Tag: balboa park

Going “back to the future” in San Diego!

It’s now possible to go “back to the future” in San Diego. A newly opened exhibition at the Comic-Con Museum, POPnology, takes visitors back in time, demonstrating how fantasies in the popular culture have often predicted future technology!

Artificial intelligence, smartphones, robotics, 3D-printing, virtual reality . . . many technological developments were first depicted in science fiction (including pulp magazines, novels, television, movies) long before they became real. POPnology celebrates how fantasy can become reality!

Do you know that author Jules Verne, in the 19th century, dreamed up videoconferencing, moon rockets and electric submarines? And that H. G. Wells predicted genetic engineering, lasers and automatic doors? And that Ray Bradbury anticipated earbuds, self-driving cars and ATMs, long before they existed?

This extensive exhibition is loaded with nostalgic artifacts, models and interactive displays. If you’re interested in the history of technology, there’s plenty of information for your brain.

And for fun? There’s a Back to the Future DeLorean, complete with flux capacitor! (Will time travel be in our future?) Kids can remotely manipulate a robot arm to transport dinosaur eggs. (Jurassic Park!) There’s an honest-to-goodness 3D-printed automobile. There are lots and lots of cool robots–a sure kid-pleaser. And much more!

There are surprising new discoveries at every turn!

POPnology is certain to fascinate both the young and the old, as it transports curious minds from the past (and present) to the future.

I took a few photographs at the Comic-Con Museum to provide a small taste….

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World’s first 3D-printed car in San Diego!

The world’s first ever 3D-printed car is now on display in San Diego. Check it out!

I saw this surprising product of 3D-printing technology when I visited the newly opened POPnology exhibition at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park.

This fully electric car, called the Strati, has a body printed from carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic. According to a nearby sign, it took 44 hours to print the 212 layers, and two days to assemble.

From a distance the Strati’s appearance is pretty cool; up close, it can be rather strange. (The layers produce a surface of odd ridges–I was reminded of a topographical map!)

You can read about Local Motors, the apparently defunct company that produced Strati, by clicking here. You’ll find a video of a short ride in the car.

Popular Mechanics published a detailed article about the Strati here!

Head over to the Comic-Con Museum to experience POPnology. You’ll see this car and find all sorts of technological innovations foretold or inspired by futuristic concepts in pop culture! I’ll be blogging about the incredible exhibition shortly!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Holiday crafts sale coming to Balboa Park!

Mark your calendars! An epic craft sale will be coming to Balboa Park during the holiday season!

The public is invited to peruse all sorts of beautiful creations, many with a Christmas theme, on the weekend of December 16th and 17th. The annual craft sale will take place on both outdoor patios of the Casa del Prado and inside Room 101.

I learned about the upcoming 2023 AgeWell Services Annual Craft Sale when I poked my head into the Balboa Park Senior Lounge today. (They were busy decorating the lounge for Halloween and Thanksgiving!)

Homemade crafts for sale are all created by skilled crafters age 55 and older. I checked out this big event last year. Shoppers will discover tables and tables full of great, heart-warming gifts! You can view a few photographs that I took here.

Are you a senior in San Diego? If you’d like to learn about additional AgeWell activities, 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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Exhibition by Chinese Brush Painting Society of San Diego.

Those who love art should head over to Spanish Village in Balboa Park soon. An exhibition by the Chinese Brush Painting Society of San Diego can be enjoyed inside Gallery 21. The Flow of Ink and Color will be on view through Monday, October 9.

I gazed at fine works by seven members of the society, and wondered how the human hand can produce such beauty.

Talking to Wendy Nakamura, one of the artists, I learned that one thing distinguishing Chinese brush painting from Japanese brush painting is the color palette. I also learned how traditional brush art can inspire contemporary, more brightly colorful or abstract pieces.

Wendy demonstrated how she handled a brush to quickly render an image of bamboo. Visitors are invited to try their own hand!

I noticed many displayed pieces are for sale. Do you collect beautiful art, or simply love to view it? Swing on by!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

New wood for the Botanical Building restoration!

The restoration of Balboa Park’s monumental Botanical Building is proceeding right along. New wood is being used to beautifully recreate the historic structure!

