ArtReach community murals in City Heights!

These very beautiful murals were painted a month ago in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood. I saw the murals last weekend as I walked down Fairmount Avenue, just north of University Avenue. They decorate the Plaza del Sol affordable housing building.

I’ve learned the colorful artwork was created by ArtReach during a Community Paint Day!

ArtReach is a program in San Diego that inspires and educates youth with art. You can see their website’s Mural Programs page here. ArtReach’s mission is: Igniting youth creativity through visual arts expression and community connection.

Check out these fantastic murals! The images reflect cultural diversity in the community and regional flora and fauna.

Many hands held paintbrushes. The lead artist was @thisisntjosue.

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Swiss clock tower rises above San Diego!

This might surprise you, but the high clock tower that rises above San Diego’s downtown 12th and Imperial Transit Center came from Switzerland!

A detailed explanation of the 233 feet high tower clock and its history can be found here. This is part of the description:

The Swiss Bank corporation which worked with the County of San Diego and the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, arranged for the donation of the clock from “Ebel Watchmaker Co.” of Switzerland… The tower was built in 1988 and the clock installed later that year. The clock has four dials, with red Roman numerals, a white face and 6-foot long red hands. The mechanism was shipped unassembled to San Diego from Switzerland in a jumbo jet. It took 12 days for Swiss technicians to put the system together…

There’s no elevator in the tower, so assembly of the clock was a difficult task that required manually carrying boxes full of mechanism parts up the equivalent of fifteen stories!

I believe the impressive clock still operates. The clock was installed with electronic speakers for chimes–but I don’t believe I’ve ever heard them.

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Amusing license plates at downtown Hodad’s!

The windows in front of the Hodad’s restaurant in downtown San Diego are filled with amusing customized license plates!

The other day, as I walked down Broadway, I paused to take these fun photographs!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Black History Month at San Diego History Center.

Black History Month is being celebrated at the San Diego History Center throughout the month of February. Special displays honor African American artists, families, trailblazers and champions in San Diego. And there are fun educational activities for young people, too!

Did you know that Audrey “Mickey” Patterson-Tyler was the first Black woman to win an Olympic medal? And that she in her later years lived in National City? I didn’t know.

Did you know that quilts played an unexpected role in Black History? Harriet Tubman used quilts to display secret codes along the Underground Railroad, guiding slaves to freedom. Kids exploring the exhibit can color or add stickers to their own special paper Story Quilt.

As I read various signs, I was reminded how the San Diego History Center partnered with the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Arts six years ago, to feature the work of local Black artists. I blogged about that event here.

There’s so much in the exhibition to absorb: historical photographs, biographies, a display about local struggles for civil rights, and a display concerning Martin Luther King Jr. and his visit to San Diego.

Want to check it out? The San Diego History Center is located in the heart of Balboa Park, Admission is free!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Anti Slavery Quilt of the Women’s Museum.

This beautiful Anti Slavery Quilt is in the collection of the Women’s Museum of California. The quilt is now on display at the San Diego History Center, in celebration of Black History Month.

I was surprised to learn yesterday that the Women’s Museum, located for many years at Liberty Station, moved. It now makes the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park its home!

The quilt is by D’Andrea Davis Mitchell. A nearby sign explains how in the 1970s quilting experienced a revival and became considered work of both craft and art. Inspired artists have used quilting to challenge perceptions of gender roles and the African-American experience in US history.

The Anti Slavery Quilt is part of a larger exhibition inside the San Diego History Center that can be viewed all this month.

My next blog post will show a bit more of what you’ll experience should you walk through the History Center’s door in February!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

The Art of Healing mural in City Heights.

Should you walk down Fairmount Avenue, a block and a half north of University Avenue, you’ll find this beautiful mural. It was painted outside the La Maestra Community Health Center’s HOPE Clinic, which provides health care for the homeless.

There’s a face gazing up at the stars. And a plaque…

The Art of Healing, Sheena Rae Dowling, 2017-2018

This work of art is one of a series of murals commissioned by Covered California in collaboration with La Maestra Community Health Centers as part of the “Covered in Art” project to promote health and wellness in communities across California and attract attention to locations across the state where individuals can enroll in health insurance, get care or participate in activities that foster better health. Sheena Rae Dowling said The Art of Healing was designed to showcase the holistic approach to healing mentally, spiritually and physically. The “Covered in Art” project is a living demonstration of the fact that health care is local and that Covered California is woven into the fabric of local communities.

