Join a free, fun Kayak Cleanup Event!

Would you like to help clean the wetlands of south San Diego Bay? Would you like to do so while kayaking on the beautiful water? Would you like to do so for free? YES!

No kayak, no problem. They’re provided. No experience kayaking, no problem. It’s easy going. Cleanup materials are provided, too.

Ocean Connectors organizes fun Kayak Cleanup Events that anyone can freely join. I happened to observe one such event today during my visit to Pepper Park in National City.

I spotted a sign concerning the event at the boat ramp, then wandered over to the parked Chula Vista Water Sports truck to ask all about it. Chula Vista Water Sports provides the kayaks. They partner with Ocean Connectors.

I saw the participating kayakers were busy across the Sweetwater River channel, removing bits of litter, cleaning our environment, cruising slowly, gently along. I think I might try this! Each event lasts 2 to 4 hours.

Check out this page to learn all about these Kayak Cleanup Events and book your future participation. Groups up to 15 can join. And yes, it’s all completely FREE!

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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 X.

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Restoring native habitat by Paradise Creek.

I met a cool guy today!

As I walked along the Paradise Creek Trail in National City, I noticed someone in an orange vest moving about near the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, in a shrubby area at the edge of Paradise Marsh. He was working just off the roadside trail, a little north of the Pier 32 Marina. I had to ask what he was up to.

I had met Rob of Tierra Data. His company is working with the Port of San Diego to restore habitat by removing Acacia cyclops, also called coastal wattle. He was using super precise GPS to mark where he found living stumps. The stumps need to be effectively removed.

Acacia cyclops is native to Australia. Like eucalyptus trees, it thrives in San Diego’s similar climate. The plant has invaded parts of California, growing in fragile wetland habitats and among riparian communities.

I asked Rob how he recognizes which stumps belong to Acacia cyclops. He explained how seed pods lying in the soil around the stump allow for identification.

I’m so glad I paused to talk for a moment or two. Rob was pleased to explain his activity. (And he described birds he has seen and studied, too!)

There’s always more to learn!

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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 X.

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A new beach opens in National City!

A completely new beach has opened in National City!

Fine white sand and shady umbrellas now await beach lovers at Pepper Park, on the edge of the Sweetwater River near San Diego Bay!

The perched beach might be relatively small, but it’s the perfect place for a picnic, a spread blanket, a comfy lounge chair or a sandcastle. The beach is one of many improvements presently being made to Pepper Park.

One major improvement on the way is a new pirate-themed playground that kids will love. A hillside play area, a splash pad and a new entrance plaza are also coming.

According to this Port of San Diego web page, which includes conceptual renderings of the project, Pepper Park could eventually be expanded by 2.5 acres, adding even more features.

Pepper Park has historically been a venue for festivals in San Diego’s South Bay, such as the Mariachi Festival. These big improvements should make this great public park even more awesome!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Laurel and Hardy accompanied by Spreckels Organ!

What a fun San Diego evening!

Laurel and Hardy entertained a huge crowd at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park during another very popular Silent Movie Night. (Appropriately renamed Not-So-Silent Movie Night!) The entertaining concert was part of the 37th San Diego International Summer Organ Festival.

The comedy duo starred in three silent films as San Diego organist extraordinaire Russ Peck added his own incomparable, equally humorous soundtrack!

Putting Pants on Philip, 1927, had the ladies chasing Stan Laurel, to the chagrin of Oliver Hardy. Two Tars, 1928, had Laurel and Hardy causing absolute havoc wherever they went. Liberty, 1929, saw the two bumbling heroes high up in the city sky balancing precariously on steel girders. All very silly, all hilarious!

As the San Diego evening sky darkened, Russ Peck played jaunty, sunny, nostalgic old tunes from the 1920s, getting the audience in the mood for silent films from the same decade. Then he joined “Stan Laurel” on stage for a fun little skit concerning hats.

Then the pavilion lights were dimmed and classic silent film antics commenced!

I can’t tell you just how wonderful it all was. Laughter all around!

After the films, I approached a table where I learned a big international Laurel and Hardy convention is coming to San Diego in 2026! The 24th International Sons Of The Desert Convention will be held on June 21-25, 2026 at The Legacy International Resort and Spa in Mission Valley.

Do you love Laurel and Hardy? Read all about the big event by clicking here!

San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez says hi before the start of Not-So-Silent Movie Night.
Raúl Prieto Ramírez gets the evening started.
Introducing Russ Peck, who is House Organist for the Balboa Theatre in San Diego.
Russ Peck with Spreckels Organ curator Dale Sorenson.
A fun Laurel and Hardy skit has the audience laughing.
Two Tars on the way to causing mayhem.
The 24th International Sons Of The Desert Convention is a big Laurel and Hardy event coming to San Diego in 2026!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Beautiful shells return to Balboa Park!

Eight years ago I posted the blog Natural beauty at the West Coast Shell Show. Today, while walking through Balboa Park, I noticed the West Coast Shell Show was being held again in the Casa del Prado, so I checked it out!

Yes, there were hundreds of amazing shells. All types! I’m no expert when it comes to seashells or marine organisms–all I know is that these jewels from the ocean can be indescribably beautiful. I can see why people collect them.

Dealers had tables full of specimens and there were educational displays to read, too. I learned these shells were gathered from all around the world. One gentleman told me that collecting shells at protected San Diego beaches is illegal.

