What does Comic-Con 2022 look like when seen from 40 stories high?
Like this!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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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!
A 20-story tall building wrap is now going up for 2022 Comic-Con!
This afternoon I spotted workers applying the enormous wrap on the Park 12 high-rise apartment building, which is near the parking lot where the Petco Park Interactive Zone will be located.
The building wrap appears to promote Teen Wolf the Movie, an upcoming feature film that will be streaming on Paramount+. At least, that’s my guess right now!
This will no doubt be the first of many gigantic building wraps to appear all around the San Diego Convention Center during Comic-Con. That gives you an idea of how big this epic international event is!
I’ve also noted three large Disney banners hung a week or so ago on the parking garage of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. They promote a very different sort of entertainment: the Disney Cruise Line. The Disney Wonder cruise ship is homeported in San Diego!
(Fun fact! The ship HMS Surprise, of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, was used in the filming of the Disney movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides!)
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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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!
Two colorful faces have been painted on the second floor of the Courtyard on Congress building in Old Town. Both are by local artist Guillermo “memuco” Munro.
I saw these beautiful faces as I walked near the intersection of Congress Street and Twiggs Avenue early this morning. I was able to capture the artist’s signature, then I checked out his Instagram page, which is here.
It appears the murals were created back in January.
Memuco describes the female with ceremonial Kumeyaay face decoration as a woman that represents all nationalities. A being so beautiful and peaceful. With the most sincere smile in the Universe.
The second face is of Mexican painter Diego Rivera. He’s holding a Frida Kahlo doll, which the balcony concealed from my camera. Check out the artist’s Instagram page to see it all!
You can enjoy more of his great artwork that I’ve stumbled upon here (across the street) and here!
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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!
San Diego continues to grow. Over the years, our city’s downtown skyline keeps changing, becoming wider, denser, more varied. Some of the new construction has been along the waterfront.
I was out on a slow Embarcadero walk today when my eyes did a double take. I couldn’t believe how quickly IQHQ’s five building RaDD (Research and Development District) project is rising!
The future technology campus, a combination of lab, office and retail space, is being built on part of the property where the demolished Navy Broadway Complex stood.
I know developments like these are hotly debated. Among other considerations, certain bay views will become obstructed, while new views will open. Whatever your position is, the growth of downtown San Diego continues apace, and the changed skyline will probably feel more “ordinary” as memories fade.
UPDATE!
I took another photo from a different direction some time later. Here I’m standing near the corner of Broadway and Pacific Highway. The recently completed 17-story high-rise is Navy Building One.
And a few days later…
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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!
To Kill a Mockingbird. Moby Dick. The Omen. Cape Fear. Roman Holiday. Twelve O’Clock High. The Boys from Brazil. The Guns of Navarone. Spellbound. The Yearling. Gentleman’s Agreement. On the Beach. The Snows of Kilimanjaro.
Gregory Peck was one of Hollywood’s very biggest stars.
In 1962 he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. During his film career, he received five Best Actor nominations.
Gregory Peck was born in La Jolla. He attended San Diego High School and San Diego State University (then called San Diego State Teacher’s College).
His father, Gregory Pearl Peck, was a chemist and pharmacist–who worked in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Market Street.
The McGurck Block, 1887.
From 1903 to 1984, the Ferris and Ferris Drug Store occupied this building. For a long time it was San Diego’s only all-night drug store and, for a period of time, actor Gregory Peck’s father worked as the night druggist. The building was also used as a post office and as a ticket booth for the Coronado Ferry. The upper rooms of this three-story Italiante [sic] Revival building were used for rented rooms and became known as the Hotel Monroe in 1929.
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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!
What in the world are Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison doing in North Park?
They’re decorating the exterior of the very unique San Diego Gas & Electric Company’s Substation F!
I happened to look up and see the two historical figures as I walked along the El Cajon Boulevard sidewalk just east of Iowa Street.
These gentleman made groundbreaking discoveries and inventions that remain important in our electricity dependent world. Both esteemed men, in North Park, are busts made of cast stone!
Learn more about SDG&E’s beautifully restored Station F, originally built in 1926, at this web page.
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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 photos for you to enjoy!
Out with the old first. Later in with the new!
The iconic 1915 Botanical Building in Balboa Park is in the process of being rebuilt. Three months ago I took a few photographs of some early “deconstruction” activity. Since then more of the lath structure near the ground has been removed, and the building looks increasingly skeletal!
I walked around the Botanical Building’s construction fence today and took these photos. You can contrast them with the photos I took in February here. That older blog post also provides some interesting details concerning this very important, historic project!
You can see how the Lily Pond directly adjacent to the structure has been drained.
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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 photos for you to enjoy!
Have you seen the 60 foot tall mural at the new Found Lofts apartments in Vista’s Arts and Culture District? Joram Roukes, an internationally famous artist and muralist from The Netherlands, painted it a couple months ago!
The collage-like, multi-wall mural contains many elements, including a mountain climber, and images that represent the culture of the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians. The frog and the coyote in the mural come from a traditional animal story of The First People: How Coyote Killed Frog. The Luiseño people inhabited this area long before Spaniards established nearby Mission San Luis Rey in 1798.
The very cool mural is located at 516 S. Santa Fe Avenue. You can’t miss it!
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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 photos for you to enjoy!
A huge soap factory in downtown San Diego?
Yes!
Back in 1921, the Citrus/Pacific Soap Factory building was erected in San Diego’s small but growing downtown. Locally produced lemon juice would be a major ingredient in the manufacture of soap!
The architect responsible for this stately factory made of brick was William Wheeler. He also designed downtown’s Balboa Theater and other notable structures around the city.
You can see a cool historical photo of the old Citrus Soap Company of California factory standing near railroad tracks here.
According to this 1988 SOHO (Save Our Heritage Organisation) newsletter, the site at 301 West Market Street gained historical designation partly based on its association with three different soap companies dating back to 1892. Apparently, the factory also helped San Diego through a national soap crisis!
Today, the old factory building has been repurposed. It’s a unique part of the CityFront Terrace Condos.
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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 photos for you to enjoy!
The life of any city is endlessly complex and interesting. The colors one encounters reflect this truth.
Early in the morning I walked around downtown San Diego–primarily through Little Italy and the Columbia District. Then in the evening I walked down Broadway.
My camera found these colors…
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 