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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On a weekday morning, construction workers remove debris from the interior of the now vacant Gaslamp 15 movie theater.
Here comes a batch of lively photos that I took downtown this morning. I have the week off from work, so I’m trying to take full advantage of it.
On this typical workday, I simply walked down from Cortez Hill and enjoyed some of the ordinary bustle downtown that I don’t always have time to appreciate. Among other things, I noticed the clean up is still going on from last night’s Mardi Gras celebrations. Life goes on…
Workers on scaffolding renovate the exterior of a building on Sixth Avenue.Meals are being delivered by the San Diego Unified School District’s Food and Nutrition Services to Kipp Adelante Preparatory Academy.Priests from St. Paul’s Cathedral provide Ashes To Go and a quick blessing to believers passing by on B Street on this Ash Wednesday.A window washer at work at City Pizzeria.Sidewalk sign proclaims that your future is waiting upstairs!I saw this art in a shop window as I walked by so I had to post it, of course!A row of motorcycles, and a worker taking a break near Horton Plaza.Torn sign at a Broadway bus station informs riders about yesterday’s Mardi Gras detours.This cool guy holding a parking sign outside the Bristol Hotel was nice to smile for a pic.A construction worker crosses Broadway while a homeless man looks into a trashcan.Here comes a guy riding a cool bicycle that appears to be designed for deliveries. Perhaps he’s a courier. A few bike couriers still make deliveries downtown.One guy crosses the street while carrying plans; another escorts dogs with a coffee in hand.People board an MTS bus near the Fifth Avenue trolley station.A walker runs his cane through some spilled leftover ice on a Gaslamp sidewalk.A firetruck turns a corner in the Gaslamp, and reflections of nearby buildings appear in the windows.A worker with Clean and Safe’s downtown program mops the sidewalk while a businessman walks by.An Old Town Trolley Tours vehicle loaded with tourists waits for a homeless man with a packed shopping cart to clear an intersection.People work on laptop computers outside a coffee shop.Birds fly in a blue downtown San Diego sky.Someone unlocks the security gate in front of a small downtown shop. It’s morning, so time to open.I wait for a pollo asado burrito inside The Taco Stand and gaze out the window at B Street.A street musician near the C Street trolley tracks.Finally, I spotted these people as I headed back up Cortez Hill. They were crossing the street with some shining balloons. I guess it must be an anniversary!
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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 blazing orange and yellow sunset behind palm trees on San Diego’s Embarcadero.
I saw magic this evening. The spell was cast as the sun neared the horizon. I lingered a few moments near Pacific Highway downtown, spellbound.
Golden light on the rippling sculptural facade of the Marriott building at Lane Field. The cool public art conceals hotel parking levels. It’s titled California Rain and was created by artist David Franklin.The sunset’s orange flames have become glowing embers in the dark windows of several downtown skyscrapers.Reflected sunset in many different glass windows behind the Santa Fe Depot.Dome of the Santa Fe Depot seems enveloped by magical panels of molten color.
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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!
Early morning sunshine brightens the east side of St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown San Diego.
Yesterday morning, just before I walked down from the top of Cortez Hill, I saw an incredible sight. My eyes discerned a very faint rainbow to the west–even though only a few wispy clouds were in the blue sky.
To my surprise, the rainbow arched downward to touch the gleaming cross atop St. Joseph Cathedral. Amazed by the sight, I walked along Beech Street to take photos of bright morning sunlight on the cathedral itself.
The rainbow is so faint in my zoomed, cropped photo that I must confess I changed the contrast and brightness a million different ways and debated whether it even merited a blog post. I’ve decided it does.
Cool San Diego Sights might be a tad philosophical at times, but it intentionally avoids supporting any particular religious (or political) view. Because a sense of wonder and a love for beauty are shared by many. And because there’s enough bitter debate in this old world.
Whatever one might believe, seeing the rainbow above the shining gold was something wonderful to behold.
Sunlight on the high cathedral tower.A faint rainbow ends at the golden cross atop St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown San Diego. Photograph taken the morning of February 20, 2017 from Cortez Hill–the corner of Cedar Street and Seventh Avenue, to be exact. Brightness and contrast were altered to bring out the rainbow.A beautiful morning and early sunlight provide inspiration.
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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!
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!
Early morning sunlight reflects from a building’s shining windows in Mission Valley, casting heavenly beams of light through a slight fog.
It was very foggy this morning in downtown San Diego. I had my camera out as I walked from the top of Cortez Hill to the Civic Center trolley station. By the time I reached Mission Valley, the fog had mostly dissipated. I was very fortunate to capture that almost heavenly first photo! Those slanting beams are exactly as they appeared to the eye!
