I was walking in front of the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park today when I thought to check the time. A performance would begin in five minutes! Okay, it had been a while, so I bought a ticket!
The show today concerned The Origin of Clowns.
Petrix the Clown took the stage and, with a gaggle of fun puppets, loosely (and humorously) told how clowns have evolved over the years–from the court fools, buffoons, and jesters to the improvisational commedia dell’arte, to European circus acts and mimes, and finally, to the American big top three-ring circus. The performance lasted perhaps twenty minutes.
If you have very young children, and you happen to be in Balboa Park on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, why not enjoy a happy puppet show? As a rule, performances are at 11 am, 1 and 3 pm. The shows change often, so you never know what to expect!
Oh–and more history. The Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater will be celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2027. Expect big things!
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This front yard Halloween display has no equal in San Diego!
A wonderfully insane scene erected beside a sidewalk greets those passing through Serra Mesa. If you’ve driven down Murray Ridge Road, you’ve probably seen it.
This particular front yard has a history of immense displays that are jammed full of characters. The hand made figures are grimly humorous and madly inventive. The popular culture is often referenced, the San Diego Padres are rooted on, and our military is saluted. There’s politics mixed in too with a good helping of sarcasm.
Seeing all the bloody mayhem, one might develop goosebumps, or cringe, or laugh!
I’ve briefly spotted these crazy displays in years past. Because Halloween is approaching, I wanted a close look.
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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.
Please enjoy this selection of fun photographs taken in San Diego over the course of many years. All pertain to St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland or Irish pride. There’s a bit of green in all of them!
If you’d like to see photos from this year’s big St. Patrick’s Day parade in San Diego, check out my blog post from last weekend 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!
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!
These photos might stir up some nostalgic San Diego memories.
How many of you used to pull through Jack in the Box half a century ago, when happy clown heads decorated the fast food restaurant’s roofs and served as the drive-thru speaker box? I remember it from my own childhood.
Last weekend, when I saw this Jack in the Box Clown Head (circa 1950’s to 1970’s) in a display case at the San Diego History Center, I had to smile.
What memories do you have?
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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!
During my walk around San Ysidro yesterday I spotted some fun new street art on a utility box. The colorful clowns were painted by local artist Gerardo Meza. His works of imagination are encountered almost everywhere you go in San Ysidro.
After taking the above photo, it occurred to me I’ve probably collected a bunch of clown images over the years. So I searched Cool San Diego Sights and found the following photographs!
Some of the clowns are happy, some are silly, some are creepy. Many were seen during parades. I’ve also spotted various clown characters during Comic-Con, including Pennywise and Baskets. Other clowns appear in public artwork.
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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!
The deadly creatures are creeping closer, closer… Ghouls, vampires, zombies, demons… Before you know it they’ll be gathered at your door… The approaching horror is inescapable!
Most of these very scary, spooky photographs were taken in past years around Halloween. Ghosts, grim reapers, demons and bloodthirsty monsters were encountered in Balboa Park on the Haunted Trail. The deformed zombies? I took those photos during Comic-Con! An elegantly dressed skeleton couple materialized in front of my camera in Old Town on Dia de los Muertos. Other frightening faces appeared just before Halloween in shop windows!
Are some of the images vaguely familiar? I changed these color photographs to grayscale, then darkened many, blurred a few slightly. So that you might be properly terrified!
Trick or treat!
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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!
Legions of creepy clowns, ghosts, demons and undead are slowly gathering in a popular city park. I photographed them lurking among shadowy trees and spooky buildings, waiting to terrify nice, innocent, completely unsuspecting people who happened to be walking down the park trail!
As you might have guessed, this morning I took a stroll around the perimeter of The Haunted Trail, which is being built once again in the southwest corner of Balboa Park for Halloween!
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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 large bunker-like structure has been built in one corner of Amazon’s huge Jack Ryan Experience offsite for 2018 San Diego Comic-Con.
A week to go and more stuff is showing up outside 2018 San Diego Comic-Con!
I walked around the Gaslamp Quarter and East Village after work and got some photos! Nothing has appeared yet behind the San Diego Convention Center, or outside Petco Park. Once the ESRI conference ends and the Padres finish their home stand, I’ll bet that changes rapidly!
Read the captions!
Another photo of the Jack Ryan Experience taken one week before Comic-Con. You can see the zip line.
The huge helicopter now stands near a mock building whose doors have Moorish-looking arches.
Guys work on the helicopter which seems to have a fresh coat of glossy paint.
The entrance to LAIKA LIVE San Diego appears ready to go. It opens tomorrow–Friday afternoon–six days before 2018 Comic-Con!
If you read the final update near the end of my last blog post, you’ll recognize this mystery object!
The cool DC Universe wrap on the Hilton Gaslamp appears to be halfway applied.
A building wrap on the Omni Hotel is just getting started. Looks to me like it promotes The Gifted.
Walking through the Gaslamp yesterday, I saw this scary clown head on the Fifth Avenue sidewalk, but today it’s gone!
Amazon is erecting an offsite that promotes their Fire TV and popular channels that it features. You can find it at the corner of Market Street and Seventh Avenue.
Graphic on the Fire TV tent. Watch Disenchantment on Netflix starting August 17.
UPDATE!
Here are photos taken late Friday. Lots of new offsites and wraps are beginning to appear!
With less than a week to go, Comic-Con International logos have appeared all over the San Diego Convention Center!
A guy driving a lift around the convention center is getting stuff ready for 2018 Comic-Con!
A big building wrap on the Omni Hotel will promote Amazon’s upcoming show Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.
Hulu’s offsite promoting Castle Rock is rising near the New Children’s Museum in San Diego.
Workers get the Castle Rock activation ready for 2018 Comic-Con.
More work has been done on the Jack Ryan Experience. The Jack Ryan Training Field allows fans to immerse themselves in a hyper-reality virtual reality spy experience.
The huge bunker-like escape room in one corner of the Jack Ryan Experience has a cool seal. JACK RYAN DARK OPS.
The cool DC Universe wrap on the Hilton Gaslamp is almost completed.
A wrap on the Omni Hotel promoting The Gifted, above initial construction of an NBC offsite near the Tin Fish. Fans will experience The Good Place.
Guys in charge of erecting The Good Place offsite for 2018 San Diego Comic-Con confer in the summer sunshine.
A big Conan O’Brien wrap is being placed on the Marriott Marquis. The design appears similar to this year’s Conan trolley wrap.
A building wrap is being applied to the Hilton Bayfront, and the Adult Swim offsite has barely begun to appear. No FXhibition as of yet.
I don’t recognize what this wrap promotes–not yet! The motorcycle suggests it might by the new FX series Mayans MC–the spin-off from Sons of Anarchy. Feel free to leave a comment if you 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!
I plan to take tons of photos during 2018 Comic-Con!
This morning I walked past a variety of small shops in Hillcrest. Several had placed mannequins dressed up for Halloween in their windows. On a whim I took photos.
When I goofed around a bit this evening editing the images, concentrating on the creepy faces, I managed to terrify myself.
Now it’s your turn!
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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! 