A happy clown face decorates the Fourth Avenue sidewalk, a block north of Broadway near the center of San Diego.
Should you ever walk along Fourth Avenue in downtown San Diego, you might stumble upon a delightful surprise. A bit north of Broadway a clown face smiles up from the sidewalk. Above him is a heaven of old circus tile artwork, depicting exotic animals and performers in every sort of crazy pose. The art decorates a building which is now home to Halah’s Market.
It isn’t the sort of thing one expects to see in San Diego! At a Las Vegas hotel or casino, perhaps!
I can find nothing about the origin of this circus artwork. If you happen to know something, please leave a comment!
Halah’s Market in downtown San Diego has a storefront with some fantastic, nostalgic circus artwork. The canopy above the entrance resembles a carousel. Searching the internet, all I learned about this building was that it was built in 1925.Acrobats and performing animals of every description . . . including elephants, penguins, zebras, camels and bears. A circus atmosphere in an unexpected place!A singing pig is joined by a trapeze artist and a seal in a hat. One often sees images of surfers, Hispanic culture or local landmarks in San Diego–not the circus!More fun animals in poses that suggest circus acts.A surprising clown greets walkers in downtown San Diego!
UPDATE!
I got a great comment! This location used to be the Chi-Chi Club San Diego! More can be learned here!
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Youth play soccer in San Diego’s Waterfront Park. They are competing today in the Neymar Fives Soccer Tournament. World champs get to meet the Brazilian superstar.
As usual, my walk today provoked a whole range of feelings. The four simple words: Play, Work, Sadness, Time . . . they describe a few photos that I took.
Those basic words we all understand.
Scrambling for the ball. Joy in movement, camaraderie, friendly competition. Youthful ambitions.Neymar Jr.’s Five soccer competition includes amateur teams from more than 35 countries.Recreation on the green grass, one promising San Diego morning.Strolling down the Embarcadero. Pirate Days is coming to the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Let the invasion begin!Containing many pleasures, the gleaming Disney Wonder cruise ship is docked in San Diego. Seen from the deck of the very old Star of India, where countless lives have been tossed by difficult seas.Volunteer on Star of India is preparing to hoist this plastic cap up to the top of the foremast, which is open and exposed to the eternal elements.Other volunteers are working hard atop the forecastle. Ships require constant work, constant attention and care.Climbing carefully up to the very top of the foremast to apply a protective cap, to prevent exposed iron from rusting, decaying.A writer sat here. Words purposefully put down . . . or discarded . . . or forgotten. Many thoughts lie alone by a bench near the water.The hands of a sleeping homeless man.Time-faded monkeys still cling to the wall of a parking garage on Laurel Street.
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Many of the world’s top bicycling athletes fly up the Laurel Street hill in San Diego during the first stage of the Tour de California.
Here are lots of cool pics of Tour de California (officially called Amgen Tour of California) elite bicyclists racing up the steep hill on Laurel Street, just east of Interstate 5! Today was the first stage of the big international multi-day race, and the route looped around a good chunk of San Diego County. Easily the toughest part of the race near downtown was up Laurel Street, which presents a pretty steep grade for several blocks.
Lots of people gathered on the hill, and everyone was excited to see many of the world’s greatest bicycle athletes compete! Many of the participants have raced in the Tour de France and other top international competitions.
While I enjoy riding my street bike once in a while, I don’t know much about the professional sport. It was my first time watching this sort of event. And boy was it exciting! Lots of suspense–then flashing lights as the route is prepped and cleared–then boom! A flurry of colorful racers flying past! It was like a fantastic sporting parade! When the racers turned the corner and came into view, I felt my own adrenaline flowing!
