View from the Top of the Hyatt. The Marriott Marquis and its marina can be seen below, sparkling in the San Diego sunshine.
Perhaps the best view of downtown San Diego can be enjoyed through two observation windows on the 40th floor of the Manchester Grand Hyatt. Stand on Harbor Drive and face the beautiful hotel–the older, taller tower on the left is where you need to go.
Take the guest elevator to the 40th floor after 3pm, to the bar at the Top of the Hyatt, and the two observation windows await on either side of the elevator. No need to enter the bar.
Check out the amazing views to the north and to the south!
At the top of this 497 foot tower, the highest waterfront building on the West Coast, one can peer through two observation windows and enjoy phenomenal views of San Diego.Approaching the south observation window on the 40th floor of the Manchester Grand Hyatt.Looking to the south across San Diego Bay and past the Coronado Bay Bridge.From the same window, gazing to the southeast. A portion of downtown is visible. San Miguel Mountain and Otay Mountain rise in the distance.At the other window, looking northwest, past the hotel’s second tower, one can see a slice of San Diego Bay and Point Loma.To the north one can see another part of downtown, adjacent to the North Embarcadero.Written on the window are words from a popular children’s book. Oh the places you’ll go. Dr. Seuss.
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Mysterious gold lettering on a door in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter reads: Law Office Eddie O’Hare, Esquire. It’s actually the sneaky entrance to a speakeasy, the underground, 1920’s themed Prohibition Lounge!
Here’s another batch of cool door photographs, taken during my walks around San Diego.
Some of these doors are rather odd, as you can plainly see! Others have interesting historical significance. Most are just plain fun!
To learn a bit more, read the captions!
Nautical-looking door of the American Tunaboat Association on the Embarcadero near Tuna Harbor.Interesting detail above the door of the 1906 Hearne Surgical Hospital Building in downtown San Diego.These old wooden doors to the patio of Indigo Grill in Little Italy are enormous! I don’t know their origin.A very odd metal door in Little Italy. Seems to me it would quite easy to step around it!Not sure I’d want to follow the arrow and step through this door in the Gaslamp Quarter. Looks dangerous!In San Diego’s small Chinatown one can see a cool sight that traces back to early San Diego history. The door to Quin Produce!The unusually tall stained glass door of the Philippine Library and Museum in the Gaslamp. I’ll probably visit one day!It’s what meets you at the front door of Mexican Fiesta in Seaport Village that’s out of the ordinary. A sculpture of a bandito sitting on a bench!Step through the front door of Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills and you’re met by Hollywood movie stars!
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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!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Two elegantly dressed skeletons have been discovered seated inside the front entrance of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town.
I was stunned to observe that a large number of skeletons have been discovered in an old San Diego hotel. The Cosmopolitan Hotel, to be exact. The elegantly dressed skeletons, wearing frilly dresses or top hats, were seen standing about the hotel’s entrance, in the saloon, even seated on chairs behind a large wedding cake.
Huh?
I’m just having a bit of fun! The Cosmopolitan Hotel is part of Old Town, and dozens of elegantly dressed skeletons appear in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park every year as Día de los Muertos approaches.
Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is actually a celebration of ancestors and loved family members who have passed away. In Mexico, the deceased are remembered and prayed for, and certain joyful traditions are observed. One unusual tradition is derived from La Calavera Catrina, a famous etching by Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada, which depicts a female skeleton dressed in a fancy hat. Even though the image was originally created as satire, the Catrina has become a familiar sight in many places where Día de los Muertos is observed.
I snapped these photos at the historic Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town. The original building dates back to the late 1820s, when the wealthy Californio cattle rancher Juan Bandini built a “mansion” among the simple adobes in Old Town. When Bandini’s fortunes faded, he sold the house to Albert Seeley in 1869, who built a second story and converted the house into a hotel for a new San Diego stagecoach stop, which he also built nearby.
I believe I photographed a couple of the same skeletons a year or two ago, but I simply couldn’t help myself. They’re so much fun!
A covered wagon in front of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.In celebration of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, two lady skeletons wearing frilly dresses greet visitors to the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Here’s one!Here’s the other!Inside the Cosmopolitan Hotel’s saloon, another lavishly elegant but skeletal customer is observed.A shy skeleton in very fancy attire stands silently in the corner of the Old West 1800s saloon.A bony customer at the bar. That must have been a stiff drink.A wedding cake for a skeleton bride and groom! Día de los Muertos is a joyful holiday that celebrates the past lives of loved ones.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to enjoy!
If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, then you’re lucky enough.
St. Patrick’s Day is almost upon us! Here are a few warm and funny Irish pub signs that I’ve spotted while walking around downtown San Diego.
