Kicking off the 2022 Coronado Community READ!

An awesome month-long event kicked off today in the grassy park beside the Coronado Public Library. The 2022 Coronado Community READ is underway!

The event, in its sixth year, encourages residents of Coronado to read one particular book, which is selected by vote-casting members of the community. After two years of isolation and strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it might be more important and satisfying than ever for neighbors to come together with a shared experience.

For 2022 the Coronado Community READ book is West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. West with Giraffes, according to its description, is about “two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America as they traveled across the country to our very own San Diego Zoo.” (Wow! I think I need to read it, too, even though I don’t live in Coronado!)

You can learn more about the book here!

There are two additional books for Coronado’s young readers to enjoy together: Turtle in Paradise: The Graphic Novel by Jennifer L. Holm, and Ty the Quiet Giraffe by Carrie Hasler.

When I heard about this unique “community read” I had to go check out its kick-off today at Coronado Library Park. Following a small speech, the gathered audience listened to the great jazzy music of the Coronado Big Band!

There are various special happenings coming up in April that are part of the big reading event. This coming Thursday, April 7, the author of West with Giraffes will be speaking and autographing her book!

You can find all the dates, times and details by clicking here!

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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 geometry at South Chula Vista Library.

In the quiet of a public library, the world’s infinite pages readily open and curious minds flourish.

Certain libraries offer even more. They are designed for the spirit. The South Branch of the Chula Vista Library is such a place. It’s an urban retreat where eyes hungry for beauty can feast!

I walked around the South Chula Vista Library last weekend. I had never visited it before.

The building’s unusual architecture became apparent as I approached from the street.

Wandering about, I was struck by the many basic geometric shapes that, joined together, help produce the library’s unique beauty. Colorful forms are contrasted with green plant life, and the many indoor and outdoor windows make the library feel like a fluid three-dimensional space that’s both intimate and part of a larger sunny world. Anyway, that’s what I felt. I felt inspired.

The South Chula Vista Branch Library was built under the direction of renowned Mexican architect Ricardo Legorretta in 1995. Learn more about the architect and his other work here.

I took these random photos…

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Cool photo memories from April 2017.

Happy April Fools’ Day!

I tried to dream up a great prank or hoax to start the day, but I’m afraid it’s impossible to top the trick that Father Time plays on all of us.

I find it hard to believe five years have passed since I blogged about the following events!

Back in April 2017 I took a variety of interesting photographs. Check out the following links if you’re so inclined!

Have a great Friday and weekend!

Click the following links to see lots of past photographs…

Fun photos at the Red Bull Air Race!

Colorful photos of Chicano Park Day celebration!

Balboa Park artist paints life size Breeders’ Cup horse!

Murf the Surf and Camellia the Pretty Good Dog.

Photos of San Diego Shaka Fest at Mission Bay.

Cool LEGO creations displayed in Balboa Park!

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Photos of the historic Old Scripps Building.

Enjoy a few photographs of the historic Old Scripps Building, at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.

Today the building is referred to as the George H. Scripps Memorial Marine Biological Laboratory. Located on the oceanfront campus a short distance south of the Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier, it stands next to a grassy area called Pawka Green.

Built 1909-1910, the Old Scripps Building was the original home of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which back then was called the Marine Biological Laboratory. The rather modest building (in which founder and director William Emerson Ritter and his wife also lived) contained research laboratories, offices, and even a public aquarium.

Today, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has grown into a world-famous campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and is part of the University of California, San Diego.

The two-story Old Scripps Building might appear plain at first glance, but look again. The simple, elegant building was designed by none other than renowned architect Irving Gill. His pioneering Modernist designs often integrated simple lines and pure forms. In Southern California’s brilliant sunshine, his spaces are light-filled and welcoming. He also pioneered the use of reinforced concrete. This building is one such example.

In 1982 the Old Scripps Building, due to its historical importance, was designated a National Historic Landmark.

The adjacent Pawka green is dedicated to Steven Sitter Pawka, Ph.D., Scripps Institution of Oceanography coastal oceanographer and waterman. His sophisticated observations and numerical models improved prediction of coastal waves throughout the world.

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Clock and flag Welcome to Allied Gardens.

There’s a street clock and flag in Allied Gardens at the corner of Waring Road and Zion Avenue.

According to this page, during our nation’s bicentennial in 1976, the Grantville-Allied Gardens Kiwanis Club sponsored a parade, and later installed a permanent flagpole in the small park-like space now called The Triangle. Today, those passing through the community are greeted with a friendly Welcome to Allied Gardens.

I walked past the clock and flag a few weekends ago and took these photographs. I also discovered a couple of plaques by the flag. Many of the engraved pavers around the clock’s base have more recent dates.

Welcome to Allied Gardens.
A community service project sponsored by Kiwanis.
Allied Gardens established 1954.
Our American flag dedicated to our community by the Kiwanis Club of Grantville-Allied Gardens in honor of our nations bi-centennial.

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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!

Wonderful sculpture at San Ysidro Health in Chula Vista.

Does anyone out there know anything about this wonderful bronze sculpture of children playing in a tree? It’s located on Third Avenue in Chula Vista, near the entrance to the San Ysidro Health medical building.

As I walked past the beautiful artwork on Saturday I took these photos. I looked for a plaque or any indication of the artist and history. Perhaps I missed it, but I all saw was the sign near its base indicating the sculpture is monitored at all times.

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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!

Smiling new volunteer at Maritime Museum!

