Christmas tree auction helps San Diego homeless!

Would you like to have a uniquely beautiful Christmas Tree this holiday season? Would you like to help San Diego’s homeless at the same time?

Seventeen wonderfully decorated Christmas Trees are now on display in the lobby of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel. They are being auctioned to help the homeless. The event is called 1st Annual Holiday Village at the Bayfront: A Cause to Celebrate!

Each one-of-a-kind Christmas Tree has its own fun theme. All were decorated by folks who help our city’s homeless at Father Joe’s Villages. One very special Christmas Tree features ornaments created using the imprints of the hands and feet of children who attend Father Joe’s Therapeutic Childcare Center!

Complete information can be found on this web page. Funds raised go to helping thousands of San Diegans have safe shelter, hot meals, and hope during the holidays. The auction ends on November 24, 2024.

Visit the auction page and see photos of each amazing tree by clicking here!

I really like the kids-made tree: Santa’s Whimsical Workshop!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Start your own holiday food drive in San Diego!

Would you like to help people in your community who are hungry this holiday season? It’s easy for you, your organization or business to start a holiday food drive! The San Diego Food Bank makes it super simple!

A box or tub placed where people congregate can be filled with items like canned foods, peanut butter, pasta, rice, cereal and oatmeal. It’s easy to print out a poster like the one you see above, downloadable from the San Diego Food Bank website here.

Once filled, the container can be picked up for free by the food bank. Or you can drop it off anytime Monday through Friday, 8 am – 12 pm or 1 pm – 4 pm at the San Diego Food Bank address, which is 9850 Distribution Ave., Dock 0, San Diego, CA 92121

If you anticipate a large amount of donated food, the food bank will happily lend you a big collection barrel. Barrel delivery and pickup by the food bank is free! Can you fill multiple barrels? That would be awesome!

Don’t have a good place for a container or barrel? You can also host a virtual food drive!

Find detailed information about hosting your own special food drive by visiting the San Diego Food Bank website here.

Why not make this holiday season extra meaningful? It’s so easy!

Look! We started a food drive today where I work!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Statue of basketball legend Bill Walton at YMCA!

A bronze statue of basketball legend Bill Walton with his beloved bicycle stands just outside the entrance of the Mission Valley YMCA in San Diego!

I heard the San Diego Blood Bank was having a blood drive in honor of Bill Walton at this YMCA today, so I figured I’d come on down. Of course, I had to take photographs of Bill Walton’s joyful sculpture!

Here’s a 2016 article about the sculpture’s creation. It explains: Bill Walton led the UCLA Bruins to national championships in the early 1970s before playing for San Diego Clippers, the Portland Trail Blazers, and Boston Celtics and joining the NBA. Walton won two NBA championships and was named the NBA valuable player. He was also a very dedicated Grateful Dead Deadhead!

The artist who created the life-size, carefully detailed sculpture is Alison Brown. She really captured his energy and love of life. Bill frequently visited the Mission Valley YMCA, and he would greet everyone with his big smile.

Bill Walton grew up in La Mesa near Lake Murray and played high school basketball at Helix High School. He spent his later years living in San Diego, where he was an active public figure and loved by many. Check out his Wikipedia page to learn of his many accomplishments.

The statue’s plaque recalls how Bill Walton spent many hours at the Mission Valley YMCA. Because the indoor pool soothed his chronic pain, he said the Y saved his life.

Finally, here’s the web page concerning today’s inaugural Bill Walton Memorial Blood Drive. There’s a button you can click if you’d like to donate blood in the future. You can schedule a visit to the San Diego Blood Bank or learn of upcoming blood drives!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Lion dancing meets ballet folklórico!

My favorite part of the annual Fall Back Festival in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter is the dancing.

As far back as I can remember, the San Diego Lucky Lion Dancers have always been followed by Gift of Dance students who perform ballet folklórico.

It’s a very colorful mixture of two diverse cultures!

Here’s a bunch of festive photographs from today! As I upload them, I can’t help smiling!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Day of the Dead altars on car hoods.

I arrived late yesterday to the Gaslamp Quarter’s Día de los Muertos celebration. The classic cars and lowriders were already departing, so I couldn’t photograph their colorful Day of the Dead hood and trunk altars.

Fortunately the event continued today, so I made sure to arrive early!

Enjoy these photos of touching Day of the Dead altars. They remember and honor loved ones who’ve passed away. The traditional altars attain a unique quality when combined with Mexican American lowrider culture, which thrives in San Diego.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

A hungry bear, a pear tree, and opera for kids!

How can children develop a love for opera? By watching and listening to a fun performance by Opera4Kids!

Even I, a so-called adult, enjoyed a happy opera staged for children at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion today. It was part of the usual two o’clock organ concert in San Diego’s Balboa Park.

Opera4Kids presented The Bear and the Pear Tree, a simple story sung by two professional opera singers, Victoria Robertson and Bernardo Bermudez. Both have sung with the San Diego Opera.

Kids sat on the stage, swaying and clapping, laughing and shouting encouragement to the sweet pear tree and the hungry bear. The bear wanted a pear. Should he flatter the pear tree? Would the story end with a happily ever after?

Yes, it was a child’s fairy tale, but the singing was strong and very beautiful.

