Look at the beautiful chalk art that I spotted this morning! It was created a day or two ago on Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp by local artist Cecelia Linayao, whose work you’ve seen in many posts on my blog.
I learned upon reading words at my feet that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and that the artwork’s purpose is to support Rady Children’s Hospital. Rady is where children throughout San Diego go to be treated by world-class doctors with the most advanced medicine.
If you are inspired by the story of two young brothers told by this chalk art, then please visit the Rady Children’s Hospital donation page by clicking here. You can also volunteer!
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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!
I was heading through the Gaslamp Quarter up Fifth Avenue when I noticed a new mural was being painted. An artist was working in the outside stairwell entrance of Vin de Syrah, a “hidden” subterranean wine parlor. Over the years, I’ve noticed that new murals appear in this stairwell every so often, but until I performed a little research today I hadn’t known where these steps led.
In the past, fantastic murals that I’ve seen at the entrance to Vin de Syrah have often included elements from Alice in Wonderland.
When I noticed the muralist at work below, I looked down and said hello, but it didn’t appear that she heard me. Her style seems familiar, but I can’t identify the artist. I have a hunch I’ve photographed the work of this artist elsewhere in San Diego!
Today I walked past this new Vin de Syrah mural and took the following photograph:
UPDATE!
I’ve learned the artist is Delilah Strukel. Check out her Instagram page 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!
Yesterday morning, as I walked down from the top of Cortez Hill, I had to pause at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Cedar Street. I noticed that the now vacant old San Diego Superior Court Family Court Building is finally being demolished!
I’ve read that an 8-story affordable housing building called “Kindred” will be built where the past courthouse stood.
When I took a little detour to walk around the block, I observed those colorful murals on the rooftop that I photographed earlier this year here are vanishing, too!
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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 Padres faithful have converged around Petco Park for the second game of the playoffs–a Wild Card game versus the St. Louis Cardinals!
I watched part of the game late this afternoon from a spot beside Gallagher Square. When I walked home through East Village and the Gaslamp, I saw many people at bars and restaurants watching the game.
As I write this, the Pads have come back by scoring 5 runs, making it 7-6, giving us the lead! Fernando Tatís Jr. contributed with a huge 3 run homer. Will we win?
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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!
I stopped by the UTC mall in University City last Saturday on my way from downtown San Diego to North County.
Laugh if you want, but it’s probably thirty or forty years since I last took a leisurely stroll around what used to be called University Towne Center. (When I was a young man, a friend and I would visit the arcade above the ice skating rink and play pinball, Defender, Galaga, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede…)
Over the past ten years, Westfield UTC has been renovated and enlarged. Today it’s not just a popular outdoor mall, but a major entertainment destination. (And before long the Mid-Coast Trolley extension, the construction of which appears to be making great progress, will terminate at the UTC Transit Center.)
As I wandered randomly about the mall last weekend, I noticed a number of very interesting sculptures along a stretch of its perimeter. Out came my camera. I read on some plaques that the three Beverly Pepper sculptures belong to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
After I got home and did a little research, I found out I’d missed other sculptures scattered throughout the mall. Perhaps I’ll have to make another visit in the future!
Here’s what I saw:
Three Graces (Madam in Bloom, Madam Elegance, Madam Beauty), Yuriy Akopov, 2016/2017…
Octo, Anthony Howe, 2015…
The First Amphitheater, Beverly Pepper, 1965…
West Coast School, Laddie John Dill, 2017…
Severio Column, Beverly Pepper, 1978…
Zeus Triad, Beverly Pepper, 1997-1999…
Radix, Joshua Koffman, 2017…
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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!
It’s been an unusual year in Major League Baseball. A shortened season and unusual rules because of the COVID-19 pandemic . . . and the San Diego Padres are in the playoffs! For the first time since 2006! And the Friars are widely considered one of the favorite, most exciting teams, too!
Restaurants, bars and shops in downtown San Diego have begun to put out signs, banners and merchandise in anticipation of the first playoff series against the St. Louis Cardinals, which begins at Petco Park with Game 1 tomorrow afternoon. And I noticed Padres employees and team players are getting ready at the ballpark, too!
I walked around Petco Park and the Gaslamp Quarter this afternoon to see what I might see. Check it out!
Big video screens have been erected in the Lexus Premier Lot next to Petco Park. Fans who’ve purchased special Padres Postseason Watch Party tickets will be able to enjoy playoff games together from the safety of their cars.
I noticed a couple of buses were parked next to Petco Park where visiting teams arrive.
Padres employees round a corner of Petco Park in San Diego’s East Village getting everything ready for the start of the MLB postseason.
Fans were enjoying a nice afternoon at Gallagher Square, watching Padres batting practice from a distance.
National League Wild Card graphic splashed on the video screen that faces Gallagher Square.
A photographer captures images of the Padres during batting practice.
My small camera caught a pitch on the way, with the batter ready to swing!
Banner on high balcony overlooking Petco Park’s outfield proclaims: Let’s Go Padres.
Bub’s At The Ballpark has several banners out. Go Padres!
UNION Kitchen & Tap Gaslamp has a SLAMDIEGO Special: The Padre Burger with a pint of Ballast Point Friar Ale!
Several shops in the Gaslamp have Padres apparel out on display.
Another example!
Okay, here’s something really cool. I’d left the Gaslamp and was walking up Sixth Avenue toward home when I noticed the door of Centre City Sports Collectibles was open. So I stepped inside.
Wow! My eyes almost popped out of my head! If you’re a sports collector or enthusiast and you haven’t checked this place out, you need to pay a visit! The place is jammed floor to ceiling with so many collectibles that I don’t know how Henry, the proprietor, keeps track of it all. And by the way, he’s a really nice guy!
