A walk past the Baby Del in Coronado.

If you walk along the beach in Coronado, you might notice a gorgeous old Victorian house that resembles a small version of the famous Hotel del Coronado. It stands near the corner of Isabella Avenue and Ocean Boulevard. The Livingston House, built in 1887, is appropriately known as the Baby Del!

The “Baby Del” was originally located in Sherman Heights at 24th and J Streets. It was the home of Mrs. Harriett Livingston. It is said many of the workers who built the house would also work building the fantastic Hotel del Coronado one year later.

In 1983 the Livingston House was moved by barge to Coronado by architect Christopher Mortenson, who was instrumental in the Gaslamp Quarter’s renewal. The property was sold not long ago for nearly 16 million dollars.

The amazing house is recognized as San Diego Historical Landmark No. 58. Read more about the Baby Del at this website.

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Enormous cow appears in City Heights!

A gigantic cow wandered into City Heights a couple weeks ago. Drivers heading down University Avenue, a block west of the Euclid Tower, might spot the enormous bovine standing against the old Chinatown Bar building!

The cow mural was painted by Ground Floor Murals (@groundfloormurals). You can see the artists creating this eye-catching artwork on their Instagram page here.

The building is now home to Key and Cleaver, a sustainable farm-to-table burger restaurant. I can see why that gigantic cow is cautiously watching its back!

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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!

I Love My Park Day coming this Saturday!

I Love My Park Day is coming up this Saturday, May 13, 2023!

The City of San Diego Parks & Recreation Department invites one and all to enjoy entertainment, inflatables, crafts, games, music, community resources, food, and lots of other fun stuff! The free event is organized by the San Diego Parks Foundation.

I Love My Park Day can be enjoyed at these four locations in San Diego, between 3 pm and 6 pm:

City Heights at the City Heights Recreation Center, 4380 Landis Street.

Linda Vista at the Linda Vista Recreation Center, 7064 Levant Street.

Logan Heights at the Dolores Magdaleno Memorial Recreation Center, 2902 Marcy Avenue.

Skyline at the Skyline Hills Recreation Center, 8285 Skyline Drive.

Also, this same coming Saturday, May 13th, bring the entire family out to Teralta Park in City Heights between 2 pm and 3:30 pm and experience San Diego’s favorite Fern Street Circus!

It’s all 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 Twitter!

Presidential visit exhibit at Hotel Del’s museum.

Last February a new exhibit was added to the Hotel del Coronado’s museum, which is located in the Victorian resort’s old ice house. Several display cases contain historical photographs and ephemera recalling visits to the Hotel del Coronado by United States Presidents.

How many Presidents? Count them. Benjamin Harrison, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

In addition to fancy printed invitations and menus, you’ll see that one state dinner in the Hotel Del’s famous Crown Room required 450 pounds of Totuava Sea Bass, 1000 pounds of Nebraska Prime Beef, 300 pounds of California Roasted Potatoes, 300 pounds of Colossal Asparagus, 1400 heads of Kentucky Lime stone [sic] Lettuce, 1400 Hearts of Artichoke…20 cases of Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon 1966…etc…

That must have been quite a feast!

I first visited the Hotel del Coronado’s fascinating museum a year ago and posted a blog about it 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!

Scarlet Witch materializes in the Gaslamp!

The powerful Scarlet Witch has begun to materialize in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter! Is it the heroic Scarlet Witch, member of the Avengers, or the terrifying one who wants to dominate the multiverse?

Well, to find out, one must step inside the Bards and Cards game store on Fifth Avenue. A cool mural is now being created behind the front counter!

I learned there will be three parts to the mural, including imagery that pertains to Dungeons & Dragons.

The artist is Robert Turner (@thewaterthief).

I’ll drop by again on a future walk to photograph the artwork’s progress!

UPDATE!

A couple weeks later I saw a Dungeons & Dragons creature appearing. It’s a beholder…

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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!

Cool new mural at Pokez in San Diego!

Today I spotted this cool new mural outside Pokez Mexican Restaurant during a walk through San Diego’s East Village. It’s by artist CALEB AERO (@calebaero).

