I’m not sure if it has an official title–it’s described as a pre-World War I scenic mural…depicting an imaginary airfield in France, about the time of the first great aerial races and daring exhibitions… It was painted in March, 1984 by New Zealand pilot and artist-designer Jon Francis Petrie.
In the mural, words painted on an observation tower indicate: ROUEN Aérodrome La Grande Exposition d’AVIATION 1910.
I’ve tried to search for biographical info on the artist, but to no avail, except that he was born in 1940. Perhaps someone who is knowledgeable can leave a comment.
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Halloween displays can be found throughout the museum. Spooky scenes can spotted in certain model train layouts and particularly in the amazing Toy Train Gallery. Witches, ghosts, grinning pumpkins, tiny skeletons and even Dracula await!
Watch out for the creepy life-size animatronic engineer!
The San Diego Model Railroad Museum has always been a favorite destination for families and kids, but during Halloween it’s simply awesome!
Some photographs from my visit yesterday…
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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.
You know Halloween is coming up when lots of fun spooky events are around the corner! Are you and your kids ready to “Return to Spooky Hollow” in Balboa Park?
“Return to Spooky Hollow” is an original Halloween-inspired children’s puppet show written and directed by Heather Whitney. It’s described as: Come along with Gordy, Squash and Calabaza as they try to top last year’s Spooky Hollow party and meet lots of fun folks along the way. This is an all-ages hybrid shadow and live puppet show with music, songs, and audience shout-outs!
Performances will be at the historic Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park. Shows are on Saturday, October 18: 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 3:00 PM; and on Sunday, October 19: 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 3:00 PM. Each show last about 30 minutes.
Tickets can be purchased here or at the box office shortly before showtime. The box office is located near the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater entrance.
(If you go, make sure to look up and backwards from your seat. You’ll see two of the puppets used by McDonald’s for their classic McDonaldland advertisements!)
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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.
Imagine owning a table umbrella that’s also a work of fine art!
No need to imagine. Look for Studio 26 in Balboa Park’s amazing Spanish Village Art Center. That’s where you’ll find Edward Juarez, the friendly artist who you see in these photographs!
He was painting away when I walked through Spanish Village yesterday. I asked him about the umbrella. When finished, it will have multiple coatings and will be absolutely waterproof. The finished carousel umbrella on the patio nearby has been outdoors for a good while and still looks great.
It was incredible how the cowboy image he was painting came to life and acquired depth as he continued to apply color. This umbrella will be as vibrant as an oil painted framed canvas! He kindly took me into his studio and showed me other Western paintings perfect for this umbrella.
It would be super cool to own one of these table umbrellas, don’t you think? Good news! Edward told me he does commissions! Step into his studio and you’ll notice he paints every kind of subject matter.
The 69th Annual Massing of the Colors and Service of Remembrance will be held this coming Saturday, October 11, 2025 in Balboa Park. Everyone is invited!
Dozens of color guards from all around San Diego County will come together for an amazing patriotic event at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. The event will take place between 10:30 and 11:30 in the morning. It’s free and open to the public.
If you’ve never witnessed the Massing of the Colors, you’re missing out on a very stirring spectacle. Representatives from the military, Junior ROTC, Scouts, and patriotic organizations around San Diego will honor those who’ve served and sacrificed by filling the Spreckels Organ Pavilion with a sea of flags.
The Massing of the Colors is presented each year by the San Diego Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars, a patriotic organization that was founded in 1926. Their motto is: It Is Nobler To Serve Than To Be Served.
Here’s the flyer concerning Saturday’s event:
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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.
A great exhibition of art in Gallery 21 at Spanish Village in Balboa Park is about to wrap up. What has made this exhibition unique is that sales directly help a San Diego organization called the Feral Cat Coalition.
The Sixth Annual Reigning Cats and Dogs Art Show continues through tomorrow, Monday, October 6, 2025. (I wish I’d come by a bit sooner.) If you can’t make it but would like to help the Feral Cat Coalition, no problem!
Here’s the Feral Cat Coalition website, where you can make a donation or buy fun merch. Funds raised are dedicated to reducing the overpopulation of feral and abandoned cats through free, humane Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).
