Birds take flight above palm trees in downtown San Diego.
This is my 500th post. I can’t believe it.
When I started writing this blog on a lark about a year and a half ago, it was a puny little creation, and I hadn’t a clue where it would take me. Alas, after many hours pounding away at the old keyboard, I haven’t earned one thin dime. But that’s perfectly fine. The riches I’ve received are immaterial, and far greater.
Writing a blog–one that involves photography in particular–opens your eyes, enhances your appreciation of all that is around you. To chronicle a walk through this world, one must carefully experience each step and turn curious eyes everywhere. One must note light, depth, and the color of things. One must listen to others. If I hadn’t begun to meander about San Diego purposefully, searching for “cool” material, I might never have seen some hidden rainbows. Or a small bit of street art. Or dogs surf.
Writing a blog encourages creativity. It’s casual and conversational. There’s no need to fret too much about editing. Readers are just friends. So you can yap freely and let the mind flow. I’ve always been a fan of science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. His great book Zen in the Art of Writing talks about the power of just letting thoughts flow, uninhibited, like gushing water from a wildly whipping dangerously uncontrolled hose. That water will irrigate one’s life, and the lives of others who are splashed.
Writing a blog leads the author to be more honest. More understanding. More compassionate. More vulnerable. Writing a blog, giving birth to a few silly words, expands the soul.
Thanks for coming along on my walks!
Where will I go today? I have a bit of an idea, but I’m not certain. Time propels us forward into the unknown. If you’d like, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Tumblr!
How The Grinch Stole Christmas banner on the Old Globe Theatre.
I saw on television that the Dr. Seuss Christmas tree in Balboa Park’s theatre complex was officially lighted a few days ago. I missed the event! Darn it! It looked like a whole lot of fun!
During my walk this morning, I decided to swing past San Diego’s famous Old Globe Theatre and check things out. It looks like all the colorful holiday decorations are up, and everything’s ready for the big Balboa Park December Nights festival in a couple weeks.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas has played at the Globe for seventeen consecutive seasons. Theodor Geisel, better known as much-beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss, lived in nearby La Jolla, a beautiful neighborhood just north of downtown San Diego.
Dr. Seuss Christmas tree at the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.The fun Christmas tree is up again in Theodor Seuss Geisel’s home city!Kids love the whimsical Dr. Seuss displays all around the Old Globe plaza area.Another Who from Whoville hanging out near a bench in the Craig Noel Garden.Fun Grinch shirts for sale at the very cool Old Globe gift shop.Family gets a festive holiday photograph by the Seuss tree in San Diego’s Balboa Park.The grouchy old green Grinch is peering over the gift shop’s roof!How the Grinch Stole Christmas is playing at the Old Globe for its 17th season!
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Bronze sculpture of Mark Twain sitting on a bench at Fenton Marketplace in Mission Valley.
A very famous author is known to hang out in San Diego. He’s usually seen just off Friars Road in Mission Valley. He likes to sit on a bench at Fenton Marketplace in front of the International House of Pancakes!
Who is this celebrated writer of American literature? That prolific master of humor and satire, Mark Twain!
According to my research on the internet, Mr. Samuel Clemens seems to get around. He’s been seen in the same pose in numerous cities. That’s because the bronze sculpture, by artist Gary Lee Price, is practically mass-produced!
Samuel Clemens gazes up dreamily from his book.Mark Twain is reading his own classic American novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.Famous author with biting wit sits on bench by fountain in front of IHOP.
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Replica of Richard Henry Dana’s brig Pilgrim at the 2014 Festival of Sail!
One of the world’s most famous sailing ships has returned to San Diego after 180 years!
Well–ahem–actually, a replica of the Pilgrim, the ship that became immortal in Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s classic book Two Years Before the Mast, sailed into San Diego Bay a few days ago. It’s one of many beautiful tall ships participating in this Labor Day weekend’s 2014 Festival of Sail.
