Colorful new mural at Oceanside Transit Center!

This very colorful new mural was painted a couple months ago on the north side of the Oceanside Transit Center parking structure. It celebrates Oceanside–its Spanish mission and fishing history, and the nearby Pacific Ocean!

Jonny Pucci created the striking mural. See his Instagram page here.

According to this article, the work is part of MainStreet Oceanside’s Art that Excites program, which aims to install up to 10 murals in public spaces throughout downtown Oceanside.

I love how so many Southern California cities and communities continue to enliven neighborhoods and destinations with public art. No matter where I walk, I always seem to encounter something new. That was certainly the case yesterday!

Next time I walk in Oceanside, I have no doubt I’ll stumble upon more cool sights like this. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more outdoor art that I also discovered yesterday–in Escondido!

Enjoy a few more photos of the Oceanside Transit Center parking garage mural…

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

Fun holiday photos in downtown Oceanside!

Did one of the Planet of the Apes movies have a Santa Claus? He seems to have turned up in Oceanside, California!

It’s the holiday season! Have fun checking out some photographs that I took during a walk around downtown Oceanside today!

The above Santa gone ape was in a window at Goblin Shark Emporium.

Next, a couple festive photos taken on the Amtrak train platform at the Oceanside Transit Center…

A fun Happy Holidays street banner I noticed while walking up Coast Highway…

Shelves full of Season’s Greetings, gnomes and lighthouses inside Jane & Evie’s Used Book Store…

Merry Christmas decorations by a street corner…

Now I’ve entered the Oceanside Civic Center Library, where, as you’ll see, dinosaurs and the holidays seem to go very well together…

Window graphics include ornaments at the entrance to the Oceanside Museum of Art…

Need some artsy presents for Christmas? You definitely should check out the gift shop at the Oceanside Museum of Art. They’ve got lots of beautiful handmade gifts for sale…

Back outside, in the nearby Artist Alley, local Oceanside businesses were selling holiday crafts and wares. Today is Small Business Saturday! Santa would arrive later in the afternoon…

Do you plan to spend some time in Oceanside this holiday season? Read the following sign for special events. Or visit this website!

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

Oceanside’s holiday Crafty & Big Book Sale!

Look what’s coming next Saturday, December 7th in Oceanside! A big, holiday craft and book sale that benefits the Oceanside Public Library!

Need some special Christmas gifts? From 10 am to 4 pm, the Civic Center Library’s community rooms and courtyard will be bursting with hand-crafted items for sale that were donated by volunteers and library staff. And there will be hundreds of books and DVDs for a mere $1 each!

There will also be a silent auction for a local Airbnb stay and much more, all donated by local Oceanside businesses!

The event is being put on by the Friends of the Oceanside Public Library.

Finish up your holiday shopping in one easy trip! (And, while you’re there, check out the library’s dinosaur Christmas tree and other super fun decorations!)

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

Hummingbird Jubilee painted at Escondido’s Maple Street Plaza!

Feast your eyes on this!

An absolutely amazing mural is being painted in Escondido. It’s on the side of a building at Maple Street Plaza, and appears to be almost completed. I spotted the new mural behind a fence today as I walked down Grand Avenue. Information posted on the fence tells the story of this colorful artwork, which is titled Hummingbird Jubilee!

The artist is teacher and small business owner Brenda Gunderson Townsend. She operates Brilliant Spectrum Art. Here’s her Instagram page.

According to the posted info, she’s an Art Educator at the Center for the Arts Escondido, as well as the center’s lead Scenic Artist. The mural is her special gift to the entire Escondido community!

Brenda started painting Hummingbird Jubilee in late September. It’s in a stained glass style, in a nod to the Arts & Crafts movement. It measures 100 feet long by 14 feet tall. According to what I read, the City of Escondido will host a big unveiling event for the finished mural.

Wow!

I took photographs through the surrounding chain link fence…

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

Beautiful mural at Palomar College Escondido Education Center.

Renowned artist and illustrator Rafael Lopez painted this very colorful mural in Escondido during the summer. You might recognize his abstract style. The inspirational mural greets students arriving at the Palomar College Escondido Education Center.

(I took a long walk through Escondido early this morning . . . then Oceanside around noontime! I discovered all sorts of great street art and public art during my adventures. Stay tuned!)

The story behind this beautiful Rafael Lopez mural can be found in this article. I didn’t know the school has a comet as its mascot!

I like how images of life, growth and reaching skyward are important elements of the design.

