Tag: catholic

A quaint, old 19th century chapel in Oceanside.

I was exploring the neighborhood near Balderrama Park in Oceanside when I spied this quaint old structure at 1510 Lemon Street. I had stumbled upon the historical 1893 St. Mary’s Chapel.

The location of today’s much larger St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, near the Oceanside Civic Center, is where this old chapel was originally built. The wooden chapel, affectionately called the Capillita, was completed in 1896.

The city of Oceanside was incorporated a few years earlier, in 1888, when its population was only 1000.

After the city had grown and a larger church was built in 1927, the chapel served as Parish Hall. The small chapel was later moved to its present location. It was restored in 1977.

You can read about its history here.

The St. Mary’s Chapel remains very active, as I saw during my walk. A service was being held inside, and I didn’t want to intrude.

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Preparing for Día de Muertos in Escondido.

I walked through the California Center for the Arts, Escondido a couple hours before the start of this evening’s 30th Annual Día de los Muertos Festival. Workers, artists, performers and vendors were busy getting ready!

Papel picado was being hung, elegantly dressed skeletons were standing about, and squares were outlined on the ground, ready with candles and crosses for visitors to memorialize loved ones.

Inside the Concert Hall’s lobby I found a beautiful ofrenda and other traditional Día de Muertos decorations.

Back outside, I noticed a vendor had many marigolds.

This beautiful Día de Muertos is produced every year by the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. You can help support the event and learn about others by visiting their website 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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Love radiates from Barrio Market mural!

Memorializing a loved one. Love for the community. This bright mural on the side of Barrio Market radiates love. You can’t miss it at the corner of Cesar Chavez Parkway and National Avenue in Barrio Logan.

A year ago, almost exactly, I happened upon artist Andrea Border Baby with her ladder at work painting this mural. I learned she’s a high school math teacher in South Bay. It was her first ever public mural. See my photos of her actively painting here.

I walked past Barrio Market again today and aimed my camera at the beautiful, finished artwork!

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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!

Virgin of Guadalupe miracles fills the Mingei!

In 1531 the Blessed Virgin Mary was said to have appeared miraculously in Mexico. You can read that history here.

Today, images of the Virgin of Guadalupe (a Catholic title of the Virgin Mary) can be seen throughout Mexico, and San Diego, too.

A standard image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, filled with symbolism, hangs in homes and churches. It is painted on murals, on cars and appears in tattoos. The Virgin of Guadalupe seems everywhere.

Not surprisingly, the iconic image also appears on textiles. An important part of the Virgin of Guadalupe story includes her likeness appearing miraculously on the inside of a cloak.

The Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park recently opened a sensational exhibition titled Fashioning an Icon: Virgin of Guadalupe Imagery in Textile Design.

The exhibition features outfits worn by women and men, traditional huipiles (handwoven tunics largely worn by indigenous peoples in Mexico), jackets, shoes and more. Many of the crafted pieces are very colorful, as you can see from my photographs.

Signs throughout the exhibit explain why the Virgin of Guadalupe became a religious and cultural phenomenon–how, in Mexico, invading Catholicism eventually melded with indigenous sensibilities, producing the divine but grounded symbolism one sees in the now beloved image.

The Mingei International Museum has presented many outstanding exhibitions, and this one is right up there. I was surprised to see so many different objects, and such variety. I was excited to see so much life.

Each work seems a miracle of human faith and creativity.

Fashioning an Icon: Virgin of Guadalupe Imagery in Textile Design is on view through September 7, 2025.

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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!

Flowers remember tuna fishermen lost at sea.

Many beautiful flowers are now gathered near the base of the Tunaman’s Memorial on San Diego’s Shelter Island.

Last weekend, the annual Tunaman’s Memorial Mass and Celebration began at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Point Loma. A procession was then made through Roseville to the Shelter Island memorial where a service was held.

The many flowers remember tuna fishermen, particularly of Portuguese descent, who were lost at sea.

Even yesterday, almost a week later, the flowers were still bright and colorful.

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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!

Statue of San Diego de Alcalá at USD.

A statue depicting San Diego de Alcalá stands in a beautiful garden near the center of the Catholic University of San Diego.

San Diego de Alcalá (also known as Saint Didacus and Diego de San Nicolás) is the patron saint of USD, not to mention the Franciscan missionary and saint after which San Diego was named.