This morning I got a bunch of pics of the festival and all the amazing ships along the Embarcadero. But I decided to start off by writing a blog post about the Pilgrim, which has a warm spot in my heart.
Every so often I reread Two Years Before the Mast, when I get a hankering to revisit the true, very interesting and adventurous tale written by Dana about his difficult voyage around Cape Horn and along the mostly uninhabited California coast as a common sailor. For some reason I feel a strange kinship with the author. Whenever I enjoy the book, I always try to envision what his hardy cattle hide trading ship looked like.
Today’s replica of the brig Pilgrim began as a three-masted schooner built in 1945 in Denmark; it was then converted to a brig in 1975 in Portugal. Now it’s a floating classroom with the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, California. The ship was used in Amistad, a movie directed by Steven Spielberg. While no one knows precisely how the original Pilgrim appeared, it quite likely resembled the ship I visited this morning.
The Pilgrim became immortalized in the classic book Two Years Before the Mast.Walking down to the Pilgrim, docked among many cool sailing ships.Wooden figurehead of the Pilgrim is a representation of Richard Henry Dana Jr.
I assume the figurehead of Dana holds a scroll because he went on to become a Harvard-educated lawyer. He advocated for groundbreaking laws which protected the common sailor and made life at sea for many a bit less dangerous and unfair.
San Diego Festival of Sail includes this historic, very interesting tall ship.
Sadly, the gentleman welcoming visitors on board (not the guy pictured) apparently had never read Two Years Before the Mast. He didn’t seem to know anything about Dana’s stay in San Diego, cleaning and curing cattle hides just inside the bay at Point Loma, riding with his friend inland to the old Mission, and having memorable good times in Old Town when San Diego was in its infancy.
In the shade of a canvas sail, people from the Ocean Institute and visitors chat.Sign stresses the critical importance of correct line handling.Gazing toward the bow past ship’s bell and American flag.The Pilgrim needed a crew of twelve to fourteen seamen to man her.I was one of the first aboard, before the big Labor Day weekend crowd arrived!That fuzzy stuff is called baggywrinkle!Beyond the ship’s wheel, several tall ships are docked at the San Diego Maritime Museum.Advice from the cook–eat good hearty salt beef!
I like the passages in Two Years Before the Mast where Dana describes his difficult adjustment to the seafaring life.
The above sign includes his reaction after following the cook’s advice: “I got a huge piece of strong, cold salt beef from the cook and kept gnawing upon it until twelve o’clock. When we went on deck, I felt somewhat like a man, and could begin to learn my sea duty with considerable spirit.”
Pilgrim crew member works at a knot during San Diego’s tall ship festival.
The West Coast was a mostly desolate, seldom-visited frontier in those days long ago. It was a place of danger, difficult undertakings and true discovery. Sometimes during my easy walks around and about San Diego, I try to imagine the glorious horizons and raw natural beauty unaltered by modern development. It’s a place in time that now exists only in memory. And in great books.
Stern of the brig Pilgrim at the 2014 Festival of Sail.
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Here comes Mark Twain during Old Town San Diego’s literary TwainFest!
One of my favorite San Diego events of all time took place today in historic Old Town!
TwainFest is an amazing annual festival celebrating Mark Twain and other famous authors from the 19th century. While there seems to be an emphasis on American and English novelists, I saw homages to writers, poets and storytellers from around the world. Scenes from American and California history also appear in several of the exhibits. Which makes sense, because Old Town is a history-filled park recreating the earliest days of San Diego!
To get an idea of what TwainFest is about, enjoy a quick look at these fun pics! And be sure to attend next year, if you can!