If you love this artwork, you might want to check out other Rafael Lopez murals around San Diego. You can find many of them documented in past blog posts by clicking here.

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

Inside the Navy’s landlocked USS Recruit training ship!

The USS Recruit has been humorously called the USS Neversail. Embedded in concrete at the old Naval Training Center San Diego, the landlocked dummy training ship was an official U.S. Navy vessel commissioned in 1949 (and re-commissioned in 1982) that never set sail!

After Naval Training Center San Diego finally closed in 1997 and Liberty Station was developed on the Navy’s old property, the USS Recruit remained in place, slowly deteriorating. Then about ten years ago, the sheet-metal-over-wood-framing mock destroyer received a new paint job.

Last year the USS Recruit finally opened as a ship museum, allowing visitors to enter a large ground-level room inside the training ship. The walls of the museum are filled with historical photographs and video of past service members recalling their unique experiences aboard ship.

I ventured into the free ship museum a couple weekends ago for my first time. I was told that the one room open to the public used to be filled with telephones. Young sailors could use the phones to call home.

Here are a few photos…

Sailors standing on the deck of the USS Recruit circa 1995.

Old photos show construction of the largely wooden USS Recruit in 1949.

USS Recruit commissioning day, July 27, 1949.

One open door allows visitors to peer into an adjacent room.

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

Exhibition by San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild.

An excellent exhibition by members of the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild is now showing inside Gallery 21 at Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center.

The exhibition, curated by Alex DeCosta of the Hyde Art Gallery, features fine works by some of our city’s most outstanding artists. These eclectic pieces, all of which are for sale, would be valuable additions to any art collection.

I wandered into Gallery 21 late this afternoon and enjoyed viewing all the artwork. I took a few photographs so you get an idea of what you’ll find when you visit.

Make sure to swing by in the next few days. The 2024 SMMAAG Membership Exhibition will be on view in person through December 2, 2024. If you can’t make it by then, view the exhibition online here until the end of the year.

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

Spanish Village in Balboa Park readies for holidays!

Many of the studios in Spanish Village Art Center in San Diego’s Balboa Park are ready for the holiday season! Other artist studios will be getting ready soon!

I walked through Spanish Village late this afternoon and found wreaths, ornaments, and other fun decorations inside studios, on doors and in windows!

Need a unique Christmas gift for a special person? This is the perfect destination!

Peeking into Studio 41 the day before Thanksgiving.

Come on into Studio 34.

Wreath near art outside Studio 23, Southwestern Artists Association.

Santa says Believe when you step into Glass Blowing Studio 19.

Holiday wreath on yellow door of Studio 18, the Spanish Village office.

Wreath and silver stockings hang on door of Studio 10.

Welcome to a snowy forest scene.

At Studio 6, which jolly old elf is the REAL Santa Claus?

A beautiful little Christmas tree in Studio 2.

Studio 2 has several white snowy wreaths with red cardinals!

Come visit colorful Spanish Village Art Center during the holidays. Make sure to drop by during December Nights!

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

San Diego Padres: LFGSD in North Park!

LFGSD!

The San Diego Padres almost won it all last Major League Baseball season. They nearly took down the Dodgers. The Padres should remain awesome for many seasons to come. A new mural in North Park roots on the team. Let’s F-ing Go San Diego!

The spray painted artwork, which appears like neon at the corner of University Avenue and 30th Street, takes its inspiration from an exclamation made by Padres player Jorge Alfaro back in 2022. The impassioned expression has taken on a life of its own. LFGSD!

This cool art was created a couple months ago by muralists Carly Ealey (@carlyealey) and Christopher Konecki (@konecki_art).

Check it out!

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

San Diego Ballet performs in Balboa Park!

A brilliant performance by San Diego Ballet was enjoyed this afternoon at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. Two selections from The Nutcracker–Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Waltz of the Flowers–were the highlight of the two o’clock Sunday organ concert! The outstanding guest organist was Mark Herman.

The company dancers of the San Diego Ballet soared powerfully above the outdoor stage with ease and grace. I don’t know how they defied gravity, dancing on air, moving lightly through space as if by magic.

For a moment, to my mind, they became flowers swaying in a light summer breeze.

I hope these images convey that grace. That feeling of exuberant joy.

The holiday season is a few days away! San Diego Ballet will be presenting The Nutcracker on December 21st at 1 pm and 5 pm, at the Magnolia in El Cajon. Learn more at their website here.

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!