Decorative doors to La Granada Ballroom at the House of Hospitality in Balboa Park.
How many doors are waiting to be opened in one ordinary city? In San Diego, with a population that exceeds one million, there must be many millions of doors.
We take doors for granted, pushing through them like nothing, and yet there is something magical and transformational about each one. Doors represent movement through space and time, from this amazing present to a future, amazing present. As we’re propelled forward in life we pass through many doors, and like the choices we face they are found on every side. Where do we turn our feet? Which doors do we try? Every chosen door leads our restless feet into a beckoning and wonderful unknown.
So, anyway, I just love looking at endless doors. And each unique invitation they present to the eye, while concealing unseen places beyond.
Here’s a variety of doors that I’ve photographed during many walks…
Colorful front door to a small residence in San Diego’s Little Italy.Colors of the Italian flag frame this unusual door on India Street.Imperial Beach surf shop has a door plastered with beach-themed decals and signs.Caged lion in the Gaslamp guards the Hard Rock Cafe, and a door with electric guitar handle.Funky west entrance to the House of Blues in downtown San Diego.Walking past distinctive front of Our Lady of the Rosary church in Little Italy.St. Paul’s Cathedral in Bankers Hill and an elegant red door behind rows of columns.A little shop in Sherman Heights has a plain door invitingly open beside fun pinatas.Artist studio door is wide open and welcoming in Balboa Park’s colorful Spanish Village.International Travelers House has a door that welcomes one and all.Is that a swinging saloon door in Old Town, or a painted version on an ordinary door?This rusted door makes a fashionable statement in downtown San Diego.Just a cheerful orange and bright green door in East Village!
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Homeless by trolley tracks between San Diego Convention Center and Petco Park.
Living downtown, every day I see many people on the streets of San Diego who are homeless. When I take my “cool pics” I often consciously or unconsciously aim my camera lens away from less pleasant images. But the reality is, there are many urban neighbors who are in a desperate life situation. Whatever their story is, they need our help and compassion.
I’ve been walking throughout downtown for about 14 years now, and it has been a ritual of mine to reward street performers with a bit of money as I wander about. A fair number of these performers are homeless, or very needy. It just seems like a positive thing to do. When I talk a bit and get to know those who are homeless better, I realize that many are not so different than me, or anyone else. Life at times presents us all with extraordinary, seemingly impossible difficulties. A helping hand is often appreciated.
If you’ve thought of providing a helping hand to the homeless, or those at risk for homelessness, here’s a list of organizations in San Diego that could use your assistance. Check each website for opportunities to volunteer or provide a donation. Forgive me if I’ve overlooked anyone. If you can think of additions to this list, leave a comment!
Someone lies face down on the grass in Embarcadero Marina Park North.
Alpha Project provides the homeless with affordable housing, substance abuse treatment, basic and emergency services, transportation assistance, mental health counseling, employment training and placement, emergency shelter and more.
Urban Angels‘ mission is to nourish and provide food for the homeless of San Diego. They run the kitchen at Connections Housing, a new, state-of-the-art homeless facility.
San Diego Rescue Mission provides shelter, food, education, work training, rehabilitation and long-term care programs for the homeless.
StandUP for Kids provides assistance to homeless and at-risk youth throughout San Diego County.
Veterans Village provides homeless veterans with a safe place to live, care for Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury, help in overcoming addiction, and employment assistance.
The Salvation Army serves the homeless, low income individuals, and those facing difficult life challenges. Volunteers serve the homeless downtown with Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.
Father Joe’s Villages is the largest one-stop center in the region offering housing and services for the homeless. They help families with children, single women, and single men including chronically homeless individuals, veterans and people living with addiction and/or mental illness.
Interfaith Community Services empowers people in need to stabilize and improve their lives through comprehensive programs, in partnership with diverse faith communities and people of compassion.
Make Change Count meters in downtown San Diego raise money to help the homeless.
