Trees change color in the lush Lower Garden of the Japanese Friendship Garden.
Autumn officially began in San Diego last Saturday. There are plenty of signs in Balboa Park that Fall, with its rich harvest of colors and traditions, is well underway!
I took a walk through Balboa Park late this afternoon. Clouds were gathering. Rain is forecast for tomorrow.
Enjoy a few photos…
Prado Perk is in Love with the Season!Holiday productions are coming to the Old Globe, including Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big San Diego Christmas Show. (I didn’t realize Scrooge surfs!)Spooky Spinners for sale in the Balboa Park Visitors Center.A leafy Welcome at Studio 3 in Spanish Village.And a pumpkin, too!An “Autumn Memories” Ikebana Flower Exhibition is coming in October.Fallen leaves near the giant Moreton Bay Fig tree.A fun Balboa Park Spooktacular is coming the weekend before Halloween!
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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)!
A horde of demons and ghouls have gathered in San Diego. The monsters have wandered to the edge of downtown and now haunt the southwest corner of Balboa Park. Should you travel through Balboa Park after dark–beware!
Disbelieve me? Check out these photos! I took them today!
Yes, I walked around the perimeter of The Haunted Trail, San Diego’s popular outdoor haunted house that is designed to make you jump with fright! Halloween has never been so spooky, scream-worthy and fun!
These photos were darkened for maximum scary effect. Boo!
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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)!
Today’s lawn program at Balboa Park’s International Cottages was high energy!
The House of Germany began their annual cultural program with instrumental music and an adult and children’s choir. The two choirs ended their part of the program by singing Edelweiss together. As you might expect, many in the audience sang along.
The audience grew and grew, and by the time the German American Societies Children’s Dance Group came on stage to dance, many on the lawn were ready to join them!
Oh, and the authentic German bratwurst with sauerkraut (and lots of ketchup and mustard) was delicious!
The German Theater Group San Diego, a sub group of the German American Societies, is based in El Cajon. Check out their website 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)!
Those in San Diego who love The Sound of Music, rejoice! The timeless musical will be playing in Balboa Park next Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater!
I was sitting on a bench at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion reading a book this afternoon when the full cast unexpectedly assembled on the stage for a photograph!
My camera got busy, too!
This uplifting Sound of Music production involves members of the Santa Sophia Catholic Church in Spring Valley. Everyone up on the stage wore a big smile!
If you want to enjoy next weekend’s performance, check out their website by clicking 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)!
The 27th Annual Exhibition of 7 Printmakers has opened in San Diego. The public is invited to enjoy the work of seven master printmakers inside Gallery 21 at Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center. The free exhibition will be short-lived, however. Make sure to see it by September 25, 2023.
The art on display is extraordinary. You’ll observe pieces created using several different processes of printmaking. There’s the woodcut, wood-engraving, collograph, etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint, lithograph and serigraph.
All of these many, often complicated printing techniques boggled my mind, even as friendly artist Angelika Villagrana provided a detailed explanation of various processes.
The seven artists with fine work on display are: Raymond Brownfield, Jacqueline Dotson, Igor Koutsenko, Kathleen McCord, Sfona Pelah, Julianne Ricksecker and Angelika Villagrana. They’ve been exhibiting together for many years now!
If you’re looking to purchase some very fine art, swing on by. There’s much that you can choose from.
An opening reception will be held in Gallery 21 this coming Sunday, September 17, from 4 – 7 pm.
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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 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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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)!
A lively, joyful celebration of Ukrainian culture was held today in San Diego. The House of Ukraine’s big Ukrainian Festival drew an enthusiastic crowd to the International Cottages in Balboa Park!
Several artists on the lawn smiled and showed their art for sale. A couple of booths raised money for charitable causes. Much of the money raised during the festival would go toward providing relief to war-torn Ukraine.
After grabbing authentic Ukrainian food, such as kovbasa sandwiches and varenyky, families sat on the lawn and watched folk dancing and listened to traditional music.
