Just a fun post.
I thought I’d activate Galaxy AI Drawing Assist on my Samsung smartphone and have it create crazy images of San Diego!
Using the text “bizarre San Diego weirdly” and the pop art setting generated some wild results!
Lots of big surfboards, waves, tacos, hot air balloons, lighthouses, and strange structures, some of which kind of look like San Diego buildings!
Almost a year ago, I posted a blog about the restoration of Balboa Park’s beautiful carousel animals. I walked by today and found carousel caretaker William “Bill” Brown and a smiling volunteer hard at work!
The carved wooden War Horse, Camel and Goat are at various stages of restoration, as you can see. Compare today’s photographs with those I took in June 2025 by clicking here.
First up, here’s the War Horse. The Balboa Park Carousel was originally built in 1910 by Herschell-Spillman, and, fortunately, there is a factory description that still exists. Bill intends to keep the restored version fairly true to that historical appearance.
Here’s an image of how a Herschell-Spillman War Horse appeared in the early 20th century…
Here’s how the restoration appears so far, with a lot of detailed painting still to go…
Here’s a sketch Bill made of the Camel as it may look when finally restored.
Unfortunately, no record exists of how this carousel animal originally appeared over a century ago. The leaves atop the camel’s humps would obviously be green.
The painting of the Camel is getting underway…
The Goat isn’t quite as far along.
As you can see, a lot of sanding is required when restoring these carved wooden carousel animals, they’re so very detailed. Lots of nooks and crannies.
But when the restoration is complete, the animals are amazing! Look how the Persian Cat turned out!
The Balboa Park Carousel is one of San Diego’s great treasures. Thanks to all who are keeping it alive, vibrant, and the source of joy for many!
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Members of the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild have beautiful works now on display at the TULAROSA gallery.
Before creating their pieces, these Atelier artists spent time walking around Imperial Avenue east of downtown San Diego. Their inspired interpretation of the historic neighborhood can be viewed in the TULAROSA gallery, which is appropriately located at 2602 Imperial Avenue.
The exhibition is titled One Day in the Life on Imperial.
I swung by after 11 am today, shortly after the gallery opened. And whom should I meet as I stepped through the door? Renowned muralist Mario Torero! He was just as friendly and gracious as ever.
I enjoyed looking at all the pieces. Some of the artwork includes buildings and murals one might see on the street nearby. It was fun trying to find them!
The exhibition will continue at TULAROSA through Sunday, March 29, 2026. The gallery is open 11 am to 7 pm.
What special events at the gallery are coming up?
Wednesday, March 25: Community & Artist Leaders Panel. 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Thursday, March 26: San Diego Artists Guild Panel II. Continuation of artist discussions and exhibition programming. 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
Friday, March 27: Jazz, Soul & R&B Legacy Night, celebrating the musical history of Imperial Avenue, once one of San Diego’s most important music corridors.
Saturday, March 28: Community Mural Activation. Community painting of the 19th Street Mural Project. Artists participating include Mario Torero. 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM.
Sunday, March 29: Closing Day of the exhibition. Final mural painting session for the 19th Street Mural Project. 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM.
Here are some examples of the artwork on display…
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The coming of Spring was celebrated at the Old Globe today in Balboa Park!
AXIS, a community engagement program of the Old Globe, presented Celebration of Spring. The free, family-friendly event celebrated and honored local indigenous culture, their language and traditions. Front and center in the Old Globe’s outdoor Copley Plaza there was dance, singing, poetry and storytelling!
After wandering past the canopies of several vendors and organizations, I enjoyed the first part of the program, which featured dance performances by Bearpaw Native Dancers and Talent.
The above photo is of a fancy shawl butterfly dance!
A friendly greeting from folks representing AXIS!
Youthful smiles at a table featuring Our Past, Present, and Future comic books.
These optimistic, inspiring comic books were co-written by San Diego State University professor Ethan Banegas (@Ethan-Banegas), a member of the Barona Band of Mission Indians. Several creators helped to put it together!
The House of Mexico was at the event, too. I purchased a bottle of cold water. Hot again today!
An audience filled the tables at Copley Plaza as the cultural performances continued.
Those present were invited to join a Round Dance honoring mothers. The percussion simulated the heartbeat you heard before birth inside your mother.
In spring the life of the world is reborn.
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Much of social media is geared toward eliciting an emotional response. Much of art serves the same purpose. An exhibition of art in Oceanside fuses the simple emojis and memes of social media with framed artistic creation.
Neon Afterlife is the title of the exhibition. It can be freely viewed in the Oceanside Museum of Art’s annex gallery inside The Seabird Ocean Resort & Spa, a short walk from the beach and Oceanside Pier.
Pieces by Southern California artists Magz Yang, Jon Savage and Evyn Hewett utilize the “language” of Gen Z and today’s digital pop culture–an increasingly illiterate culture saturated with adrenaline fueled gaming and provocative short videos.