Follow my photo captions and I’ll try to describe what I saw. Please excuse me if I don’t know all the proper terms…
This is the first block of the Laurel Street hill–probably the toughest, steepest part.About half an hour before the race leaders were anticipated, lots of biking enthusiasts and onlookers were already lining the sidewalks.Most people formed a crowd at the top of the hill. I got photographs of the race from a point a bit lower, with a good, unobstructed view.Someone wrote a big word on the street with chalk. I think it reads Bizipoz. I’m not sure, though.Announcers on Laurel Street hill provided pre-race music, then humorous, lighthearted commentary.I saw a few banners being flown–I suppose certain international teams were being rooted on.A dog came out to view the action!Lots of spectators rode their own bikes to watch this small part of the world-famous event.Ordinary people riding up the hill before the race were cheered and spurred forward with cowbells.Some more bike lovers showing up a few minutes before the pro racers should pass through.Okay, now we’re getting close. The fast elite racers started in Mission Beach, about 15 minutes away from this spot at the very west edge of Bankers Hill.Everyone perks up! Here comes an Amgen Tour of California official spray-painting the street for the bicyclists, soon to arrive!Cameras at the ready!The race is almost here! A huge line of motorcycle cops and Highway Patrol cars, along with tour official and VIP vehicles, parades past for several minutes.Excitement mounts. They should come around Columbia Street any moment!A team support vehicle carries spare bikes. Where are they?Here they come at last! And they’re moving really fast!They’re going so fast, my camera could manage only a few pics of this first group. There seemed to be six racers in this grouping.Here comes the leader at this early part of Stage One. These amazing athletes make it look effortless. (Of course, it’s still early in the race.)And there they go! Boom! Just like that! Perhaps they slowed a bit further up the hill.The main group didn’t arrive for what seemed like another 10 minutes. People around me were amazed by that. They appeared to be pedaling quite casually!Here the huge group comes! You can just glimpse San Diego Bay and Lindbergh Field in the background. A perfect cool weather day for a bike race!Everyone watching from the sidewalks applauds, makes noise and cheers.These guys seemed to be in no hurry. Some even waved at the onlookers! I suppose they were pacing themselves.Looks of determination, and a love for their sport.Hoping for glory, bicyclists in the Tour de California power up Laurel Street hill in San Diego.A party atmosphere! Everyone is cheerfully rooting on these elite world athletes.Some cyclists at the end of the main group were intermixed with team support vehicles.And here comes a whole bunch of those team support vehicles–or whatever they’re called!Outstanding athletes conquer a tough but relatively short hill.I could hardly believe the tremendous excitement!And then it was over. They’d passed. Just some ambulances and law enforcement vehicles followed.And folks headed home. You can see more of the Laurel Street hill in this pic. The first part is definitely the steepest.World-class athletes defy gravity as they bicycle up a hill near downtown San Diego during the first stage of the Tour de California.
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The San Diego Zoo is 100! And this evening, it is celebrating with a big centennial festival in its beautiful home: Balboa Park!
Late this afternoon, I walked through Balboa Park to check out the beginning of the huge San Diego Zoo Centennial Festival! As you might’ve guessed, our world-famous zoo has turned a hundred years old!
The San Diego Zoo began when the 1915 Panama-California Exposition came to an end in 1916. The exposition’s veterinarian, Harry Milton Wegeforth, heard the caged lions roar. He turned to his brother and said: “Wouldn’t it be splendid if San Diego had a zoo! You know…I think I’ll start one.”
The rest is history. A century of amazing history!
The big festival today featured all sorts of fun and educational stuff, as you’ll see in my photos. I can hardly believe the size of the crowd that turned out!
I went home before dark and missed a world-record attempt in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion–the most hand puppets performing at one time. Regrettably, I also missed the opening of the big mystery boxes–gifts from the zoo to the San Diego community. As of this moment–as I publish this post–they still haven’t been opened! I’ll provide an update when I learn what was inside!
UPDATE!
From what I read the following morning, the three huge gift boxes on stage contained a puppet elephant, a puppet condor, and an 11-foot-high puppet lion that roared at the conclusion of an epic evening performance!