Funny how a simple thing can make one feel uplifted.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Youth Artist Showcase comes to Balboa Park!

This afternoon, a special Youth Artist Showcase was enjoyed by the public in San Diego. The Ecologik Institute, in partnership with Forever Balboa Park, assembled talented young women in Balboa Park near the Bea Evenson Fountain to celebrate their achievements.

The mission of the Ecologik Institute is to empower young women to be champions for nature, innovators in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, warriors for environmental stewardship, leaders in their communities, and changemakers who create a positive impact on the world around them.

The Youth Artist Showcase was part of a larger effort to brainstorm new ideas of how to bring art into Balboa Park in the future.

I was lucky to arrive at the Bea Evenson Fountain when I did. I observed a bustle of activity and learned this special event was soon to get underway.

Enjoy these photographs!

First up, Cindy was showing a project that included images of birds that can be observed in Balboa Park. She also keeps a sketch book.

Next, I enjoyed viewing some great artwork by young artists! Here are two samples…

Then came a wonderful performance of selected dances from The Nutcracker, by members of the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet!

As usual, they’ll be performing The Nutcracker at the Casa del Prado Theater in Balboa Park this holiday season!

Finally, I listened to an excellent performance by four members of the Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Día de los Muertos celebration in Sherman Heights.

Día de los Muertos at the Sherman Heights Community Center has become one of the most anticipated Day of the Dead celebrations in San Diego. In 2024 the week-long event turned thirty years old.

The many traditional altars inside the community center, erected by local families and organizations, remember loved one who are deceased. All around the center a joyful festival is enjoyed by families who engage in activities that celebrate life, past and present.

Walking the short distance from downtown to Sherman Heights, I arrived at the event yesterday.

I was fortunate to join a group that was touring the Día de los Muertos altars (ofrendas in Spanish). Daniel was explaining to several people (including folks from Germany) how these altars originated in Pre-Columbian times and evolved to include Catholic elements when Spain entered the American continent. Most of the altars include symbols of the four elements defined in ancient times: earth, water, fire and air.

In Mexican ofrendas today, earth is still represented by marigolds and offerings of food, water by drink, fire by candles, and air by papel picado, which flutters in a breeze.

Daniel explained that because Day of the Dead has universal themes–family, human mortality, the circle of life and love–and because of commercialization and the influence of popular culture, the holiday is spreading worldwide. He noted that other cultures have inserted their own special symbolism into Day of the Dead celebrations.

I took photographs of the many altars. Most were extremely elaborate.

So many loved ones that have passed on–but who live still in memory…

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Old Globe performs Shakespeare around San Diego!

San Diego’s world-famous Old Globe performed Shakespeare’s play As You Like It today at downtown’s Central Library! It was just one stop during the 2024 Globe for All Tour, which brings fine theatrical performances to various economically, geographically, and culturally diverse communities throughout San Diego County, and even south of the border in Tijuana, Mexico.

I went to the free show, not knowing what it might be like, and WOW–what absolute fun!

The crazy, mixed-up play about rivalry, misunderstandings and triumphant love was full of physical comedy and outrageous action! The story included occasional audience participation (including holding up butterflies that we made), surprising and funny pop culture references, and even some spoken lines in Spanish. We in the audience were laughing much of the time. I loved the hilarious WWE-style wrestling match between the brothers Oliver and Orlando!

The experience was even more awesome because the professional acting, taking place in the library’s Shiley Special Events Suite, could be experienced up close and personal–just a few feet from the chairs where we sat. When the actors went “offstage” to corners of the room we could watch them, even as they changed costume.

After the conclusion of As You Like It, the audience was invited to make comments and ask questions of the cast.

Actress Emma Svitil (smiling in my first and final photo) played Phoebe. She explained that Shakespeare is loved to this day because his works tap into universal truths about humanity. He addresses love, friendship, the struggle for power, etc. His plays can be easily adapted to the times we live in. The Bard’s ingenious wordplay is amusing, too!

Everyone should take advantage of the free Globe for All Tour. Young people (and certain adults like myself) might not comprehend every word of Shakespeare’s centuries-old language, but the super expressive acting speaks for itself!

To see if there are upcoming performances of As You Like It in your community, click here.

Photography is prohibited during the performance, so I took these beforehand. The pics are of some actors and props. (As you can see, the Central Library’s ninth floor special events suite has amazing views of downtown San Diego!)

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

A colorful Día de los Muertos in the Gaslamp!

Is that the Ghostbusters cool ECTO-1 car . . . with a skeleton and a señorita? I wasn’t expecting to see this when I walked up Fifth Avenue during San Diego Gaslamp Quarter’s annual Día de los Muertos celebration!

I arrived around 5 o’clock, just as all the classic and lowrider cars were starting to depart. Unfortunately I was too late and missed their unique hood ofrendas.

I did observe several static Day of the Dead altars around what is essentially a big street festival. And elaborately face-painted Catrinas. And live music on a stage, and lots of food and vendors and people in a late Saturday party mood.

The very colorful, family-friendly event continues this evening until 9 pm. It returns tomorrow, Sunday, November 3, from 11 am to 6 pm. You can learn more about the Gaslamp’s Día de los Muertos Festival by clicking here.

(I’ll probably swing by again tomorrow, when I go to the nearby Fall Back Festival!)

Enjoy a few photos!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.