Event is part of Stagecoach Days at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.And here comes a towering puppet of American author Edgar Allan Poe!Lots of entertainment included a stage with music and various contests.Music included those familiar old folk songs that had everyone clapping.Costumed participants roaming about the central plaza of historic Old Town.Families enjoyed many activities including games.Excited kids blast off across the grass in an old-fashioned sack race!Kids of all ages enjoyed many unique literature-themed games and activities.The TwainFest Wheel of Fiction featured many famous writers.Booth inspired by Lewis Carroll had me making up a silly word!Never-ending stories had visitors adding their imaginative sentences.The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County ready to soar from catapult!I wonder if Mark Twain imagined kids would replicate his famous short story!Children really enjoyed this cool guy’s amazing flea circus!A flea performer mounts the trapeze before the incredulous audience.Girl uses magnifying lenses to watch a flea take a swan dive from high platform.The Quotation Machine rumbled before producing a quote.Here come some horses around the Old Town San Diego square!The Marshall informed me that all was well.Small audience in one shady corner enjoyed music and stories.The big Liar’s Contest featured lots of tall tales and jaw-dropping whoppers.This slick salesman is demonstrating the eloquent effects of literary potions.Bottled Verne, Dickinson, Whitman, Bronte, Byron and more!Voters in presidential election of 1872 must pass a literacy test!Of course, TwainFest had a bookstore with many classics of literature!People could trade places with Henry David Thoreau.The obviously guilty author of civil disobedience!Thoreau locks himself in with a brave visitor.It’s the Daniel Webster Frog Toss!Carroll’s Red Queen challenges all comers to flamingo croquet!Old Town event included the historic Mason Street School.Actors read poetry from Alice in Wonderland in one room schoolhouse.Here come participants in the fancy literary costume contest!The spirit of Twain lives at this very wonderful annual festival.
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L. Frank Baum wrote many fantastic, very popular children’s books.
The Coronado Public Library is featuring a world-class exhibit of Oz art and artifacts this month! Two huge glass cases full of books and collectibles and a large wall display of original graphic art are alive with the beloved characters that populate author L. Frank Baum’s fantasy land of Oz. The artwork, toys, figures and other cool stuff have been assembled from several important Oz collections, and made available to the viewing public during Oz Con International.
I’d like to share a few photos that I took!
Eisner Award-winning Eric Shanower’s graphic novels.Oz collectibles and artifacts in many languages on display.First edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz used by a Dorothy actress.Oz books and cool stuff in an exhibit at the Coronado Public Library.Colorful panels of Oz art catch the eye of library visitors.Troll Queen original comic art from Shanower’s The Forgotten Forest of Oz.More artwork based on the fairy tale creations of L. Frank Baum.Scarecrow and Tin Woodman among many characters in the collection.This Wicked Witch is cooking up trouble!
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Festival celebrates all things Oz at Spreckels Park in Coronado.
Today a special event was held in Coronado’s Spreckels Park celebrating The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum’s other popular children’s novels. The family festival was put on to coincide with the 50th annual Winkie Con, a convention for fans of the Land of Oz.
Winkie Con, now also called Oz Con International (I suspect to sound like Comic-Con International), is growing in popularity and will be held next week for the first time in San Diego. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the classic Wizard of Oz movie, starring Judy Garland!
I strolled through the happy, colorful Coronado festival and got a few pics. According to what I’ve read, there were all sorts of activities during the day, including a children’s parade.
I then sauntered across Orange Avenue and took several photos of the famous Wizard of Oz stained glass wall inside the Coronado Public Library!
Dorothy and a Wicked Witch walk along checking out some art.Art along Orange Avenue sidewalk includes images from the Oz books.Wizard of Oz characters were all over Spreckels Park today!People enjoy music at the bandstand on a warm summer day.Kids could follow the yellow brick road and spin a prize wheel.These signs and balloons were all over the green grass.
I assume these were part of a fun kids activity.
The Cowardly Lion on stained glass at Coronado Public Library.
Now I’m visiting the Coronado Library which is located across the street from Spreckels Park.
Author L. Frank Baum spent a good deal of time in Coronado, writing many of his novels in a rented house not far from the Hotel del Coronado. (You might check out my earlier blog post on this subject!) He modeled the Emerald City of Oz after the fantastic, world famous Victorian beach resort hotel.
