A small public park, recently created in Bankers Hill, is named for San Diego aviation pioneer Waldo Dean Waterman.
Last month a small public park opened in Bankers Hill at the edge of narrow Maple Canyon. The park is named after Waldo Dean Waterman, an inventor and early aviation pioneer who was one of the first in San Diego to fly a heavier-than-air machine. He made that flight into Maple Canyon in 1909, at the age of fifteen!
Waterman experimented with unique aeronautical designs for most of his life. He invented the first tail-less monoplane in the United States, called the Whatsit, which was the very first aircraft in history to use now standard tricycle landing gear. He then designed the Arrowbile, which was the first successful flying car!
Waldo Dean Waterman Park is a beautiful and inspiring addition to our city. For generations to come, the park will remain a living monument to a visionary man who made several important contributions to aviation history!
A resident of Bankers Hill walks his dog through the beautiful park. Local aviation history was made here in 1909.Beautiful blooms at Waldo Dean Waterman Park in Bankers Hill.Sign summarizes the life and accomplishments of Early Bird aviation pioneer Waldo Dean Waterman, a resident of San Diego. He flew a glider at the age of 15 from this site into Maple Canyon below. (Click image to enlarge.)Plaque dated July 1, 1959 commemorates Waldo D. Waterman for his many contributions to the science of flight.
…
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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Visitors to the Maritime Museum of San Diego view a display concerning the history of rum.
A cool new exhibit opened this weekend at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Rum: Sailors, Pirates and Prohibition follows the colorful history of rum, from its origin to the present day, with a focus on its surprising history in San Diego.
There are all sorts of interesting artifacts, old photographs and displays, as you can see from the few photos I took this afternoon. Among other things, visitors to the exhibition can learn how rum is made, about the use of rum by sailors, including those of the British Royal Navy, and how rum runners used sea caves in San Diego during Prohibition.
Anyone with a love for history should check it out!
Rum: Sailors, Pirates and Prohibition is a cool new exhibit inside the Steam Ferry Berkeley, at the Maritime Museum of San Diego!A display in the Gould Eddy Gallery shows some of the coopering tools used in making oak rum barrels.Slave collars from the 18th century. Some believe African slaves in the Caribbean discovered the process of distilling the residue of sugar refining–molasses and sugarcane juice–into alcohol.A display features an explanation of grog and rum on British Royal Navy ships. Grog was rum diluted with water to prevent drunkenness. The grog ration was abolished in 1970.Old photo of the Malahat, the Queen of Rum Row. The five-masted schooner successfully delivered rum and other spirits along the West Coast during Prohibition.Local sea caves and coves in La Jolla and Sunset Cliffs were used at hideouts for rum runners arriving from Mexico during Prohibition.Photos of the Monte Carlo, San Diego’s Prohibition era floating casino. In 1937 it became beached on Coronado during a winter storm. Her wreckage can still be seen underwater at low tide.Blind Pigs and Speakeasies. A secretive Speakeasy sold alcohol during Prohibition, plus provided its guests with entertainment. Drinks were tastier than the poisonous rums and moonshines concocted in bathtubs.A photograph of anti-alcohol activists taken during Prohibition. Lips that touch liquor shall not touch ours!Display celebrates the rise of local San Diego distilleries. Our dynamic city is now considered the craft beer capital of the United States.
…
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 share and enjoy!
PostSecret is coming to the Museum of Man in Balboa Park on April 14, 2018.
How cool is this?
I was walking through the Fall Back Festival in the Gaslamp before it opened this morning and stumbled upon a fantastic community art project!
The project is called PostSecret, and it was begun in 2004 by an inspired gentleman named Frank Warren. People anonymously write down one of their deepest emotional secrets on a postcard and mail it in. The postcards are then displayed as public art! The project has already received over a million submissions!
The folks I met at the Fall Back Festival were representing the Museum of Man in Balboa Park. I learned the traveling PostSecret exhibition is coming to San Diego and will open at the museum on April 14, 2018! Residents of San Diego are encouraged to share their secrets!
How? Simply mail a creative postcard containing one of your written secrets to the Museum of Man address you see in one of my photos. Your secret can be absolutely anything–a regret, a fear, a desire, a confession–as long as it is true. You might make your postcard into a work of art, or simply write down a few brief words.
I’m mailing my postcard tomorrow.
You also have secrets to share, don’t you?