I don’t see this mural on the artist’s Instagram page, but a couple of people who seemed knowledgeable, including someone working inside the restaurant, indicated this artwork was painted several months ago.

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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!

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde debut in San Diego!

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have made their official debut in San Diego!

The famous character with two personas and two names, originally created by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, has been recreated in downtown San Diego. His two halves–the good and the evil–occupy a mysterious cabinet inside the studio of artist James Watts (@jewattso)!

Early this year I found James Watts working on his inspired Jekyll and Hyde cabinet in his utterly fantastic studio, and I posted photos and a little explanation here. This afternoon I beheld the finished creation!

Like any work of true art, the cabinet and its contents ignite mind, emotions and imagination. What does it all mean? A few suggestive words were provided by the artist.

On the rear of the cabinet is the image of a baby, symbolic of innocence, before choices are made in life…

Here’s the front of the mysterious cabinet with its sliding door. The cloud designs are influenced by Japanese art. Which side of the cabinet do you dare open first?

Here we have Dr. Jekyll, made of sailcloth sewn by hand. He’s wrapped up in tidy fashion, sitting politely and civilized.

On the opposite side lurks violent Mr. Hyde. He appears inhuman, hard and boney, and he has a hole in his head and heart!

James Watts then showed me how he’s working on a cool finger project now. He’s whittling lots of different fingers.

One can use one’s own fingers to pick among fingers…

James Watts works on new fingers on the sidewalk outside his downtown San Diego studio!

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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!

A taste of the 40th Annual Ethnic Food Fair!

The 40th Annual Ethnic Food Fair is taking place today in San Diego’s Balboa Park!

If you read this in time, the big culinary festival continues at the International Cottages through 7 pm.

I must confess I walked through the event quickly and didn’t partake of any food, but I did pause for a few minutes to take in the atmosphere, and to watch dancers in folk costume from the House of Turkey performing on stage. Look at the huge crowd!

I did smell many different wonderful aromas!

Here’s a photographic taste of what visitors to the Ethnic Food Fair enjoyed today!

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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!

Beautiful blooms at San Diego Iris Society show.

I took a bunch of flower photographs today at the San Diego Iris Society’s show and sale in Balboa Park. Some of the blooms were beginning to dry out after a full weekend, but that is the eventual fate of any beautiful flower.

In my last blog post, I quoted Frida Kahlo: “I paint flowers so they will not die.” Well, perhaps by taking photographs, the same immortality can be achieved!

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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!

Creativity thrives on Free Comic Book Day!

Today, May 6, was annual national Free Comic Book Day!

Southern California Comics in Kearny Mesa held a big event celebrating the day, and I dropped by to see what I might see. (And to pick up a big bag of free comic books! Later arrivals were allowed to grab 15 comics. I have some reading to do!)

In the parking lot outside the store a number of small vendors were selling all sorts of pop culture collectibles, and independent artists were showcasing their original creations.

I wandered a bit and spoke to some of the friendly artists.

One thing that was obvious is these people are driven by dreams and ambition and a relentless passion to create. As an author of short fiction, I can relate.

No matter what level of success any artist might achieve, it’s good to remember these words by Frida Kahlo: “I paint flowers so they will not die.”

Every artist has the ability to work that magic.

I really like the work of Ruben Rosas. He does illustration and digital art. See some of his stuff here.

I learned there’s a group of artists who call themselves the Comicbook Artists of San Diego. The two guys who greeted me were super friendly. According to their website: CASD was founded with the intention of building a local community of comicbook artists to foster artistic growth and to showcase their artwork. They want to put San Diego on the artistic map!

More cool artists! These smiling humans are two of the creators of Accidental Aliens, a local comic art studio! Check them out here. A description of their 2nd Shift Volume 1 includes: When evil incarnate tears through San Diego, four fledgling superheroes band together…

Oh, look! It’s Horrorgasm! I once saw an exhibition of their art at the Comic-Con Museum here.

It appears Ronald McDonald has traveled to Free Comic Book Day from a galaxy far, far away.

Great cosplay. And an earnest pitch to check out the 60 Pages 14 Creative Teams 1 Big Punk Rock Comic Kickstarter page 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!