Today was Samantha’s first day volunteering at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. From one who is a big fan of the museum–thank you!

I walked slowly around the museum’s historic ships in the early afternoon, watching Sunday volunteers at work, and learned a few new things. There’s always something different and interesting to discover here!

As you can see, along with Samantha, many were working to maintain the Star of India.

Applying a clear UV-resistant acrylic to the main deck of Star of India.
Volunteering, and being members of a sail crew, seems to produce smiles!
Out on the museum’s barge, I saw the Robert Sharp is now pink! Don’t worry, I was told, that’s just a primer coat.
Hammering away on the Star of India’s forward capstan.
A group was setting out on a Sunday sailing adventure aboard tall ship Californian.
I haven’t yet enjoyed a Californian sailing adventure, but I promise to, one day. Looks incredible!
There she goes!

Stay tuned for more photos from Chula Vista, Allied Gardens, La Jolla . . . and who knows where else!

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

San Diego’s elegant Maritime Museum Dancers!

The Maritime Museum Dancers performed today. They graced the dance floor of the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s historic steam ferry Berkeley!

In addition to elegant, spritely dancing, the performers sang both together and individually, and one even read poetry!

These particular costumes and entertainments would have been enjoyed over two hundred years ago in England, in the early 19th century, around the time of the Regency Period.

The Maritime Museum Dancers often perform on another museum ship, HMS Surprise, the replica British Royal Navy ship used in the filming of Master and Commander.

Lucky museum visitors were enraptured by today’s performance, which included line dancing, a quadrille, and a duet. Near the conclusion of their performance, the group sang a gently stirring rendition of Greensleeves.

Alas my love you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously;
And I have loved you oh so long
Delighting in your company…

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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!

The powerful Holocaust exhibit in Chula Vista.

It is essential, to maintain our humanity, that we remember the Holocaust, and the terrifying inhumanity of a time and place when six million ordinary people were systematically murdered.

RUTH Remember Us The Holocaust is an extremely powerful exhibit now on display in Chula Vista. It occupies a corner of the Chula Vista Civic Center Library–a quiet, thoughtful space set aside for the Chula Vista Heritage Museum.

Display cases filled with photographs remember the experiences of Holocaust survivors who arrived in the South Bay with important stories to tell and broken lives to renew. One survivor, in particular, is highlighted: Ruth Sax. As a girl, she lived the horror of Jewish persecution by the Nazis. Ruth would end up in three different concentration camps including Auschwitz.

Those who wish to learn from history will see how Nazis in pre-World War II Germany began with anti-Jewish propaganda and discrimination, and ended with ghettos, concentration camps and extermination centers.

“The smell, deaths, lice, beatings, isolation, tattoos, gassings, cremations, humiliations . . . and the starving, shaving, hiding, markings, threats . . . this was the Holocaust. I felt dead inside . . .” These words were written by Ursula Israelski.

Many of the Holocaust survivors who arrived in San Diego’s South Bay brought with them similar memories. And many, appreciative to be in a free country, were able to live normal lives again–to the extent normal is possible after such life changing experiences.

According to one graphic in a display case, the mission of this exhibit is to shine “a light on the darkness of the Holocaust by creating awareness so that we are guided by leadership, respect, hope and that our history teaches love is stronger than hate and kindness is stronger than power.”

Come and see it with your own eyes.

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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!

Chula Vista Fire Department’s Centennial exhibit!

An ongoing exhibit at the South Chula Vista Library celebrates the centennial of the Chula Vista Fire Department.

Today I visited this library for the very first time, knowing that a vintage fire engine would be on display.

I was excited to discover a large, museum quality exhibit just inside the library entrance!

The Chula Vista Fire Department originated in 1921. For over a century now, they’ve saved many lives and been an integral part of this South Bay community.

The displays I looked at concerning dedication and heroism impressed me the most.

Not only do library visitors see historical photographs, artifacts, and firefighting equipment, but at the center of the exhibit stands the Chula Vista Fire Department’s original fire engine, The Gallopin’ Goose!

I’ve added captions with some additional fascinating info. If you have a chance, I definitely recommend a visit!

Chula Vista Fire Department. Established May 2, 1921. People who care about people.
The Chula Vista Fire Department’s original Seagrave fire truck, on display at South Chula Vista Library. “The Gallopin’ Goose” was purchased in 1923, the same year City Hall was built at 294 Third Avenue. The new City Hall was also a fire and police station.
Artifacts from the very early days of the Chula Vista Fire Department.
The Firemen’s Ball was an annual dance that began in 1922. It raised funds for the Firemen’s Benefit Fund. Children were also helped in the community during Christmas.
Originally, firefighters used buckets of water passed from hand to hand. But the “bucket brigade” method wasn’t very effective. The development of the firehose was of critical importance.
One display in the exhibit concerns training.
Photos, descriptions and firefighting equipment in one corner of the extensive centennial exhibit. Fire Station No. 5 is located directly next to the South Chula Vista Library.
Firefighting equipment includes breathing apparatus, turnouts (protective clothing) and helmets.
Dogs heroes help with ignitable liquid detection, and urban search and rescue.
Six Chula Vista firefighters traveled to New York City after the attacks of September 11, 2001. They worked the night shift at Ground Zero for ten days.
Artwork celebrates the firefighting heroes of Chula Vista.
The museum display is dedicated to Captain William Gavin.
If you’d like to show your support for the Chula Vista Fire Department, read the above sign!

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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!