Restoring many murals in Chicano Park!

About a week ago I was privileged to be shown many outdoor murals that are currently being restored in world-famous Chicano Park. What I observed were artists and volunteers working on the Chicano Park Mural Restoration Project 2023.

New color and vibrancy were being applied by many brushes. Preserving these historic murals, which speak vividly of struggle, resilience, and accomplishment by members of the Chicano, Latino, Mexican migrant and Indigenous communities, is an important undertaking. Chicano Park has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

Over 15 murals are to be fully restored in collaboration with the original artists. In the next photo you can see Mario Torero, who painted many of the Chicano Park murals.

I encourage anyone in San Diego who has never experienced Chicano Park to swing on by and wander among the monumental artwork. History, culture and decades of activism in the pursuit of civil rights will make an unforgettable impression.

I was amazed when I learned a group of three artists that painted a mural in 1977 as young women are now restoring their beautiful mural, almost half a century later! They call themselves Mujeres Muralistas. Watch an interview of the artists here. You can see their inspired work in my final two photographs!

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Help solve an important San Ysidro mystery!

Photo courtesy Charlie Velazquez.

Your help is needed!

Do you have any old photographs taken years ago in San Ysidro? An effort is underway to reconstruct a World War II Memorial in San Ysidro, but more information is required.

147 men and women who lived in San Ysidro served in the military during World War II. Their names were listed on a memorial that stood in front of the old San Ysidro Library. But that memorial mysteriously disappeared, and now all that remains is a single photograph that shows only some of those names.

Here’s an article that provides a good explanation.

A group called the Friends of San Ysidro Luncheon Group has been attempting to ascertain all 147 names that were on the missing World War II Memorial, and they are still hoping someone out there has photos of it.

Do you know anyone out there who might have taken photographs in San Ysidro long ago? Your help would be greatly appreciated!

If you have any helpful information, please email Jack Gechter at jackgechter@cox.net.

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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 Twitter!

More fun sculptures in downtown Vista!

Last week I enjoyed a fine walk through downtown Vista, in San Diego’s North County.

As I moseyed about, I was pleased to discover a bunch of fun sculptures that were new to me! I found these works of public art in spots where past sculptures stood several years ago.

(I noticed these pieces are available for purchase. Contact the City of Vista if you’re interested.)

The streets of downtown Vista are so alive with public art that it’s a joy to wander about and stumble upon fresh surprises!

This is what I found…

Faces in All Sorts of Places by Isabella Bowman.

Cactus Love by Noe Estrada.

Deep Roots by Alex Gall.

Colorful Season by Norberto Estrada.

Octo by Sergey Gornushkin.

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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 Twitter!

More creative, colorful Murals of La Jolla!

The thirteen-year-old Murals of La Jolla project is in constant flux. Older murals vanish, amazing new murals suddenly appear on buildings, along streets, in alleys. According to the official website there are currently 16 murals on view and the project has commissioned 45 artworks to date.

During my walk through the Village of La Jolla a couple of weeks ago, I spotted some murals that I hadn’t previously seen or photographed.

Here they are!

Ocean Front Property in Arizona, Rosson Crow, 2022.

The Scripps Gill Loggia, Rex Southwick, 2023.

Ebony on Draper and Girard, June Edmonds, 2021.

Paintings Are People Too, Monique van Genderen, 2020.

Eclipse (Playtime), Isaac Julien, 2020.

Resurgence, Chitra Ganesh, 2022.

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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 Twitter!

Author faces behind La Jolla Warwick’s bookstore.

Do you recognize some of these faces? They belong to authors who’ve participated in events hosted by La Jolla’s legendary Warwick’s bookstore. Some of the authors are very famous!

During my latest La Jolla walk, I noticed this collection of many faces printed on canvas in the alley directly behind Warwick’s. Upon doing some Googling, I noticed there was an article in 2021 concerning the mural. The twenty author illustrations were created by local artist Lori Mitchell.

Read the article here.

I increased the contrast of these photos because the artwork appears to be a bit sun-faded.

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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 Twitter!

Training ship Golden Bear departs San Diego.

I was walking along San Diego’s Embarcadero this morning when I noticed a large, very interesting ship departing from Broadway Pier. I like to gaze at unusual ships, while trying to deduce their function. Was this a research vessel of some sort?

When I got home, I learned the TS Golden Bear is a training ship used to train cadets attending the California State University Maritime Academy. The unique school, based in Vallejo, is part of the California State University system and the only maritime academy on the United States West Coast.

TS Golden Bear is actually the third training ship bearing the same name. This particular ship actually began its life in the late 1980s in the United States Navy as USNS Maury (T-AGS-39). At the time, the USNS Maury was the fastest and largest oceanographic ship in the United States fleet. Read more about the TS Golden Bear 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 Twitter!

Historical photographs at San Ysidro Library.

Border Sign, circa 1920. San Ysidro The Gateway to the U.S.

