New art is arriving at Euclid trolley station!

Look what I discovered during my travels today! New public artwork is now being painted on two low walls by the trolley station platform at the Euclid Transit Center!

When I saw the distinctive style, I guessed that the artist is Maxx Moses, who has other trolley station murals here and here. When I got home, I found this article confirming my suspicion!

And Maxx Moses will be painting a big wall at the nearby 47th Street trolley station, too! It’s part of a cool MTS project to enliven the Orange Line!

This Euclid Avenue Station art, titled Blossom, will eventually include many painted marigolds. Marigolds represent life’s fragility and spiritual endurance in Mexican culture. You often see these flowers during Dia de los Muertos.

I’ll post updated images at some point in the future!

UPDATE!

I visited the Euclid trolley station again in late February and took some more photos. I’m not sure whether the artwork is finished or still a work in progress…

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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!

Memory Traces: art inspired by La Jolla history.

There’s a fascinating exhibition now showing at the La Jolla Historical Society’s Wisteria Cottage Gallery. San Diego artists, after viewing artifacts in the La Jolla Historical Society’s archives, have created pieces that are inspired and informed by the past. The exhibition is titled Memory Traces: Artists Transform the Archive.

I visited the gallery inside the historic Wisteria Cottage yesterday. It’s free to the public and worth the time if you’re curious about local history or the creative process–or philosophy.

According to the La Jolla Historical Society’s description here: The exhibition draws its title from a 1925 essay by Sigmund Freud, in which he explored the way remembrance functions . . . The exhibition proposes that the archives’ contemporary value may, in fact, lie in its malleability . . . for critique, for expanding understandings of experience and of history, for transformation, and the creation of new narratives…

As I walked about looking at the pieces, I could see how this world we live in is a continuum, where past, present and future are entangled and inseparable, not unlike all the moments in our own lives.

I took photos of two examples of the artwork…

Historical photo of Spanish artist Eduardo Chillida’s sculpture Our Father’s House, installed in La Jolla Village in 1989 as part of an outdoor art exhibition. A study for a larger work later installed in Guernica, Spain, honoring lives lost during the Spanish Civil War.
their father’s house, by artist Joe Yorty, 2022. A wood replica with photos and newspaper clippings concerning the building, movement and destruction of local buildings. An homage to past lives, including the artist’s own father.
Cloth banner with words Matinee Today that was once used at La Jolla’s historic Granada Theatre.
Matinee Today, by artist Allison Wiese, 2021. Photos of material from the past being used in present life in many different ways. The past persists. Nothing ever truly goes away.

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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!

Shorelines mosaics at La Jolla Shores Lifeguard Station.

Perceptive people strolling down the boardwalk at La Jolla Shores beach might encounter something both unexpected and wonderful.

Decorating the north and south sides of the La Jolla Shores Lifeguard Station are colorful tile mosaic panels that depict the sun and sea. The public art is titled Shorelines.

Shorelines was installed in 2012, and was created by award-winning San Diego artist Mary Lynn Dominguez.

I really like this beachy artwork! It’s swirly and bubbly and captures the mood of the nearby beach. Looking at the panels is like glimpsing a bright, abstract world through horizonal windows.

You can learn more about Shorelines, which is part of San Diego’s Civic Art Collection, here!

At the front of the lifeguard station, facing the boardwalk, I also noticed a plaque. It remembers Ron Trenton.

The plaque is a bit corroded, as you can see in my photograph. It reads:

RON TRENTON

1945-1997

Gentleman, Scholar, Humorist, Friend, Lifeguard Extraordinare [sic]

“LOST AT SEA”

Now Comes the Lifeguard, Back to the Sea, Where He Found Action, Where He Found Peace, Where He Saved Others With Selfless Devotion and Where He Risked All With a Smile of Emotion

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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!

Beautiful renovation at MCASD La Jolla!

The major renovation and expansion of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla is approaching completion! And it’s looking amazing!

During my long walk yesterday, I photographed the front of the museum and its new outdoor Art Park, which will be open to the public once the construction fence comes down.

To read more about MCASD La Jolla’s major reconstruction project and what visitors can expect when the museum finally reopens this spring, click here.

Meanwhile, enjoy these photos!

The clean, elegant exterior, to me, has been very tastefully handled. Ellen Browning Scripps, newspaper chain founder and philanthropist, commissioned renowned modernist architect Irving Gill to design her La Jolla home. Today it is home of the museum. With some significant changes!

Almost four years ago, I took the following photograph of a rendering that visualized the finished museum. You can revisit that old blog post, which includes images of pieces in the museum’s collection, here!

The upcoming photographs were taken while walking along Prospect Street from the south end of the greatly expanded museum to its new outdoor Art Park.

The limestone egg-like sculpture near the museum’s sleek new entrance is part of Three Cairns. This “West Coast” Cairn is by artist Andy Goldsworthy. The other cairns are in Iowa and New York.

In the Art Park, the motorized black sculpture with wrapping still on its feet is titled Hammering Man at 3,110,527, by artist Jonathan Borofsky.

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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!

Beautiful photos from the foot of Scripps Pier.

