Tag: balboa park

Rare movie props, original art at Comic-Con Museum!

An iconic prop: the famous phaser used by William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek television show.

A very special exhibit is on display during San Diego Comic-Con week. You’ll find it at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park. Famous one-of-a-kind movie and television props, original artwork and collectibles can be viewed before they are auctioned off this coming Sunday, July 28, 2024!

Comic-Con Museum Presents: TCM | Julien’s Auctions 2024 Spotlight Series: Harry Potter and Other Heroes will excite fans of the Harry Potter movies, Batman movies, and X-Men movies. In addition, two historic, one-of-a-kind objects in the museum gallery will delight those who love the original Star Trek television series!

Visitors to the museum will see a whole roomful of props and artwork, all of which could belong to you at the end of this week! (The auction of the Star Trek props, including William Shatner’s phaser and communicator, will be held separately later this year.)

To learn more, check out the Comic-Con Museum’s website by clicking here! It explains: Highlights of the auction include an array of iconic costumes, production material, and beyond from various productions of the Harry Potter film franchise; Marvel’s greatest superheroes and their most high-octane pieces will hit the auction block featuring original storyboard illustrations by storyboard artist Gabriel Hardman from the X-Men blockbuster X2; and from DC Comics’ Batman Begins, items wielded by Christian Bale, such as a stunt grapple gun prop and batarang prop. Plus, Other Surprises Crash the Party!

I took a few photos of the exhibit for you to enjoy. Head up to Balboa Park and see everything for yourself before the online auction in the museum’s auditorium on Sunday!

The Comic-Con Museum in San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park.

An original Hogwarts invitation envelope from the production of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

An original knight’s head prop from the production of the chess game scene in the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Marker ink on card drawing on Batman by artist Bob Kane, the character’s co-creator. The Superman drawing is signed by co-creator Joe Shuster.

An original grapple gun prop used by Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the Christopher Nolan film Batman Begins.

Original production storyboard from X2: X-Men United, by artist Gabriel Hardman.

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

Independence Day celebrated in Balboa Park.

The House of USA hosted a special program today in San Diego’s always amazing Balboa Park. Independence Day was celebrated at the International Cottages!

The Sons of the American Revolution and the National Society of the Children of the American Revolution were a big part of the patriotic event. Members in colonial attire were eager to educate the public about our nation’s early history.

I learned how the Children of the American Revolution is the nation’s oldest and largest patriotic youth organization. Members are under the age of 22, and have descended from an individual who provided military of civil service or gave material support to the cause of independence during the American Revolution. Their mission is to train future leaders and promote love of the United States and its heritage among youth. The young members I met were fine, well-spoken representatives of the organization.

The event included inspiring verbal presentations concerning the women of the American Revolution. Speakers represented historical personalities, including groundbreaking African American poet Phillis Wheatley; activist, author and Bill of Rights advocate Mercy Otis Warren; Deborah Sampson who disguised herself as a man to join the Patriot forces; and Lydia Darragh, who hid in a closet to eavesdrop on a secret meeting, learning about a surprise attack by the British on Washington’s troops.

The speakers were followed by several dances that would be typical during this era of American history. The Folk Dancers of Balboa Park danced to She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain, the Virginia reel and other familiar tunes.

Then the San Diego City Guard Band, which was founded way back in 1880, took to the stage and performed music fit for the occasion, starting with America the Beautiful.

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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.

Summer of Sports at San Diego History Center.

Are you a lover of sports or history? Planning a visit to Balboa Park? If you’ve answered Yes and Yes, make sure you head over to the free San Diego History Center in Balboa Park!

Their current Inside/Out exhibit is titled Summer of Sports. A large display case contains fascinating sports artifacts and ephemera from the San Diego History Center Collections.

The Olympic Games return this summer, and the display takes this into account. But it mostly focuses on local sports and San Diego history.

There’s also a great video that you can watch concerning San Diego’s own skateboarding legend Tony Hawk!

The Inside/Out display case contains all sorts of San Diego sports pins and patches. Do you recognize some of these?

Alice “Lefty” Hohlmayer was a Hall of Fame player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. In her later life she resided in San Diego.

The next photo is from an old ZLAC program. ZLAC was founded in San Diego in 1892 and is the oldest continuously operating women’s rowing club in the world.

One part of this historical sports exhibit concerns Palisade Gardens, a skating rink that opened in 1946 on University Avenue in North Park. It was the first post-World War II commercial structure completed in San Diego. It closed in July 1985.

The steel and leather roller skates are circa 1930s.

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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 X.

Tree murals appear on Bay to Park Paseo!

Colorful murals depicting a variety of beautiful trees in Balboa Park have been installed at the north end of San Diego’s art-filled Bay to Park Paseo!

The colorful vinyl murals can be viewed on a Park Boulevard fence, just south of the bridge that spans Interstate 5. The murals welcome motorists to an amazing park that is overflowing with natural beauty.

