Many in San Diego saw a fiery sunset this evening!
I was walking in Mission Valley along Friars Road when swaths of brilliant yellow, orange and red caught my eye. The clouds above were afire! The dark branches of nearby trees seemed engulfed in flame!
I aimed my camera skyward to capture a few moments of nature’s beauty.
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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!
While driving through Kearny Mesa, have you glimpsed something mysterious above an Aero Drive street sign?
I saw this unique “Honorary Deegan and Stephen Lew Drive” sign last weekend. I was walking down a sidewalk through the Convoy District.
Pausing at the corner of Convoy Street and Aero Drive, I took this photograph.
When I got home, I found a press release from San Diego District 6 Councilmember Chris Cate.
I learned that the 7900 block of Aero Drive was dedicated last summer to two brothers who were members of the Asian American community. Both were “…incredibly active civically, culturally, and philanthropically…”
I also learned this is the very first street sign in San Diego written in both English and Chinese.
I don’t recall seeing the dedication event on the news, and indeed a search of Google News turns up nothing.
I’m glad I happened to see the sign. I learned a little about two people who were loved by many, and who contributed to the life of our city.
“San Diego is a better, more kind, and compassionate place because of Deegan and Stephen.”
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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!
Walk in and around San Diego and you might stumble upon alleys jam packed with fantastic murals.
More of these amazing art alleys exist out “in the wild” than you might realize.
Back in 2020 I shared photographs from surprising art alleys that I’d discovered during my walks. You can find those many photos by clicking here.
Since then I’ve photographed even more!
If you’d like to enjoy lots of photos of extremely creative artwork, mostly by local street and graffiti artists, click the upcoming links!
(I’ve grouped these links by city or neighborhood…)
Solana Beach
Stepping into the Art Alley on Cedros!
Ocean Beach
An alley in Ocean Beach alive with cool art!
Hillcrest
More murals painted in amazing Hillcrest alley!
Lemon Grove
The amazing, hidden art alley in Lemon Grove!
Escondido
Murals fill Escondido alley with art!
More fun art in an Escondido alley!
Normal Heights
The creativity of new graffiti in Flash Alley!
Encinitas
An amazing hidden art alley in Encinitas!
Cool art in one Encinitas alley!
Oceanside
The cool murals of Artist Alley in Oceanside!
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Travel down the coast highway in Encinitas and you might never know you’re a very short distance from an amazing “hidden” art alley!
Colorful murals fill the alley just west of South Coast Highway 101 between D Street and E Street.
I captured photographs of all the artwork as I walked south down the alley, from a spot behind 7-Eleven.
I noticed several artist signatures and have included that info in my captions.
Enjoy!
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
It was a perfect January day on San Diego Bay. Not a cloud in the blue sky, very little haze, a comfy 70 degrees. No jacket required!
As a member of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, I have a couple of free tickets for harbor tours aboard the museum’s historic Pilot boat. I used one of those tickets this afternoon!
These photographs on the water show a little of why so many people love San Diego.
I’ve provided details about the historic Pilot boat and this harbor tour in the past. See that old blog post here.
I’ve also blogged about many of the unique sights one can see on San Diego Bay. You can check out a couple of those fascinating posts here and here.
Today I wanted to relax, not take notes.
Simply take in the beauty.
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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!
Lots of fascinating activity today at the Maritime Museum of San Diego!
As I walked about, I noticed volunteers and sail crew members were working on several very different vessels in the museum’s world-famous collection.
Sparks were flying from the black sail of the B-39 Soviet-era Russian submarine. Its life, sadly, has come to an end. Preparations are underway to tow the badly rusted Foxtrot-class diesel electric submarine to Mexico where it will be scrapped.
After watching guys using a torch on the sub’s outer hull, I walked to the far end of the Maritime Museum’s barge where the Robert Sharp’s stern was being restored. A friendly worker with a heat gun was crackling old varnish, which was then scraped off.
