This morning, as I began to climb Bankers Hill, I casually glanced into this tattoo parlor and was immediately horrified.
Just inside the window, a poor skeletal artist was attempting to apply ink to a sadly bony customer. Not much progress was being made.
Seriously, I believe this funny window display was created for Halloween!
This enormous steel sculpture, created by renowned artist Melvin Edwards, is called Breaking the Chains. It stands near the middle of the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade, right next to the Convention Center trolley station.
The MLK Promenade is a pedestrian and bike path that stretches along Harbor Drive, from a point near Seaport Village down to the Gaslamp. It’s an excellent place to enjoy the sunshine and take in various sights, including the fun Children’s Museum, fountains, public art, and showy waterfront hotels. Along the walk are tributes to the famous civil rights leader and his cause of human equality. Many of his most inspirational quotes are engraved within and beside the walkway.
Every year, during Martin Luther King Day weekend, the promenade comes alive with the annual Multicultural Festival!
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Another interesting photograph taken during a walk. The sign on the north side of this old building is extremely faded. It informs the observer of an earlier time. Years ago this location was San Diego’s In Spot!
The nine story building stands right next to San Diego’s City Hall and is sadly abandoned. It has been that way since 1990. In 1927 this was the center of an historic grand opening. The California Theater, which was a movie palace, was so elegant and elaborate that it came to be called the “cathedral” of the motion picture.
The now dilapidated old building also has a large weathered advertisement for Tijuana’s Agua Caliente race track painted in the 1960s on its west side. I took photos of that here.
UPDATE!
I took a closer, better photo on a much later date…
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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!
This cool graphic appears on the front of downtown San Diego’s popular restaurant and concert venue House of Blues, not far from the ticket window. It consists of a famous quote made by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
The quote reads:
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
I promised even more photos of the amazing chalk art creations at Little Italy’s 2013 Festa event. Many of these pics show artists at work, applying vibrant color to the drab asphalt of a downtown San Diego street. Enjoy these images!
Andy Warhol might’ve painted mopeds in this fashion!
Expressive faces. This was one of my favorites!
I also love these exotic masks and faces!
What could be more Italian than Pinocchio?
Even though it’s a bit creepy, I like this one. It really appeals to the imagination!
Among the talented artists were many young people. Impressive!
It seems the Minions had a sneaky, dastardly scheme. It was to tilt the Leaning Tower of Pisa!
I enjoyed checking out lots of cool cars at the Fifth Avenue Auto Showcase on Sunday morning. The event filled several blocks of downtown San Diego’s historic Gaslamp District.
High-performance and rare vintage automobiles were all over the place. I saw a row of Ferraris, some Porsches, a DeLorean, Vipers, Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, Thunderbirds and even a group of mint condition Model A antique cars. Many of the exhibits were courtesy of the Mopar Club of San Diego.
Here’s a wide shot that shows some cool buildings along Fifth Avenue.
This Isetta 300 is a tiny bubble-like Italian-designed car that was once was produced throughout Europe. The front of the car swings up, serving as the driver’s door!
Here’s a Ford Mustang identical to the car used in Bullitt, that Steve McQueen movie with the classic chase scene.
Auto enthusiasts were in heaven!
A stickball tournament was held Sunday in San Diego’s Little Italy, one block from the Festa event! The playing field was a city street in front of the Firehouse Museum. Lots of people watched from the sidewalk, sitting on lawn chairs and the curb.
Here’s a team wearing spiffy uniforms, getting ready to begin a game. A player practices his swing while the lineup is written with chalk on the street.
Here’s a player from the opposing team swinging. If I recall correctly, he hit the rubber ball into a treetop, and it dropped for a single. Another player hit the ball onto the porch of a condo down the street. That guy was called out.
When I departed, the team in the spiffy uniforms was losing badly.
UPDATE!
Here are a couple more photos from a different Saturday morning in late summer…
Okay, here come some pics from my stroll through Festa today. This popular festival featured food, entertainment and lots of art. It took place in Little Italy, a neighborhood in the north part of downtown San Diego, once populated largely by Italian fisherman who worked in the local tuna fleet. But that was decades ago. The streets today are lined mostly with condos, restaurants and shops.
Thousands of San Diegans turned out for the celebration. There were plenty of tents filled with crafts, clothing, toys, jewelry–just about anything you could imagine. Almost all of it was Italian-themed.
Musical performers could be heard everywhere, entertaining the crowd from several stages. There was much romantic Italian music–and I even heard a bit of opera!
This lady is setting up some paintings behind a Little Italy fountain.
I saw this really cool sculpture (and a number of others) beside the same fountain. All sorts of interesting elements are in this photograph!
Italian food could be found (and smelled) wherever one turned! I enjoyed a slice of pizza!
Smilin’ Jack performed with his accordion! That’s just a small taste of Festa!
Here are more photos of the Italian chalk art, properly called Gesso Italiano, at today’s 2013 Festa event in Little Italy. I’ve got so many great pics, it’s hard to choose which ones to show. Oh, well. I hope you like these! (Make sure you check out my previous post.)
Three blocks of a city street in San Diego’s Little Italy became the canvas for chalk creations! Lots of classical images, as one might expect from a celebration of Italy . . .
I bet Walt Disney himself would’ve been delighted by this colorful chalk art Jiminy Cricket!
This humorous piece seems to be named Dogue Italia. That’s one elegantly dressed dog!
More beautiful artistry . . .
A striking portrait. You’d think this was an exquisite painting hung in a museum!
I have even more photos coming . . . so check back soon!
Wow! I just finished a leisurely walk through Little Italy’s great 2013 Festa event, and by far the most amazing part of it was the chalk art competition! I learned that Italian chalk art is called Gesso Italiano. There were 62 colorful entries, taking up three full city blocks! I got so many great photos I’m going to break it all into several blog posts. Here comes the first batch!
All the artwork was fantastic!
It was fascinating to watch the many artists at work. I wish I had such talent!
Lots of people converged on San Diego’s unique Italian Festival!
Recreating a masterpiece with chalk.
I love this cool pic. One of the amazing chalk creations depicted another act of creation: that of God! The Sistine Chapel’s ceiling seemed to be transported to the asphalt street. Bystanders were invited to lie down and become part of Michelangelo’s divine masterpiece!
Stay tuned for more!
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