Archaic Passage at the Old Town Transit Center.

Travelers at the Old Town Transit Center might find themselves walking through an underground passageway. The tunnel safely crosses beneath the San Diego Trolley and train tracks. In this shadowy place curious eyes will encounter public art titled Archaic Passage.

Not in a hurry to catch your bus or other transportation? There are plaques on either end of the passageway that you can read. They provide information about this unique art…

“ARCHAIC PASSAGE”

COMMISSIONED BY SAN DIEGO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT BOARD JUNE 1996

DESIGNED BY SAN DIEGO ARTIST PAUL HOBSON, “ARCHAIC PASSAGE” CELEBRATES THE ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF OLD TOWN, FROM NATIVE AMERICAN TO CONTEMPORARY TIMES. ART MATERIALS USED–CARRIZO CANE, WOOD, STUCCO, ADOBE, BRICK, CLAY ROOF AND DECORATIVE TILES–REPRESENT BUILDING MATERIALS USED TO BUILD OLD TOWN. EACH GEOLOGICAL STRATA-LIKE WAVE REFLECTS A SIGNIFICANT ARCHITECTURAL STYLE.

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San Diego art is an unexpected treat!

You know how the windows of Sweet Things Frozen Yogurt at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront are painted every year for Comic-Con? The same artist, Shirish Villaseñor (@shirishtheartist), has painted beautiful scenes from around the San Diego area inside the yogurt shop!

I noticed the colorful art a few days ago when I dropped in to purchase something to drink. So I took photos of this unexpected treat!

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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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Creating more beauty at Japanese Friendship Garden!

As I walked through the Lower Garden of the Japanese Friendship Garden today, I noticed a couple of guys creating this low wall by a footpath near the Inamori Pavilion.

Perhaps you recognize the spot. The garden’s Camphor Peace Tree with its plaque is a few feet away.

Is it possible? This extraordinary garden in Balboa Park continues to become even more beautiful!

Over the years the Japanese Friendship Garden has added trails, waterfalls, streams, shady structures and more to the incredible Lower Garden. The trees and plants have become so lush in the canyon now that moving down the paths is like a stroll through paradise.

One friendly worker told me that after this wall is completed, there is another project to come. Work will begin along the path that leads in switchbacks up the nearby hillside.

This garden will become even more beautiful?

Wow!

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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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Daguerreotypes in San Diego on World Photography Day!

Today is World Photography Day. I didn’t realize that until I met a photographer in Balboa Park, aiming an interesting camera at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

What sort of camera is that? I asked. Anton told me he was using a daguerreotype camera. He was utilizing photographic technology that was revolutionary and popular in the mid-1800s!

Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photographic process, producing the black and white images you’ve probably seen in historical exhibits or documentaries.

Anton was using a silver plate and briefly described the process, all of which was far over my head. Here’s the Wikipedia page concerning daguerrotype photography.

If you’d like to check out Anton’s fascinating The Photo Palace blog, here it is. His site features a variety of cool photographs he has taken.

Anton explains in his blog: Working with analog photographic methods, with concentration on daguerreotype and wet plate collodion methods, Photo Palace offers original art, commissions on location and in studio, as well as workshops, magic lantern shows, and other interactive programs.

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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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Free poetry parties, workshops in Balboa Park!

Poetry lovers! All sorts of activities await you in San Diego’s wonderful Balboa Park!

Free to the public and open to anyone at least 18 years old, these Balboa Park Poetic Programs celebrate creativity and the power of the written and spoken word. The three ongoing programs are: Poetry Party, Otherwise Improvise, and Poetic Legacy.

Poetry Party is a fun event held on the first Friday of every month from 3 to 5 pm in Balboa Park’s Santa Fe Room, at 2150 Pan American Road West (across from the International Cottages). The description on one flyer: Read your favorite poetry, listen, or make the scene. Be bold, adventurous, and experience the power of the spoken word.

Otherwise Improvise is held on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month from 2:30 to 5 pm in the Balboa Park Senior Lounge (located in the Casa Del Prado). Be creative! Have even more fun!

Poetic Legacy is a workshop that involves readings and discussions of contemporary and historic poets. Taking prompts from featured poets, participants are then encouraged to write their own poems. This program takes place on the last Friday of every month, from 3 to 5 pm in the Balboa Park Senior Lounge.