He called the stacks and stacks of stuff in every direction a mess, but I’m not sure why. The place is like sports fan heaven!
He let me take a few 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!
Looking toward the Escondido Civic Center from the north end of Maple Street Plaza.
After my weekend visit to the Museum at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, I walked south to check out Maple Street Plaza. This “festival plaza” joins the area around the Escondido Civic Center to the historic old business district along Grand Avenue.
On a Sunday afternoon the place was surprisingly empty. When I reached the plaza’s south end, I noticed that Grand Avenue, which appeared to have many vacant old storefronts, was similarly quiet.
Maple Street Plaza, built in 2012, struck me as a very handsome place, but in need of more life. There are beautiful benches, tables and seats, trees and an interactive fountain, which was off. If I had wanted to purchase a sandwich or ice cream or cup of coffee to enjoy in the plaza, I didn’t see any obvious place nearby where I might go. Perhaps I missed something.
Set in the paver blocks at my feet I discovered interesting brief descriptions of Escondido and its history.
A very beautiful blue mosaic tile bench curls like a river of water in Maple Street Plaza.
Another look at the sculpture that serves as a bench. You can see a fountain (that was off) beyond it, and the oak tree at the center of the plaza in the distance.
A 100 foot flagpole was in the middle of the street at Grand and Broadway from 1927-1944…
Excerpt from 1887 article in Escondido Times extols the virtues of the Vale of Valleys.
Escondido Creek begins above Lake Wohlford and flows more than 26 miles to San Elijo Lagoon.
Escondido was established as a dry town even though vineyards were plentiful.
More attractive places to sit in Maple Street Plaza.
A fine setting in Escondido on a sunny, very quiet Sunday.
Escondido, which means “hidden” in Spanish, is often referred to as the Hidden Valley.
Standing by an oak tree at the center of Maple Street Plaza looking north.
One of two interesting tables I spotted near the south end of the plaza. A cool abstract design unites the tabletop and seat. (The other nearby table was occupied by someone who appeared to be homeless.)
Sidewalks were installed on Grand Avenue in 1905 and the street was paved in 1912.
A bench near the south end of Maple Street Plaza on Grand Avenue.
Plaque on the bench indicates it’s For the Citizens of Escondido. Escondido East Rotary.
A welcoming gateway sign arches above the south end of Maple Street Plaza in downtown Escondido.
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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!
Occasionally, over the years, I’ve shared photographs of colorful banners hung from street lamps in Little Italy. Many can be found along India Street. Most celebrate famous Italian Americans.
The face you see might be of a popular musician, or an Oscar winner, or an inventor, or a Major League Baseball player, or a religious leader, or a powerful politician or businessman . . . you get the idea.
During walks through Little Italy in the past few weeks I noticed many banners that I hadn’t photographed yet.
In no particular order, here they are:
Mother Cabrini.
Bruce Springsteen.
Jerry Lewis and Frank Busalacchi (San Diego restauranteur).
Vito Marcantonio.
Fiorello La Guardia.
Louis Prima.
Dana Reeve.
Al Pacino.
Francis Ford Coppola.
Jimmy Durante.
Giada De Laurentiis.
Joe Pass.
Russ Columbo.
Robert Mondavi.
Jennifer Capriati.
Roger Enrico.
Ernest and Julio Gallo.
Frank Capra.
Carlo Vinci.
Dean Martin.
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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!
Welcoming Frida to My Imagination, by artist Lin Wei, 2018. Oil painting.
A fantastic exhibition has opened in Escondido that celebrates the life and work of legendary Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
Today I stepped into the Museum at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido to experience The World of Frida. The juried exhibition recently arrived from the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, California.
Over one hundred highly creative pieces by artists who’ve been inspired by Frida Kahlo cover the walls of the Museum. Imaginative portraits of Frida Kahlo are plentiful, as are reimaginings of her works. Many different artistic styles delight the eye!
Like Frida’s paintings, most of these pieces employ lavish color and symbolism. Themes often reflect Frida’s own complex and sometimes mysterious personality.
In the artwork you will find pain and poise, vitality and frustration, sensitivity and anger, feminism and vulnerability, remoteness and love. It seemed to me that Frida’s emotional and intellectual complexity–the seeming ambiguity–provided many of these artists with a blank canvas upon which they could paint their own related ideas, feelings and experiences.
My photos are a small glimpse of this remarkable exhibition!
As you can see, another gallery at the Museum contains even more artwork, including a very cool car with a traditional Mexican altar in its trunk and a large Frido Kahlo Day of the Dead Altar. A third gallery features Frida-related artwork by local school students!
Head up to the California Center for the Arts, Escondido before November 15, 2020 when The World of Frida comes to a close.
Visitor to the Museum at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido explores The World of Frida.
Defiant Deer, by artist Jamie Burnside, 2018. Acrylic on canvas.
Seed of Life, by artist Crystal Moody, 2017. Acrylic.
Frida Kahlo Shrine Box Day of the Dead, by artist Monica Balmelli, 2016. Mixed media.
Young Frida, by artist Kim Bagwill, 2018. Oil on panel.
Frida with Flower Crown, by artist Betsy Gorman, 2018. Mixed media collages.
Frida’s Chair, by artist Marian De La Torre-Easthope, 2018. Oil on canvas.
Frida #51, by Stikki Peaches, 2017. Mixed media on paper.
1954 Chevy Belair. Trunk altar honors family from Uruapan, Michoacan, and Mexico City, Mexico. Manuel Navarro Sr.
Frida Kahlo Día de los Muertos Altar by artist Daniel F. Martinez.
Celebrating Frida in the Afterlife, by Hayle V., San Pasqual Union School District Grade 7, 2020. Acrylic paint, markers.
Corazon de Frida, by artist Juan Solis, 2018. Acrylic on canvas.
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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!
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