My leisurely walk through Balboa Park yesterday took me past a number of interesting sights. The House of Norway, in the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages, had their lawn program between 2 and 3 o’clock. I just happened to walk by as it started. Here are a few quick pics!
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Yesterday my wandering feet led me to a Pow Wow in the south end of Balboa Park. What a colorful, amazing event! The Native American Heritage Pow Wow featured a large grassy stage with a variety of costumed dancers. I lingered for a bit and got a few pics.
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Mom passed away some years ago. She loved roses. This blog post is dedicated to every precious mom on Mother’s Day.
I took these photos today at Balboa Park’s three-acre Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden. It’s located across Park Boulevard from the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, and features about 1,600 roses of more than 130 varieties. People love to stroll through the lush award-winning displays. Many mothers and families were present today!
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The brand new, very awesome County Administration Center Waterfront Park opened today! This spectacular city park stretches several blocks both north and south of the historic County Administration Building, replacing two ugly parking lots. It’s impossible to miss this expansive 12-acre park, located just across Harbor Drive from beautiful San Diego Bay.
You might have read my recent blog post about waterfront improvements, and seen some photos of this new park under construction. It’s now finished and it’s really fantastic!
I attended the grand opening this morning and got tons of cool pics!
Here we go…
President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the County Administration Building in 1938.
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Ramona, written by Helen Hunt Jackson in 1884, is one of the most popular American novels in history. The book has had more than 300 printings. It’s been made into a movie four times. Today, few remember it.
Those who walk through La Casa de Estudillo in San Diego’s historic Old Town, however, are seeing with their own eyes a remnant of Ramona’s fame. Without that novel, and past generations’ fondness for its main character, this handsome old building and possibly others around it would have been torn down and utterly obliterated.
The Casa de Estudillo was built in 1827. It was the property of José María Estudillo, an early settler of San Diego. Captain Estudillo was twice Commandant of the Presidio of San Diego. This large, many-roomed adobe was one of finest houses in all of Mexican California, and remains one of the oldest surviving examples of Spanish Colonial architecture in California.
Shortly after the publication of Ramona, the house, in the hands of a caretaker, enjoyed a burst of popularity with tourists when San Diego’s newspaper, the San Diego Union, declared that the Estudillo house was the title character’s wedding place. Helen Hunt Jackson never stated this was so; the novel described a similar location, but was fictional.
As decades went by the old adobe fell into disrepair and might have been razed. In 1906, John D. Spreckels, owner of the San Diego Electric Railway Company and the Union newspaper, purchased the house and preserved it, transforming it into a true tourist attraction. He altered the building to make it seem more compatible with the description of Ramona’s marriage place, while adding electricity and other conveniences.
The building eventually was given National Historic Landmark status. It’s exaggerated association with the novel caused it to be officially described as “Casa Estudillo/Ramona’s Marriage Place.”
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Everywhere you go in San Diego’s Old Town there are touristy shops selling Mexican curios. As I walked along one typical street last Sunday, I was struck by the dazzling array of patio ornaments on display outside a place called Miranda’s Courtyard.
I took several photos from the sidewalk. According to reviews on Yelp, Miranda’s Courtyard sells Mexican religious art, terra cotta suns, Talavera clay pottery, and just a huge bunch of colorful knick knacks.
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A very cool building is located in San Diego’s Middletown neighborhood, near the intersection of Washington Street and Interstate 5. Here are a few photos I took the other morning!
The historic building, dating from 1912, was the first brewery in the United States to be built in the Mission Revival Style. Today it remains the only Mission Revival industrial building in San Diego.
Briefly, prior to Prohibition, a non-alcoholic drink called Hopski was produced here. The large building then served as an isolation hospital during the 1918 flu pandemic. Later it was converted into an agar plant. Today the historic landmark is a part of Mission Brewery Plaza, whose buildings contains professional offices and a new craft brewery called Acoustic Ales Brewing Experiment.
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Most people walking along San Diego’s Embarcadero never venture north of the Hornblower boats docked at the Grape Street pier. They’re missing a lively, less-touristy area of San Diego Bay known as the Crescent. Many residents live on small boats moored in this corner of the bay, just west of Little Italy and south of the Coast Guard Station.
Take a walk along the sidewalk and you’ll see folks sitting on benches looking out at the bay, or bicycling along, or out on the water rowing to their floating homes. You’ll see Coast Guard boats and helicopters, folks pumping out their boats, kayaks, fishermen, sea lions and lots of different birds. Turn around and you’ll see planes landing at Lindbergh Field.
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Dedicated members of San Diego’s Maritime Museum were hard at work yesterday, working in the Star of India’s rigging like busy spiders on a web.
The rigging of the historic three-masted bark is undergoing an overhaul, a project that is expected to take a full year. That’s according to the person selling tickets. The large yards of the foremast have already been removed and are lying on the sidewalk awaiting inspection and a new coat of paint. I was told the ship’s trees (platforms on the masts) are infested with termites. They’ll have to be repaired. To maintain the 150 year old Star of India, the oldest active sailing ship in the world, requires a lot of work!
I got a quick photo of a San Diego Maritime Museum volunteer working on the yards on an early July morning!
Here come several more pics taken in October. The top third of the foremast has been removed!
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Late this morning I took a long leisurely walk through San Diego’s Old Town, just to check out this weekend’s Cinco de Mayo festivities. Thousands of people had arrived already, and the crowd was rapidly growing!
People were excited to watch dancers and musicians performing on several stages. They enjoyed gobs of Mexican food, the Cantina Garden, a fun petting zoo, lots of very cool lowriders, and endless booths selling Mexican crafts and wares.
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Cool San Diego Sights! 