When built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, the Botanical Building was one of the largest lath structures in the world. A century later, wood rot and termite damage had taken a severe toll. This project, supported by the National Park Service, State of California, City of San Diego, and Forever Balboa Park, includes the full restoration of the building to its original 1915 design, recreating the series of arched openings with Palladian windows and large doors, opening the inside space to the surrounding gardens as intended.

It will be fascinating to watch as new lath is applied to the large, supporting steel structure, which is also being renovated one section at a time.

Here’s another web page that describes the Botanical Building restoration and additional improvements, such as the reconstruction of a pergola that once stood on the west lawn near The San Diego Museum of Art.

UPDATE!

Here’s a photo showing great progress! I took this in January, 2024…

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Beautiful new Iranian art installed in Balboa Park!

A live art installation that visitors could view during the past few days in Balboa Park has been completed!

The artwork, brought to life by the San Diego Museum of Art and renowned Iranian-born artist Mohammad Barrangi (@mohammad.barrangi), decorates a section of wall outside the museum’s courtyard, near the entrance to Panama 66. As I understand it, this work will remain on display through October.

I took these photos early this evening. You can compare them to photos I took the past two days as the art was being created by clicking here. You’ll also see a smiling photograph of the artist!

During the live installation, Mohammad demonstrated the reverse print transfer process while creating a diptych inspired by Iranian history and visual traditions. You can see a short video of him working on this artwork 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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Watch a Live Art Installation in Balboa Park!

During the next few days, renowned illustrator and artist Mohammad Barrangi will be performing a live demonstration of the reverse print transfer process as he installs new art in San Diego’s always amazing Balboa Park!

Those walking through the Plaza de Panama near the San Diego Museum of Art’s outdoor courtyard should look for Mohammad and his work in progress. The finished large-scale piece will be a diptych inspired by Iranian history and visual traditions.

The installation precedes this weekend’s Mehregan Fall Fête at the San Diego Museum of Art. The Iranian festival of Mehregan will be celebrated at the museum with a performance of Voices Unveiled, which invites audiences to listen to and feel the stories of two Iranian women as they experience oppression and seek freedom and justice.

Click the above links to learn more!

I’ll try to swing by in the next few days and provide an update here with additional photographs!

UPDATE!

The following day, I walked by in the early evening and took these photos…

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Day of the Dead at House of Mexico cottage!

Day of the Dead displays are beginning to appear in San Diego. I observed an amazing example today at the International Cottages in Balboa Park.

Inside the House of Mexico cottage, a large Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, altar has been created. There are sugar skull decorations, and papel picado, and marigolds, and candles, and framed photos, and pan de muerto, and a variety of beautiful Catrina figures, large and small.

Día de los Muertos is a beloved Mexican holiday that remembers family members and ancestors who’ve passed. Their spirits return to mingle with the living.

In San Diego, it’s an early November tradition that many love.

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

The Enchanted Tail performs magic in Balboa Park!

Young kids excited about an opera, cheering the characters, cheering the actors? It must be magic!

This afternoon the San Diego Children’s Choir joined Opera4Kids at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. Accompanied by San Diego Civic Organist Raul Prieto Ramírez, the children’s Apprentice Choir sang two fun pieces, then added to the lively opera with their voices.

The Enchanted Tail is a wonderful production of Opera4Kids. It’s a sort of mix of traditional fairy tale with that classic O. Henry short story The Gift of the Magi. It’s about a woodsman and princess who, cursed by an evil witch, can’t use their voices to sing. Through human kindness and the unselfish sacrifices of both characters, they resolve a seemingly intractable conflict and regain their voices.

This was the second time I’ve seen The Enchanted Tail and I loved it even more than before! (I suppose I’ve grown overly sentimental.)

Want to introduce your kids to fun, infectious opera? Opera4Kids has another Balboa Park performance coming up on November 5th, 2023. Check that out 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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Red-tailed hawk by Sixth Avenue sidewalk.

Look what I spotted while walking home from Balboa Park this afternoon! A red-tailed hawk was perched in a palm tree next to the Sixth Avenue sidewalk, at the west edge of the park.

The bird, perhaps ten feet above my camera, was unfazed by my presence.

A young person staring at a phone walked directly under the hawk without noticing it. What other wonders in this world go unseen?

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!