An original description of the 1.7 mile Bay to Park Paseo, which runs from San Diego Bay up to Balboa Park, can be found here. A couple of the temporary art projects still aren’t completed, but those who walk along the Paseo will enjoy about a dozen finished installations.

This particular installation is presented by the Balboa Park Committee of 100 and Urban Interventions. The trees were photographed in Balboa Park by artist Perry Vasquez.

The Bay to Park Paseo is a unique walking experience created in conjunction with San Diego/Tijuana’s selection as World Design Capital. The idea is to eventually create a permanent Paseo–an inviting walkway from downtown San Diego to Balboa Park–filled with great public art. I definitely support this idea!

If you’d like to see photographs of the very first guided walk up the Bay to Park Paseo earlier this year, click here!

Do you like to walk? Free guided tours of the Bay to Park Paseo can be enjoyed on the first and third Saturday of each month through November 2024. The tours meet in the front of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront and end in Balboa Park at Presidents Way, not far from these tree murals.

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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 X.

Masquerade, The Art of Cosplay at Comic-Con Museum!

Those planning to go to San Diego Comic-Con in 2024 should consider a side trip to the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park, which isn’t very far from the San Diego Convention Center. Museum visitors will enjoy a variety of great exhibits, and those who love cosplay will be stunned when they enter the gallery that features Masquerade, The Art of Cosplay.

Check out a few photographs!

Masquerade, The Art of Cosplay presents costumes worn by participants in Comic-Con’s always much-anticipated Masquerade. Fans of superheroes and other characters from the popular culture have devoted countless hours creating elaborate costumes that are absolutely amazing.

You’ll also see costume prototypes that have been used in movies and other visual media. These are from the collection of Allan Lavigne, who has worked on Marvel films including those featuring Captain America and Iron Man.

Jean Grey/Phoenix as a What If? By artist Belle Benson.

Captain America costume. Allan Lavigne creates screen-accurate motion picture costume reproductions for museums.

Villains League Poison Ivy. A cross of DC Comics bombshells, the movie A League of Their Own, and a deadly Batman supervillain! By artist Jennifer Brown.

Noelle from Genshin Impact with Extra Kick. By artist VivSai.

Space Marine and Sister of Battle from Warhammer 40,000. By artist Joe Ramirez.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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

Betty Boop arrives in San Diego!

Betty Boop has arrived in San Diego! The iconic cartoon character is now making her home at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park!

Last week the one-of-a-kind exhibition Becoming Betty Boop opened at the Comic-Con Museum. Thanks to a collaboration with Fleischer Studios, museum visitors can explore a large gallery filled with historic artwork and cultural artifacts found nowhere else.

Visitors can learn about the evolution of strongly independent and flirty, jazzy flapper Betty Boop, from her debut in the cartoon Dizzy Dishes in 1930 to modern characterizations. After nearly a century it seems her popularity has only grown. BOOP! The Musical will debut on Broadway in 2025!

Those who are curious about the history of cartoons will see how animators created the Betty Boop short films using a rotoscope, which had been invented by the Fleischer brothers using an old film projector, car parts and a wooden plank! They’ll learn that in the early 1930s, the creation of a six or seven minute cartoon involved about 90 artists and took about two months!

Visitors will also learn how Betty Boop was voiced by half a dozen women over the years, and that Lillian Friedman, who worked at Fleischer Studios, was the very first American female commercial animator.

Exhibition visitors can watch several fun cartoons in the museum auditorium, and those with a creative urge can learn how to draw Betty Boop!

Boop–oop–a–doop!

If you plan to attend Comic-Con this year, make time to check out Becoming Betty Boop, one of many great exhibitions now showing at the Comic-Con Museum!

Mae Questel (voice actress) and Max Fleischer (animator), with characters Betty Boop and Bimbo!

Mae Questel has the voice most associated with Betty Boop. She also provided voices for cartoon characters Olive Oyl, Casper the Friendly Ghost–and even Popeye! She voiced Betty Boop in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Betty Boop for President, 1932.

Lillian Friedman made history as the very first female professional animator.

A more modern take on Betty Boop. These two dresses were designed by global fashion designer Zac Posen. Pantone has officially designated Betty Boop Red.

Sparkly costume worn by actress Jasmine Amy Rogers, playing Betty Boop in the musical BOOP! at Chicago’s CIBC Theatre.

An Evening with Betty, by Myron Waldman.

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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 X.

Garden Fair at San Diego Natural History Museum!

A very fun and informative Garden Fair was held today outside the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. The event coincides with the recent opening of the nature trail that now encircles the museum.

The interpretive nature trail, which leads visitors past a wide variety of native Southern California plants, is a cornerstone of the San Diego Natural History Museum’s 150 year anniversary celebration!

All sorts of booths were set up on both the south and north sides of the museum. Organizations who care about protecting our natural environment provided information for curious passersby. I took these photographs…

Smiles from Forever Balboa Park. They are working to revitalize Balboa Park’s Botanical Building and gardens.

The California Native Plant Society was educating the public about conserving our local flora.

Activity at the Master Gardener table.

