Santa’s reindeer have decided to remain in sunny San Diego after Christmas, it seems. I saw all nine reindeer, including Rudolph with his shining red nose, at Seaport Village today!
A couple weeks after the holidays, this chalk art drawn on a Seaport Village wall is still visible. I see the artist is @sidewalk_chalk_dad, otherwise known as Erick Toussaint, the current Design Director at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
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A row of Beach Castles protects the South Mission Beach Lifeguard Tower from surging water and other Pacific Ocean invaders!
This public artwork, which is indeed titled Beach Castles, was created out of concrete by San Diego artist Roman de Salvo in 2019. The “sandcastles” resemble Mission Beach’s long line of beachfront homes and condos, which I assume was the humorous intention.
Sadly, as you can see in some photographs, this playful art outside the lifeguard station has been defaced by graffiti.
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Very colorful public art decorates two sides of the Mission Beach boardwalk restrooms that are located just south of Belmont Park. These two photo montages on tile are titled Pixelated Summer. They were created by Southern California artists Sarah Lejeune and Angelo Camporaso in 2008.
Looking at this artwork is like tumbling through many bright kaleidoscope memories. There are bits and flashes from endless summers at the beach, combined with glimpses of the Belmont Park amusement park, its wooden Giant Dipper roller coaster and The Plunge indoor pool.
My first photos show this unique public art installation on the restroom’s north side.
The next two photos are of a nearby marker commemorating the one hundred year anniversary of Mission Beach. It was placed here during a centennial ceremony in 2014.
It’s worth a quick look..
Now we’ll take a look at the south side of the public restroom, where the other watery half of Pixelated Summer is installed…
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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!
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!
Back in 2015, a mural depicting two surfers and sea birds was painted on both sides of a gas station wall at the entrance to Ocean Beach. You can see it as you drive into OB, at the corner of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and West Point Loma Boulevard. The eye-catching mural was painted by Southern California artist Henry Goods.
A couple days ago I finally walked past it.
When I read this great article concerning the mural’s creation, I learned another San Diego gas station features more artwork painted by Henry Goods. It’s that long, very colorful mural on First Avenue between Cedar Street and Elm Street, featuring sharks, fish, sea lions and other marine life. I checked out that mural and posted photos here, here and here, over seven years ago when my blog was just getting started!
Funny how walking is a travel though time.
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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!
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!
In Shelltown, a community southeast of downtown San Diego and north of National City, you’ll find fantastic public art at Southcrest Trails Park.
As one walks through the neighborhood park, one comes upon a large mosaic-like disk that contains many expressive faces. The public art, made of concrete pavers and bronze set in a small plaza, is titled A Place to Call Home. It was created in 2018 by San Diego artists Ingram Ober and Marisol Rendón-Ober.
The faces represent residents of the community speaking four names associated with the site: Chollas Creek, Shelltown, Southcrest and Home. As one circles the plaza, many mouths appear to speak.
The plaque at the center includes the words: Home is a place that helps us define who we are, and although we may leave that place, it never leaves us.
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I’ve seen people stomping on grapes. Now I’ve observed people happily sliding through them!
That’s because a while back I found myself near the Grape Day Park playground in Escondido. As I walked around taking photographs, I saw a couple of kids descending the Vinehenge slide!
Vinehenge was created by artists Valerie Salatino and Nancy Moran in 2004. It’s a very fun part of the City of Escondido’s public art collection!
According to a nearby information sign, city leaders launched the Grape Day Festival back in 1906. “Thousands of visitors, brought in by the Santa Fe Railroad, enjoyed free grapes, danced, socialized, and engaged in other festivities on these grounds.” Today a very wonderful Grape Day Park features the Escondido History Center Museum Complex, which I blogged about over a year ago here.
Check out these fun pics of Vinehenge and its unique grape slide!
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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!
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!
A color-splashed sunset in Point Loma materialized before my eyes this afternoon.
I was walking through Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park, when I paused to watch an artist working on a canvas in front of Studio 26. He was painting the Bessemer Path along San Diego Bay in Point Loma. The scene that flowed from his hand was suffused with sunset light.
I soon was talking to Edward Moores, who has been a local artist in Spanish Village for over two decades. He has lived in San Diego most of his life, and you can see a deep love for the city in his paintings.
Ed showed me inside his Studio 26 and I recognized many San Diego places that he has painted. I saw the Hotel Del Coronado’s elegant Victorian boathouse. I saw Balboa Park’s light-filled Lily Pond. When he learned I lived on Cortez Hill, he brought out a wonderful sketch of the historic El Cortez!
Marveling at his careful dabs and streaks of color, I was privileged to see our beautiful city through his eyes. He described his art as somewhat impressionistic. It flows from a place inside him. He said no work of art is ever really finished.
I found the visions and moods he creates to be both subtle and powerful.
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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!
Enjoy these photos of an amazing mural in National City!
In 2014, local artist Gloria Muriel, who often signs her work with the moniker Glow, painted three colorful faces on the front of the One-Ten Liquor Store and Puff Bar, located at the corner of National City Boulevard and 1st Street.
She painted additional images on the building’s side and rear, but I didn’t take photos because parked cars blocked the most interesting parts.
These three elemental faces, themselves a little weathered and faded by the passage of time, still stand out beautifully as you drive (or walk) past! (I did add a little contrast to my photographs, however.)
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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!
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The other day I spotted this mural on the side of a State Farm office at Palm Avenue and Florence Street in Imperial Beach. It was painted recently by artist Milan Elise Finnie.
Its symbolism makes a statement about diversity in Imperial Beach, and how racism is never acceptable. The mural features the face of Gianna Floyd, daughter of George Floyd.
On the rear of the building, there are hand prints of many colors.
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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!
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!
A large patriotic mural paying tribute to firefighting heroes is visible to those driving down Main Street in Barrio Logan. It can be observed on the side of the FIRE ETC firefighter supply store.
Titled “America’s Heroes of 9-11,” the mural was painted in 2011 by Pete Carolan, a retired Navy SEAL.
To learn more about Pete Carolan’s career and accomplishments, check out his website here. I see he has painted an outdoor mural at the UDT-SEAL Museum, and “his many works…appear in such places as The Pentagon, our Nation’s Capitol and The White House.”
Pete Carolan got his start early in life as a lifeguard in Huntington Beach, California, became a world champion outrigger canoe paddler, and would eventually become a Navy frogman. He was chosen to be swim team leader in the recovery of the Apollo-13 capsule when it finally splashed down in the South Pacific.
He was the one who painted “Freddie the Frog” on the Sea King helicopter that recovered the astronauts. You can see “Freddie the Frog” briefly in the Apollo 13 movie starring Tom Hanks!
Should you visit the USS Midway Museum, check out their SH-3 Sea King helicopter. It, too, has been painted with Pete Carolan’s “Freddie the Frog!”
(You might notice I took these photographs late in the afternoon. I had to cope with glare produced by reflecting sunlight, plus a few trees across Main Street were casting their long shadows upon the artwork.)
UPDATE!
Here’s a photo I took at a later time when the sun and shadows weren’t being problematic…
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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!
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!
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