A series of new murals was recently installed in San Diego’s downtown Civic Center Plaza! A security guy told me they were put up several days ago.
The cheerful, colorful murals contain images of landmarks in different parts of San Diego. I recognized Balboa Park, Gaslamp Quarter, East Village, Downtown, Marina, Barrio Logan, and San Diego Bay.
The artistic design and illustration is the work of Maximo Escobedo and Alma Vasquez Escobedo, of Maximo Creative Communications. The new artwork refers to Civic Center Plaza as “Plaza Central.”
Bright bubbly images have also been scattered upon the plaza’s walking surface. The once dullish-grayish space now appears more alive. You can see what I mean in the next photograph…
How many San Diego landmarks can you recognize?
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Walk through the front entrance of Chula Vista City Hall and you’re immediately greeted by very unique art.
Symbiotic is the name of this Civic Center exhibition. All of the pieces are by printmaker, painter, writer and poet Joelle Cook (@wolfprintsart).
As a nearby sign explains: Symbiotic is the debut solo show of artist and author Joelle Cook… Her art is an exploration of the ways the biological world and the architecture of manmade forms overlap, and how that lends to a new kind of worldbuilding driven by this mix of natural beings and hard shapes.
I noticed that for many of the artists’ pieces, images of living things are created by combining simple and complex polygons–“hard shapes” defined by rigidly straight lines.
In an unexpected way, these creations might remind viewers of a scientific truth. The astonishingly complex living world around us arises from more basic geometry. Think individual molecules and atoms.
Go check out this cool exhibition and see it all for yourself!
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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 X.
In San Diego’s Civic Center Plaza, near the Civic Theatre Ticket Office, you’ll find these words:
Blooming is the wild body unmarred by the limits of this world
Its petals temporary but you’d never know it
The two lines were written by Paola Capó-García, San Diego Poet Laureate 2025-2027. A special City of San Diego webpage provides her biography.
Paola Capó-García lives in North Park. Her accomplishments and accolades as educator, author and journalist are numerous.
The thought-provoking words in Civic Center Plaza are actually the conclusion of her poem Wild, which you can read here. Her poem explains the difference between blooming and blossoming.
Are you blooming?
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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 X.
Special tours were enjoyed by the public today of San Diego’s newly renovated Civic Theatre.
The tours were part of the Civic Theatre’s 60th Anniversary Open House Event, which also featured live music, food and more good stuff outside the building in Civic Center Plaza.
I enjoyed a tour and took photos as our group went along.
The renovation concentrated on the theater’s front of house areas. I was told no substantial changes were made in the auditorium.
The work was accomplished during two 4-week periods, and has filled the gleaming Civic Theatre with new tile, new carpeting, new concession areas, new furniture, even new trashcans! The old very red interior is now brighter with sunny, beachy colors that better reflect San Diego.
Even the vertical “bars” on the building’s exterior have been painted in a way that makes its appearance more distinctive.
You can see photos of the Civic Theatre taken five years ago during an architectural tour here.
The old interior, with its lavish reds, made the place seem like a satiny European palace, or that last room in Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. Yes, this is an improvement!
We’ve entered the remodeled lobby. The island that used to be the ticket booth is now an inviting place where theatre-goers can order food and drink. (Tickets are now purchased at the outdoor box office in Civic Center Plaza.)
Now we’re heading upstairs toward the Mezzanine level. Those white onyx columns were wrapped with beautiful gold-colored metalwork during the renovation.
This handsome concession nook has brand new tiles, inside and out.
That’s the amazing Grand Salon with its enormous chandelier ahead. The display on the left (also in my very first photo) shows how things appeared before the renovation. Yes, it was very red!
Beautiful new tables and chairs match the new carpeting. The place even smells new!
Looking down into the Grand Salon. Grand is the appropriate word!
Now we’ve headed up to the Balcony level.
You can learn more about this absolutely amazing chandelier here.
Fashionable new “sconce” lights are evident, too, as we head down stairs to the Dress Circle level.
And here we are at the Dress Circle level, entering the Grand Salon. Beadwork above that smaller chandelier is new, created by a local artist. All the ottomans are new, too.
Beautiful new ornamental touches above the elevator.
More amazing than ever…
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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.
San Diego Theatres and ArtReach are partnering to create a new community-driven mural in Civic Center Plaza. And they want to hear from you!
Do you have any ideas?
I noticed the above sign in a window of San Diego’s City Administration Building.
The mural will be on three Concourse exit doors facing Civic Center Plaza. The plaza’s overall architecture is mid-century modern. (I once blogged about how sculptor and architectural designer Malcolm Leland created modernist elements of the plaza and nearby parking garage. See that here.)
If you’d like to provide your own input on the future Civic Center Plaza mural, here’s the form where you can make suggestions. The link also leads to more information about this project.