These friendly folks would like you to mail in one of your secrets anonymously!PostSecret is a project that was begun in 2004 by Frank Warren. Over a million secrets have been shared.That address on the right is where you need to mail your postcard! Mail as many secrets as you’d like!Perhaps by mailing your secret, you’ll help us humans better understand our inner selves. Or gain a personal sense of relief. Or simply enjoy a healthy laugh!
…
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!
People ride past what is possibly the most amazing, fantastic front yard in all of San Diego!
I walked through Middletown yesterday on a mission. I wanted to pay a visit to the locally famous Harper’s Topiary Garden!
What a fantastic, amazing creation! This private front yard on a hillside has been transformed by the residents into a eye-popping landscape of weird animals and delightful designs. I felt as though I’d stepped into a small world touched by magic.
This is one super cool sight that is undeniably extraordinary!
Human imagination coupled with passion can actually turn wildest dreams into reality!
Mission Hill Garden Club asks How Does Your Garden Grow? I’ll bet it’s nothing like the Harper’s Topiary Garden!Harper’s Topiary Garden seems to be a combination of a vegetable Noah’s Ark and an army of fantasy creatures paralyzed by magic.A green guy in a sombrero takes a siesta. Perhaps this is his dream.A funny rabbit stands and points among many topiary oddities.It appears that Edna Scissorhands is kept quite busy.Harper’s Topiary Garden is a marvel of human creativity.Those who drive up this street might be in for a great surprise!Cats and critters with long ears lounge in the sun near the top of the wonderfully weird garden. I think I also see a robot.Perhaps the garden is inspired a bit by the fantastic worlds of Dr. Seuss, who lived in nearby La Jolla.A most amazing topiary garden. A treat for the eyes!
…
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 gritty Interstate 5 pedestrian overpass at Palm Street connects India Street to Kettner Boulevard. It is little used. The homeless sometimes make it their home.
Just a few quick urban photos.
My long walk today included a stretch along India Street in San Diego’s Middletown neighborhood. I sauntered up India Street from Palm Street to Vine Street, in order to check out something indescribably cool that I will soon blog about. I then turned about and returned to the pedestrian freeway overpass, where I crossed over to Kettner Boulevard and made my way to the nearby Middletown trolley station.
The road here is in constant motion, with loads of traffic to and from Interstate 5. As I headed up the sidewalk I passed a number of small businesses in plain, mostly unremarkable buildings. Looking eastward I observed a jumble of modest but colorful houses climbing the steep hill. From busy India Street, residential streets ascend a short distance toward the top of Bankers Hill, and Mission Hills to the north.
Stay tuned! I have many more photos coming from today’s adventure! There’s a good chance you’ll really enjoy the aforementioned super cool sight!
In addition, before I headed up India Street, I checked out a new park in Bankers Hill and learned about some incredible, little known San Diego history!
I also swung by Balboa Park. I’ll be posting those photos later on my other blog, Beautiful Balboa Park!
I hope you all are having a great weekend!
At first glance I thought some people were just hanging out above the freeway–but I was wrong! They were taking urban photographs with a model.A stretch of India Street looking north from the overpass. Cars speed along continuously. As I proceeded up the opposite sidewalk for many blocks, I saw no other walkers.Bright clouds in an urban setting.An interesting doorway beckons customers from India Street into the Starlite eatery.Cacti rise beneath electrical wires.I’m approaching the Aero Club. It seems my camera was aimed upward quite a bit today.Bold graphics on the white wall by the bar’s parking lot.Two golden mermaids above the front door of the Aero Club.Someone scratched many warnings, symbols, concerns and thoughts on a section of the sidewalk. Where is that person now?A fragment of sidewalk remains from 1914.A colorful dinosaur on the building of Dyno Brand custom t-shirts!
…
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 names of loved ones. Spiritual bonds link the living with the dead during Dia de los Muertos.
Many generations came together in Old Town this evening during Dia de los Muertos.
Love and memory were written on so many smiling faces as people celebrated their departed loved ones. Chalk memorials and scattered marigolds lined San Diego Avenue. And the evening ended with a candlelight procession from Old Town San Diego State Historic Park to the small El Campo Santo cemetery. A walk of several blocks in the growing darkness . . . a short walk down a road brightly lit by love.
My poor camera failed to capture the candlelight procession as night descended. But your heart and mind might imagine it.