I can resist anything but temptation.Sláinte! A toast to good luck and good health. Whatever your beverage, be sure and raise a glass in toast to St. Patrick, to the Irish and to yourself.Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold beer and another one!Drink up! It makes other people more interesting. (I think I spotted this in front of an Irish pub. Or perhaps it was just an ordinary San Diego bar.)Lovely day for a Guinness. Especially if you’re a horse enjoying a nice leisurely ride.
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Here are a dozen more funny signs and sights that I’ve spotted in downtown San Diego. Since many of these photographs were taken around the Gaslamp Quarter with its many restaurants and bars, it isn’t surprising that a popular theme is Eat, Drink and Be Merry.
A crabby sign. Eat me! Bite me!Two funny, silly mannequin heads in a shop window.Some call it bitching. I call it motivational speaking.Please leave quietly. Let the neighbors sleep.A sign warns: Beware of Little Monsters.Sea NileThe National Beer Pong LeagueThis alien lifeguard in a yellow hard hat is about to be clobbered by Superman!People who say “It’s the thought that counts” give shitty gifts.I distrust camels and anyone else who can go a week without a drink.One hundred percent of scientists agree that alcohol is a solution!
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Several whiskered Western characters pose in a mural on Harney Street in Old Town.
There’s a fairly new street mural in Old Town that I really like. Every time I see it, my imagination travels back in time. Back to the first half of the 19th century.
San Diego for many decades was a tiny town seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Whether it belonged to Spain, or Mexico, or the United States, Old Town San Diego was a place of dusty roads and modest, sun-baked adobe houses, horses and wagons, rugged settlers and ranchers. Characters from that era seem to live again in this mural.
Artist Frank Mando painted this artwork in 2013. I couldn’t capture the entire piece in one shot. Enlivening a building at the corner of San Diego Avenue and Harney Street, the mural is divided in two by a door of the Old Town Saloon. Standing inside that door, as you’ll see, there seems to be a well-known movie star!
Freight wagon hauls a load of barrels in fun art that recalls early San Diego history.John Wayne seems to be coming through a door of the Old Town Saloon.Elegant lady and girl from long ago stroll past Ye Old Curiosity Shoppe.Old Town mural on building wall was painted in 2013 by artist Frank Mando.Kids standing along sidewalk seem to have materialized from San Diego’s past.People walk past nostalgic street mural near side entrance to Old Town Saloon.
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People dine where scenes from Top Gun were filmed.
Walking through downtown San Diego recently, I happened to pass Kansas City Barbeque, so I got some pics.
Do you remember the hit movie Top Gun? The 80’s movie about Navy fighter pilots that turned Tom Cruise into a mega-superstar? You might recall the great sleazy bar scene, where Maverick and Goose sit at a piano and sing “Great Balls of Fire”. That was shot at this location! You might also remember the line spoken by Meg Ryan, “Goose, you big stud! Take me to bed now or lose me forever!” That was filmed in the dining area. The bar also appears at the end of the movie as “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” is heard playing on the jukebox.
Today you can eat some tasty barbeque while checking out a huge collection of memorabilia, a virtual shrine to Top Gun.
F-14 Tomcat depicted on outside wall at Kansas City Barbeque.The very popular Kansas City Barbeque in downtown San Diego.
The above photo was taken around Christmas. I see Santa Pig!
Kansas City Barbeque was a location used in the movie Top Gun.Pigs fly on the rear wall of Kansas City Barbeque!
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And now for your entertainment: another terrifying scene!
Beware of giant octopi with a taste for canned foods! This wily octopus steals tin cans from helpless, despairing sailors, who then promptly throw themselves into watery oblivion. When you’re in the middle of the ocean in an old ship full of tin cans, what is one to do?
This cool mural adds character to the front of a small dive bar on Bankers Hill. The place’s name is Tin Can Alehouse. I’m told they serve beer exclusively in cans.
This monstrous octopus really means business!A ship in peril. I guess some sea creatures like their beer in a can.Jump for your lives men! Grab hold of a tin can!
Here’s a photo taken on a weekday morning of Dick’s Last Resort in the Gaslamp. This wacky bar and restaurant chain with an intentionally-trained-to-be-obnoxious staff is jam-packed with all sorts of colorful customers most evenings and especially on weekends. Beer and good times are known to flow freely here!
Here are a couple more pics from other days:
Dick’s Last Resort seen from across Fourth Avenue.A very dour, funny unshaven dude with beer mug.
I’ve never been in this bar, but I took a cool pic of the wonderfully bizarre exterior while walking to work this morning. The Tractor Room on Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest actually features a tractor! It’s a very strange sight in the middle of a city. It definitely makes you look twice!
Cool San Diego Sights! 