As I walked through Little Italy this morning, local artists were busy setting up their booths for the big annual Mission Federal ArtWalk!
Finished canvases were carefully positioned for the public to admire and hopefully purchase. Artists stepped back to observe the effect of their arrangement. Asphalt streets were gradually transformed into bright corridors of imagination. Creativity swirled once again from hundreds of practiced hands.
The streets of Little Italy were being painted with dreams . . .
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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!
Sunday afternoon I took the trolley to East County to enjoy a quiet walk near Gillespie Field. I knew that along Marshall Avenue there’d be no traffic.
As I walked down the long, empty sidewalk I turned my eyes toward sleepy hangars across the street, burgeoning spring flowers at my feet and a large construction site abandoned for the day. All I heard was the whisper of the breeze, birds flitting here or there and small planes rising into the sky.
The time and place was perfect for a stretch of thinking. I’m struggling with a short story that is particularly difficult. It’s a story about the complexity of people and the small actions that help to define a life. I keep changing the words.
As I walked along in a state of abstraction I slowly became aware of surprising shapes and contrasts in the world all around me. Exactly like the complexity we find in ourselves.
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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 a recent morning walk through downtown San Diego and the Gaslamp Quarter, my curious eyes kept turning upward.
What’s that up there?
Fresh paint.The sun about to rise.A baseball cap.Machu Picchu.Construction at the 1887 Grand Pacific Hotel.A guy hanging from the roof of a downtown hostel!
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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!
As I walked through downtown San Diego early this morning, my eyes climbed up the sides of walls and buildings. They found unexpected splashes of light.
Another adventure in the city!
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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!
These photos are from early this morning. I pulled out my camera and began walking west down Ash Street from the top of Cortez Hill. I ended near the trolley and railroad tracks, just north of the Santa Fe Depot.
Over the years my blog has shown many of these downtown buildings. Often I provide description. Today I just want to share what it’s like to walk down Ash Street on a clear spring morning.
Here we go…
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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!
More fantastic street murals have been popping up in City Heights!
Artists have been painting all sorts of new murals along University Avenue, primarily between I-805 and I-15. Most have been created for #theavenuemuralproject. According to Carlos Quezada of Love City Heights, brand new murals have been debuting almost every month!
On Sunday I was shown a bunch that were recently completed. Each new mural uniquely enriches this proud, culturally diverse community. Artists, volunteers and neighbors have been coming together one wall at a time to make a positive difference for all.
And the future is bright! The stretch of University Avenue between I-805 and I-15 is a growing “drive-through” art gallery with truly unlimited potential. Muralists of local, national and even international renown are showing an interest in City Heights.
To see some of these new murals, check out my previous two blog posts.
The following photographs show even more!
A cool new mural on University Avenue in City Heights, created by Beth Emmerich, with the assistance of several other great street artists.
This abstract mural is titled UnPerfect, by Walker Matthews, Carlos Quezada and Edwin Lohr.LOVE CITY HEIGHTSLeft end of a long mural on University Avenue near 50th Street. It faces a new park-like community gathering place. Created by @illumihaadi and local youth, with support from City Heights CDC and City Heights Business Association. The neighborhood is home to many Somalis.
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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!
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My walk through downtown this morning yielded several cool discoveries, including a fantastic mural that I hadn’t noticed before!
After stepping out into the chilly air and zipping up my jacket, I headed south from the top of Cortez Hill. The clouds were still fringed with gleaming gold.
I walked straight down Ninth Avenue and ended up near Petco Park. I then walked around the ballpark to catch a trolley for work.
Enjoy some photos!
Birds over “head”.I spotted some sort of artwork high up near the roof of the building at the corner of Ninth and Broadway.It’s a cool mural! It appears to have been painted in 2015 by Christopher Konecki.This cool face on a window is by artist Almighty Savo.Light above, shadow below. It’s early morning in East Village.A city bus on the move.I spotted a new graphic at Petco Park! It celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the San Diego Padres!Green leaves and shining windows in new sunshine.The sun will soon appear above the MTS building at 12th and Imperial. It’s already peeking through up near the roof.Gleaming morning light on pedestrian bridge and freight train.
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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 walked slowly along the Embarcadero this morning. As I started along San Diego Bay, the February sky was gray and occasionally drizzly.
For a Saturday relatively few people were about. The popular Tuna Harbor Dockside Market was busy, of course, but the first part of my walk was rather quiet. A couple firefighters were jogging on the grass near their fire engine at Seaport Village. I saw some birds, including a beautiful snowy egret. A few fisherman were trying their luck on the pier at Embarcadero Marina Park South.
I said hello to some familiar people.
As I turned back north, I noted a bit more activity. Guys in scuba gear were at work cleaning the hulls of boats in the Marriott Marina. Workers were getting tables ready at various waterside restaurants. Vendors were setting up booths at Ruocco Park’s new Saturday farmers market. Tourists were gathering at the foot of the Embracing Peace statue (originally called Unconditional Surrender) and atop the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum.
And, best of all, the street performers were out and smiling.
As usual the sun came out.
San Diego is magical.
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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 was startled this morning during my walk through the Gaslamp Quarter.
Something peculiar was moving directly toward me along the sidewalk. For a split second I thought it was a person.
Then I did a double take.
A bundle of heart-shaped balloons was heading my way!
The cluster of balloons moved slowly down the sidewalk, propelled by a gentle breeze. Occasionally they’d float upward a foot or two, then quietly float back to Earth.
The travelling hearts came to a street corner. They seemed to hesitate. They turned decisively and began steadily down another sidewalk!
After venturing into a patio space in front of one building, they lifted with apparent delight and settled down. They leaned against the rail.
Perhaps they wanted to watch people–other travelling hearts–go by.
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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!
To read a few honest-to-goodness short stories that I’ve written, click Short Stories by Richard.
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