Neutering these feral cats (which are mostly unadoptable) is considered compassionate. Feral cats multiplying outdoors can result in their offspring being unhealthy or malnourished or captured and euthanized.
Some photos taken in Gallery 21 today…
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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.
A variety of construction projects are now being undertaken in Balboa Park. During my walk today, I took photos that show good progress.
No, I couldn’t take photographs of the work being done on the roof of the San Diego Natural History Museum. I don’t have a helicopter! See a recent blog post concerning that here.
Okay, here we go. My first photographs show how a beautiful new pergola is being added to Balboa Park at the west end of the Botanical Building.
The next photo was taken a few months ago. A tree at the corner of the San Diego Museum of Art was being carefully removed from a spot near where the pergola will be built.
The tree has been temporarily relocated to the fenced “island” behind the Botanical Building.
Today, here’s that same spot where the tree was removed:
Banners hung on the construction fence describe how the historic pergola from 1915 is being rebuilt.
And one more photo taken today of progress at the pergola construction site…
Next, the House of Czech & Slovak Republics cottage is almost completely repaired. A corner of the building was decimated by a falling eucalyptus tree during a wind storm earlier this year. I never did take photos of the serious damage.
A few weeks ago, a member of the House of Czech & Slovak Republics told me that he was grateful the work was being done expeditiously.
Today, I saw the exterior is now painted. A worker told me things are “getting there.” I did note as I walked past the cottage that one door is boarded.
Next, a nearby building, which houses both the Hall of Nations and House of Italy cottage, has had the following exterior damage for quite a while now.
The worker I spoke to said he believed these repairs are next.
Finally, I noticed the front entrance of the Municipal Gymnasium continues to be readied for its amazing new marquee and its bronze panel mural.
As more progress is made, and as this historic ornamentation is added in the near future, I hope to take additional photographs. Exciting stuff!
UPDATE!
I’ve learned the tree moved for the pergola construction is a a mature Bischofia javanica, or Toog tree. It will return to its spot once the pergola is completed! Read more here.
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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.
The San Diego History Center in Balboa Park, which is open free to everybody, has put up a beautiful ofrenda (altar) for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
Their ofrenda appears a bit different from prior years, but it still honors and remembers figures from San Diego’s past. Oh–and San Diego’s famous town dog from the late 19th century, Bum, too!
Making a family ofrenda is a beloved tradition in Mexico. The beautiful altar in the San Diego History Center also contains traditional objects like marigolds, candles, papel picado and photographs of loved ones who’ve passed on.
A nearby table invites visitors to the museum to make their own tissue paper marigold. These hand-made marigolds can be added to the altar with a note containing the name of your loved one and a message.
You may also take your special marigold home.
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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.
A new exhibition recently opened at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods takes a look at African-American communities that have been substantially altered, injured, or uprooted by practices such as redlining or urban development over the years.
Communities from Downtown to City Heights to La Jolla . . . and even to Julian in our local mountains have painful stories to tell. These stories can be understood through many old photographs, the words of residents affected by racial discrimination, and by viewing historical maps of affected neighborhoods.
Visitors to the exhibit could and should spend a good while taking it all in.
Yes, change over time constitutes history–but change too often has been self-serving, mean-spirited or unnecessarily destructive.
May we all be kind. Hopefully we learn from the past.
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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.
Today people were dancing, listening to beautiful voices sing, eating, and having a great time in sunny Balboa Park. They were participating in the lawn program of the House of Lebanon!
The House of Lebanon of the International Cottages saw a good crowd come out for their cultural event. At 2:30 the House of Lebanon San Diego Choir performed, and thereafter members of UC San Diego’s Lebanese Club taught anyone who was interested how to dance the joyful, traditional dabke!
I was interested to read the dabke descends from Phoenician dances thousands of years old.
The happiness that comes from joining hands and moving together is evidently timeless!
Chicken Shawarma Wrap, Kafta Kabob Wrap, Chicken Shawarma Fries, Fattoush Salad, Hummus with Pita, Spinach Pies, Knefe in a bun, Lebanese Coffee…
Yum!
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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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 