An abundance of music, humor and life on stage during the Dia de los Muertos celebration in Old Town San Diego!People could pose for photos with two giant skeleton puppets!An artist paints two large skulls–calaveras–in Old Town’s Plaza de las Armas during Dia de los Muertos.Children decorate traditional sugar skulls.Some around the park wore fancy dresses and hats for the day, recreating the iconic Mexican image of La Calavera Catrina. I saw many faces painted like fantastic skulls.Some of the shops in Old Town had a mix of decorations for both Halloween and Dia de los Muertos.A large, colorful calavera above a restaurant inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.Face painting and a youthful smile.Hundreds of tributes and sentiments for departed loved ones were written in chalk on a long stretch of San Diego Avenue, inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.Lanterns among the many Dia de los Muertos chalk memorials.Te amo–I love you–and a marigold.Love and memory connect many generations as the years roll on.
…
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!
Looking west toward San Diego Bay at sunset, from the north section of Waterfront Park.
November already. It’s getting dark earlier and earlier.
After work today, when I got off the trolley at the Little Italy station, the sun was almost ready to set. So I hurried across Pacific Highway to the quiet north half of Waterfront Park to take in the beauty.
Looking south past the lighted fountains toward the County Administration Building. It soon will be dark.Light along a splashing fountain as darkness approaches.The jetting water is lit brightly from beneath. Looks like sparklers!Gazing north through the beautiful fountains of Waterfront Park.To the east, nearby building windows and Niki de Saint Phalle’s colorful Serpent Tree gleam, reflecting late light.Lights have come on. The north end of the handsome County Administration Building is ready for night.A blazing sunset beneath palm trees on San Diego’s Embarcadero, as seen from Waterfront Park.
…
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 had so much fun this morning posting “oil painted” sails, I decided to attempt something similar again!
This evening I selected some photos of downtown San Diego that have been languishing unused in my computer, then used multiple applications of GIMP’s Cubism filter to create what appear to be impressionistic paintings!
Do you recognize any of these buildings or places? If you’re familiar with downtown San Diego, you might!
…
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!
Dozens of beautiful sails out on San Diego Bay yesterday. In the afternoon I sat at the end of Broadway Pier and lazily snapped photos.
I spotted tall ship Californian sailing gently past, and a host of shining sailboats racing across the blue water in the San Diego Yacht Club’s Lipton Cup fall regatta.
This morning, toying around with GIMP’s Oilify filter, I created some dreamy images. I’ve never oil painted anything . . . but with the help of my trusty old computer, now I can pretend otherwise!
…
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!
Day of the Dead altar created by the Old Globe Theatre contains photos of departed loved ones, roses, candles, and an image of Shakespeare.
For several hours today, visitors to Balboa Park could enjoy traditional Dia de los Muertos activities in Copley Plaza, at the entrance to the Old Globe’s theater complex. The event’s main attraction was two performances of a powerful new play called La Muerte Descansa en Paz (Death Rests in Peace). The first performance was in Spanish, the second mostly in English.
The brief but emotionally stirring play, directed and co-created by Daniel Jáquez, was presented for the very first time on Saturday during the SAY San Diego’s City Heights Day of the Dead Celebration. The production is the result of a collaboration between the Old Globe’s coLAB and AXIS programs and the San Diego community of City Heights.
Here are some photos of today’s event!
Day of the Dead–Dia de los Muertos–was celebrated today in Copley Plaza, outside the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center in Balboa Park.A Dia de los Muertos altar remembers and celebrates those who’ve passed into the next world. Their spirits are enticed to return among the living.A loving tribute to relatives and loved ones, dearly missed.Kids have their faces painted like sugar skulls for Dia de los Muertos.The tools of a face painter.At one table creative kids could color Dia de los Muertos skulls.Shakespeare among Dia de los Muertos skulls. Perhaps that one in the center belonged to Yorick.A performance of La Muerte Descansa en Paz (Death Rests in Peace) begins. The dead enter in front of a living audience.The character Death takes the stage. Death sees both sides of the river. Death sees life’s joy, pain, dreams–and the souls of the departed.The dead dance. On Dia de los Muertos, when the church bells ring, Death permits the dead to return briefly as spirits among the living.A dead poet vaguely remembers the richness and brevity of life–the sharp joys and sorrows. Her voice was cut short, but her living words linger.The dead briefly take the stage. We, the living, experience a glimpse, a whisper, a moment of lost love.
…
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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Cool San Diego Sights! 