I must admit that while walking along the sand I’ve never seen anything that approaches these perfect specimens at the Shell Show. When lucky, I might observe very tiny polished shells underfoot, or an occasional sand dollar, or a broken abalone piece glinting in the sun.

Searching for what the vast ocean has churned up is instinctive, I suppose. The sudden discoveries–even shells that are broken–invite a closer look. They’re small hints of our planet’s immense magnificence.

I see the San Diego Shell Club would be happy to welcome new members!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Unique art and ideas multiply at Zine event!

Individual free expression took center stage today at the Compressed Zine & Music Fair. The event, organized by Particle FM and Burn All Books, was held at Bread and Salt in Logan Heights.

Writers and artists (and dreamers who are doers) gathered from around the San Diego region to showcase hundreds of their uniquely created zines. (And other printed works of art!)

What is a zine? According to Wikipedia: A zine is a magazine that is a… noncommercial often homemade… publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter.

As you might imagine, individuals printing their own zines can be boundlessly creative. They aren’t limited by the “demands” of societal acceptance or mainstream publication. Anyone with access to a copy machine or modest printer (and perhaps a stapler) can create a zine. It’s a cool way to easily get ideas out there and create something tangible that others can share.

You know those revolutionary pamphlets created by our nation’s Founding Fathers? In essence, they were zines.

Today’s zines can range from philosophically serious or politically satirical, to just plain silly or art for the sake of art. Some zines are love letters to people, places or things by devoted fans. Some are critiques. Many titles include wry humor.

Titles I spied while walking around the Compressed Zine & Music Fair include Copy Machine Manifesto, Shotgun Seamstress, Respawn Archive, Typical Natural Disaster, We Miss Jerry Garcia, This is a Critique of the X-Files, and My Feelings Are Not Wrong.

It appeared to me that the best part about making a zine is the simple joy of creativity.

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Love radiates from Barrio Market mural!

Memorializing a loved one. Love for the community. This bright mural on the side of Barrio Market radiates love. You can’t miss it at the corner of Cesar Chavez Parkway and National Avenue in Barrio Logan.

A year ago, almost exactly, I happened upon artist Andrea Border Baby with her ladder at work painting this mural. I learned she’s a high school math teacher in South Bay. It was her first ever public mural. See my photos of her actively painting here.

I walked past Barrio Market again today and aimed my camera at the beautiful, finished artwork!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Eduardo Chillida’s amazing sculptures in San Diego!

Fantastic public sculptures by world-renowned Spanish Basque artist Eduardo Chillida stand in cities around the globe. San Diego is fortunate that many Chillida sculptures–large and small–can now be experienced in an important exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art!

Eduardo Chillida: Convergence includes dozens of amazing abstract pieces that challenge museum visitors with their visual complexity.

Many of these sculptures combine sharp angles with sinuous curves, and are puzzle-like. They can make one wonder about the composition of reality–how space and matter interact.

As the San Diego Museum of Art web page explains: Each of these creations are points of convergence where myriad forces, including nature and culture, material and immaterial, form and void, all meet.

I like how many of the sculptures appear like paper cut in irregular ways with scissors then twisted impossibly every which way. Gazing at the sculptures from different angles, I wondered if their divergent parts could somehow be pieced together.

They somehow recall that three-dimensional puzzle cube I once played with as a boy. One docent at the museum told me a child called these sculptures Puzzles of the Gods. How appropriate!

The sculptures can be made of oak, iron, alabaster or other earthy materials. There are also works on paper. For very abstract works of art, they are strangely natural, weirdly familiar. Chillida liked to call himself a realist sculptor.

Visitors have the opportunity, for an additional five dollars, to experience a virtual reality flight around Comb of the Wind XV, Chillida’s famous installation that rises above the bluffs of La Concha Bay in San Sebastián, Spain.

This awesome exhibition continues through February 8, 2026 at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Stimulate your eyes and brain and go see it!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Concert celebrates The Beatles’ visit to San Diego!

Do you love The Beatles? Would you like to go a free concert that celebrates the 60th anniversary of The Beatles making their one and only appearance in San Diego?

On September 1, 2025 (Labor Day) at 7:30 pm, the Spreckels Organ Pavilion’s Classic Rock Band will be playing a huge selection of favorite hits by The Beatles. Have you ever heard classic rock played with drums, guitars and a gigantic outdoor pipe organ? Here’s your chance!

San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez will be joined by the Pavilion Rock Band Members to create a very cool and memorable experience. I caught a bit of the band’s rehearsal this afternoon.

The concert is part of the 37th San Diego International Summer Organ Festival. You can see the concert schedule here. (Next Monday evening is Not-So-Silent Movie Night!)

To learn more about the upcoming The Beatles 60th San Diego Anniversary concert, click here!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Pickleball on the streets of San Diego!

Perhaps you’ve seen stickball on the streets of Little Italy in downtown San Diego–but pickleball in the middle of the Gaslamp Quarter?

Yes!

Gaslamp Urban Pickleball is a new multi-week event where anyone can play pickleball on two blocks of Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter!

As the event website says: Be Part of History — San Diego’s First-Ever Urban Pickleball Courts!

Every Thursday until September 25th, after 4 pm and until sunset, you can play this super popular sport with friends and neighbors, while people cheer you on from the sidewalk, nearby restaurants and bars. Win a prize, too! This cool event has been brought to downtown San Diego by the Gaslamp Quarter Association.

Interested?

To learn all you need to know, and to register, check out the Gaslamp Urban Pickleball website!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!