Monarch School‘s mission is to educate students impacted by homelessness and to help them develop hope for the future with the necessary skills and experiences for personal success.
San Diego Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in San Diego County.
1st Saturdays are ordinary San Diegans who collect money, clothes, bedding, and other items that help those in need, to be distributed the first Saturday of every month.
Just Call Us Volunteers collaborates with other non-profits to serve free healthy meals in San Diego and teach cooking using fresh and nutritious ingredients.
Catholic Charities provides a safe, supportive, sober environment and opportunities for those with few or no resources to gather, begin, and continue self-help efforts.
PATH is a family of agencies working together to end homelessness for individuals, families, and communities throughout Southern California.
Family Health Centers of San Diego is dedicated to providing healthcare services to medically underserved persons, including homeless children and adults.
YWCA has programs that support victims of domestic violence and homeless women in their journey from homelessness to stable housing.
Regional Task Force on the Homeless conducts a physical count of the homeless in San Diego. They can always use more volunteers for the annual census. Information gathered during WeAllCount helps determine which services and programs can do the most good.
Wheels of Change provides employment for homeless people who are staying in shelters. Those who’d like to participate earn wages for work cleaning up communities–picking up trash, pulling weeds, etc. The program would appreciate your help.
Small work of art I bought from a friendly gentleman walking down the street. He was in a difficult life situation.
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Lizards undergo transformations in a very creative street mural in San Diego.
Here’s a very cool mural I spotted last weekend after I watched the Boulevard BOO! Parade. I was just walking along through a neighborhood west of San Diego’s College area.
You can find this artwork at the corner of 56th Street and El Cajon Boulevard.
Ant and cacti grown to gigantic proportions beside an ordinary sidewalk.Cool urban art attracts the eye and stimulates the mind of those passing by.Colorful images on a building at 56th Street and El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego.
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Participants in Little Italy’s Festa Bocce Ball Tournament at practice.
During last Sunday’s Festa event in San Diego’s Little Italy, an exciting bocce tournament was held at Amici Park, right next to all the glorious Gesso Italiano chalk art.
Bocce is similar to lawn bowling and dates back to the ancient Roman Empire. According to a plaque set in the concrete near one of Amici Park’s bocce courts, it’s the world’s oldest sport!
I captured a few pics of the action!
Two bocce courts are open to the public in Amici Park near sculptures of Italian food!Man prepares to strategically send bocce ball down the long court.Watching the action on a lazy, perfect San Diego weekend.I saw a lot of stylish hats and calculating, cunning players.Gentleman leans against checkered tablecloth set with a plate of metal artichokes.Rules of bocce on a plaque. The right way to play bocce is the way your dad plays!
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Here comes the San Diego Trolley’s cool Silver Line, approaching America Plaza!
Do you love riding on trains? I do! Please take a ride with me on a cool restored streetcar that runs in a circle through downtown San Diego!
Here comes PCC 529 now, coming down the track toward the America Plaza trolley station! This beautiful President’s Conference Committee car was built in 1945 and is an example of the sort of transportation common throughout San Diego during that era. Streetcars have run through San Diego’s history since the 1890’s. Today they’re making a bit of a comeback with this Vintage Trolley, which runs on a downtown loop called the Silver Line.
PCC 529, before it was lovingly restored by volunteers, sat rusting under some pine trees in South Lake Tahoe. How it got there, I don’t know. But here it comes now, getting closer to the station, so lets tap our Compass cards on the ticket reader and hurry up to hop aboard!
PCC 529 is a meticulously restored President’s Conference Committee streetcar.As we ride down C Street, a modern red trolley is seen on the opposite track.
We immediately head up to the front seat to watch the friendly MTS driver pilot this old streetcar down the track. Unlike modern trolleys or light rail, this vehicle really clatters and jerks along and makes you feel like your laboring forward! Whenever the door opens, a bell rings!