Those interested in the history of San Diego should visit the San Ysidro Library. Inside the library’s community room, fascinating historical photographs of San Ysidro (one of San Diego’s southernmost districts) can be viewed.

I visited the library yesterday. I wanted to check out the old photos and visualize how San Ysidro appeared long ago.

I learned how this border community began as the Little Landers colony, a family farming cooperative created by agricultural reformer, journalist and writer William E. Smythe in 1908. The motto of Little Landers was “A little land and a living surely is better than desperate struggle and wealth possibly.” It was one of the nation’s first communes. The colony was named San Ysidro, probably after the patron saint of farmers, Isidore the Laborer, and was formally inaugurated on January 11, 1909.

I was also surprised to learn San Ysidro had a Pony Express station!

Here are just a few of the photographs you will see should you visit the library…

Little Landers Colony School, circa 1907. The schoolhouse was located on East San Ysidro Boulevard (old Tia Juana Boulevard) where I-805 is today.

Little Landers Colony Sign by San Ysidro Post Office, circa 1913.

U.S. and Mexico Border Crossing officials, circa 1924. Looking north from Tijuana toward San Ysidro. The train in the background is on the San Diego Arizona Eastern Railway built by John D. Spreckels.

Pony Express Station, circa 1916. Refugees from the Great Flood of 1916, worst natural disaster in the history of the South Bay.

San Ysidro Library, circa 1930. The original 1924 library–first Branch Library owned by the County of San Diego. It was the only library in the country with a smoking room for men!

I took outside photos of the old 1924 library several years ago. See them 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 Twitter!

Historic Route US 101 signs for South Bay!

Jack Gechter stands next to Historic Route California US 101 sign at South Bay Historical Society booth during Chula Vista Lemon Festival.

A very cool project is now being undertaken by the South Bay Historical Society. I learned about it last Saturday as I explored the Lemon Festival in Chula Vista.

A number of Historic Route California US 101 signs (like the one you see above) have been created, to be installed in National City, Chula Vista and San Ysidro along those streets where the legendary highway used to run.

Old timers might recall how US 101 ran north from near the US/Mexico Border in San Ysidro, along Beyer Blvd toward Chula Vista, along National Avenue (now Broadway in Chula Vista and National City Blvd in National City) to 8th Street, then along 8th Street west to Harbor Drive, before heading up through downtown San Diego and eventually into North County. Old U.S. Route 101 during its history saw various realignments, before being entirely replaced south of Los Angeles by Interstate 5 in 1964.

Here’s a great article detailing where the historic highway ran through San Diego and the South Bay cities. You’ll see current photographs of those places where it ran. Here’s another article with a map depicting an earlier US 101 Route, running up today’s National City Blvd to Main Street.

Many similar Historic Route US 101 signs have already been installed in San Diego County, particularly through the coastal cities of North County.

Once these new signs are installed, they will add a fine, nostalgic touch to those South Bay communities that the old highway once connected to the rest of California. And they will resurrect many fond memories.

Historic 101 Route Sign in San Ysidro, California. Image courtesy Jack Gechter.

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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 Twitter!

Symphony brass, a World Premiere, and the Spreckels Organ!

When San Diego Symphony musicians team up with San Diego Civic Organist Raul Prieto Ramírez, you know extraordinary music will follow. When the concert includes a World Premiere by noted composer Texu Kim, it’s an experience you won’t soon forget!

This evening, in San Diego’s always amazing Balboa Park, a Brass and Organ Stereophonic Stravaganza was enjoyed by a huge crowd at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

Fine music flowed from the brass instruments of eight San Diego Symphony musicians. Their notes were often accompanied by the mighty Spreckels Organ, world’s largest outdoor musical instrument. A stream of emotions was summoned almost magically, as excellent music will do. It all resulted in a prolonged final standing ovation.

The World Premiere of the piece Mir by Texu Kim was surprising, innovative and a whole lot of fun. I heard audience members gasp when the piece concluded. Learn more about the featured guest composer Texu Kim here.

If you haven’t been to any of this year’s 35th Annual San Diego International Organ Festival free concerts, you should go! There are three more scheduled in Balboa Park. Next Monday the organist is from the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris! The following Monday is Silent Movie Night–a crowd favorite every year!

Interested? Check out the schedule for the remaining concerts 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 Twitter!

House of Ukraine band to rock Ocean Beach!

The band u3zubmusic will be opening for legendary Ukrainian band SKRYABIN tomorrow, August 15, in Ocean Beach at Winstons Beach Club. What is the band u3zubmusic? A rockin’ group of musicians representing the House of Ukraine in Balboa Park!

I was walking near Balboa Park’s International Cottages this evening when I heard the band rehearsing out on the lawn. I listened for a bit and got some smiles for my camera.

If you want to hear music that is filled with Ukrainian spirit, you might check out the concert. Read more about it and purchase tickets 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 Twitter!