House of Iran at Balboa Park’s International Cottages and a proclamation supporting human liberty.
When I go for a pleasant stroll I’m often lazy. I’ll note interesting things from afar, but fail to walk up for a closer look.
Recently I took a good close look at a large plaque located conspicuously near the House of Iran in Balboa Park. The House of Iran is one of the couple dozen cottages built for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. The furnishings in the colorful little buildings exemplify life in their respective countries. Many members of each “house” trace their ancestry to the old country.
The shining plaque lies in a bed of flowers. I approached it and paused to read. It’s dedicated to the First Declaration of Human Rights by Cyrus the Great.
According to the plaque Cyrus the Great (585-529 BC) was an enlightened Iranian emperor. Unlike many rulers of old, he upheld human dignity throughout his vast empire and treated his subjects humanely. He opposed slavery and supported the freedom of religion.
This ancient declaration of human rights was inscribed in cuneiform on a clay cylinder, which is now on display in the British Museum.
Plaque with translation of the First Declaration of Human Rights by Cyrus the Great.
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Images around a new pavilion near Broadway Pier show history of the Embarcadero.
San Diego’s Embarcadero has undergone some major renovations. One of the new pavilions still under construction near the Broadway Pier features a large display that provides a timeline of the area’s history. Notable developments along the waterfront through the passing years are documented with historical photographs.
While many of these images concern more recent events, it still makes a fascinating visual time capsule. Here are some pics that I took!
1542: Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo claims San Diego Bay for Spain. He named it San Miguel Bay.1913: San Diego’s Broadway Pier makes its debut. It certainly looks different today!1930s: Baseball played across street. Lane Field was home of Pacific Coast League Padres.1962: San Diego Unified Port District is established.1970: Broadway Pier gets a makeover. A cruise ship terminal is added.1976: North and South Embarcadero Marina Parks are dedicated.1980: Seaport Village becomes the newest San Diego attraction.1985: North Embarcadero’s Crescent area renovated.1985: Princess Cruises bases its “Love Boat” in San Diego.1988: San Diego Yacht Club successfully defends America’s Cup.1989: San Diego Convention Center opens.2003: First of six Urban Trees art exhibits along the Embarcadero.2007: Seward Johnson’s Unconditional Surrender statue goes on display near USS Midway.2009: A record-breaking cruise ship season!2010: Port Pavilion opens on Broadway Pier. It’s been over four years already? Time flies!2011: America’s Cup World Series regatta takes place on San Diego Bay.2011: North Embarcadero Project (Phase 1) passes.2012: North Embarcadero Visionary Plan breaks ground nearby.2012: Ruocco Park immediately north of Seaport Village is dedicated.2012: Port of San Diego is 50 years old.2013: San Diego’s historic Star of India tall ship turns 150 years old.2014: Lots of cool waterfront improvements opened, including this pavilion!
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Plaque marks the birthplace of the San Diego Union newspaper in 1868.
There are many interesting houses and buildings within Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. One of the most fascinating is the San Diego Union Building. Take a step inside and you’ll see the carefully restored birthplace of a present-day major newspaper: the San Diego Union Tribune.
The framework of the building, erected around 1851, is believed to have been originally fabricated in Maine, then shipped to San Diego around Cape Horn. The San Diego Union was first published on October 10, 1868. The newspaper’s editor at that time was Edward “Ned” Wilkerson Bushyhead, a Cherokee Indian with a Scottish ancestor.
The newspaper began as a modest four page weekly, and was produced on a massive wrought iron Washington hand press. In the museum one can also see an authentic 1860’s recreation of the editor’s room, which contains a desk once owned by the son of Ulysses S. Grant!
The San Diego Union Building in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park contains a print shop and editor’s office.The prefabricated wood-frame building was erected circa 1851. In 1967 the building was restored by James S. Copley, who at the time was owner of the San Diego Union Tribune.Old wood stove just inside the front entrance of accurately restored newspaper office.Drawers hold hand-set type that used to be assembled in a press for newspaper printing.A massive Washington hand press can be glimpsed to the right in the small printing shop.The small editor’s office contains a desk once owned by the son of President Ulysses S. Grant. In 1910 Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. built a grand hotel in San Diego’s New Town. (I took this photo in August 2017.)The Newspaper Museum is open daily from 10 to 5.
UPDATE!
In August 2017, during Stagecoach Days in Old Town, I was able to actually enter the print shop and take better photos of the presses and other objects inside. (Usually visitors must peer or take photographs from a greater distance.)