I should’ve stayed to watch! Apparently the Broadway-style show was amazing, and featured Tony and Grammy Award-winning singer Heather Headley, lots of dancing, the performing puppets, and an inspiring light show. If you want to check out some pics, here are a bunch of good ones!
A huge crowd walks down El Prado in Balboa Park, enjoying exhibits and entertainment celebrating the world-famous San Diego Zoo’s centennial.People listen to live music in the Plaza de Panama. Many people wore hats or shirts decorated with animals.Sign lists the various activities at the San Diego Zoo Centennial community celebration.Zoo staff and volunteers help kids create animal-themed art.These mariachis were almost ready to perform!Street magician excites a kid.Musicians were everywhere. It was a big party for San Diego.A botanicals exhibit explained how the San Diego Zoo isn’t merely saving endangered animal species, but saving rare plants, too! I’m going to blog about this shortly!Look who I spotted giving an interview. The celebrated and much-beloved zoo spokesperson Joan Embery!Lots of cool zoo gifts and fun commemorative stuff was for sale, of course!Another exhibit showed how the zoo helps wildlife researchers using modern digital recording technology in the field.Several local high schools were having their proms tonight, and I spotted many fancy dresses throughout Balboa Park. I’m not sure about this photo shoot!It’s still two hours before the main programming begins, but people are already gathering in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. There are the large mystery boxes!This super friendly San Diego Zoo team member answered several of my questions. Every zoo representative I talked to was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and really nice.Some dancing up on the stage. At eight o’clock, the main program would begin.A tiger roams through Balboa Park.
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Cool people search under the Ocean Beach Municipal Pier for litter. I love a clean San Diego!
This morning I headed to the OB pier to take a bunch of photos. Some of them might end up being used in a book about the piers of California! (I’ll blog more about that later as events unfold.)
I was pleasantly surprised to see my visit to Ocean Beach happened to coincide with the Ocean Beach Pier Cleanup Day, which is organized by San Diego Coastkeeper and the Surfrider Foundation. I took some pics of awesome volunteers combing the sand for all sorts of nasty litter. Once again, I learned cigarette butts are a huge problem. One small team I spoke to collected literally hundreds of them from the beach.
Do you live in San Diego? Let’s help to keep our city clean and beautiful!
Many residents of Ocean Beach help to keep their community clean, collecting trash that damages the coastal environment.These guys using a metal detector were sifting the sand for precious treasure! In their own way, I suppose, they were helping to keep the beach clean, too!Plastic bags fill up with garbage as volunteers make Ocean Beach that more beautiful and inviting.These friendly volunteers found over 300 cigarette butts. Yikes. If only some people could be a little more thoughtful…Collected trash is recorded at the San Diego Coastkeeper station not far from the OB pier.Volunteers search the beach near the OB pier for litter during a cleanup day.
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Spectacular flower of a Coastal cholla cactus in San Diego. Seen along a trail near Morley Field Drive that leads into Balboa Park’s Florida Canyon.
I took these colorful photos while walking Sunday through Balboa Park, along one of the rugged dirt trails that leads up out of Florida Canyon. A short hike can be enjoyed through native coastal chaparral and spring wildflowers, between Morley Field and Park Boulevard, just south of Morley Field Drive.
Flat-top buckwheat, or California buckwheat, flower clusters are opening in spring. These native plants grow profusely in arid San Diego.Small red flower clusters of flat-top buckwheat (Eriogonum deflexum) that have yet to open.More buckwheat in Balboa Park’s Florida Canyon. Native Americans used the plant to make tea with medicinal properties.Another flower on a very spiny Coastal cholla (Cylindropuntia prolifera) makes for an interesting photograph.A wild yellow prickly pear cactus flower near the rim of Balboa Park’s Florida Canyon, just across Park Boulevard from the San Diego Zoo.These buckwheat flower clusters have turned brown. Perhaps that’s why the plant is sometimes called skeletonweed.These flowers that I randomly photographed along the trail have me stumped. I tried to identify them, but without success. If you know what they are, please leave a comment!A profusion of red and white buckwheat beauty.
