Carlsbad Village is ready for the holidays!

The Holiday Season is upon us and the Village of Carlsbad is ready!

I rode the Coaster train north to Carlsbad a few days ago for a pleasant walk, and this is what I found!

Festive decorations everywhere one turns: at storefronts, in windows, on street banners and signs. I saw Christmas trees, Santa, elves at the North Pole, candy canes, wreaths, Frosty, snowflakes, poinsettias, Rudolph, gingerbread houses…

A free Musical Kickoff to the Holidays will take place this Friday, December 5th, from 4 to 7:30 pm. It will be at the Carlsbad fountain parking lot at 2898 State Street.

You can expect middle and high school student musicians, hot cocoa and more!

A smiling Steven Blake was playing Happy Holidays music at the Carlsbad Village fountain! (His Instagram is @deverb.band.)

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San Diego gets ready for the Holidays!

One week to Thanksgiving and a little more than a month until Christmas. The year has flown by and the holidays are almost upon us!

Walking around San Diego the past few days, I’ve noticed that preparations are well underway for the Holiday Season.

Santas and Christmas trees are popping up. Signs and banners around downtown anticipate festive events. Balboa Park is beginning to ready for December Nights…

JOY has returned to the Broadway Pier.
Jingle Jets begins on the flight deck of the USS Midway on November 28.
Seaport Village is decked out for the holidays.
Alamo Flags is ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Holiday programming is coming up at the Rady Shell, including Noel Noel.
Happy Holidays and Season’s Greetings banners in the Gaslamp Quarter.
Santa Claus is riding a motorcycle at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Mannequin in Gaslamp shop is dressed for a Christmas party.
Museum of Illusions has a Christmas tree and fun North Pole photo op!
Santa and reindeer are practicing landings in Balboa Park.
Celebrate the holidays with local artists at Balboa Park’s Spanish Village.
The San Diego Civic Youth Ballet will perform The Nutcracker in December.
Getting the Balboa Park Miniature Railroad ready for the holidays!

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.

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Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Barrio Logan!

A printed banner duplicate of a very famous mural by Mexican painter Diego Rivera can be seen in San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood. Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (Dream of a Sunday Afternoon at Alameda Central Park) decorates the exterior of the M & R Transmission building at 1775 National Avenue.

The original mural, painted by the artist between 1946 and 1947, can be viewed at the Museo Mural Diego Rivera in Mexico City.

The mural depicts famous people and events in the history of Mexico, passing through the Alameda Central park in Mexico City. It features many historical figures, including Hernán Cortés, Benito Juárez, and Frida Kahlo. The central figure is La Catrina, a skeleton figure symbolizing the connection between life and death.

I took these photos a few weeks ago, when I walked through Barrio Logan.

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.

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More signs San Diego Comic-Con is coming!

Walking around downtown San Diego, I’ve noticed more and more signs that Comic-Con 2025 is fast approaching. Less than two weeks to go!

First, a bunch of banners promoting shows on STARZ have been hung at the Gaslamp Quarter trolley station and along Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade. Shows include Spartacus and Outlander: Blood of My Blood.

Next, I was shown this online flyer from Exclusive Collections in the Gaslamp.

On July 18, the week before Comic-Con, they will be offering over 70 original and rare animation cels for purchase! Art includes that of Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. and Chuck Jones.

The Chuck Jones Gallery in Seaport Village will present The Art Side of Comic-Con 2025. Appearing artists include Fabio Napoleoni and Ben Olson.

American Comedy Co. San Diego will present Comic-Con related shows, including Natasha Leggero w/Moshe Kasher & Dana Gould, and Doctor Z & Friends.

The Music Box will host some Comic-Con related parties, including Mosh Eisley (The Best Party in the Galaxy), and One More Time (A Tribute To Daft Punk) the Comic Tron Comic Con After Party.

The recently installed electronic kiosks around downtown San Diego list Comic-Con as an upcoming event, but sadly provide very little elaboration.

The Pac-Man Cafe Pop-Up appears at 323 Seventh Avenue during Comic-Con! Free arcade games and merch giveaway included!

Excited yet?

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.

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Old Globe’s 90th Anniversary sculpture in Balboa Park!

A cool sculpture has appeared in Balboa Park at the center of The Old Globe theatre complex. It celebrates The Old Globe’s 90th Anniversary!

San Diego’s “flagship arts institution” has created countless great memories over nearly a century.

Cherished memories can be shared by anyone over a live feed in The Old Globe’s plaza. Go to this website, type in your Old Globe memory, and share it with other theatre lovers!