These works of art, like many of the images on one’s phone, might arrest shortened attention spans. They produce an emotional response by using simplistic symbols and bright colors. It’s as if the small screens people endlessly scroll have been splashed onto the gallery walls.
I do love the creativity. And I smiled when I noticed fun is made of the pretentiousness of much social media.
Does an emoji or meme suffice for life’s complexity?
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The House of Ireland in Balboa Park hosted their lawn program today, two days before St. Patrick’s Day.
As usual, there was a lot of green, Irish food, Irish dance and Irish fun!
A big crowd on the lawn enjoyed the sunshine anticipating exciting cultural entertainment. Irish stew was being served at the House of Ireland cottage. Tasty baked goods, too!
The cultural program began in earnest at two o’clock. A festive procession onto the lawn and up to the stage was led by the bagpipers and drummers of The Cameron Highlanders. Several dancing groups in colorful traditional costume would follow them.
Soon thereafter, the Irish dancing would begin!
Dancers young and old, including members of several academies of Irish dance, would kick it up on the stage. Reels, jigs and hornpipes had the performers moving energetically to the rhythm of live music.
Enjoy a few photos…
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San Diego Pysanka Festival 2026 was held today in Balboa Park. The event was hosted by the House of Ukraine. Participants gathered in the Santa Fe Room at the Balboa Park Club building.
What is Pysanka? It the tradition of egg decoration in Slavic cultures. You’ve no doubt observed beautifully, intricately decorated eggs in museums or elsewhere. The San Diego Pysanka Festival allowed visitors to view the craft up close, learn its history, purchase finished eggs, and even participate in pysanka creation workshops!
As this Wikipedia article explains: The pysanka (Ukrainian: писанка, писанки (pl.)) itself, a wax-resist type egg, is one of Ukraine’s national symbols, and is known throughout the world.
Why the festival now? It’s almost spring and Easter is coming. These are the original Easter eggs!
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A big San Diego event today! It’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Festival 2026!
The parade this morning was as epic as ever, lasting well over an hour as it headed through Bankers Hill. The festival is taking place on the west side of Balboa Park, near Laurel Street.
Everyone was wearing green–parade participants and those lining the sidewalks cheering them on.
Irish organizations were front and center, with Irish clubs and societies and dance school students strutting their stuff. Law enforcement and fire fighters were a huge presence, too. There were Shriner clowns, high school marching bands, Irish setters, Irish wolfhounds, roller skaters doing their routine, cars decorated with shamrocks, dignitaries, beauty queens, ballet folklorico dancers, fierce Vikings in their longship, happy leprechauns . . . you name it!
I took many photos before the parade and during it. These are some of my better shots…
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I headed to Ocean Beach today. Wandering along and around Newport Avenue, and near the beach, I took these cool photographs. Every walk in OB is an adventure–there’s always more to discover!
How to describe laid-back Ocean Beach? Counterculture meets the beach? A funky hippie paradise? A place where locals, professionals and tourists mingle with skaters, surfers, and stoners playing guitar on the boardwalk near the pier? You never quite know what you’ll encounter!
Some of the best weird sights are in shop windows. There’s a ton of colorful street art, too, which I’ve covered many times over the years. (I did happen upon one awesome mural which I’ll share in my next blog post.)
Anyway, these photos are from today’s sunny walk. They were taken before and after a lunchtime pollo asado burrito…
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Do you love art? Have you ever visited the Athenaeum Art Center in Logan Heights? You should!
The Athenaeum Art Center is located inside the Bread and Salt building at 1955 Julian Avenue. The art center includes the Catherine and Robert Palmer Gallery, a secondary classroom gallery, and an extensive, very impressive print studio (which I’ll blog about shortly). The main gallery is currently hosting the exhibit Jonathan Paul Parker: All Shall Be Well.
San Diego artist Jonathan Paul Parker‘s first solo exhibition features drawings and painted works that are mostly on paper. His abstract pieces are colorful, complex and dreamlike. They are informed by his involvement in experimental film and improvisational music.
I visited the gallery today.
The images appeared to me like confused dream-shards a sleeper tries to assemble and retain in memory shortly after waking. Or perhaps they’re a sort of visual stream of consciousness–fragments of thought, feeling or memory that take strange form, rising mysteriously to the mind’s eye from a person’s inner being.
The exhibition webpage states: Using color, gesture, and rhythm, [Jonathan] works in a state of focused openness that allows intuitive and archetypal forms to surface. His process draws on the idea of active imagination, where inner images and impulses rise to awareness and shape the direction of the work.
Visit the free exhibition and discover how this unique art speaks to you!
You have a little over a week. Jonathan Paul Parker: All Shall Be Well can be enjoyed through March 7, 2026.
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Cool San Diego Sights! 