A bird flies past Cortez Blu, which rises into a foggy downtown San Diego sky.Vantage Pointe in downtown San Diego rises into a fog illuminated by the rising sun.Fog and sunlight create a magical morning photo of skyscrapers on B Street in the heart of San Diego.Beautiful light on tall ghostly buildings.
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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!
Brick Row at National City’s Heritage Square. The long brick two-story structure was built by Frank Kimball in 1887.
To those traveling through gritty National City, Heritage Square can be a surprising discovery. Venture into the picturesque block, just south of the intersection of East 9th Street and A Avenue, and you feel like you’ve stepped back 150 years.
National City has a fascinating history. Originally used by the Spanish to graze horses, the land in the early 1800s, after Mexican independence, was called Rancho de la Nación. In 1868, a San Francisco builder named Frank Kimball bought the rancho with an ambitious dream. He intended to turn National City into the western terminus of the Santa Fe Railway.
You might remember my photographic tour of the National City depot, built in 1882 by the Santa Fe Railroad. It became the first terminus of transcontinental rail travel in the San Diego area. You can see that fascinating blog post here.
To accommodate executives of the Santa Fe Railroad and booming times caused by the arrival of rail, in 1887 Frank Kimball built Brick Row, a structure in the style of Philadelphia row house. It was designed by San Diego architect R. C. Ball. Over 240,000 bricks were used for the ten units.
Kimball’s full ambitions weren’t realized, however, when the Santa Fe Railroad soon turned their sights on Los Angeles, making that city their major center of operations in Southern California.
An early resident of the “Kimball Block” was legendary marshal Wyatt Earp, who came to Southern California after being indicted in Arizona for shooting the men who’d killed his brother. He is best known locally for opening three gambling halls in San Diego. In 1889, Wyatt Earp stayed in Brick Row when he traveled down to Tijuana, Mexico. There he famously refereed a prize fight during a fiesta that also featured cockfights, bullfights and a lassoing contest.
In the early 1970s, National City’s planning director, Malcolm C. Greschler, interested in preserving the deteriorating Brick Row, came up with the idea of creating Heritage Square, which would be a historical tourist attraction similar to San Diego’s Old Town. In 1973 Frank Kimball’s house was moved to Heritage Square.
The 1869 Kimball House has its own unique history. It was the first house built in National City. Not only did it have a bathtub, but it had hot running water, which made it the first modern house in the entire county. President Benjamin Harrison visited it in 1891 during his tour of the western United States. At the time, it was the longest journey ever made by a President while in office. President Harrison’s 9,232 mile trip by railroad took one month and three days!
In 1976 two more historical houses were moved to Heritage Square: the 1887 Stick-style Rice-Proctor House and the 1879 Steele-Blossom House, which is depicted on National City’s official logo.
A plaque that reads Heritage Square – Marked in honor of the National City Centennial by San Miguel Chapter NSDAR, 1987.Heritage Square in National City contains several historic structures from the mid to late 19th century.The Steele-Blossom House, built in 1879, is used by the city of National City in its official logo. Elizur Steele was real estate agent for Frank Kimball and his enterprising brothers.The 1869 Kimball house was moved to Heritage Square in 1975. It is now the Kimball Museum operated by the National City Historical Society.The 1887 Stick-style Rice-Proctor House in National City’s Heritage Square.The two-story Brick Row is composed of ten units with common walls.Sign reads National City Historic Site – Kimball Block – Also known as Brick Row, this block of Eastern-style flats was completed in 1887 at the then considerable cost of $22,000.Photo of a section of the handsome Brick Row. The building now houses several specialty shops and the National City Historical Archive Room.Walking through the historic block of Heritage Square in National City is like a wonderful voyage back in time.
UPDATE!
I took the following three photographs in 2021 during another walk through National City.
The first photo is of a sign providing information concerning Brick Row. I cropped the top of the photo off because the outdoor sign was plastered with unsightly bird poop!
The second photo is of a sign concerning the Kimball House. I see its dates are different than what I previously wrote. I got that info from some other source. Do your own research!
The third photo is of the Steele-Blossom House, which appears to have been repainted with different colors.
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Golden morning light near Horton Plaza creates a cool sight in downtown San Diego.
It’s raining right now in downtown San Diego. I hear the patter outside my window.
The antidote to gloom? Some warm, beautiful photos of golden morning light!
