A diverse choir of humans singing joyfully in heaven. The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo is represented with touching fingers producing musical notes.
There’s some uplifting street art in Mission Valley. It’s painted on a large electrical box on Camino del Rio South, between the Scottish Rite Masonic Event Center and the First United Methodist Church of San Diego, which also hosts the St. Francis and St. Tarcicius Catholic Church.
As you can see, this artwork depicts happy people singing and making music in heaven among angels. The musicians appear to include both Louis Armstrong and Jimi Hendrix.
A joyful, colorful vision of harmony!
Jimi Hendrix plays electric guitar in heaven in colorful street art.Louis Armstrong plays his trumpet in heaven with an angel nearby. Some happy street art painted on a large electrical box on Camino del Rio South in Mission Valley.Musical street art near both First United Methodist Church of San Diego and St. Francis and St. Tarcicius Catholic Church. An imaginative glimpse of happiness and harmony in heaven.
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Volunteers in downtown San Diego add a coat of paint to a metal post. A wonderful community project put together by the Downtown San Diego Partnership.
A busy morning! I’ve got lots of fun photos coming! First, check out something really fantastic. The Downtown San Diego Partnership arranged for a bunch of generous volunteers to help beautify the city! The resident volunteers converged this morning at Eighth Avenue and B Street, were given paint and brushes, and were then shown lampposts in the area that need a coat of paint!
Thank you Downtown San Diego Partnership for working to keep the heart of our city in tip top shape! I was told this sort of event might occur in the future on a regular basis. Hopefully this blog post helps to raise awareness a bit!
Around 150 volunteers had signed up to paint lamp posts. Many had gathered at Eighth Avenue and B Street just after nine o’clock when I walked through the area.Getting the paint ready at the center of the parking lot where all the volunteers gathered in downtown’s Core district.The base of a downtown lamppost has been primed and is ready to be painted by volunteers. Hundreds of posts would be painted today!A worker for the Clean and Safe program beautifies downtown San Diego. As a resident, I thank you all.These nice volunteers were painting their third lamppost as I walked back through the area later in the 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 lion heads in a row. It’s the Year of the Rooster and many throughout the world are celebrating!
I enjoyed strolling around the San Diego Tet Festival today. I arrived a few minutes after the annual free festival, held at Mira Mesa Community Park, opened its gate. People were slowly streaming in, and everyone was happy. It’s the Year of the Rooster!
Here are some colorful photos…
Visitors enter the San Diego Tet Festival as it opens late Sunday morning.A free annual celebration of Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, takes place at Mira Mesa Community Park.A dragon near the festival entrance.Many booths in the park had all sorts of glittering goods for sale.A representation of the Hoàn Kiếm Lake Turtle Tower.Model of a small fishing boat used by 69 people to flee the Vietnamese communist regime.History of the Escape Boat. Fleeing brutal communism, the refugees arrived at a camp set up by the United Nations on the island of Galang, in Indonesia. (Click the sign to enlarge it.)Large bronze drum with ornate design. These drums are a traditional symbol of power, used in religious ceremony, festival and war.The Year of the Rooster has begun. It’s the tenth in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac.Martial arts students demonstrate some moves for the gathering crowd.Taking photos of the stage on a sunny San Diego day in late January.The friendly martial arts group poses.A representation of the sacred Hùng Kings’ Temple, which is located on the Nghĩa Lĩnh mountain.Lots of Asian food could be found around the San Diego Tet Festival, as well as more ordinary American fare.Pikachu sits protecting a spot where food is picked up.Donations help keep the Tet Festival alive.More area in the park was dedicated to kids games and carnival rides than anything else! Oh, to be young again!A child rides a dragon.A beautiful wishing tree at the San Diego Tet Festival.A wish for abundance of love and health. Togetherness.
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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 simple, homemade lending library box next to somebody’s front yard in Crown Point, a neighborhood on Mission Bay. Leave a book or take one!
Here’s a cool idea that almost anyone can bring to life!
