Tag: awesome

The famous Jessop’s Clock coming to Balboa Park!

The incredible, famous, one-of-a-kind 1907 Jessop’s Street Clock is coming to Balboa Park! The elegant clock, which was removed from Horton Plaza in 2019, has been given to the San Diego History Center, and it will be a centerpiece of their museum’s future redesign and renovation!

Did you know the several million dollar Jessop’s Street Clock was once San Diego’s biggest tourist attraction? Did you know that much of its movement is gold plated, and that it is decorated with precious gems mined in San Diego County? Did you know the one day the clock’s 300 moving parts stopped working was also the day its creator died?

Eight years ago I wrote this and more, and posted photographs of the incredible clock here.

Four years ago I posted a blog about its removal from Horton Plaza. See that here.

To learn more about the San Diego History Center’s planned renovation, and see renderings showing the 22 foot high Jessop Clock standing just inside the museum entrance, check out the San Diego History Center’s web page here. You’ll also view historical photographs of the clock from a century ago!

How awesome is this!

Postcard depicting San Diego’s Famous Clock, in a display case at San Diego History Center. Published circa 1946. SDHC Document Files Collection, Jessop Family. “It is the most completely jeweled and the finest made street clock in America, and the first clock of its kind ever built in a retail jewelry store…It took 15 months to build…”

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Beautiful garden railway runs in Balboa Park!

Perhaps you remember the Centennial Railway Garden, which was built in a small outdoor space at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in 2015 for the centennial of Balboa Park. (You can see it here.) That model train layout is now history. Those 3D printed models of Balboa Park buildings have been replaced with beautiful handmade buildings that represent the late 1800s Victorian era.

Check out these photographs of the new Freight and Flora: A Garden Railway Exhibit!

A company called Applied Imagination constructed and donated the awesome little buildings. You can view other similar garden railways on their website!

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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 Twitter!

The most magical day in San Diego!

I’m sure many would concur. Saturday during Comic-Con is the most magical day of the year in San Diego.

It’s definitely one of the craziest, must surreal and weirdly wonderful days!

In the afternoon and into the evening the crowds grow and become ever more colorful. Strange worlds of imagination–perhaps summoned by magic–fill the streets and sidewalks of San Diego.

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!

Bold art at the San Diego County Fair!

Wonder Woman, by artist Yhoshua Gutierrez.

Should you wander into Grandstand East at the San Diego County Fair, you’ll find yourself surrounded by great paintings and other works of art. There are literally hundreds of pieces in the fair’s Fine Art Exhibit.

Because artists are competing for ribbons, the exhibition has been divided into various categories. One category which really caught my attention is titled Be Bold!

Comic-Con is less than a month away, so an awesome painting of Wonder Woman caught my eye. A nearby representation of the iconic Euclid Tower in City Heights then convinced me to blog a few photos of these Be Bold creations!

Creation, by artist Lydia Twigg.

Celtic Horse, by artist Michael Markopoulos.

Tower Bar, by artist Sarah Conley.

Banje Beach, by artist Rick Lepire.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I’ll be covering Comic-Con again this year. It’s almost here! To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!

Frida Kahlo and street tacos in Escondido!

Frida Kahlo hangs out in Escondido! You can find her among butterflies next to a Mexican restaurant!

Fridas Street Tacos on Valley Parkway is the perfect place for this great mural, painted by Michelle Ruby, aka Mr B Baby. The taco shop’s parked vehicles were blocking the mural when I walked by, so I had to take photos around and between them.

I happened to run across one of the drivers, and he indicated the mural was created a couple years ago.

Awesome!

I enjoyed a long walk around Escondido a few days ago and found lots of street art! So stay tuned for much more!

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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 Twitter!

Fangaea Con coming to San Diego!

Oh, wow! Check it out!

Fangaea Con is returning to San Diego for 2023. It will be taking place in Mission Valley at the Scottish Rite Event Center on April 29th!

Your friendly neighborhood blogger has scored a media pass to the event, so you can bet lots of fun photos will be posted!