I took these photographs a couple months ago during a pleasant walk to the Convention Center trolley station. The sky was clear. Slanting light touched high buildings.
Photo of early sunlight slanting onto a few Broadway buildings in the heart of San Diego.The historic U.S. Grant Hotel with splashes of morning light.Bright morning reflection in windows.Light shines on the Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter building.Peering at reflections on the AT&T building and beyond.Looking skyward along a path of light.Turning to look north along Front Street early one clear morning.East side of the New Children’s Museum. Glass and interesting architecture in the morning light.The beautiful Horizons Condos San Diego towers catch light from the rising sun.Palms along Harbor Drive, and morning light and shadow on the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel.
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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!
Photo of exterior of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla. The famous building was designed by renowned modernist architect Louis Kahn.
One of the world’s most famous works of modern architecture is located in San Diego. I’m referring to the Salk Institute building in La Jolla. Its designer was Louis Kahn, considered to have been one of the most important, innovative architects of the 20th century.
An exhibition now running at the San Diego Museum of Art takes a thorough look at the remarkable life, work and genius of Louis Kahn.
Last weekend I was given a personal tour of the amazing exhibit and found myself completely blown away by its scope. The photos, films, sketches, notes and architectural models, including a life-size portion of an extraordinary house–even works of art produced by Louis Kahn himself– were too much for my mind to absorb in one visit.
Kahn was undoubtedly a genius. His unique modern structures seem like ancient timeless monuments, made beautifully functional. They are simultaneously complex and simple. They are geometric, symmetric, modular, clean. They seem solid but light-filled. They contain unusual surprises of line, curve and angle. They are iconic.
Louis Kahn had a long, prolific career. His work can be found throughout the world, and includes the enormous, citadel-like National Assembly Building of Bangladesh. Some of his more famous creations in the United States include the Kimball Art Museum, the Yale University Art Gallery, the library at Philips Exeter Academy, the Norman Fisher House in Philadelphia, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, and, of course, San Diego’s own remarkable Salk Institute.
There is so much to see in this impressive exhibit–there were so many amazing designs produced by Kahn during his productive lifetime–that I can’t begin to cover it all in this blog. So I must direct you to the San Diego Museum of Art’s website. To get a small hint of what you will discover at the museum, you might want to check out the Wikipedia article on Louis Kahn.
This weekend I headed up to La Jolla to see if I could snap some good photos of Louis Kahn’s very famous Salk Institute building. Walking around, I managed to photograph the exterior, but I was unable to access the interior courtyard. So I’ve included one photo from Wikimedia Commons, just to provide a quick idea. Peering through a fence, I did glimpse some scaffolding in the interior area, so I suppose that would have nullified my photographic attempts, anyway.
The Salk Institute building’s walls are made of smooth exposed concrete. While this material might appear stark, the monumental appearance, the intriguing shapes and architectural symmetry are absolutely impressive. There is a mathematical, complex interaction between shadow and light that is difficult to describe–and quite beautiful.
Want to see more of Kahn’s brilliant work? Head over to the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park before this special exhibition closes on January 31, 2017.
Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture is a special exhibit showing at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park through January 31, 2017.Salk Institute in La Jolla from the interior courtyard. (A cropped public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons.)Interior section of the Salk Institute just beyond the main entrance.Kahn’s design seems both simple and futuristic. The interior space utilized by medical research scientists is said to be intellectually inspiring and uniquely functional.Another photo of the Salk Institute building’s fascinating exterior.A monumental building made of smooth exposed concrete with simple, clean lines, between green grass and blue San Diego sky.A small but interesting portion of the Salk Institute building.The surface of the Salk Institute building is stark but surprisingly beautiful. Time has made the concrete appear more earthen and natural. Almost like marble.Laboratory visible through one window. Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine. Salk Institute today is a world leader in medical research.It’s a sunny day in La Jolla as someone walks toward a brilliant creation of the human mind: a building designed by famed modernist architect Louis Kahn.
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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 interesting photos for you to enjoy!
A bizarre, extremely rare animal was discovered yesterday at the old Jerome’s warehouse in San Diego’s East Village.
Look what I discovered! I was walking down the sidewalk near the old, dilapidated Jerome’s warehouse in East Village when something caught my astonished eye! A weird, bizarre animal jumped at me from the crumbling building!
This particular weird creature did not jump out of the Coliseum. I know the Colosseum in Rome is filled with feral cats.Look! On the Jerome’s warehouse wall! It’s a bizarre rat-like animal that farts green gas! Artist Adam Hathorn is Honkey Kong!
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