Washington hand presses were common on the frontier because of their relative light weight. They required two people for efficient operation.Fresh paper was laid on inked type and an impression made. Setting the type for new articles on just one page could take hours. Fortunately, many advertisements on a page didn’t change.A jobber printing press like this would have been used for small jobs such as stationery and handbills.This safe is the only original object displayed inside the restored San Diego Union Building in Old Town.A type case full of large cast metal sorts. Individual letters were combined into words, sentences and paragraphs. UPDATE! Big mistake by the caption writer: me! The largest letters you see in the above photo are actually made of hard wood. I was corrected by a member of the 919 Gang blog, who’s far more knowledgeable than me. I returned to the museum to confirm this. I learned very large metal sorts would be very heavy!Manual typesetting for old presses, as one might imagine, took lots of patience and a good eye.Gazing from the print shop toward the small building’s entrance area.According to one sign, the San Diego Union Building was erected around 1850 by Miguel Pedrorena. The Washington Press, type and printing supplies arrived by steamship from Northern California.A knowledgeable lady in period attire explains how the San Diego Union newspaper was composed and printed a century and a half ago, long before the digital age.
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Dignitaries cut symbolic ribbon officially opening California Tower on New Year’s Day.
New Year’s Day in San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park was marked by a historic event. Today, after 80 years, the California Tower reopened to the general public!
The California Tower is one of the most iconic sights in San Diego. Like many of the ornate Spanish Colonial Revival-style buildings in today’s Balboa Park, it was built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, which celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal. The tower was originally accessible to visitors, but in 1935 that changed. One of the most important developments during the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration this year is the long-awaited reopening of the amazing tower!
With the purchase of a special ticket, anyone can now join a small tour that climbs up 125 steps to an observation deck high above the park. Views are said to be breathtaking in all four directions. One day (when it’s not sold out) I’ll check the tour out and post some pics!
Dignitaries at the noon ribbon-cutting ceremony included U.S. Congressman Scott Peters, San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts, and San Diego City Councilman Todd Gloria.
You might recognize the California Tower and other portions of the California Building, which now houses the San Diego Museum of Man, from the movie Citizen Kane. Shots of Balboa Park’s architectural wonder were said to be Charles Foster Kane’s Xanadu Mansion in Orson Welles’ classic film.
The tower, reopened today to the general public, rises above tiled dome of California Building.Museum visitors can now climb the California Tower for amazing panoramic views.Audience gathers for ceremony on the tower’s 100 year anniversary.Several cool bicyclists happened to ride down El Prado in front of the Museum of Man.News cameras wait for speeches, and so do the assembled dignitaries nearby.Micah D. Parzen of the San Diego Museum of Man begins by thanking many people.California Tower first opened in 1915 for Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park.Photographers up on the observation deck, where the public can now go!Local politicians, museum head and donor, poised ready to cut the big red ribbon!Feeling great about historic event, taking place during Balboa Park’s Centennial Celebration.Crowd disperses from ribbon cutting ceremony on another beautiful San Diego day!
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Elaborate figure’s arm embraces a building window in San Diego. Art by Zio Ziegler.
There’s one little old building in a corner of downtown San Diego that’s very difficult to miss. That’s because it’s loaded with ultra-awesome street art!
These murals are painted on an otherwise unremarkable structure in the East Village neighborhood. The building is occupied by Undisputed Fitness, an establishment where locals train themselves as boxers and MMA fighters. All this artwork is visible near the corner of 16th Street and K Street.
My last blog post concerned a mechanical shark mural. You can see the rear portion of that mural in the final photograph.
Smiling face painted on building wall on 16th Street in East Village.Fantastic composite creature with wings and pink hammerhead cradles a shark.Previous pic’s shark art was created for PangeaSeed by Rah Akaishi.Closet full of clothes opens onto a city sidewalk.Mr. Padre mural on rooftop honors baseball legend Tony Gwynn. Art by Wildstyle Technicians.I Love San Diego cool graffiti design is visually complex. Art by Ezra Pirk.Bold, colorful street art on walls of parking lot behind Undisputed Fitness.
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New Cisterra building rises behind Tony Gwynn statue at Petco Park in East Village.
As the local economy has improved, I’ve noticed a spate of new construction underway in downtown San Diego. Several skyscrapers are on the rise!
Last weekend I walked past the rapidly progressing Cisterra building which will overlook East Village. It stands just a block north of Petco’s Park at the Park. The future home of gigantic Sempra Energy, the high-rise is being built directly next to one of San Diego’s most interesting old buildings: Fire Station 4. The beautiful little firehouse is San Diego’s oldest, dating from the 1930’s. Once the shiny new skyscraper is completed, the two buildings side-by-side will create quite a contrast!
New skyscraper in San Diego to be headquarters of Sempra Energy.Steel lattice, glass grid and odd reflections make for an interesting photo.Construction of this gleaming high-rise can be observed in downtown San Diego.Stately little Fire Station No. 4 beside new modern skyscraper.This is the oldest firehouse in San Diego, in service since 1938.Fire Station 4, built as a New Deal WPA project, is a designated historical landmark.Beautiful old San Diego firehouse at the foot of what will be a shiny new skyscraper.
Here’s a bonus pic which I took on a morning in early February…
A rising skyscraper shines brightly in the early morning.
