The recently restored 1910 Broadway Fountain is lit with red and green light during the Christmas season at Horton Plaza Park in downtown San Diego.
Look at these colorful photos! Horton Plaza Park and the U.S. Grant Hotel are putting on quite a show for Christmas. Bright red and green lights have turned downtown San Diego into a cheerful wonderland this holiday season!
A closer photo of the handsome Broadway Fountain lit up at night with traditional Christmas colors.Light changes from red to green as water splashes in the beautiful 1910 Broadway Fountain designed by noted architect Irving J. Gill.Across Broadway from Horton Plaza Park, the historic U.S. Grant hotel is also lit in Christmas colors for the holiday season.People sit at tables near the outdoor Starbucks at Horton Plaza Park one early mid-December evening.The bright Balboa Theatre sign invites passersby on Fourth Avenue behind the Horton Plaza Park sign.People have gathered for the evening in and around the Horton Plaza Park amphitheater. Downtown San Diego is lit beautifully for Christmas.The Broadway Fountain and U.S. Grant Hotel put on a cheerful show of Christmas lights in San Diego.
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
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People check out many planters full of vegetables and flowers at the new SMARTS Farm in East Village.
Today I walked to East Village in downtown San Diego to check out a holiday event at SMARTS Farm. I didn’t realize that this cool community garden had recently moved. Their new and improved location is at the corner of 13th Street and Broadway.
At SMARTS Farm, anybody is welcome to become an urban gardener–growing flowers or vegetables in the heart of our sunny city. Downtown residents can relax here, kids can learn about farming, botany and nature, and I believe photography classes are still offered.
If you’re ever downtown, swing on by to see for yourself!
SMARTS Farm in San Diego’s East Village is a community garden where hearts can grow and minds thrive.A wreath is hung on the barn inside SMARTS Farm to celebrate the holiday season. They’ve moved to a new location and are open to everyone in the community!Someone makes a wreath the week before Christmas during a special SMARTS Farm holiday event.These guys were rolling out yummy pizzas!Walking around the large colorful garden. Schools and community groups can grow their own plants in an urban environment downtown.Lessons about how to plant urban crops were underway in the late morning.A young gardener sows some seeds at SMARTS Farm.Hands on farming includes a children’s garden and plants grown by nearby school KIPP Adelante Preparatory Academy–my neighbor on Cortez Hill.A pleasant day can be had tending a garden and learning about gardening in the middle of downtown San Diego!Nature, Water, Air. At SMARTS Farm, every day is Earth 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!
Colorful faces and complex depth are elements of a public mural located in Golden Hill.
I haven’t taken a walk through Golden Hill for several months. But this morning I discovered some photos of a cool Golden Hill mural languishing in my computer. I forgot!
This public art at the corner of 25th Street and B Street celebrates the diversity and the vibrancy one encounters in San Diego’s small Golden Hill community. It’s an enlarged version of a 8.25 by 19 inch mixed media collage, created by artist Giancarlo Pia in 2013. I love how three dimensional and richly colorful this mural is!
Giancarlo Pia. Golden Hill, 2013. Mixed Media Collage. This mural is dedicated to the residents of Golden Hill and reflects the vibrancy and diversity of the community.Many lively images can be seen in this artwork. The rich culture and history of Golden Hill is celebrated.A very cool mural at a street corner in Golden Hill.
UPDATE!
Here’s a much better complete photo of the mural that I took on a later 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!
Tourists on San Diego’s Embarcadero have fun with gigantic bubbles.
Just a few photos of people at work and play in San Diego. These were taken over this last year. How time flies.
A businessman walks to work one morning in downtown San Diego.Two fishermen enjoy their day on Shelter Island.Working and chatting at Horton Plaza Park.Two sweethearts enjoy slacklining at Embarcadero Marina Park South.Unloading boxes of produce at the Flagship dock near Broadway Pier.People enjoy a day of boating on blue San Diego Bay.Families investigate statue-like street musician in Balboa Park.Construction workers put the finishing touches on a new downtown building.Walking on some rocks on a fine sunny San Diego 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!
Sunshine and the sounds of summer linger on a building in downtown San Diego.
Yes, San Diego has sunny, temperate weather for most of the year–many say our city has the best weather in the whole wide world. But, you know, these mornings in December can seem a bit chilly. At least to me. So I was thankful to spot some warm art this morning at the corner of Fourth Avenue and C Street.
Memories of summer linger on . . .
Musical notes and birds fly among palm trees. As winter nears, an image on a utility box warms the heart of 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!
Tourist on a Segway passes a disabled Santa in a wheelchair.
Life contains mingled joy and sadness. These feeling intensify as Christmas nears.
Christmas is a season brimming with generosity and hope. But the difficulties we all face persist. And for some, those difficulties are extreme.
During my walk this afternoon beneath dark, dramatic storm clouds, I captured a few images of human sadness, joy . . . and hope.
Storm clouds above downtown San Diego. Christmas is coming, but so is winter.Palm trees in a row buffeted by a strong chilly wind on a late November day.Someone camped against the San Diego County Courthouse. The number of homeless people downtown continues to grow.Using spice as a drug is a recipe for disaster. Drug use by the many homeless in downtown has become alarming. Lives are being visibly destroyed.The relatively new Horton Plaza Park now attracts homeless people seeking a comfortable place. A deeply sad situation with no easy solution.But there is also hope, and the potential for joy. A child is shown the dancing fountain at the center of Horton Plaza Park.Youthful eyes peer into a fountain hopefully. What is it they possibly see? Dreams filled with light?There is much one can do to brighten this world. I saw this example as I walked. Be the voice of a foster child. Provide hope, and a smile.Will it be a white Christmas in San Diego? Probably not. But perhaps Christmas is something more than mere dreams.I spotted a typical Christmas tree in a shopping center. But this one is special. It’s a giving tree.USO San Diego needs your help to bring holiday cheer to active military families. (Please click the image to read details.)The sun breaks through storm clouds and shines upon downtown San Diego. There is much we can do. A faint rainbow appears like magic above.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk. You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
If you’d like to read an inspiring tale about human generosity, you might enjoy a favorite short story that I’ve written, An Unexpected Sunflower.