Today I went for a very long walk through La Jolla. I started at the San Diego VA Medical Center and proceeded through the UC San Diego campus, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla Shores, and finally into the Village of La Jolla. I have loads of photos to share in the days ahead!

I’ll start off with photos that were taken during the middle part of my walk. As you can see, I had reached the foot of the Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier, which juts into the Pacific Ocean at the world-famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

This pier is an important tool that is used for carrying out ocean research. It has a variety of environmental monitoring stations and supports small boats and scientific diving operations. It also pipes seawater to laboratories on the campus. You can read more about the history of Scripps Pier here.

It was a perfect day. Surfers were out on the waves. Families played on the sunny beach below, or in the shade under the pier. Sunbathers lay on the sand.

A welcoming platform near the foot of the pier is a place where people can relax in chairs and enjoy the view.

A gift to honor Jim Ax, Mathematician-Mariner who loved the “Savage Sea” – Kevin and Brian Keating
Urban runoff biofilter. The rocks, gravel, soil and plants filter runoff so it does not pollute the beach and ocean.

UPDATE!

I noticed an information sign mounted to the platform’s rail during a walk in early 2026…

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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!

It was all a dream in Little Italy!

If you’ve driven north up India Street at Kalmia Street, you might’ve seen three new, very unusual street signs.

Do they indicate motorists are about to leave the Little Italy neighborhood? No. Together in sequence they read: IT WAS ALL A DREAM.

On their other side, the signs declare: WORK IN PROGRESS – YOU ARE HERE – STAY PRESENT.

This raises a difficult question. If the past was all a dream, and people are urged to stay present, what should one do? Avoid a return to dreaming?

Does anyone know who installed this public art? And when? I’ve done some googling, but find nothing but an unhelpful Instagram post. If you have more info about these fun signs, please leave a comment.

By the way, the funky, kitschy zebra stripes-like mural on the side of the El Camino Mexican restaurant that you see in the background was recently painted by Delilah Strukel (@Wanderingdelilah).

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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 buses reserve a seat for Rosa Parks!

Today was a special day on San Diego’s MTS buses. A front seat was reserved on every bus in honor of Rosa Parks! Today, February 4, is her birthday!

I happened to see the above “reserved seat” sign as I boarded the 120 bus this evening at Fashion Valley. The driver admired the sign again and straightened it after I took my photo. As I rode toward home, I remembered there’s a special bus stop dedicated to Rosa Parks on the 44 route, at San Diego Mesa College.

Rosa Parks was largely responsible for starting the civil rights movement in the United States, when she refused to give up her front seat on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama city bus in 1955. Later in life she visited San Diego Mesa College and received an award for her legendary courage and activism.

I took photos of that special bus stop, its historical displays and a nearby bench with the inscription Quiet Strength, a year ago. See those photographs 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!

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!

That huge wall of flowers in North Park!

Have you seen that huge wall of colorful flowers in North Park?

I glimpsed the artwork in passing a few days ago, so this morning I got a better look!

The mural, by Hanna of @HannasMurals, was painted last year on the parking lot wall at Dave’s Flower Box. It’s hard to miss these gigantic blooms near the intersection of Texas Street and El Cajon Boulevard.

Check it out!

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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!

A hike down Manzanita Canyon to Jamie’s Way.

Last weekend I hiked down part of Manzanita Canyon in City Heights. I started at the trailhead just east of the Ocean Discovery Institute and walked along the dry creek bed to a place where the trail splits, then I climbed a short distance up Jamie’s Way trail into Azalea Park.

It was an easy walk full of nature’s beauty. Manzanita Canyon is one of many canyons sprinkled throughout San Diego. These narrow semi-wild corridors provide habitat for birds and a bit of wildlife, and when there are trails like this one, they provide refuge for the spirit.

Jamie’s Way is named after a beloved child from the Azalea Park neighborhood who perished in a car crash. If you’d like to learn more about this amazing little person, who seemed like an angel, click here.

It appears the small rocks along the trailhead at the beginning of my hike were painted by kids at the nearby Ocean Discovery Institute. I saw many sea creatures. I once was told students walk into the canyon here to explore our natural environment.

To learn more about the small park area where Jamie’s Way begins (and where my short, easy hike ended), at the 4200 block of Manzanita Drive, click here. You’ll also see a photograph of a plaque on the bench which is dedicated to Jamie. I took a photo of the plaque, but it is severely weathered beyond recognition, so I’ve chosen not to post it.

Just ahead a few steps I turned to the left and began the short climb up Jamie’s Way.

If you’d like to see an amazing mural that depicts and celebrates the canyon trails in this area, and Jamie’s Trail in particular, click 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!

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!

Fun trashcan tile art at J Street Viewpoint!

Check out this fun artwork on trashcans at the J Street Viewpoint in Encinitas!

I saw this public art during my last walk in Encinitas.

While enjoying the J Street Viewpoint park that overlooks the ocean, I also photographed a plaque remembering John Denver, which you can see here, and an extraordinary sculpture titled Humanity, which you can see here.

I don’t know anything about these trashcans. It appears the tiles were painted by community members, including lots of kids. If you know anything, please leave a comment!

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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!