Tag: balboa park

Amelia Earhart at San Diego Air & Space Museum.

Amelia Earhart was an aviation pioneer best known for her disappearance over the South Pacific while trying to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. But some might not know that she became a popular American hero by setting numerous flight records.

Visitors to the San Diego Air & Space Museum will find several displays that recall how she accomplished historic world’s firsts, including the first female solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, the first female solo flight across the United States, and the first solo flight from Hawaii to the United States mainland.

Her portrait can be found in the museum’s Hall of Fame Hallway. Amelia was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 1967. This Hall of Fame webpage describes her many successes, including setting multiple speed records.

Visitors can listen to an animatronic Amelia Earhart talking about her life, and view a reproduction of a Lockheed Vega 5B, the type of aircraft she flew while setting many world records. The airplane in the museum was created for the Hollywood film Amelia.

There are also artifacts that show how she was a celebrity in her time, a leader in the fight for women’s rights, promoter of commercial aviation, and a founder of the Ninety-Nines, an International Organization of Women Pilots.

The San Diego Air & Space Museum is a must visit for everybody. It’s crammed full of cool exhibits, representing the dawn of flight right up to present-day space exploration.

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Plaque honors creative genius of Balboa Park.

Have you seen this plaque in Balboa Park and wondered about it? Located on the west wall of the California Quadrangle near the Museum of Us, it honors David Charles Collier, the prime mover behind San Diego’s 1915-1916 Panama–California Exposition.

The plaque reads:

DAVID CHARLES COLLIER

A Man of Vision–A Dynamic Leader–A Developer and Builder

A Great and Lovable Character

The Creative Genius of the Panama-California Exposition of 1915

An Inspiration to the Citizens of Today

The plaque was installed on October 11, 1936, in the second year of the California Pacific International Exposition.

David Charles Collier, often called D. C. Collier, was a real estate developer and philanthropist. He is considered the founder of Ocean Beach, where he built his home and lived for many years. He also helped to develop Point Loma, Pacific Beach, University Heights, Normal Heights, North Park, East San Diego, and Encanto.

He made many of the decisions concerning the Panama-California Exposition, including its location and style of architecture. He served as Director General of the Panama California Exposition from 1909 to 1912, and president of the Exposition from 1912 to 1914… He also chose “human progress” to be the Exposition’s cultural theme. The theme exhibit, particularly focused on the anthropology of the Southwestern United States, later became the San Diego Museum of Man, of which he was a founder.

The Museum of Man is now called the Museum of Us. It’s appropriate the plaque is located nearby.

Here’s a public domain photo of D. C. Collier from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division:

If you’d like to learn more about David Charles Collier, here’s an extensive article about the life of this fascinating man, published in The Journal Of San Diego History.

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Celebrating the San Diego Museum of Art centennial!

The San Diego Museum of Art is celebrating its centennial in 2026. First opening in 1926 as the Fine Arts Gallery, the world-class museum has grown and experienced many remarkable moments over the past hundred years.

That history is remembered in a free exhibition titled SDMA 100 Years. The exhibit opened yesterday in the museum’s Galleries 14/15, which are accessible to the public through a door at Panama 66 in the museum’s sculpture courtyard.

SDMA 100 Years features a timeline of photographs that document the museum’s evolution, from the building’s construction in Balboa Park right up to the present day. There’s also a short documentary video and a display case full of ephemera.

Visitors can observe how the San Diego Museum of Art had its origins in the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, had its successful grand opening in 1926, served as a naval hospital during World War II, and how west and east wings were added for significant expansions.

You’ll see photos showing museum contributions to art education and the San Diego community over the years. You’ll see renowned artists who’ve contributed their work, and relive major exhibitions. You’ll envision what the museum plans for their future, too!

You are invited to contribute to the exhibition! Anyone can submit their personal memories and photographs of the museum. To participate, look for the link at the bottom of this webpage!

SDMA 100 Years will be displayed through 2026, right up to February 2, 2027.

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San Diego Takes Flight at History Center!

Every time I visit Balboa Park, I poke my nose into the San Diego History Center. It seems there’s always something new to experience!

In the atrium today I noticed a small, new exhibit titled San Diego Takes Flight! Several displays concern the Curtiss School of Aviation, established in 1911 at North Island, Coronado.