Shoppers at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market learn about whelks and other food from the sea.
Late yesterday morning I revisited the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market. It’s a place whirling with human activity, fascinating sights, and fishy, oceany smells. The fresh seafood market spontaneously appears on the pier between Seaport Village and Tuna Harbor every Saturday morning. It features the catch of local fishermen. And lots of shoppers, should you arrive early.
During my casual visit I noticed some interesting information on a table that described what our local fishermen catch. So I took some pics. I also enjoyed being shown various species of edible sea creatures by a few of the friendly vendors, though I’m afraid I purchased nothing. My cooking skills amount to pushing buttons on the microwave. I admit it.
If you’d like to read some of the literature I spotted on a table, click the images.
Sidewalk signs try to lure people out onto a pier near Seaport Village. Fresh seafood caught by local fishermen is sold here every Saturday morning.I arrived at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market at about eleven o’clock, after the usual early morning crowd of fresh fish shoppers had departed.Some freshly caught silvery Pacific bluefin tuna on ice for sale. That’s a lot of eating!I noticed people by the edge of the pier looking across the water toward downtown San Diego.Something below in the water has caught their attention…It’s a sea lion just hanging out, probably hoping for a handout!The Mary Beth docked nearby appears equipped and ready to go out for more fish.Some colorful artwork at the fresh fish market depicts a fisherman and scenes from above and beneath the ocean.Meet your meal! At one table I discovered some interesting photos and literature, including a diagram of deep-set buoy gear used to catch swordfish.This poster shows the most common seafood commercially harvested in California. Many of these species can be purchased at Tuna Harbor Dockside Market.More info on the table describes the wavy turban snail and Kellet’s whelk, which I’m told make for good eating.I believe I’ve seen brown box crabs, Pacific rock crabs, and red sea urchins at this very market! The latter can live up to 200 years, and is considered a delicacy.Some guys cut up a huge fish, making steaks. Customers can have their purchase cleaned on the pier.A big pile of whelks. To cook these, boil!Look at all the seafood one can choose from at this one tent. The Tuna Harbor Dockside Market continues to grow and now occupies about half of the pier.Fresh fish! Lots of tuna!I’m shown a spiky sea urchin. The kelp and starfish are just for show–they aren’t normally eaten!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool urban art by Exist1981, created for PangeaSeed’s Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans festival. The public artwork, located at the Quartyard in East Village, warns that melting sea ice due to climate change will affect polar bear populations.
Whenever I walk past Quartyard in San Diego’s East Village, I look around to see what cool urban art I might discover. I took out my camera yesterday and snapped a few photos of the colorful artwork!
Quartyard, at the corner of Market Street and 11th Avenue in San Diego’s East Village, is a place where people can gather to eat, drink, talk, and enjoy entertainment.Mail delivery person heads into Quartyard, a community gathering place made from repurposed shipping containers. Coffee, beer, concerts and food trucks are found here.A cheerfully painted parking meter stands strangely by a mail box.The Meshuggah Shack occupies one shipping container. The funky place is known for their great coffee and friendly vibe.The colorful Meshuggah Shack offers coffee, tea, oddities, smoothies, noshes, and other fun stuff.Words on one shipping container at the Quartyard proclaim this is Your City Block.Sun, water, hungry sharks and a tropical island. I’m not exactly sure what is going on in this crazy street art created by Nick McPherson and MR DVICE.
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Pottery pumpkins smile outside a gift shop in San Diego’s festive Old Town.
I see pumpkins! Everywhere! It must be mid-October in San Diego!
Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere! Big ones and little ones! Grocery stores are overflowing. It must be mid-October.A fun display of pumpkins and Autumn characters on a street corner in Little Italy. Halloween is on the way! Boo!A beautiful arrangement of flowers, pumpkins and gourds graces a rustic Old Town boardwalk.More golden Autumn colors suggest it’s time to harvest the good things in life.A pumpkin and warm flowers on an antique cart in Old Town San Diego.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
A new esplanade is almost ready to open on the east side of the boat channel at Liberty Station. I took this photo from the Nimitz pedestrian bridge.
A new public park will be opening soon at Liberty Station!
I love parks. So a discovery I made yesterday made me very happy. A completely new esplanade is being created at Liberty Station! The narrow park will run along the east shore of the boat channel, allowing visitors to walk, recreate or just relax on either side of the water. The shady trees and green grass appear ready to go! Three new hotels are also being built near the esplanade, at the site of the old Wally Park airport parking lot.
Here are some photos I took during yesterday’s walk. You can see the progress being made and a couple of informative signs.
Sign declares: Coming Soon – Public Esplanade and Coastal Access. Sketches show people enjoying the beautiful new park.Green grass and trees appear ready on the east side of the boat channel.A difficult-to-read sign at Liberty Station shows the narrow new esplanade. I had to enhance the photo to make out details. The three dark forms in the upper right corner, I believe, will be new hotels.Looking eastward from the west side of the boat channel. A new park will soon open across the water!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 