Fun photos of Comic-Con preparation in San Diego!

With one week to go in San Diego until the start of Comic-Con 2023, preparations around downtown are accelerating!

More building wraps are appearing in the Gaslamp Quarter and near the San Diego Convention Center. Glimpses of outside pop ups and other fun stuff can now be observed, such as the above smiling chicken . . . or is that someone trying out a Cluckin’ Bell costume?

You might remember Cluckin’ Bell from the Grand Theft Auto video games. You’ll be able to visit a living replica of the fast food joint during Comic-Con. Cluckin’ Bell will be taking over Smokin J’s barbeque restaurant at 751 Fourth Avenue.

Please enjoy photographs I took today during a very long walk around Comic-Con’s outdoor “campus” in San Diego.

First up, I learned that internationally renowned graffiti artist RISK will be showing his artwork at Exclusive Collections Gallery in the Gaslamp at 621 Fifth Avenue. You can meet the artist the Friday and Saturday of Comic-Con week, from 5-9 pm. Here’s a photo of RISK’s Taz…

Posters advertising Twisted Metal on peacock are now all over the Gaslamp Quarter…

The Super Mario Bros. Movie art on the windows of Sweet Things Frozen Yogurt becomes ever more colorful…

Workers getting ready for Comic-Con 2023 clean up trash near the trolley tracks along Harbor Drive…

So many San Diego Trolley cars now have Comic-Con wraps that entire 3-car trains often display the same fun graphics…

Multiple building wraps can now be viewed in the Gaslamp…

The stylish Interview With The Vampire building wrap on the Hilton Gaslamp is pretty awesome…

A big wrap promoting Paramount+ show Yellowjackets is being applied to one side of the Hard Rock Hotel…

Look what has appeared on the Omni Hotel! That looks like Stewie of Family Guy!

And on another side of the Omni, I see Lisa of The Simpsons playing sax!

The Good Omens 2 building wrap I blogged about yesterday appears about done…

Right next to it another wrap is going up. Probably another Amazon Prime Video show…

Finally, here’s a new building wrap being applied to the Pendry San Diego hotel…

What show is this?

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!

Vampire theatre and early Comic-Con omens!

Will Comic-Con 2023 goers be able to enjoy the entertainment provided by Vampire Theatre? If the early appearance of graphics applied to the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter hotel are any indication, perhaps!

I walked around this evening and captured more photographs of pre-Comic-Con activity. Perhaps you saw my previous blog post where I shared photos of building wraps that are materializing all over!

Here come a few more photos from my latest walk.

Interview With The Vampire is being applied to one window of the Hilton Gaslamp.

That Amazon Prime Video building wrap at Fifth Avenue and K Street has expanded during the afternoon. Friendly workers putting up the graphics told me the entire Hilton Gaslamp and this building adjoining it on Fifth Avenue will be completely wrapped on every side.

That wrap above when competed will advertise Good Omens 2. I got the following picture of a sample showing how it will appear. You can see where building windows will be in relation to the graphics…

And on the San Diego Convention Center side of the Hard Rock Hotel, a wrap is going up that promotes Yellowjackets on Paramount+ . . .

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!

Building wraps appear for Comic-Con 2023!

The first building wraps are being put up in downtown San Diego for Comic-Con 2023!

I noticed several promotional wraps this afternoon during a walk around the Gaslamp Quarter and San Diego Convention Center.

I’ll probably head out this evening to see what progress has been made. I’ll provide an update!

First, check out this huge wrap on the Park 12 high-rise. It promotes Special Ops: Lioness on Paramount+ . . .

Next, I noticed the Hilton Gaslamp will apparently be the site of an Interview With The Vampire on AMC activation. Vampire theatre, anyone?

Across Fifth Avenue, I saw a building wrap near the top of the Hard Rock Hotel. It promotes Yellowjackets on Paramount+ . . .

Another wrap is beginning to appear on the convention center side of the Hard Rock Hotel . . .

Lastly, looks like Amazon Prime Video will have a promotional building wrap at Fifth Avenue and K Street . . .

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!

New Blood runs through San Diego for Comic-Con!

Check out this new San Diego trolley wrap for Comic-Con 2023! I got these photos today. The graphics promote products created by video game publisher New Blood Interactive!

Images afire with fantasy and horror relate to the games Amid Evil, Gloomwood and Dusk.

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!

Spider-Man clings to a San Diego trolley!

Spider-Man was observed in San Diego today clinging to the side of a moving trolley! Well, two Spider-Men to be exact. Peter Parker and Miles Morales!

A very cool new trolley wrap that will run during Comic-Con 2023 promotes the upcoming Spider-Man 2 action-adventure video game, which will be available on PlayStation 5.

On Thursday, July 20, at Comic-Con, “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” will have its own Hall H panel hosted by Insomniac Games called Symbiotic Relationships. It seems the symbiote will play an important role in the game!

According to the Insomniac Games website, Spider-Man 2 will include Venom, the ruthless Kraven the Hunter, the volatile Lizard and many more.

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!

Super Mario art appears outside Comic-Con!

