I took these photographs this evening.
San Diego Bay had quieted. A thin fog was hanging over Point Loma. A cruise ship was heading out.
A few walkers lingered by the water as daylight gradually faded.
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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 holidays have ended. It’s January 2nd.
Early this morning I walked through Little Italy on my way to catch the trolley for work.
What did I see?
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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 confess that I have a nefarious scheme. I have a hidden motive behind Cool San Diego Sights.
My wish is to have readers visit Short Stories by Richard. That’s where my short works of fiction are published.
Yes, I enjoy walking all around San Diego taking photographs, but there is something that I love infinitely more: writing creatively. When the muse is present, and my pen is moving, I feel that I can grasp the entire cosmos with one hand. I feel that I can clearly interpret the Ultimate for one brief instant. I have a sense of purpose. I feel completely alive.
My walks by water, past art, through parks, around hills and gardens, down busy sidewalks–my short daily journeys are a source for inspiration. Framing photographs energizes the eyes. Searching in every direction for life helps me to find it.
Writing short stories in San Diego is my passion. Even when my mind is blocked, my eyes and heart are not. There is always plenty of sunshine.
Short Stories by Richard now has thirty nine stories and two small poems. I welcome you into my private scheme. Come peer into secret places.
There are two dynamic new murals in East Village. Actually one is a painted mural, and the other appears to be an enormous patchwork banner stretched upon a wall. Both face E Street in the vicinity of Park Boulevard.
The abstract calligraphy mural by Yomar Augusto was completed in October of 2017.
The dazzling artwork adorning the IDEA1 Apartments is brand new–the building had its Grand Opening in December.
Here are a couple of fun 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!
Time moves forward.
I spent another New Year’s Day by sparkling San Diego Bay. My feet seemed drawn to the water, as predictably as the Earth orbits the Sun. The rippling water and sea breeze always makes me feel reborn.
Today I walked from the Hilton San Diego Bayfront to a spot north of the Grape Street Pier, not quite as far as the Coast Guard Station.
Come along and we will relive the journey. Even on a relatively quiet New Year’s Day, we’ll observe fishermen, boaters, bicyclists, musicians, artists, friends and families. We will move through life.
One forward step leads to another.
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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!
Many regard the evacuation of the United States Ambassador from Saigon as the end of the Vietnam War. On April 30, 1975, as ordered by President Gerald Ford, Ambassador Graham Martin was airlifted from the rooftop of the American Embassy. He had stepped aboard a Boeing Vertol CH-46D(E) Sea Knight military helicopter, call sign Lady Ace 09, flown by pilot Captain Gerry Berry.
Today the public can view Lady Ace 09 at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum in San Diego.
While the Ambassador’s evacuation from the Embassy has provided a visual symbol of America’s departure from South Vietnam, the reality was a bit more chaotic. When Lady Ace 09 transmitted “Tiger is out,” indicating the Ambassador had been retrieved, other helicopter crews involved in the evacuation mistakenly thought the mission was completed. But Marine Security Guards on the Embassy’s rooftop would be lifted to safety hours later. Shortly thereafter, Communist forces would raise the Viet Cong flag over Saigon’s Presidential Palace.
The Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum is located at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. In addition to Lady Ace 09, over two dozen aircraft that have been flown by the United States Marines are on display. Admission is free.
The museum wants to expand. You can help! Learn 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!
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 of interesting photos for you to check out!
The world contains unending beauty. As the years roll on, much comes and goes, but beauty remains.
So now I’d like to close out another blogging year by wishing you all a Beautiful New Year!
Where did I head today to harvest some stunning photos? To the amazing Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, of course!
Come with me…
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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!
Happy New Year!
A small but fascinating exhibit remembering the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II is currently on display at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum in San Diego. The exhibition, titled CELEBRATING 75 YEARS – CODE TALKERS: THE NAVAJO WEAPON, contains photos, documents, uniforms and historical artifacts that describe how the Navajo language was used to develop a code for secret tactical communication in the Pacific, in places like Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The Navajo code, which was classified until 1968, is the only spoken military code that was never deciphered.
The exhibit explains:
Many scholars credit Philip Johnston with initiating the Code Talker idea. Johnston was a Caucasian who grew up in Leupp, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation. He approached the Marine Corps in 1942 after the attack on Pearl Harbor and proposed using Native American Navajo language for combat communications.
His knowledge of the Navajo culture led him to bring four Navajo volunteers to Camp Elliott in San Diego, California (an area that is now part of MCAS-Miramar) for a demonstration. Impressed with successful and efficient English and Navajo translations, the Marine Corps began recruiting Navajos. The first group of twenty-nine recruits entered boot camp, took courses in military communication procedures and developed the code. Approximately 400 Navajo recruited by the Marines learned the code.
Working around the clock during the first two days of Iwo Jima, six Navajo Code Talkers sent and received over 800 messages, all without error. According to Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division Signal Officer, “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima”.
The Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum is free and open to the public at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The museum grounds contains over two dozen aircraft used during the proud history of Marine Corps aviation. It has the world’s largest and most complete collection of vintage aircraft flown by United States Marine pilots.
The museum is looking to expand and I’m told they would really appreciate your help. For more info, click here.
The museum exhibit explains the significance of various items worn by the Navajo Code Talkers.
The red cap indicates the United States Marine Corps. The jewelry represents the Navajo or Diné, which translates “Children of God” or “The People”. The gold shirt represents corn pollen. The light-colored trousers represent Mother Earth. The abalone-colored shoes represents the sacred mountains.
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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! You’ll find many interesting historical photographs!
There’s a fascinating exhibition right now at the SDSU Downtown Gallery. It’s titled Spaces from Yesterday and features the artwork of three San Quentin inmates.
The artwork was created in collaboration with San Quentin State Prison art teacher Amy M. Ho, who also has a few related pieces in the exhibition. But the work that I found most interesting came directly from the hands of the inmates.
All three of the artists summon happy memories from their childhood. These images are warm, but also hard-edged and unpeopled. One work, The Hallway by Dennis Crookes, almost looks like a long, harsh, narrow prison hallway that finally leads to a home’s light-filled kitchen.
I could find no explanation why these three were incarcerated in the San Quentin correctional complex, which contains California’s only death row for male inmates. That would seem to be an essential part of the story, and might explain certain qualities of the art. But the anecdotes that are written do reveal a common yearning for a past life that is fondly remembered.
The following photos show a description of each piece, followed by the actual artwork.
Spaces from Yesterday will be on display through January 28, 2018. Those interested in art, creativity, and often hidden aspects of human life should check it out. Admission to the SDSU Downtown Gallery is free.
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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!
To read a few stories I’ve written, click Short Stories by Richard.
I apologize, but I love tall ships so much I’m presenting another small batch of photographs.
I captured these images of San Salvador at the Maritime Museum of San Diego yesterday morning and this evening. Both the early and late sunlight performed magic, transforming the furled sails into gold.
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 