When I stepped onto the deck of the historic steam yacht Medea, I noticed a woodworker carefully repairing the boat’s wooden rail where it had split.
The elegant Medea has a fascinating history.
Did you know that, in addition to Medea being a pleasure yacht that cruised the isles and lochs of Scotland, it was used by France during World War I, and by the British Royal Navy and Norwegian Navy during World War II?
Learn much more 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!
A steep outdoor staircase in Tierrasanta has been called both the Stairway to Hell and the Stairs of Death. Take your pick!
The 112 steps start from the Clairemont Mesa Boulevard sidewalk and ascend northward. They can be found a short distance west of Antigua Boulevard.
As you climb this popular neighborhood exercise spot, you might notice colorful butterflies all about your feet. They seem to be flying skyward, too.
Once you reach the top, you’ll find yourself by a large grassy sports field near Vista Grande Elementary School. And look at the views!
Stairway to Hell? Perhaps these steps should be called Stairway to Heaven…
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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!
Upper case and lower case.
Mind your p’s and q’s.
The wrong sort.
Out of sorts.
I learned yesterday during a visit to the San Diego Union Building in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park that these expressions are believed to come from days long past.
There was a period in history when printing was a tedious operation requiring a hand operated press. To print pages, small cast metal blocks that imprint individual characters were manually assembled into words and sentences. These physical types were set into printable forms by the skilled, quick fingers of print shop compositors.
See all those drawers in the above photo? Each drawer is a type case containing sorts, the particular letters and other characters that are “sorted” into the forms.
Somewhere along the line, capital letters were arranged in an upper drawer: the upper case. Compositors rushing to print a newspaper would sometimes confuse the similar appearing p’s and q’s. Or accidentally choose the wrong sort. Or become disconcerted when they ran out of sorts.
And that how these peculiar expressions are said to have originated!
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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!
To read a few stories I’ve written, click Short Stories by Richard.
During the ups and downs of this long COVID-19 pandemic, Old Town San Diego State Historic Park’s indoor museums have been mostly closed. But I learned today that outdoor “Hidden History Talks” are now being held free to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm.
There are several interesting locations in the State Park where the talks might be held, including the courtyard of the Casa de Estudillo and the donkey pen behind Seeley Stable. Visitors to the park should watch for signs indicating where that day’s free history talk will be.
Today I sat on a bench in the beautiful Casa de Estudillo garden and listened to a California State Parks employee talk about the remarkable biodiversity in San Diego, which is partly attributed to the importation of plants and trees by Spanish missionaries, settlers, traders, and early civic visionaries like Kate Sessions.
The garden at the Casa de Estudillo is a sort of microcosm of this biodiversity.
Trees and shrubs were pointed out on all sides, and explanations were made of why they had been planted here–many a century and a half ago. Curious eyes turned this way and that at the mention of pepper and olive trees, pomegranates, and loquat, mulberry, pecan and walnut trees. And many others!
Among the things we learned was that small pepper trees from Spain, newly planted around Old Town’s plaza, had to be protected from roaming cattle. A century and a half later those pepper trees are huge and beautiful!
Everything we learned was fascinating.
I was told that eventually the normal walking tours should return to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, but it all depends on the COVID-19 pandemic’s trajectory and public health orders.
If you’d like an idea of what the regular one hour walking tours are like, 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!
Look at all these beautiful new faces in City Heights! I saw them today during a morning walk.
An incredible 263-foot long mural is gradually coming to life at the south end of Teralta Park, which is located on the freeway cap over Interstate 15. The mural is being painted by talented San Diego graffiti artist Sake, whom I met last year.
Last time I photographed the mural-in-progress, several faces at the left end had been finished. Since then, more faces have been completed! And other painted details throughout the very long mural are appearing as well.
City Heights is a community in east San Diego that is home to many immigrants and refugees from all around the world. That diversity is reflected in this colorful, positive artwork!
If you’d like to see photographs of artist Sake at work last year, and find links to even earlier photos, you can 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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 