Once the design is finalized, members of the community will help paint the mural!
UPDATE!
The following day, during a San Diego Civic Theatre open house event, I met Isabel Halpern, ArtReach’s Mural Program Manager. She had a display concerning the Civic Center murals.
Included was a graphic showing early mural design concepts. The leading artists are Regan Russell and Donald Gould.
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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.
As I walked through downtown’s Civic Center Plaza this morning, I noticed banners on fencing near the San Diego Civic Theatre. They recall how superstars such as Diana Ross, Tony Bennett and Robin Williams have performed in the popular venue over the past six decades.
I hadn’t realized the Civic Theatre is celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year!
Curious, I checked out the history of the San Diego Civic Theatre. Here it is.
Others who’ve entertained audiences at this historic venue include Frank Sinatra, Jerry Seinfeld, Conan O’Brien, Luther Vandross, Jerry Lewis, Patti LaBelle, Carole King, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Do you have any memories?
Today, if you enjoy performances by San Diego Opera or Broadway San Diego, you are part of that continuing history!
Five years ago I went on an architectural tour of the Civic Theatre building and took photographs of the grand, elegant interior. You can revisit that blog post 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.
The Shepherd YMCA Firehouse in La Jolla looks a lot like an old fire station. That’s because the historic building at 7877 Herschel Avenue once housed Fire Station Engine Company 13 . . . and City Hall, and a police station, a hospital room, and water department!
San Diego Architect Harold Abrams designed the 1937 building in the Spanish-Mission Revival style for the Works Progress Administration. In 1976, the fire and police stations relocated, and the building was used by City Lifeguards for a decade. It was later used by the Library Department for storage during branch renovations.
In 1988 the building opened as a Teen/Senior Community Center, then became a performing arts center in the early 2000s, then a gymnastics program center.
A renovation in 2015 led to the building’s reopening as the Shepherd YMCA Firehouse, which today is available as a very cool community space.
I learned all this several days ago during a walk in La Jolla. I was invited inside, where I could see how the historic firehouse has evolved into a thriving center for classes, meetings, programs and events. The old jail cell from its days as police station still exists, too!
What an attractive interior, and amazing wood beam ceiling!
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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.
We are now in the middle of San Diego City Clerk’s 6th Annual Archives Month!
Through October 18th, 2024, the public can experience a fascinating San Diego City Clerk Archives exhibit concerning the history of Barrio Logan. Extensive displays can be viewed just inside the front entrance of San Diego’s downtown City Administration Building, at 202 C Street.
The exhibit is titled Telling Our Stories–Preserving Our Histories: The Chicano Movement in San Diego. It features photographs, articles and City Clerk documents that pertain to the culturally rich Barrio Logan neighborhood and how it has changed over time. There is an emphasis on the creation of Chicano Park, the work of Chicano activists, the origin and influence of Neighborhood House, and the tuna canning industry that once thrived in Barrio Logan down by the water.
In addition, there’s a video that visitors to the exhibit are invited to watch. It shows how residents were adversely affected by the construction of Interstate 5 and the Coronado Bay Bridge, and how they worked together to help preserve the community’s identity and establish Chicano Park.
The exhibit is curated by the San Diego City Clerk Archives in partnership with the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center.
I enjoyed looking at the displays and learning important facets of San Diego history. I encourage anyone who travels downtown to check it out. The City Administration Building is open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Here are a few photographs that I took…
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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.
I believe these murals are fairly new. I saw them the other day at Civic Center Plaza, near the front entrance of San Diego’s City Administration Building. The half dozen images greet visitors to City Hall.
By searching the internet, I can find out nothing about this installation of photographic art. So I need the help of Cool San Diego Sights readers! I hope someone out there might provide more information with a comment.
I’m afraid the only individual I recognize of the six is San Diego’s renowned muralist Mario Torero–he’s in the final photograph.
I captured these photos in somewhat dim light, so I’ve increased the contrast quite a bit…
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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.
Some unusual art was recently moved onto the second floor of San Diego’s Central Library. Cedar Fire was created by local artist Timothy Murdoch in 2019.
The work is composed of collected burnt wood and house paint. Many communities throughout San Diego were affected by the historic, incredibly destructive Cedar Fire in 2003. The fire destroyed 2,820 buildings including 2,232 homes.
I still remember how all of San Diego County was disrupted as people coped with the fast moving, Santa Ana wind driven fire. I had to drive up Interstate 15 under a dark orange sky during the fire, and it seemed I was the only one on the freeway. It’s hard for me to believe that was over twenty years ago. Seems like yesterday.
Does this sculpture look familiar? Cedar Fire, part of the City of San Diego Art Collection, was previously displayed in the lobby of San Diego’s City Administration Building.
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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)!
Cool San Diego Sights! 