The Fangaea Con website explains:

The Fangaea concept started in late 2016 as just an idea between a few friends who are big fans of subcultures… the idea began to turn into reality when more friends got interested in being a part of making something great and fun for fans of all different worlds… nerds, geeks, gamers, cosplayers, movie lovers, and more… who love immersing ourselves into experiences… in a funtastic, all-inclusive event.

Artists! Cosplay! Panels! Video and board games! An escape room! Giveaways! I’m sure it’s going to be awesome!

Interested in learning more or attending? Click here!

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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 Twitter!

San Diego’s biggest Rummage Sale all weekend!

Attention shoppers! And treasure hunters!

San Diego’s largest Rummage Sale is taking place all this weekend in Balboa Park! You’ll find it in the Activity Center at 2145 Park Boulevard, to be exact.

It’s the annual Thursday Club Rummage Sale!

The Thursday Club is a local volunteer-driven non-profit that’s over a century old. They raise money for a variety of San Diego charities, including deserving organizations in Balboa Park. Here’s their website, where you can learn more about the Thursday Club and this year’s Rummage Sale!

I swung by the sale early this morning and encountered a huge line to get inside. When I returned at noon–no line at all!

Should you head over to the sale tomorrow–Sunday–everything is half off! So instead of the two DVDs/Blue-rays for one dollar that filled my bag, you can get four for a dollar! Are you kidding me? Awesome!

There’s clothing, artwork, appliances, electronics, collectibles, furniture…

You might want to check it out! Who knows what you’ll find?

You’ll get a nice smile, too!

See the next photograph for the Rummage Sale times…

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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 Twitter!

Even more awesome Comic-Con cosplay!

It wouldn’t be Comic-Con without tons of awesome cosplay all over the place!

Today, Friday, it was easy to spot cosplay every which way while walking near the San Diego Convention Center.

When the opportunity arose, and action poses were struck, my camera was clicking away!

This is one of those things that makes walking outside Comic-Con such an adventure every year. The experience is exhilarating, surprising, and you don’t want it to ever end!

Sho’Nuff of The Last Dragon.

Plastic Man.

Captain America.

Hawkeye. (She told me she’d beat Green Arrow, no contest.)

The Mandalorian cosplay.

Old school Daredevil.

Watch out Wonder Women. Joker is sneaking up.

Daredevil and Spider-Man combine forces. Villains can’t escape detection given both Spidey sense and Daredevil’s multiple super senses.

Imperial Clone Shock Trooper.

Look at all the Mario characters!

Mysterio is casting an illusion as he stands beside a mesmerized Spider-Man Noir.

Why is Mysterio’s helmet opaque? That darned fish bowl fogs up.

SCP MTF cosplay.

Gandalf and Saruman.

Cosplay inspired by The Haunted Mansion, and the Celestial Knight!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

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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!

Hard Rock Hotel welcomes back Comic-Con!

The Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter is welcoming back Comic-Con! The big event had a two year’s absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An awesome window display on the Sixth Avenue side of the Hard Rock Hotel contains a tribute to 2022 Comic-Con. There are all sorts of fun images and several very cool life size helmets that will be familiar to lovers of pop culture!

Superheroes reunite!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

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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!

Gray whales breach at Birch Aquarium!

Have you seen those huge gray whales breaching in La Jolla? They emerge from a pool of water near the front entrance of Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography!

The impressive whale sculptures stopped me in my tracks during my visit to the aquarium a couple weekends ago. Together they are titled The Legacy. This awe-inspiring public art was created by artist Randy Puckett.

According to his website: “At the time of its installation in 1996, THE LEGACY was the only life size bronze sculpture in the world of any of the large whales: at 39 feet 10 inches tall, it was the second largest bronze sculpture ever cast in the U.S. This life size work features a breaching Gray Whale and calf, and the diving tail of a third Gray Whale displayed in two fountains….”

Families and kids approaching Birch Aquarium from the nearby parking lot are absolutely wowed by these monumental sculptures. You understand the immense size of a gray whale when you stand right next to them.

I noticed two identical plaques placed at The Legacy…

In Memoriam Edward W. “Ted” Scripps II

“I have long hoped to do something for the institution. I seem to have the same salt in my veins as did my grandfather.”

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

UCSD

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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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