If you have a fear of heights, there’s one job you should definitely avoid. Working on cranes high above downtown San Diego!
I took these photos during a walk today along the Embarcadero. Four very tall cranes were swinging through the sky above a large construction site by the new downtown U.S. Navy Headquarters Building. And casually standing or sitting atop the cranes were tiny workers!
New buildings destined to rise along the waterfront, where much of the Navy Broadway Complex once existed, will make up the San Diego Research and Development District, or RaDD. The eight acre life sciences complex will include a 17-story tower, restaurants and shops.
You can learn much more and see renderings of the finished project 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 beautiful transformation began in National City in 2013. Hundreds of community members came together to make a positive, permanent change. Butterfly Park, a blighted strip of land near the corner of 20th Street and Palm Avenue, became more like its namesake!
I first learned about this wonderful transformation on Sunday, during an incredible tour provided by Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center’s super nice Cooking for Salud Coordinator, Patty Corona.
We walked through the park and were greeted by colorful butterflies everywhere we turned!
I learned how, during the course of several days, families from throughout the neighborhood, school students, the Kitchenistas of Olivewood Gardens, and even the mayor of the time worked in the park installing butterfly beauty: mosaics on benches, a table and a trashcan, beautiful metalwork on posts, and an outdoor stage shaped like a butterfly wing! Vegetation that attracts butterflies was planted, too!
According to this article, “The project was led by Pomegranate Center… Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center…pitched the idea for a community gathering space in November 2012.“
(The Pomegranate Center was also instrumental in creating the Manzanita Gathering Place in City Heights. See those photos here.)
As we walked through the park, I learned the wavy metal sculptures on posts were created by Sweetwater High School welding students, and the log benches were the work of former National City Mayor Ron Morrison.
In 2015 the very colorful aluminum butterfly sculptures you see in my photos were decorated by community members using reflective vinyl, under the leadership of local artist Roberto Salas. This “Butterfly Path” can also be found in two other National City Parks: Kimball Park and Las Palmas Park.
I’ll be posting more photos of them in an upcoming blog post!
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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!
Logan Avenue in Barrio Logan is a magnet for San Diego artists, and for lovers of street art. Walk down the sidewalk and there’s a good chance you’ll discover new artwork you hadn’t seen before.
The last time I walked along Logan Avenue, during the afternoon of the Las Posadas event, I came across an amazing mural a bit northwest of Sampson Street. It depicts four legendary Barrio Logan artists: Chunky Sanchez, Victor Ochoa, Carmen Kahlo and Yolanda Lopez.
The artwork was painted in late October and early November 2021 by Ground Floor Murals, Chloe and eyegato.
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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!
When you walk randomly through a city, you encounter unexpected mysteries.
The other day I was walking through Balboa Park, west of the Cabrillo Bridge, when strange, tiny mysteries greeted my eyes. Down in the concrete sidewalk were a few dozen scattered leaf impressions.
I found them on the north side of El Prado, west of Balboa Drive, in the vicinity of the Sefton Plaza statues of Balboa Park’s founders.
Did leaves falling on fresh new concrete produce these impressions? The impressions seem too deep for that.
What’s more, many of the leaf shapes don’t appear to match any of the nearby trees or vegetation.
Were these mysterious impressions produced naturally or deliberately?
Stamped in the concrete sidewalk a short distance to the west, at Sixth Avenue, is the year 1968. Perhaps that’s a relevant clue.
What do you think? Does anybody know?
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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!
During my long walk through San Diego’s South Bay last weekend, I spotted street art in National City that I hadn’t previously photographed.
Three colorful faces on electrical boxes!
The first happy face, in the above photograph, was discovered near the corner of 8th Street and National City Boulevard. That box used to feature some fun Star Wars artwork. You can see those old photos here!
The next two faces were observed near the intersection of Plaza Boulevard and Highland Avenue.
Here they are!
(It appeared there were more painted boxes had I continued north on Highland. I’ll check those out on a future walk!)
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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!
During my visit to the fun “A Kimball Holiday” event on Saturday, I met a couple of guys who are working to clean and beautify National City!
In an effort to promote a pedestrian corridor along Interstate 805, they are asking the public which improvements would be most important. Native and drought-resistant landscaping, trash and recycling receptacles, lighting, signage and more are being considered.
I don’t live in National City, but I am a very big walker who passes through its neighborhoods from time to time, so obviously I was excited to hear of this effort!
The guys I spoke to are hoping to receive a Caltrans Clean California Program grant to implement this positive vision for the community.
All I can say is, National City certainly deserves these improvements. This community might be a bit under-resourced, but its residents are equal members of the California family.
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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!
I usually use a combination of buses and trolleys for my work commute. I also ride different routes all around the city on weekends for my photographic adventures. (Old walking legs must be rested occasionally!)
I’ve been less active than usual lately, so my blogging material at the moment is sparse. But I do have one folder on my computer containing past images that were captured while riding the bus!
If we’re stopped and the window is clean, I can get crisp shots. Other shots are rather blurry. They all provide a momentary glimpse of our city’s life.
These photos are unedited, just scaled down a little. If you can identify all of the San Diego locations, you win a smile!
(Yes, one photo wasn’t taken while riding a bus, but as I waited at the Fashion Valley Transit Center. The skateboarder and ducks were simply perfect.)
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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!
Those who sit waiting for a bus on the west side of the City College Transit Center might see three very large fish out of water. They’ve been painted on a wall facing 11th Avenue, a short distance north of Broadway!
I believe this mural was just finished. I see it was created by the prolific local artists of @ladieswhopaint and @pandrdesignco!
Downtown San Diego becomes more colorful every day!
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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!
Everything you can imagine is real–on Kettner Boulevard.
This morning I saw this long mural across the street from the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Looking up, I discovered window washers on a downtown building. They appeared to be suspended in a maze of reflecting mirrors.
I imagined eyes looking down from places behind the mirrors, searching the streets of reality below…imagining–
Everything you can imagine is real.
But can everything that is real be imagined?
Incidentally, the mural’s quote is by Picasso. The words, many colors and geometric fragments were painted by @StefanieBalesFineArt.
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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! 