Turning around, we notice the beautiful streetcar appears almost empty at the moment.No, there’s one more passenger looking out the window at downtown San Diego.Images inside the Silver Line show streetcars on San Diego roads and bridges long ago.
Walking down toward the rear of the refurbished car, we check out some old black-and-white photos. It’s cool to envision the streets of San Diego filled with streetcars over half a century ago!
Here’s an old photo of a streetcar that was pulled by a horse–or is that a mule.Another passenger steps onto the restored trolley at the Fifth Avenue station.
The bells rings, the door opens, and another passenger steps aboard!
These windows open, so riders can enjoy the fresh air outside.
You can dangle your arm out a window if you like, I suppose. It’s fun to just sit and watch the buildings and people flash by. This is what I call riding in style!
As we get off at City College, other folks step aboard the historic streetcar.
Our short ride is over!
I turn around to enjoy another glance at this classic example of public transit.There goes PCC 529. That was one super fun ride!
Thanks for joining me. That was fun!
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Looking west along the narrow linear Cortez Hill Park, also called Tweet Street.
Every day for the past six years I’ve been watching for rare birds.
As you might have read on this blog, I live at the top of Cortez Hill in downtown San Diego. One cool feature of my neighborhood is a modest but well-loved park that awaits a few steps from my front door. Cortez Hill Park, more commonly called Tweet Street, is an extremely narrow urban park that stretches for several blocks along Date Street and Tenth Avenue. Completed in 2008, it includes a small playground, dog rest areas, and benches where visitors can rest and enjoy the San Diego sunshine. But Tweet Street’s unique purpose is to provide an inviting refuge of trees, shrubs and birdhouses that encourages birds to take up residence!
I remember when Tweet Street first opened, and my excitement. The artistic, brightly painted birdhouses were simply fun to walk past, and the idea that the park would soon be full of birds put a spring in my step.
Years later, I’m still watching for birds. Occasionally one can be glimpsed or heard in the deeper parts of the trees, or down on the hillside above Interstate 5. But to see a bird near the sidewalk is a rare thing. I’ve never seen a single birdhouse being used.
I suppose the lesson is that birdhouses shouldn’t be erected 5 or 6 feet from a popular walkway, where many people pass throughout the day, often with dogs. And that birds need a little more cover than what an extremely narrow park provides. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tweet Street! I love how the trees have grown out. I love walking along the park and gazing out at different vistas. The idea of attracting birds was terrific. But birds have their own notions about where to live. It seems they prefer a little more privacy.
Metal artwork resembles a bird perched atop trees in the downtown community.Houses for birds are creative works of imagination, built by local artists in 2008.Birds might choose to live in this traffic light.Display near center of park shows how to build a birdhouse.Bees have taken over this empty wooden birdhouse.The eyes of this colorful, weather-beaten cat invite courageous birds to enter.Human condos and apartments are across the street from vacant bird housing.House finches are among the birds that occasionally visit the Tweet Street park.Another fanciful but unused birdhouse in the downtown San Diego park.Stylish birdhouse, palm tree and downtown buildings.Squirrel perched on fence above Interstate 5 at edge of Tweet Street park.
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Public art at Lillian Place shows many facets of African-American history in San Diego.
Should you walk through downtown San Diego’s East Village in the vicinity of 14th and J Streets, you might be attracted to several large yellow panels along the sidewalk. This proud display of public art at Lillian Place was raised to commemorate how African-Americans have played an important role in building our diverse and beautiful city.
The artwork, created by Jihmye Collins and Nina Karavasiles, is titled “A San Diego African-American Legacy” and represents African-American contributions to San Diego’s development and rich history.
Cast metal parachute recalls 1943’s Top Black Owned Business in the United States.
Here’s a large portion of the text contained on the panels:
People of African decent were present in San Diego as early as the establishment of Presidio de San Diego in 1769, and played a role in settling the area now known as Old Town.
In the later decades of the 1800s, African-Americans began emigrating to Horton New Town, San Diego’s present-day downtown, relocating primarily from the southern US.
