa Park. They are working to revitalize Balboa Park’s Botanical Building and gardens.The California Native Plant Society was educating the public about conserving our local flora.Activity at the Master Gardener table.Poster provides suggestions for native plants in your garden.Lots of sunshine and smiles today in Balboa Park!Table features seeds for native plants.Kids learn about bees and other pollinators.
Balboa Park Alive! has a cool app in the beta stage, developed by smiling folks from the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UC San Diego.
The augmented reality mobile app transforms Balboa Park into an interactive biodiversity adventure. On your smartphone, you can plant virtual flora, release butterflies, and simulate pollinator behavior. I was told that so far you can explore Balboa Park’s Zoro Garden and the Natural History Museum’s new nature trail. Very cool!
Learn more about Balboa Park Alive! by clicking here.
Technology helps bring nature in Balboa Park to life.More booths for the Garden Fair, along the new nature trail on the north side of the San Diego Natural History Museum.Member of the NAT Garden Corps tells me various facts concerning the cactus wren and prickly pear. While she spoke a hummingbird came by.How cool! Moth Week 2024 has a night party outside the museum on Friday, July 26, after 8 pm. A naturalist will attract moths near the Moreton Bay Fig for photography.San Diego Canyonlands focuses on the canyons in City Heights around Azalea Park. They support youth education and environmental job training in underserved communities. They also have an urban hike-a-thon event.Smiles from some San Diego Natural History Museum Canyoneers. They offer free guided hikes throughout the county. Enjoy nature and become a citizen scientist!The San Diego Habitat Conservancy currently manages 33 open space preserves in Southern California.The Climate Science Alliance mission is to safeguard natural and human communities in the face of a changing climate.
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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.
In San Diego, during Comic-Con 2024, you can run but you cannot hide from Big Brother! That’s because he’ll be watching you from the latest Comic-Con trolley wrap that promotes Audible originals: George Orwell’s 1984 and The Safe Man!
Both popular adaptations offer Audible listeners top voice talent, such as Andrew Garfield, Tom Hardy, and Jack Quaid.
Who isn’t familiar with the dystopian, authoritarian future presented in the classic novel 1984? In our current age of digital surveillance, the story’s chilling warning seems more pertinent than ever. The nicely timed photograph above is thought-provoking, don’t you think?
The Safe Man is an eerie supernatural thriller from New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly. Dare you listen?
I captured these photographs this afternoon after a visit to San Diego’s very cool Comic-Con Museum. Comic-Con 2024 is coming up in a few weeks! Stay tuned!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
The Granger Building in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter is undergoing a very big change. The historic downtown office building, erected in 1904, is being converted into an elegant hotel.
Those who walk past the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue can view the construction now in progress. Surprising graphics along the sidewalk advertising the soon-to-open Granger Hotel really catch one’s attention, however. Why are there old-fashioned images of a monkey, tiger and giraffe?
Because the basement of the Granger Building once held zoo animals!
Before I get to the unusual explanation, you might wonder: why is it called the Granger Building?
This web page explains how Ralph Granger made his initial fortune from the Last Chance Silver Mine in Colorado. When he came to San Diego in 1891, he settled in National City, where, in a addition to a mansion, he built the architecturally important Granger Music Hall. (Those who drive down Interstate 805 can easily see the notable but dilapidated building. I once blogged about the Granger Music Hall here.)
Granger would then hire renowned architect William Quayle to design an office building in downtown San Diego: the Granger Building. The Romanesque style structure, built for $125,000, was steel framed and constructed of pressed bricks. It is five stories high and features embossed metal ceilings, gas lights and a manually operated elevator. The first floor would be home to the Merchant’s National Bank, with the son of President U.S. Grant the initial Director. In 1924, the bank became the Bank of Italy, the forerunner of the Bank of America.
But what about those zoo animals in the building’s basement?
Well, Dr. Harry Wegeforth was a physician who happened to have his practice in the Granger Building. He was also founder of the Zoological Society of San Diego and the San Diego Zoo. You might recall how he was inspired to start the zoo when he passed animals that had been displayed during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park and heard a lion roar.
In the early days of the expanding San Diego Zoo, as Dr. Harry Wegeforth acquired new animals, he kept some of them in the basement of the Granger Building!
Guests of the new Granger Hotel will be staying in a property that is full of surprising history. Past tenants of the old office building have also included C. Arnholt Smith, owner of the Pacific Coast minor league Padres, and Joseph Jessop, our city’s most famous jeweler.
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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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 