Adventure Awaits at University Community Library!

Adventure Awaits at the University Community Library–or at least it does outside the front entrance!

Fun artwork decorates an electrical box at the University City public library on Governor Drive. I see Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin’s kite, a beanstalk, a whale, a hot air balloon and biplane, the solar system . . . and even a few books!

Check it out! (Pun intended.)

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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Cool photo memories from February 2016.

As we make our way into another month, it’s time to revisit half a dozen blog posts from five years ago!

Back in February 2016 I observed a variety of fun San Diego events. Probably my most unique photos were taken on the day that hobbyists ran their small live steam trains by the Bonita golf course. I also snapped photos of Chinese New Year in downtown and Valentine’s Day in Balboa Park.

I’ve provided links to these past blog posts for your viewing pleasure!

Click the following links to see photographs from five years ago…

San Diego residents learn a cool craft in a park!

Local authors honored by San Diego Public Library!

Outdoor sculptures being installed in Balboa Park!

Lion dances and fun in downtown San Diego!

Love and life on Valentine’s Day in Balboa Park.

People ride cool “live steam” trains in San Diego!

This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!

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More cool urban art in Memorial.

Here’s one last batch of photos from my adventure in the Memorial neighborhood a couple weekends ago!

These first four photographs were taken at the Sawaya Brothers Market.

I documented the big, extraordinary mural facing Ocean View Boulevard here. But there was also graffiti and urban art spray painted on two other walls of the store, which you are now viewing. All of this artwork appears to have been created by David Mena, whose signature you can see.

The following three photos were taken in the same alley where I photographed the Mother Teresa mural, which you can revisit here.

I observed Power 2 the People and all sorts of super colorful imagery.

It appears David Mena is also responsible for this artwork.

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!

Bursts of beauty in Solana Beach!

Yesterday I took some interesting photographs of the tall sculpture that stands just west of the intersection of Highway 101 and Plaza Street in Solana Beach.

This public artwork looks almost like bursts of confetti up in the sky, or exploding fireworks, or atoms with their packed nuclei and fuzzy electron clouds suspended in space, or sudden irrepressible explosions of joy!

The sculpture blends in quite nicely with nearby palm trees, as you can see…

A bronze plaque at the sculpture’s base reads:

Plaza Beautification
1965-1967
A Gift to the Community from
SOLANA BEACH
WOMEN’S CIVIC CLUB
with appreciation to
Wadell Austin
Wenetta Childs
and other contributors

I believe the sculpture is titled Child’s Fountain. See a map of Solana Beach public artwork here.

To learn more about the sculpture and the artist who created it, Wenetta Childs, read this article.

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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

California Harmony racehorse art in Solana Beach!

Here’s another great Art of the Horse piece created back in 2017 for the Breeders’ Cup, which was held that year at the Del Mar Racetrack. This sculpture, a life-size replica of the Breeders’ Cup trophy, is titled California Harmony. It’s by artist Tish Wynne.

Painted on the racehorse are colorful coastal scenes full of crashing waves, running horses, birds, flowers and ocean wildlife. You can find California Harmony in Solana Beach, on Highway 101 in front of The Boardwalk retail and office complex, a bit south of Estrella Street.

Several years ago I photographed five other Art of the Horse fiberglass sculptures. (There were 20 unique pieces painted for the Breeders’ Cup.) You can see those horses here and here!

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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Super cool Batman painted on a van!

OMG! Check this out!

I timed this shot just perfectly!

An amazing van painted with a super cool Batman and other colorful images flashed past me as I was photographing the sculpture at the corner of Highway 101 and Plaza Street in Solana Beach.

I aimed my camera a little ahead of the Caped Crusader and hoped for the best as he whizzed by!

Yes!

Then the Dark Knight (striding heroically near rockets, palm trees and sea creatures) came back around setting up a second, more distant photo.

Hey, dude. That’s one awesome van!

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!

La Jolla artwork in Solana Beach!

Check out some great tile artwork depicting many of La Jolla’s landmarks.

I spied this today while walking past a shopping center in Solana Beach!

The painted tiles, created by artist Alma Ortega in 2016, can be found on the YogaSix building in the northeast corner of the Beachwalk Shopping Center.

Look at all the La Jolla landmarks. They include UCSD’s Geisel Library, the Birch Aquarium, Scripps Pier, the sea caves, the Coast Walk, and La Jolla Cove. Above it all I see the Mount Soledad Cross. Numerous popular eateries along the ocean are also depicted!

I’m not sure why this La Jolla art is in Solana Beach, but I love it!

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!

Baby Boomers Google in Del Mar!

Today I enjoyed a North County adventure!

My travels included a quick stop in front of the Del Mar Library, to see if Baby Boomers Google had reappeared.

It had!

Last summer I noticed it was missing, and learned some vandals had damaged it. The humorous sculpture by Del Mar artist Maidy Morhous is back!

Before Google, we old-timers had to pore through volumes of reference books and encyclopedias. Not sure about the golden apple on top. Perhaps that’s for a helpful librarian or teacher!

If you’d like to see a couple other Del Mar sculptures that are nearby, one of which was also created by Maidy Morhous, click here.

If you’re curious about the amazing mosaic wall you see in front of the library, click here!

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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Colorful community mural at Sawaya Brothers!

A large, super colorful mural was painted last year on a wall of Sawaya Brothers Market, at the corner of Ocean View Boulevard and 30th Street.

The mural celebrates the dynamic life and culture of the community. Sawaya Brothers, a grocery store, tortilleria y panaderia (said by many to have the best tortillas in San Diego), is located in the Memorial neighborhood of Logan Heights.

Check out this great artwork! I see a profusion of diverse, positive images, including an Aztec dancer, kids playing soccer, a Don Carlos Ice Cream paleta cart, beloved musician Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez, social activism, Our Lady of Guadalupe, a lowrider, cool images honoring African Americans and the Kumeyaay, a lady making tortillas, Quetzalcoatl, a skateboarder, local school mascots, even the San Diego Padres and a trolley!

According to this article, the mural and its message of unity was painted over the course of a month by David Mena and several other artists with the help of local youth in 2020.

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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

The times they are a-changin’ in Golden Hill!

Check out this fun, very colorful mural splashed on the west side of Influx Cafe in Golden Hill!

The mural, designed by Randall Christopher and painted by Grand Prestoz, was completed in August, 2019.

THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN’ . . . EVERYONE EVERYONE
LOST SOMEWHERE IN THE MENTAWAIS

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!