Religious institutions were, and continue to be a cornerstone of the African-American community. In 1887, the African Methodist Episcopal Church became the first organized African-American congregation in downtown San Diego, followed soon after by Calvary Baptist and Bethel AME. At the same time, African-American social and civic groups like the Violet Club, Acme Social Club and Fidelity Lodge #10 of the Prince Hall Masons became important organizations in the community.
San Diego was once the center of a thriving jazz, blues, and gospel music scene. The Creole Palace at the Douglas Hotel and the Crossroads Jazz Club were just two of the spots that hosted local and national talent playing to mixed audiences.
African-Americans have always played a major role in amateur and professional sports in San Diego. Local favorite Archie Moore fought at the city Coliseum as did other champions. San Diegan John Ritchey became the first black player in the Pacific Coast League when he was signed as a catcher to the then minor league padres in 1948.
The entrepreneurial spirit of the African-American community flourished through the 20th century with doctor’s offices, hotels and clubs, barbers and beauty parlors, cafes and restaurants, ice cream parlors, laundries, jewelers and pool halls that served the African American community as well as other San Diegans.
During World War II, African-American stunt pilot and businessman Howard Skippy Smith owned the Pacific parachute Company factory on 8th Avenue. Named the Top Black Owned Business in the United States in 1943, Mr. Smith operated an integrated work place that reflected the ethnic and racial diversity of wartime San Diego.
On this block of J Street, African-American Lillian Grant owned multiple buildings, offering rooms to an ethnically mixed clientele during the time of segregation. Next door at the corner of 14th and J Streets sat the Vine/Carter Hotels. Known as the colored hotels, it was owned and operated by African-Americans Alonzo and Katie Carter from the 1930s to the 1950s.
African-Americans helped to build religious institutions and community organizations.Exact duplicate of baseball catcher’s mitt from the 1940’s made of cast metal.Artwork shows San Diego as an important center of jazz, blues, and gospel music. Count Basie and Billie Holiday both played at the Creole Palace.Hair curling iron is a symbol of many thriving African-American entrepreneurs.
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Sketch of female face and buildings, on Sixth Avenue bridge above Interstate 5.
Just before sundown yesterday I spotted these small unfinished works of art while I walked over the Sixth Avenue bridge that spans Interstate 5. They were down near the ground right next to the sidewalk, beneath the chain link fence overlooking the freeway.
I wonder who sketched these small scenes. Was it an art student? Are these works in progress? Are they the doodles of some inspired passerby, or a creative homeless person?
Had it not been for my blog and my endless quest for new material, I probably wouldn’t have noticed these faint drawings.
Mysterious unfinished street art of woman holding hamburger.Stylish figure on couch with vase seems the work of a practiced artist.A miniature horse runs along a sidewalk in downtown San Diego.
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Another mural representing the artwork of Rafael Lopez can be spotted on a parking lot wall in East Village. Appropriately called Joy of Urban Living, this mural is also part of the Urban Art Trail project in San Diego. An unknown prankster seems to have added the funny image you see in the third photograph.
Mural by East Village parking lot adds life to neighborhood.Frankenstein monster head with tentacles added to mural.
Here’s a better photograph that I snapped at a later time…
An unobstructed photo of the Joy of Urban Living mural by Rafael Lopez.
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Should you ever ride the San Diego Trolley up Park Boulevard between the Market Street and City College stations, you might notice this large, colorful mural on a building wall. It’s called The Strength of the Women and is based on the work of noted local artist Rafael Lopez.
This mural is part of the Urban Art Trail, a project in San Diego whose mission is to beautify areas that have been unfortunately neglected and subject to urban decay. Along this section of Park Boulevard you’ll find many homeless people.
Beautiful mural on Park Boulevard in San Diego.A closer look at mural shows past patches of graffiti.Public art painted in 2000 by the women of CalWORKs.
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Cool San Diego Sights! 