Because of its strong connection with L. Frank Baum, Coronado today is often referred to as the Emerald City!
These fun Wizard of Oz glass panels in the library were created by artist Brenda Smith.
The Scarecrow greets two crows and library visitors.Dorothy, Toto and Munchkins are a permanent feature of the library!
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Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum rented this house in Coronado.
L. Frank Baum is one of America’s most beloved authors. He wrote the Wizard of Oz series of novels.
Baum, who lived in South Dakota, spent many winters at this rented house in Coronado, where he wrote three novels: Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, The Emerald City of Oz and The Road to Oz, plus significant portions of The Marvelous Land of Oz.
When not writing, he enjoyed himself at the nearby Hotel del Coronado. The Victorian architecture of the famous beach resort is said to be the inspiration for much of the fantastic imagery in the Oz novels. He personally designed the huge crown-shaped chandeliers in the hotel’s grand Crown Room.
Today, the island city of Coronado has two nicknames: the Crown City and the Emerald City.
Wizard of Oz Ave sign above front door.L. Frank Baum wrote several Wizard of Oz novels at this house.The Wizard of Oz house is located in Coronado, the Emerald City.
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Figures associated with books linger in relief above entrance of old San Diego Central Library. Literature East, by famed local artist Donal Hord, 1953.
San Diego’s old Central Library on E Street was never really much to look at–in my opinion, at least. It was just a small, nondescript, almost colorless building across from the downtown Post Office. When the brand new gleaming Central Library opened in East Village, the doors of the old library were shut forever. But a few notable images–beautiful works of art near the entrance–still remain.
The classic Literature Panels at either side of the library entrance were created in 1953, when the building was new, by important San Diego artist Donal Hord, whose iconic works can be seen throughout the city. These reliefs depict readers and writers of books in human history.
Because of poor health as a child, he spent many hours in the San Diego Public Library and developed a love for reading.
Timeless art by an internationally renowned San Diego sculptor depicts books and their association with history, music and culture. Literature West, by Donal Hord, 1953.
Clock shows midnight on east side of closed San Diego library.
A lamp still burns on the vacant library’s front sidewalk.The empty sidewalk contains images once tread by many feet.Graphic on sidewalk in front of old library tells of dreams, boldness and genius.Books still line the parking lot behind vacant library.Little else remains to be seen at the old Central Library.
Front desk and spacious entrance of new downtown San Diego Central Library.
Here are some interior pics of San Diego’s brand new downtown public library! It’s been open for only one week!
The first photo is what you’ll likely see upon entering the new building. It’s the front desk and lobby area, containing escalators, a view of three floors, helpful librarians and lots of library patrons!
The beautiful library shop is just steps from the main entrance. It’s full of great library-related gifts!
As I meandered about the first floor, I discovered this historical exhibit in the middle of rows of bookshelves. It explains how women, after a hard fight, earned the right to vote in California in 1911.
On the first floor you’ll find the children’s section of the library. The walls are painted with characters and scenes taken from Dr. Seuss’s popular picture books. Check out the Cat in the Hat! As many San Diego residents know, Dr. Seuss’s real name was Theodor Geisel, and he was a resident of La Jolla just up the coast.
Check out the reading room on the eighth floor of the new Central Library! It’s roomy, filled with light and lots of comfy chairs. The immense view toward South Bay is awesome!
Here we’re looking upward toward the ceiling of the big reading room. That’s the interior of the Central Library’s iconic steel lattice dome!
There’s a cool baseball history archive and exhibit right next to the reading room. Check out the silvery statue of a baseball player, and all the nostalgic photos on the wall! The exhibit is made possible by the San Diego Ted Williams chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research.
A couple more pics I took during a later visit…
Outside view of upper dome structure and nearby building from 9th floor of San Diego downtown library.Library patron in reading room creates cool graffiti art with the aid of research materials.
Cool San Diego Sights! 