Comic-Con 2023 is almost here! Fun art has begun to appear in the windows of Sweet Things Frozen Yogurt at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, near the San Diego Convention Center!

Shirish Villaseñor (@shirishtheartist) started sketching Super Mario characters on the Sweet Things Frozen Yogurt shop windows today. She’ll be adding color and detail in the days ahead. I’ll post updates as I capture new photos!

The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a blockbuster earlier this year, so this artwork outside the world’s most amazing pop culture event is timely! Is that Bowser playing the piano? How many characters do you recognize?

Because Comic-Con is ten days away, my blog will now switch into 100% “Comic-Con mode.” I’ll post photos as I discover new Comic-Con stuff while walking around downtown San Diego.

If Comic-Con isn’t your cup of tea, fear not. More typical Cool San Diego Sights blog posts will resume when the big international event concludes!

UPDATE!

A couple days later, I found Shirish at work!

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!

San Diego kids paint Little Portugal street art!

At the corner of Shafter Street and Avenida de Portugal, in San Diego’s historic Little Portugal neighborhood, you’ll find this delightful street art. Four electrical boxes were painted last year by students attending Warren-Walker Middle School.

Colorful images on the boxes include dancers in traditional Portuguese folk costume and the Portuguese Rooster of Barcelos, symbol of Portugal.

A few steps from this street art (and visible in the next photo) is the S.E.S. Portuguese Hall of San Diego. Every year Festa do Espírito Santo is celebrated at the hall.

Just up the street one can visit the Portuguese Historical Center. I took a peek inside the small museum four years ago. See those photos and learn more 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!

Four more cool murals in Escondido!

Over the years, I’ve photographed a variety of outdoor murals in Escondido. During my latest walk through downtown Escondido, I took pictures of more cool murals that I hadn’t previously seen!

All four of these colorful murals can be viewed from the alley between Grand Avenue and East 2nd Avenue, a few steps on either side of Juniper Street. Walk about with curious eyes and you’ll find them, too!

The first mural on the rear of the ArtHatch Arts Complex building appears to be titled Pieces Of Us. It’s by local artist Zane Kingcade, 2014:

On another wall of the same building is a big amazing mural called Seasons of Change. It’s by artist Amanda Lynn, painted in 2016:

The third mural I spotted is on one side of Best Little Hair House, by artist Zane in 2013:

Finally, I really like this fun mural painted on one side of Mexico Lindo restaurant. It appears to be signed Flores:

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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!

Volunteers make Shelter Island more beautiful!

Shelter Island is one of the most beautiful spots in sunny San Diego.

Today, as I walked along Shelter Island’s linear Shoreline Park, I noticed two volunteers working around colorful blooms in a flower bed. They were making the bayside park even more beautiful!

Theresa and Steve are both members of the Point Loma Association’s volunteer Mean Green Team. When they saw me taking photographs of the flowers, they immediately greeted me with big smiles.

I learned that they and other Mean Green Team members maintain about ten garden spaces along Shelter Island. They not only work to make this part of Point Loma more beautiful, but they brighten the world that we all live in.

I learned Theresa was born in China, grew up in Taiwan, and is very grateful to live in the United States. She’s an author! One of her books, titled Americans the Beautiful, provides portraits of many wonderful friends. In her book’s Acknowledgments, she writes: Thank you for showing and sharing how you applied yourself to achieve wonderful dreams for humanity, creativity, entrepreneurship, independence and inspiration.

As a cooking teacher, she has also has written a book titled Fairy Tale Soup: Traditional Chinese Recipes with Related Stories. It’s loaded with authentic recipes. By just reading a few pages, I’ve already learned a lot about Chinese culture and cooking!

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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!

Alvarado House of Del Mar Historical Society.

The Del Mar Historical Society operates a museum inside the 1885 Alvarado House, a small structure that in 1989 was relocated and placed inside the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Every year, visitors to the San Diego County Fair have the opportunity to look inside the old beach cottage and view its exhibits.

The house was originally lived in by Don Diego de Jesus Alvarado, who owned Rancho de los Peñasquitos. According to a handout that a friendly society volunteer offered me, Don Diego de Jesus Alvarado purchased the house in 1885 from Jacob Taylor, Del Mar’s original developer, and moved to Del Mar where he ran a livery stable.

The furnishings inside the Alvarado House represents the period between 1885 and 1910. Visitors can walk through the parlor, the family/dining room, and view a bedroom and the kitchen.

Exhibits covering many walls document the rich history of the Del Mar Fair. A special display recalls Don Diego, the fair’s official greeter that was played by actor Tommy Hernandez.

In addition, dozens of celebrity photographs document how the Del Mar Racetrack, founded by Bing Crosby, attracted numerous big stars from Hollywood.

According to their website: A major goal of the Del Mar Historical Society is to bring the Alvarado House back into Del Mar. We are searching for the ideal location, and the recently-acquired Del Mar Shores School property may be that place. The goal includes a museum for the display of Del Mar artifacts, an atmospheric-controlled storage room, and a meeting room.

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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!