Tag: buildings

The Ship’s Bell mosaic at Liberty Station.

A little-seen mosaic greets people walking toward the door of Cocina 35 in Liberty Station. Tiles form the words: THE SHIP’S BELL. The colorful tiles embedded in the walkway form the image of a sailor ringing a bell. Why is it here?

Liberty Station in Point Loma is the site of the old, decommissioned Naval Training Center San Diego. The buildings of the historic training center have been redeveloped, and now house restaurants, museums, artist studios and more. This mosaic can be found at Liberty Station’s Building 193, which used to be the naval base’s Enlisted Men’s Club.

The Enlisted Men’s Club would be called The Crow’s Nest, then later The Ship’s Bell. The mosaic greeted sailor recruits who wanted to get away from officers for a little relaxation and entertainment. The club was open every night and provided a variety of music and drink to anyone over 18 years of age.

Today, Liberty Station’s Building 193 is home to Cocina 35 and a variety of other restaurants and businesses.

Do you have any memories of The Ship’s Bell? Leave a comment below!

UPDATE!

I noticed this plaque near Building 193 during a later walk…

Building 193 was completed in 1941. The enlisted men’s club was a place to relax away from the officers, although the recruits were watched by the shore patrol to encourage appropriate behavior. Officers had the Chief Petty Nightclub and the Admiral Kit Club for their entertainment.

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Major improvements coming to Balboa Park!

Major improvements are coming later this year to Balboa Park, San Diego’s beautiful crown jewel!

In the park’s Palisades area, new historical markers are on the way. They’ll be placed near the entrances of the San Diego Automotive Museum, Municipal Gymnasium, and the Comic-Con Museum.

In addition, nearby lamp posts that date from the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition are to be sandblasted and restored to look like new!

Most importantly, the Municipal Gymnasium’s exterior is going to change substantially, to more closely match the building’s appearance in 1935, when during the exposition it was called the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries. You can learn more about the changes that are coming by clicking here.

These fantastic improvements are being made through a partnership between the Balboa Park Committee of 100 and the City of San Diego.

Today some folks were meeting in the park making decisions concerning the project, including the placement of the historical signs, and the exact color of the sculptural ornamentation that will added to the front of the Municipal Gymnasium.

I stumbled upon today’s activity, learned a little about the project, and took a few photos.

At the start of September, construction fencing will appear in the Palisades and work will begin! I was told all should be completed by Thanksgiving.

The next photo is how today’s Municipal Gymnasium appeared in 1935, when it was the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries…

Photo courtesy of San Diego City Clerk Archives.

This is how it might appear when all is said and done…

And this was observed today…

Sample ornamental panels, or sculptural blocks, were on a table and being considered today. They will be made of glass-fiber reinforced concrete.

I learned the band of ornamentation above the coming 14 feet by 22 feet cold-cast bronze relief mural will be slightly darker than the building’s current color. The ornamentation on the marquee will be more of a bronze color.

Some of the original 1935 lamp posts that will be restored!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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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.

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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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Remnants of the original Encinitas train station.

The bright yellow building at 510 North Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas is hard to miss. It was the original train station in Encinitas, as its appearance suggests. Today it’s home of Pannikin Coffee & Tea, a popular community gathering place.

I found few other indications of the building’s interesting railroad history: a marker near the front door (seen above) and an old Encinitas station sign.

I walked inside Pannikin Coffee & Tea and was disappointed there was so little on display specifically concerning the railroad station’s history. I asked two employees about it, who told me about the salvaged Encinitas station sign up near the ceiling.

According to this article, the original Encinitas train station was built in 1887. The building moved from trackside to its present location in the early 1970s and in 1980 became a coffeehouse.

It’s a uniquely attractive building, with its bright color and old Victorian charm.

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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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Model of San Diego Museum of Art’s expansion.

The San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park has plans to substantially expand. The proposed renovation of the West Wing celebrates the centennial of the museum in 2026.

A physical model of an early design concept for this new West Wing extension can be viewed today inside the museum. The design was conceived by the prestigious international architectural firm Foster + Partners, and the model is part of an exhibition that shows their other work around the world.

I got a look at the model yesterday and took some photos so you might visualize how Balboa Park might appear in the future. Obviously, this is important to everyone in San Diego.

Like other Foster + Partners projects, the design will create an experience that is spacious and full of natural light. The proposed expansion will add 37,000 square feet of gallery space, including an immersive digital space. There will also be a community engagement pavilion that will provide interactive space for artists and visitors alike.

As you can see, this large expansion will replace today’s sculpture court and garden.

Personally, I’m not really sure what to think of it.

I like the general idea, but how will this new structure fit in with the surrounding, entirely different Spanish Colonial Revival architecture? It will stand across Plaza de Panama from the much smaller Timken Museum, which also has a more sleek, modern appearance, perhaps creating a visual counter-balance.

The very first thing that struck me is how small the historic San Diego Museum of Art appears beside their wide, taller expansion. No other buildings are shown in the model such as the nearby House of Charm, but I imagine it, too, will appear small in comparison.

My main concern is how this fairly tall new structure might obscure or partially obscure views of Balboa Park’s iconic California Tower, which is arguably the most beloved sight in all of San Diego. The expansion will almost certainly hide the California Tower from people who are in the north part of the Plaza de Panama.