Photographs accompany descriptions of Glenn Curtiss and his students learning about the characteristics of flight on newly invented airplanes, including hydroplanes that took off from San Diego Bay. In that early era, most aviation exhibitions in the United States featured Curtiss graduates flying his planes.

Curtiss’ collaboration with the U.S. Navy in San Diego would be instrumental in the birth of naval aviation.

This exhibit at the San Diego History Center includes the participation of women at the Curtiss School of Aviation and their historic accomplishments.

Years ago, during a walk in Coronado near the Ferry Landing, I photographed a historical plaque marking the birthplace of naval aviation.

To see those photos and read the words on that plaque, click here.

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Making progress on Balboa Park’s Central Gardens!

Today I noted that progress is being made in creating Balboa Park’s Central Gardens. Work continues to be done around the Botanical Building and along one side of the Lily Pond!

The new pergola west of the Botanical Building is taking shape, the grassy area around the fountain to the east is all dug up (as you can see in the above photograph), and new grass and garden plants can be enjoyed by park visitors in various other places!

Exhibit: Japanese American gardeners in San Diego.

A fascinating exhibit at Balboa Park’s Japanese Friendship Garden will soon be ending. It concerns the history of Japanese American gardeners in San Diego. You can view the exhibit through Thursday, January 22, 2026.

Composed primarily of historical photographs from the early 20th century through World War II and beyond, the exhibit shows how first generation Japanese immigrants, with limited opportunities, brought beauty to San Diego through gardening.

It includes a look at Japanese Americans held as prisoners in Poston, Arizona during the war and their efforts to bring beauty into an ugly situation.

Photographs take the viewer into the present with amazing gardens in Balboa Park and Japanese inspired landscapes in San Diego.

The exhibit is made possible by the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego.

Alpha Project needs emergency donations!

Alpha Project is collecting donations right now in Balboa Park’s Recital Hall. The urgently needed donations can be dropped off from 10 am to 6 pm.

Their shelter was flooded by the recent storms and had to be evacuated. Your donations of clothing, undergarments and hygiene items will benefit the homeless people who were affected.

You can email info@alphaproject.org if you have any questions.

Thank you!

CleanUp Kitsune cleans Balboa Park!

Look who returned to Balboa Park today! It’s CleanUp Kitsune!

Lila and Corey Cleary-Stoner combine performance art with litter removal and call themselves CleanUp Kitsune.

I happened to notice the couple today outside the Japanese Friendship Garden.

They were kind enough to pose in full Japanese costume for a fun photo! Their fox masks come from Japanese folklore.

I first met the the couple about a year and a half ago leading a volunteer clean up in Balboa Park.

Their Instagram is @cleanupkitsune. Check it out!

(My blogging computer is out of action for several days so these posts, made from my phone, are more simple than usual. Stay tuned for more…)

Tokidoki trading event at Comic-Con Museum!

Have you seen the tokidoki exhibition at San Diego’s amazing Comic-Con Museum? If your answer is no, you have several weeks until the exhibition closes. TOKIDOKI: Twenty Years of Kawaii & Chaos goes away at the end of January.

Meanwhile, people who love tokidoki collectibles have the opportunity to attend a free trading event at the museum! The “kid-organized meetup” will be held on Saturday, January 24th, 2026 inside the Comic-Con Museum’s café! Everyone is welcome. Bring any tokidoki figures or merch you’d like to possibly trade!

I visited the museum today and saw the event announcement. As I wandered about the tokidoki exhibition, I “collected” a handful of cool photos…

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KPBS to debut new San Diego music series!

A KPBS film crew was in Balboa Park this afternoon. Why? Up on the stage of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, three San Diego musicians were performing for a series now in development by KPBS!

The local musicians were Divina Jasso, James Spaite and Shua. I listened to the first two. They had amazing voices. These photographs show Divina Jasso.

I was told that the music series, whose official name is not yet determined, will be available on the podcast The Finest. Here’s the link to The Finest. Videos of these performances will also be available on YouTube and elsewhere in the future.

Right now, the nascent music series is operating a bit like a pop-up. Today’s performance was unannounced. The audience in Balboa Park simply walked up–like me!

Very cool!

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