…and another I took in March…
Fire Station Number 4 at base of silvery, shiny new skyscraper.
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Lights come on inside Casa del Prado in Balboa Park as another day ends.
Balboa Park in San Diego’s bright sunshine is wonderful. At night it becomes magical.
As darkness seeps in and night gentles the world, Balboa Park transforms into an entirely different place. Take a look…
Plaster statues of Spanish painters become shadowy in courtyard of Casa del Prado.Faces above blue-lit fountain by Botanical Building.Ornate building facades on El Prado take on new, amazing depth at dusk.Walking down an elegant, golden corridor as night descends.Passage along El Prado becomes mellow and mysterious.The sky becomes dark blue after sunset and faint stars slowly emerge.Balboa Park after dark transforms into a fantastic, fairy tale world.Foliate capitals on the columns of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion colonnade.Illuminated fountain beside patio beneath The Prado restaurant in Balboa Park.One last juggle by the slowly darkening fountain near Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.
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Distinctive dome of the restored Balboa Theatre seen from Broadway.
It’s going to be chilly and drizzly today, so I might not be going out for my customary walk. Instead, I thought I’d share a few photos of downtown’s beautiful Balboa Theatre that I took at various times last summer.
The Balboa Theatre has a long and interesting history. Built in 1924 as a vaudeville and movie palace, the large multi-story building containing offices overlooking Fourth Avenue has undergone a complex series of transformations. During World War II, it was used to house sailors waiting to ship out from San Diego. At one point the aging building was saved from demolition; finally it was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, the Balboa Theatre reopened after a thorough remodel, and it is now considered one of the foremost performance venues in the world. It was recently named by CNN Travel as one of the world’s 15 most spectacular theatres! Not bad!
Here are a few more pics of the exterior. I often steer my feet so that I walk past this beautiful building!
Balboa Theatre sign is a landmark in San Diego’s Gaslamp.People walk past box office of the historic Balboa Theatre.Close look at artwork on Balboa Theatre’s cool marquee.The Balboa Theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places.The Balboa Theatre stands next to downtown’s equally cool Horton Plaza.
One more pic I added on a later date:
Window display of old photograph and letter B from Balboa Theatre sign. These can be seen a short distance down the sidewalk.
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Mermaid with a megaphone on the bay side of the narrow Canyon Path.
A mermaid emerges near the edge of beautiful San Diego Bay. She summons people from the bustling city with her megaphone…
Man with binoculars peers into dark alley between convention center and Marriott.
A man with binoculars peers between the San Diego Convention Center and the Marriott Marquis hotel. He heard the mermaid’s siren call, and is trying to catch a glimpse. She seems to be waiting at the end of a long, mysterious passageway…
Unique entrance to partially hidden walkway that provides easy bay access.
Will these people walking along succeed in finding the elusive mermaid? Turn left! Turn left!
Walking through narrow Canyon Path between buildings.
The mermaid seems to be somewhere ahead. The narrow Canyon Path between buildings is shadowy and filled with dark trees and bushes. It’s a bit scary. Where are we going? Are we lost?
Prismatic kite in blue sky above the Canyon Path.
Look up! It’s a shining kite in the blue sky!
Colorful light like a rainbow is cast by prism kite onto building side.
As we approach the mermaid on the opposite side, a beautiful rainbow-like splash of color appears on the Canyon Path’s vertical side! This secret place seems to be filled with magic!
The mermaid, man with binoculars and prismatic kite are all part of public art called The Benefit of Mr. Kite. This fun artwork was created to draw attention to an easily overlooked 925-foot long pedestrian accessway between the convention center and Marriott Marquis hotel, leading from Harbor Drive to the Marriott Marina on San Diego Bay. The artists responsible for our magical journey are Mags Harries and Lajos Héder!
UPDATE!
Look what I saw during a later walk through the passageway!
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New public art being applied to building on San Diego’s waterfront.
Early yesterday morning, I strolled for a few minutes along San Diego’s beautiful Embarcadero. I wanted to get some photographs to update last year’s blog post about the Star of India’s tattered sails.
While heading back east on Beech Street, I noticed some gigantic public art is being applied to the west side of the relatively new Ariel Luxury Apartments building. This high-rise stands between Santa Fe Depot and the Little Italy trolley station.
I’ve found no info on the internet about this new artwork. Here are some pics!
A red San Diego trolley passes fishermen catching a huge fish!This new artwork is on the side of the Ariel Luxury Apartments in downtown San Diego.
Half a century ago, San Diego was home to the world’s largest tuna fishing fleet! This image of fishermen working together is very similar to a sculpture on Shelter Island, which I have yet to blog about!
Workers on platform mount a gigantic trophy fish to a high-rise building!
I’m not sure what the white stuff is running down the building’s side. I suppose that will be removed when all is done!
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Cool San Diego Sights! 