I took these photographs…
A big crowd gathered at Balboa Park’s International Cottages for the House of Ukraine’s 2023 lawn program.Sales of treats at one table raised money for the Ukrainian School of San Diego.Two smiling artists were selling great artwork with a Ukraine theme.Cheerful artwork by Svitlana Ivasyuk includes sunflowers.Fun artwork by Orysya Barua includes traditional Ukrainian dress.
The next two people you see were raising money to help Ukraine during its present difficulties.
On the left is Daniel Bondarenko, who was promoting Healing Scalpel. The organization is sending medical supplies to Ukrainian field hospitals during the war.
On the right is artist Kateryna Marchuk. Sales of her art go to emergency supplies for Ukraine. Check out her fine art here.
People walk around the House of Ukraine cottage.Signs around the cottage concern the invasion of Ukraine and the defense of Freedom.A big line waits to purchase Ukrainian food during the festival.Lots of tasty items on the menu!Some crafts and souvenirs for sale. Money raised helps Ukraine.House of Ukraine’s rock band u3zubmusic performs before the 2 o’clock cultural program begins.Chamber Music Ensemble of the University of San Diego performs the Ukrainian National Anthem and other traditional songs on stage.Here come the folk dancers! They are the Chervona Kalyna Ukrainian Dance Group out of Los Angeles.Performing a joyful Welcoming Dance.A hospitable welcome includes a big loaf of bread!Young people dressed as Cossacks arrive.Ukrainians love dancing!The audience is then treated to traditional Bandura music.Soulful singing during the 2023 Ukrainian Festival in San Diego!
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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)!
A patriotic Massing of the Colors event is returning to San Diego this October. The grand procession of flags will feature from 40 to 50 Color Guards from around our region, and will honor Vietnam Veterans, as 2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.
The 67th Annual Massing of the Colors and Service of Remembrance, presented by the San Diego Chapter of The Military Order of the World Wars, is free and open to the public. The many Color Guards will assemble in Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ Pavilion on October 14th, and the ceremony will commence at 10:30 am.
This year is also the 125th Anniversary of the famous march Stars and Stripes Forever. John Philip Sousa marches will be played by San Diego Civic Organist Raul Prieto Ramírez during the procession as it enters and exits the pavilion. The event is co-sponsored by the Spreckels Organ Society.
If you know of a Color Guard in San Diego that would like to participate, use the contact email shown in the graphic below.
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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)!
One of the most wonderful aspects of Balboa Park is its dynamism. Every day, with every walk, new discoveries come into view.
This evening, as the sun cast lengthening shadows, I wandered about photographing a park that is always in transition, forever new.
A new exhibition of Korean art is coming to the San Diego Museum of Art.One end of the Botanical Building’s steel structure has been renovated.New love, perhaps?Inflating the huge screen at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion for Silent Movie Night.What’s coming next at the Casa Del Prado Theater?Painting patio tiles at Spanish Village Art Center.Flowers fall away as new flowers appear..Walking into the light through one wonderful park.
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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!
Harold Lloyd, star of silent movies a century ago, returned to his home in San Diego this evening!
The famous comic actor appeared on a big screen in Balboa Park’s outdoor Spreckels Organ Pavilion. He was starring in one of his most popular silent movies, The Freshman, accompanied by renowned organist Clark Wilson playing the Spreckels Organ!
Harold Lloyd is considered one the three great comedians from Hollywood’s era of silent movies. He stands with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
Did you know he also lived for a time in San Diego, attending San Diego High School?
So, in a sense, Harold Lloyd returned home this evening!
And thousands in the audience laughed at his all-too-human, silly antics. A century later, he still brings smiles into the world.
This was the second-to-last performance for this year’s free 35th San Diego International Summer Organ Festival. Next Monday–Labor Day–San Diego’s Civic Organist and rock and roll musicians together conclude the festival with a blast!
If you want to watch another silent movie accompanied by organ in San Diego, your opportunity is coming up on Tuesday, September 19 at noon at downtown’s Balboa Theatre. The performance is also free! Buster Keaton stars in the silent film One Week. Click here for more info!
Public domain image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 