Poster provides suggestions for native plants in your garden.

Lots of sunshine and smiles today in Balboa Park!

Table features seeds for native plants.

Kids learn about bees and other pollinators.

Balboa Park Alive! has a cool app in the beta stage, developed by smiling folks from the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UC San Diego.

The augmented reality mobile app transforms Balboa Park into an interactive biodiversity adventure. On your smartphone, you can plant virtual flora, release butterflies, and simulate pollinator behavior. I was told that so far you can explore Balboa Park’s Zoro Garden and the Natural History Museum’s new nature trail. Very cool!

Learn more about Balboa Park Alive! by clicking here.

Technology helps bring nature in Balboa Park to life.

More booths for the Garden Fair, along the new nature trail on the north side of the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Member of the NAT Garden Corps tells me various facts concerning the cactus wren and prickly pear. While she spoke a hummingbird came by.

How cool! Moth Week 2024 has a night party outside the museum on Friday, July 26, after 8 pm. A naturalist will attract moths near the Moreton Bay Fig for photography.

San Diego Canyonlands focuses on the canyons in City Heights around Azalea Park. They support youth education and environmental job training in underserved communities. They also have an urban hike-a-thon event.

Smiles from some San Diego Natural History Museum Canyoneers. They offer free guided hikes throughout the county. Enjoy nature and become a citizen scientist!

The San Diego Habitat Conservancy currently manages 33 open space preserves in Southern California.

The Climate Science Alliance mission is to safeguard natural and human communities in the face of a changing climate.

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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 X.

A maypole and Swedish fun in Balboa Park!

The House of Sweden celebrated their nation’s culture today during a lawn program at Balboa Park’s International Cottages. The fun event included Swedish folk costumes, traditional dancing, pop music, and a wild summer dance around a maypole!

The event began with a festive procession, and a demonstration of the colorful folk costumes worn by House of Sweden members. I learned many of the handmade costumes represent different provinces in Sweden.

Then the Balboa Park Dancers entertained the crowd with various Swedish folk dances. Many of the old dances involve courtship. A couple of the dances stimulated laughter with their good-natured, bawdy humor.

Between folk dance performances, the Happy Strummers–a collection of mostly ukulele playing musicians–rocked the crowd with three ABBA hits: Waterloo, Dancing Queen and Mama Mia. The audience provided several dancing queens!

Then the grand finale! Nearly everyone watching the lawn program joined hands around the flower-bedecked maypole and began the crazy Små Grodorna frog dance!

It was a perfect summer’s day!

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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 X.

12 Short Stories inspired by Balboa Park.

Gigantic bubbles form like magic in the Plaza de Balboa.

A pleasant day in Balboa Park, sitting, walking, daydreaming. Sudden inspiration.

That’s how certain stories were born in my mind before taking life on paper.

As a writer of short fiction, I occasionally share some of these stories. If you’re a reader, you might enjoy clicking the following links:

The Highest Seat was inspired by my friend Mitchell who plays didgeridoo in Balboa Park. He once worked in the planetarium at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.

A Heart That Would Not End is a short story also inspired by Mitchell and his didgeridoo.

A Song for Old Warriors came directly from a Memorial Day ceremony that I observed outside The Veterans Museum at Balboa Park.

A Wise Man was inspired while attending a December Nights concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

Here We Go is based in part on families riding the Balboa Park Miniature Railroad.

A Crown Above All came to me as I sat on a bench watching people near the Bea Evenson Fountain.

A Dog’s Tail also came to me as I sat on a bench in the park.

A Short Bloom flowered in my mind during a Cherry Blossom Festival at the Japanese Friendship Garden.

The Child and the Koi came to me while peering into the Japanese Friendship Garden’s koi pond.

Waterfall Tears is a third short story whose setting was inspired by the beautiful Japanese Friendship Garden.

A Small Fountain in Green Park is loosely based on Balboa Park and other similar places I’ve known.

One Magic Bubble rose in my mind on a breezy day in Balboa Park as I watched a street performer with his looping string and bucket of soapy water.

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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 X.

Fantasy world inside Doug Snider’s studio!

Those who enjoy a visit to Balboa Park in San Diego really should wander over to Spanish Village Art Center. Every artist studio is filled with magic. It’s hard to choose, but perhaps my personal favorite studio is number 15, the home of Doug Snider.

Doug Snider is an accomplished ceramics artist whose public art can be seen around the world and could be enjoyed in your own home. His colorful creations are utterly fantastic–there are weird amphibious and reptilian creatures, and exotic masks and eyeballs and tentacles and beaks that fill the walls and shelves of his studio in every direction. A sunny outdoor working area in the rear of the studio is home to even more creativity, including a big, happy, chameleon-like bench that would be perfect in your backyard!

Have you’ve seen his public art benches in Coronado’s Tidelands Park and National City’s Pepper Park? If not, you can view photographs of those four wacky, fun benches here and here!

When I visited Studio 15 the other day, another studio artist was hard at work. I asked if I could take photos. She said yes!

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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 X.