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Cool mural in San Diego’s hip South Park community features Latino and Native American cultural influences.
Here are four cool street murals that I spotted during my meandering walk yesterday. You can find them on Fern Street in San Diego’s South Park neighborhood. All four of these are north of Date Street. I’m sure there are others to the south that I missed.
Urban art on side of the Fern St. Laundromat. Litter and graffiti partially obscure a painted depiction of a vintage San Diego Fire Department vehicle, complete with fireman and dalmatian.Local graffiti artists Persue, Reyes and Steel created this cool street art on Fern Street in South Park.Sepia tone mural on Fern Street in South Park features man riding an old-fashioned penny-farthing and nostalgic images from San Diego’s past.
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A large bee and the word LOVE. Street art on a fence near the top of Golden Hill.
I went on a long walk today and took many photos. Enough for several blog posts!
I’ll begin at the beginning–walking in the mid-morning from downtown San Diego to the top of Golden Hill. I headed east along Broadway, crossed Interstate 5, then began my climb up the hill, looking this way and that. Here are a few interesting things I saw, starting at the Police Headquarters located at 14th and Broadway…
A wreath in front of the San Diego Police Headquarters’ Wall of Honor is the remnant of a recent memorial ceremony. The wall is inscribed with the names of all police officers killed in the line of duty since 1913.A prayer on Broadway. Shelter my brothers and sisters in arms who have fallen in the fight. Let their stars, lit by your love, shine brightly through the night.A sign points to Golden Hill as I walk east up Broadway from downtown San Diego.Looking back west toward downtown. Many jacaranda trees line San Diego’s streets. A man waits at a bus stop.Crazy decal on the back of a stop sign.A utility box with a bit of funny urban art. This tired buffalo appears to be crunching some numbers.A nicely restored Victorian residence on sloping Broadway, photographed while heading up Golden Hill. This neighborhood contains many historic houses. A hundred years ago, this area on a scenic hill near downtown was very affluent.One side of a utility box has been boldly painted with a fiery green dragon.A lady and a scaly dragon on the opposite side of the box. A floral mural decorates a nearby store’s wall.The San Diego Reader is a very popular alternative weekly newspaper in our city. Their headquarters is located on Broadway in Golden Hill.The 1896 Quartermass-Wilde House is a San Diego Historic Landmark. It’s difficult to miss! This elegant Victorian is an outstanding example of Queen Anne style architecture.Lots of balloons and flowers for sale at the corner of Broadway and 25th Street. It’s Mother’s Day.A beautiful bit of shining art inlaid in the sidewalk. A marker at the top of Golden Hill.San Diego Fire Station 11, at the corner of Broadway and 25th Street. It’s a perfect day for a walk!A Mexican taco shop has graffiti on the windows. The neighborhood today is slightly neglected, but sunny and pleasant.A wooden fence along the sidewalk contains amazing, colorful murals, beginning with this flowery skull.A brilliant butterfly spotted on Broadway, near the top of Golden Hill!A hummingbird drawn like ancient Southwestern rock art.A magical lady, eyeball plants and an unfinished Simba.Someone walks west along the Broadway sidewalk. I continued east, turned north up 28th Street and directed my feet toward South Park.
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The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s old Coast Guard patrol boat, renamed M/V Farley Mowat, is docked this weekend on San Diego’s Embarcadero.
Yesterday after work, I noticed that an unusually decorated old U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat was docked along the Embarcadero, just north of the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Naturally, I had to investigate!