The sculpture contains images of theatrical productions over the years. So much history has been made at The Old Globe. A series of banners leading down to El Prado celebrates that history.

As one banner states: From Stephen Sondheim to August Wilson to Arthur Miller, The Old Globe has showcased the visions of the world’s greatest theatre-makers. Premiering new work, honoring the classics, and celebrating the craft of the stage, the Globe defines American theatre at the hightest level.

Another banner recalls: More than 30 Globe-launched productions went on to Broadway success, earning national acclaim...

What are some of your Old Globe memories?

I remember watching a play at the Cassius Carter Centre Stage (now called the The Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre) as a young person. I was struck by how the actors, encircled by the audience, had somehow become integral to my world and my life–at least for a time. It seemed as if these strangers had suddenly become family, bringing out the true potency of “familiar” things.

On that day I discovered the magical power of theatre. Does that make sense?

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.

Feel free to share!

Fantastic Four banners for Comic-Con 2025!

Fantastic 4 banners have appeared in downtown San Diego in anticipation of Comic-Con 2025 and the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps in late July!

The big tentpole Marvel movie is highly anticipated, and it appears promotion of the film is in high gear.

Who doesn’t love the Fantastic Four in the comics? Cool sci-fi action with far-out concepts and cosmic characters, dimensions and places, and a family of likable heroes. A lot of fans are hoping the movie lives up to very high expectations.

This is the third set of street lamp banners in downtown San Diego promoting different movies for Comic-Con 2025, which I believe is unprecedented.

One month until the big international pop culture event!

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.

Feel free to share!

Another sign Comic-Con is on the way!

Another sign has popped up indicating San Diego Comic-Con 2025 is around the corner. A new set of banners has appeared on lamp posts in the Gaslamp Quarter, and elsewhere in downtown San Diego!

The banners promote Tron: Ares, a science fiction action movie set to release later this year. It’s the third movie in the Tron series.

(The first banners for Comic-Con 2025 promote Predator: Badlands. See those photographs here.)

Can you believe it? I’m so old that I saw the first Tron in movie theaters. The groundbreaking visuals blew everyone away back then, and the concept of virtual intelligence was mind-blowing in 1982, when mass produced home computers were a completely new thing.

Back then I had one of the very first personal computers: a ZX-81. It had, with an added expansion module, all of 16K memory! Forty three years later, the slim phone in your hand might have 16GB or more memory!

Where will we be in another 43 years? Will humans be any wiser?

All I know is that Comic-Con is a month away! Bring it on!

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.

Feel free to share!

Predator: Badlands banners appear for Comic-Con!

Street lamp banners that promote Predator: Badlands are beginning to appear in San Diego for upcoming Comic-Con 2025!

Predator: Badlands will be released later this year, and will be the–can you believe it–ninth movie in the Predator franchise. Obviously, the film will be heavily hyped during Comic-Con.

A young android will be paired with a young alien Predator in the new science fiction action adventure. Interesting combination. The two characters appear in the Comic-Con banners now going up along sidewalks in downtown San Diego!

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.

Feel free to share!

San Diego’s Civic Theatre celebrates 60 years!

As I walked through downtown’s Civic Center Plaza this morning, I noticed banners on fencing near the San Diego Civic Theatre. They recall how superstars such as Diana Ross, Tony Bennett and Robin Williams have performed in the popular venue over the past six decades.

I hadn’t realized the Civic Theatre is celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year!

Curious, I checked out the history of the San Diego Civic Theatre. Here it is.

Others who’ve entertained audiences at this historic venue include Frank Sinatra, Jerry Seinfeld, Conan O’Brien, Luther Vandross, Jerry Lewis, Patti LaBelle, Carole King, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Do you have any memories?

Today, if you enjoy performances by San Diego Opera or Broadway San Diego, you are part of that continuing history!

Five years ago I went on an architectural tour of the Civic Theatre building and took photographs of the grand, elegant interior. You can revisit that blog post here.

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.

Feel free to share!

San Diego prepares for Padres 2025 Opening Day!

Padres banners and flags are going up throughout downtown San Diego–in the Gaslamp, East Village, and around Petco Park! The city is almost ready for 2025 Opening Day, which is tomorrow!

This morning, Padres personnel were putting up fencing beside Petco Park for the anticipated long lines and crowds. Tom’s Watch Bar, which has taken over the old location of Social Tap, was hurriedly installing big television screens.

Tens of thousands of excited fans will converge downtown for the early afternoon start. The Pads are playing the Braves. Let’s go!

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.

Feel free to share!