It also appears the design work at the sculpture court and garden by renowned modernist Malcolm Leland will disappear. You can see photographs of that in one of my past blog posts by clicking here.

Well, what do you think?

If you visit the model in the museum, there’s a nearby video that helps you better visualize how this expansion will appear, and an opportunity to leave your own comment.

Here’s a photo I took a few years ago from a short distance up El Prado. You can see the present-day sculpture court with its columns and banners to the right of the California Building’s dome.

The proposed expansion, to my eye, appears to be about three times the height of the sculpture court. So imagine that. The California Tower should remain visible down El Prado, fortunately.

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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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Magical light and form inside the Axline Court.

How does one describe the Axline Court inside the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego?

Magical, perhaps?

Should you ever visit the museum in La Jolla, step into this space and look up. Move about as your eyes are lifted. See how the light and form changes as if by magic. (Come to think of it, doesn’t the entire world operate this way?)

The Axline Court was designed by famed postmodern architect Robert Venturi. It was part of a 1996 expansion of the historic building, which originally was home to newspaper journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps.

The star-shaped Axline Court, a spacious atrium with simple white columns, bright high angled windows, and curvaceous neon fringed fins descending from the ceiling, was retained in the building’s latest redesign and expansion. Today it can be used as a gallery, or for weddings or special events.

I wandered about the space and took these photos. You have to experience the magical effect yourself. I personally wonder how, with the neon, it appears at night.

(My next blog post will concern an exhibition of art by Hoover High School students along one wall. You can glimpse a bit of it on a table in the next photo.)

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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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La Mesa’s historical Spring House.

I asked a gentleman at the La Mesa Community Center if there were interesting places to visit in the neighborhood, and was told about Collier Park and its Spring House. He told me the historical house was undergoing restoration. Curious, I headed over to investigate.

I walked around the somewhat dilapidated old Spring House and found a sign that describes its history. I was surprised to learn about the origin of the name Spring Street–an important nearby street that runs through downtown La Mesa.

Collier Park – Spring House – City of La Mesa Landmark #3

The Spring House was constructed for Colonel David Charles (D.C.) Collier in 1907. The original plan for the Spring House to be a commercial bottling operation of the natural spring water was never realized. The natural springs were also what attracted stock rancher Robert Allison to purchase the area in 1869. The bottling works plant captured water from the adjacent natural spring and contained a storage reservoir for the water. It was constructed with locally quarried stone blocks. Water from the spring was pumped to the civic fountain at the La Mesa Railroad Depot from 1915 until the late 1960s. After the establishment of Collier Park, the Spring House has been used for pool dressing rooms, meetings, classroom and event space.

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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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Bizarre AI images of Balboa Park!

I performed an experiment today. I asked the AI Drawing Assist on a Samsung Galaxy phone to create artistic images of “Balboa Park at sunset.”

Well, the AI, as you can see, produced some rather bizarre results!

Sure the towers and facades appear superficially like those in Balboa Park, but take a close look. The configurations of buildings, towers, fountains and reflecting pools are truly weird.

In the above photo, why are two towers side by side? Why is the pool located where it is, and so curvy? Why is there a big mountain in the background? Low mountains in reality are far to the east, and Balboa Park’s grand entrance at the California Quadrangle is to the west where the sun sets.

Why is image construction so apparently arbitrary?

It all makes me wonder: How exactly are these images generated? Is there no accurate reference to countless photographs on the internet? Is the AI just too primitive at this point in its development? Is it capable of creating only fantasy worlds? Someone out there with technical expertise might expound on this.

Of course, when the AI images are created, the user is cautioned: Image generation may produce unexpected results. No kidding!

Here are more bizarre examples. The only prompt I used was “Balboa Park at sunset.”

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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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Tribal Shields For Common Ground in Logan Heights.

For the past 25 years, this very unique public art has decorated the exterior of the San Diego Police Department Central Division building in Logan Heights.

During a walk through Logan Heights today, I went around the building to check out the Tribal Shields For Common Ground. I failed to photograph all of the artwork on the building, but these photos provide a good example of what you’d see.

Tribal Shields for Common Ground – Alber de Matteis – January 2000

Commissioned for the citizens of San Diego through the City of San Diego Police Department, Engineering and Capitol Projects, and Commission for Arts and Culture.

About the artwork: Each shield is inspired by traditional cultural designs from around the world. Ancient geometric design used in basket weaving, rock painting, rug weaving and wood carving are used to celebrate the ethnic diversity of our city. The choices made here represent the four corners of the world…

If the artist name is familiar, I’ve covered other Alber de Matteis artwork around San Diego. I’ve spotted his sculptures at Shelter Island, National City and Liberty Station. Click here and here and here and here.

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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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Wild animals on a Logan Heights corner!

Ferocious wild animals have gathered in San Diego’s Logan Heights neighborhood!

It appears that a leopard, tiger, snake, wolf and gorilla now hang out at the corner of Imperial Avenue and 32nd Street!

Check out this cool artwork on a wall and building that is presently vacant. It was painted by Matt Spangler.

Love it!

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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!