Turns out the renamed boat, M/V Farley Mowat, is now owned and operated by an organization called the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whose stated mission is to defend, conserve and protect marine ecosystems and species. They use direct-action tactics to expose and confront the illegal slaughter of marine wildlife at sea. I’d seen their exhibit aboard the steam ferry Berkeley during Earth Day on the Bay, where their representative explained that Sea Shepherd was like Greenpeace on steroids.
I spoke to a friendly crewmember near the Farley Mowat and learned they would be offering the public free tours on Saturday. The vessel has just returned from its second mission in the Sea of Cortez off Baja California–the wildlife defense campaign was titled Operation Milagro II. For a number of months, Sea Shepherd worked with the Mexican government in a marine refuge near San Felipe to identify and intercept illegal gillnet fishing which has reduced the population of the rare Vaquita Porpoise over the decades to just about 100 animals. This is commendable work! Sea Shepherd not only has permission from the Mexican government to patrol for poachers and pull up illegal fishing nets when encountered, but they are making observations concerning this endangered marine species. They are doing similar work to protect another rare fish in the region: the Totoaba Bass.
Working within the law in a positive way to protect these species is commendable and extraordinary! After doing some research at home, however, I learned that the organization is quite controversial. Some say they go too far. Some, including other environmental activists and organizations, have called them eco-terrorists. I don’t know enough to comment, but I do know that sometimes people with enthusiastic agendas and a sense of urgent purpose can lose their sense of humanity. The people I met yesterday and this morning when I walked again along the Embarcadero seemed like very nice people. I will say no more.
A very friendly, informative crewmember of Farley Mowat explained their recently completed mission, which was to defend the Vaquita Porpoise in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.Photograph of M/V Farley Mowat the following cloudy morning. Visitors were being given tours aboard the vessel.Interested people and crew mingle before boarding the Sea Shepherd’s cool boat. Public tours of M/V Farley Mowat are being offered this weekend in San Diego.Looks like kids made some Thank You signs for Sea Shepherd!A tent near the boat featured gifts and information in support of Sea Shepherd. Defending Ocean Wildlife Worldwide.A detailed poster explains why sea turtles should be defended. Click to enlarge. San Diego’s South Bay has its own small group of migratory green sea turtles.Sea Shepherd stops in San Diego. They were featured in Animal Planet’s television show Whale Wars. M/V Farley Mowat will soon be on its way to another location on the high seas.
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Dancing to traditional Kumeyaay Bird Songs in Balboa Park during the American Indian Health Center Pow Wow.
A special event is going on this weekend in Balboa Park. The American Indian Health Center Pow Wow is taking place near the corner of Park Boulevard and Presidents Way.
I enjoyed the first hour of the pow wow, watching and listening to the performance of Bird Songs by members of the Kumeyaay Nation. These very powerful ancient songs live on today, but other similar songs from the past have been lost to time.
Other events at the pow wow include gourd dancing and fancy shawl dancing. Tents around the venue feature all sorts of Native American crafts, food, art and cultural information. If you’re in San Diego, swing on by! The public is welcome!
Gourd rattles are an important and powerful part of Kumeyaay Bird Songs. Traditionally, a musical sound has also been produced with a stick rubbed against a rough basket.A large drum awaits on the grass as the Native American Pow Wow in San Diego has just begun.Miss Kumeyaay Nation was very gracious to pose for a photograph.I swung by the pow wow during its first hour. Many additional participants were arriving and setting up.Many who’d arrived for the pow wow were already in colorful ceremonial costumes. The earlier rain had ceased and people were relaxing, enjoying friendship, spirit-filled music and another beautiful day.Someone proudly wears an American Indian Warriors Association emblem.Photo taken as the American Indian Health Center Pow Wow in Balboa Park is just getting started.Getting ready for a busy day of dance, song, spirituality, and honoring local Native American culture and history.Working on beautiful ceremonial objects to be worn or displayed during a life-filled pow wow in San Diego.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Do you like to read short pieces of thought-provoking fiction? You might enjoy checking out Short Stories by Richard.
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