In 1542 explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo named our city’s bay San Miguel.

Sixty years later, when Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno sailed into our bay on November 10, 1602, he named it San Diego, which was also the name of his flagship. He put San Diego on his map. That name stuck.

I took photographs of the San Diego de Alcalá statue several months ago, when I visited USD’s Arts and Culture Festival. (Yes, I’m finally posting these photos!)

The bronze sculpture stands in Plaza de San Diego next to the Maher fountain. According to this, it was moved there in 2017 from the entrance of Copley Library.

I know nothing more about the statue. When was it created? By whom? If you know anything more about it, your comment would be very welcome!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Legends at the old Lemon Grove rodeo!

Did you know that a very famous rodeo used to be held in Lemon Grove? And that it attracted legendary celebrities like Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Jack Haley who played the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz?

Lemon Grove’s Mission Rancho Horse Show (Rodeo and Fiesta) was held every July from 1941 to 1957. The event was the brainchild of Monsignor Daniel O’Donaghue, the Pastor who founded Saint John of the Cross Catholic Church in 1939. Rodeo week was held near the church, and featured, according to this great article, English dressage events, children’s competitions, bull-dogging and other Western events, Roman riding by the 11th U.S. Cavalry…

Monsignor O’Donoghue raised money from the rodeo to build a parish school, and eventually to build a larger church.

Until yesterday I didn’t know this Lemon Grove history. I learned about the famous old rodeo during my visit to Lemon Fest, an annual festival at Saint John of the Cross Catholic Church. Many framed historical photographs in the church’s hall show Western celebrities and rodeo action.

The above photo is of Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger. The photo below is of Buffalo Bill Cody shaking hands with Monsignor O’Donoghue…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Painting a beautiful new mural in Barrio Logan!

A very beautiful new mural is now being painted in Barrio Logan, on the side of Barrio Market at the corner of Cesar Chavez Parkway and National Avenue.

I met the friendly mural painter today, who goes by the artist name Andrea Border Baby. She’s a high school math teacher in South Bay. It’s her first ever public mural!

I learned Andrea has been one of the artists helping with the Chicano Park Mural Restoration project.

I also learned the left half of the new mural, depicting La Virgen de Guadalupe, memorializes a deceased loved one, and the right half celebrates the community of Barrio Logan.

The finished mural is set to debut in a couple weeks, on Saturday, September 14th!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Sunrise above historic Old Town church.

A beautiful sunrise illuminated San Diego this morning. Walking through Old Town, I watched scattered clouds to the east turn brilliantly yellow and orange.

As I passed near the historic Church of the Immaculate Conception, the sunrise promised dramatic photographs. So I aimed my camera skyward.

The present-day Immaculate Conception Catholic Church stands adjacent to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.

A modest adobe chapel that was built nearby in 1851 would be replaced by this church building. Its construction was begun in 1868 and, after various setbacks, was completed half a century later, in 1917.

In these photographs, you can glimpse a bit of the church’s façade and bell tower, elements of its Spanish Mission style architecture.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Celebrating restored Virgin of Guadalupe in Chicano Park.

Chicano Park, a National Historic Landmark in San Diego, is experiencing a renaissance. Many of the outdoor murals that were painted in the late 1970s are being carefully restored.

One of the first murals to be restored is very beautiful. La Virgen de Guadalupe was originally painted by artist Mario Torero in 1978. Its two month renovation was recently completed by Mario with the help of several assistants, including close members of his family. Today many gathered to celebrate and rededicate this truly extraordinary mural.

The dedication ceremony included indigenous dance (Danza Azteca) and a blessing by Father Neal “Pepe” Wilkinson of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. Mario Torero and his family members then spoke about the mural–of its inspiration, creation, symbolism and importance. How it represents hope for many in the community–particularly those who are in need.

Mario Torero spoke of his experience when he once touched this painted image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He could feel that the many prayers made before the mural were alive. Everything about the place and moment felt perfect. It changed him.

Words printed on the mural state: For 45 years this monolith has kept hope and faith alive for so many people. We are sure that many miracles have been manifested.

I can say that when you stand before this glowing Virgin of Guadalupe, you feel the light she brings forth.

The next photograph is from nine years ago. It’s how the mural then appeared. A comparison shows that beautiful imagery (eagle and condor wings) and color have been added during the recent renovation…

And today…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!