Sheena Rae Dowling is a San Diego artist whose work has been shown at exhibitions around Southern California. See her website here.

I’ve observed a couple of her great pieces at exhibitions years ago. If you’d like to see them, too, click here and here and read the photo captions.

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

A colorful San Diego Lunar New Year Tết Festival!

This weekend, people are heading to City Heights to enjoy the 14th Annual San Diego Lunar New Year Tết Festival!

The big free event celebrates the Year of the Dragon. Food, fun, cultural displays and entertainment fill Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park, just south of the City Heights/Weingart Library.

I visited the Tết Festival late this morning and watched several traditional dances, as you can see from my photographs. Various local groups performed on the main stage.

Some of the colorful dances were performed by the UCSD Chinese Dance Association. There were also student ballet dancers who are part of a San Diego Ballet education program in City Heights.

And, if that wasn’t exciting enough, there was a crowd-pleasing magician who levitated a young volunteer from the audience!

Tomorrow–Sunday–a full program of events is scheduled, including Vietnamese opera, the ever-popular lion dances, San Diego’s beloved Fern Street Circus, and much more!

This family-friendly festival will be running 11 am to 8 pm on Sunday, so, if you want to have a lot of fun, head over to City Heights!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

A fantastic dragon arrives in San Diego!

An absolutely fantastic dragon has landed in San Diego’s Little Saigon neighborhood!

Today, February 10, 2024, is the Lunar New Year. We’ve entered a Year of the Dragon, so this recently completed mural near the corner of El Cajon Boulevard and Menlo Avenue is just perfect.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2024 is the year of the Green Wooden Dragon. The green means renewal and rebirth are portended!

I noticed a couple weeks ago that Thao Huynh French had begun creating this spray-painted street art. See those photos here.

Her murals are awesome! I’ve photographed a few them over the years around San Diego, particularly in Little Saigon. Last time I saw her, she was painting giant pandas in North Park!

Thao Huynh French is an accomplished Vietnamese American artist, cofounder of Mindful Murals.

You can learn much more about her by reading this article!

Is this one of the coolest murals you’ll ever see?

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

“If not me then who?” in National City.

A thought-provoking mural is boldly painted on a wall in National City. The wall stretches beneath the Dunkin’ Donuts on Plaza Boulevard, just east of Interstate 805.

The east side of the mural asks: “If not me then who…” The long south side encourages those passing by to: ”Make a statement by Making a Difference.”

It surprised me to learn this mural, painted in 2019, honors fallen soldier Lieutenant Commander Landon L. Jones, who died when his helicopter crashed into the Red Sea. A number of Dunkin’ Donuts franchises around San Diego dedicate their stores to a particular fallen service member. These stores are operated by Tali Burton, a U.S. Marine Veteran.

The mural was painted by Coronado residents, and was designed by a Coronado High School student!

To understand the full story, click here for an excellent article.

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

The Weather Channel covers flooding in San Diego.

A crew from The Weather Channel was in San Diego this morning, covering flooding in Mission Valley caused by the rain-swollen San Diego River. It rained much of last night.

The Weather Channel had arrived for live storm coverage, aiming their cameras at high water passing treacherously over Fashion Valley Road.

I had twenty minutes to wait for a bus at the nearby transit center, so I walked down toward the river to check things out for myself. I received some smiles!

I then took a photo from the pedestrian bridge across the river to Town and Country Park, and another from the elevated Fashion Valley trolley station platform.

I had a couple more minutes, so I checked out the flooded Fashion Valley parking structure. It was actually designed to flood, believe it or not! Fortunately, no cars were caught in the water on the lowest level.

In the middle of the day, two tornado warnings were sent out to phones around the city. Apparently no tornadoes actually formed, although someone on the radio said they saw a very dark, low, rotating cloud in Spring Valley..

Was there a rainbow warning? There should have been!

Late in the afternoon, I saw how Mission Center Road was really flooded by the San Diego River. It had rained off and on all day. That car was almost completely submerged.

Please stay safe! More rain to come!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!