The next Poetic Legacy workshop will be held August 29th and will feature poet Naomi Shibab Ney, recipient of numerous honors and awards for her work. In 2019 the Poetry Foundation designated her the Young People’s Poet Laureate for 2019–21.

Want more information concerning the Balboa Park Poetic Programs? Email SLemire@sandiego.gov.

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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 new Foodshed mural in City Heights!

Enjoy several photographs of the beautiful mural at Foodshed’s new location in City Heights. It was painted by Rachel Venancio (@rachelmurals) earlier this summer. It’s dedicated to female farmers and mothers everywhere.

Foodshed is a small farm cooperative. They provide underserved neighborhoods with fresh, healthful and affordable food from over 40 farms.

They have a market open here at 4089 Fairmount Avenue on Saturdays from 9 am to 12 pm. It’s called the City Heights Food Farmacy.

Foodshed also offers Farm Box Subscriptions with food pickup locations around San Diego County, or delivered to your home or place of work.

A Farm 2 School program is coming soon.

Learn all about Foodshed’s programs at their website 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!

Exhibit will find San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods.

A new exhibition is coming to the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. It’s called San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods.

The exhibit is now being installed in the museum, and will have its Opening Reception on September 25, 2025. The new exhibit is being produced in collaboration with the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art.

San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods will concern communities in the city that have been substantially changed due to freeway construction, development and other causes. Over the years, these changes have forced some long-time residents and businesses to move.

Yesterday I peeked into the San Diego History Center gallery that will contain the displays.

Time sweeps us all along, and people who have the means like to reshape their world. Change happens for better, or for worse. That’s history.

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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!

Song and butterflies in the Zoro Garden.

Did you miss the Zoro Garden Theater Festival today? No worries! The festival continues tomorrow, Sunday, August 17, from 2 pm to 5 pm. The free cultural event, produced by the City of San Diego, takes place at the Zoro Garden in Balboa Park.

The program today began with three powerful singers. They each sang about the journey of life.

Of struggle. Uncertainty. Freedom. Happiness.

I and others in the audience sat in the sunken stone grotto–what today is called the Zoro Butterfly Garden–and listened while butterflies flitted above and around us.

The butterflies seemed to move with the singing. I saw as many as six Monarchs at one time, dancing before us in the pleasant breeze, in the San Diego sunshine.

Later on there would be poetry readings and a play. I was told some of these same performers will return on Sunday.

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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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Guam Artist Collective displays their creativity!

The Guam Artist Collective exhibited some of their work today in San Diego. The public could meet four of the collective’s artists in Balboa Park’s Hall of Nations during the House of Chamorros Hafa Adai Festival!

The Guam Artist Collective seeks to recruit more members in San Diego and beyond. The Guam Artist Collective showcases the vibrant talents of 10 passionate Guam-based artists, celebrating the island’s unique artistic culture.

If you’re curious to learn more about the Guam Artist Collective, here’s their Instagram page.

I also found two pages concerning the group and their 19Forgotten exhibition, where you can see some fine examples of their work. Here and here.

Neeko David had his great art posters on display.
Zard Apuya Art fills this table.
Magnets are used by Kenneth Paulino Jr. of Kottura Innovations to create animated videos concerning Chamorro legends.
Jenna Aguon Makaka-Bali Tres, a tattoo artist, shows some of her artwork in Balboa Park’s Hall of Nations.

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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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The joyful Hafa Adai Festival in Balboa Park!

“Hafa adai” is a warm, friendly hello in the Chamorro language. It was also the name of a festival held today in San Diego!

The Hafa Adai Festival took place on the lawn of Balboa Park’s International Cottages. It was a joyful celebration filled with dance, food, crafts and culture, organized by the House of Chamorros.

The Chamorro people are indigenous to the Mariana Islands. Many with Chamorro ancestry live in Guam and the Northern Marianas. And more than a few live here in San Diego, too!

The House of Chamorros program today included an Opening Ceremony (complete with National Anthems and a beautifully sung traditional blessing), the Imahen Taotao Tano Dancers, and much more. I departed after the latter performance–too much else to do in the park!

I did take these photographs which I hope you’ll enjoy. One couldn’t stop smiling at this joyful event!

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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!