Once in a while, as I walk about, I notice cabinet-like wooden boxes on neighborhood streets that are filled with books. They’re usually placed near a sidewalk–a spot that anybody passing by can easily reach. These community “lending library” boxes are filled with used books, magazines and other reading material that neighbors can freely borrow and return when they please. Anybody can add to the small library. Now that’s very cool!
Here are photos of several boxes I’ve come across. Their designs appear to be rather simple. They can be built however one likes, as long as the shelves are visible and sheltered from the elements. And they can be painted creatively!
Does your neighborhood have a “lending library” book box? Looks like a fun, inspirational project! It enriches the life of your community and promotes literacy!
A lending library book box built like a two-door cabinet along a sidewalk in San Diego. The contents are always changing. Today the shelves were almost empty!This fancy book box has a sliding glass door and sloped roof. You can find this tiny library at the east end of the Quince Street Trestle pedestrian bridge in Bankers Hill!If you’re feeling really creative, you could make an imaginative “Little Free Library” like this!A lending box created by Boy Scouts and the Friends of the Coronado Public Library.
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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!
To read a few short works of fiction that I’ve written, visit my special writing blog Short Stories by Richard!
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!
A large memorial remains in Chicano Park, almost four weeks after a tragic accident here took the lives of four people.
Almost a month after a tragic accident in Chicano Park, a large, spontaneously created memorial remains. It was created by many hands and hearts in the Barrio Logan community.
The memorial contains flowers, candles and other tokens of love, along with photographs of the deceased. Four were killed on October 14 when an automobile driven by a drunk driver plummeted from the Coronado Bay Bridge. Remembered are Annamarie Contreras, Cruz Elias Contreras, Andre Christopher Banks and Francine Denise Jimenez. Also remembered is Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez, who recently passed away. He was a beloved musician and inspiring leader in the local Chicano community.
Many candles are kept lit.
Candles, flowers and other powerful expressions of love stand beside a Chicano Park mural. They memorialize Annamarie Contreras, Cruz Elias Contreras, Andre Christopher Banks, Francine Denise Jimenez and Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez.Traditional symbols of love, grief and memory.
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A long mural painted on a building at the corner of National Avenue and Evans Street honors four lives that were lost during a tragic accident in Chicano Park on October 15, 2016.
Here are photos of the new mural in Barrio Logan that honors the lives of four people who died tragically last month in Chicano Park under the Coronado Bay Bridge. On October 14, the four–Annamarie Contreras, Cruz Elias Contreras, Andre Christopher Banks and Francine Denise Jimenez–were attending the annual La Raza Run motorcycle festival in Chicano Park when a car driven by a drunk driver suddenly plummeted from the bridge onto the crowd below. The news that four were killed and eight were injured was shocking. Many were shaken. So many hearts were broken.
The new artwork, which includes a tribute to the four victims, can be found at the corner of National Avenue and Evans Street, a block southeast of Chicano Park. Chicano Park is famous for its many colorful murals that depict the civil rights struggles of Mexican Americans and immigrants.
On Saturday, October 16, the day we started our mural, four members of the annual Raza Run lost their lives in the tragic accident at Chicano Park.The mural is titled Que Viva Barrio Logan, by artist Mario Torero. It’s painted on the side of Diego and Son Printing. Words proclaim: Making a difference in our community.The mural transmits great emotion. Many in the Barrio Logan community oppose gentrification.The mural also includes a message opposing the building of a new stadium downtown.Working under the Coronado Bay Bridge, home of Chicano Park.A few of the images in the mural. Breaking a chain of bondage. Music and pride. Protect the water.The face of Bob Dylan in Barrio Logan.Skeletons on bicycles. Symbols, I believe, of past loved ones.Withstanding with Standing Rock.The face of a migrant worker.Walking down the National Avenue sidewalk, past a new mural that celebrates life, memory and history in Barrio Logan.
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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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A traditional Sicilian cart on display at 2016 Festa in San Diego’s Little Italy.
Festa is a celebration of Italian culture and history. Every year it’s held along several blocks of India Street, in the heart of San Diego’s historic Little Italy neighborhood. Thousands turn out to enjoy music, food, and all things Italian.
Here are a few photos I snapped yesterday. They provide a taste of what Festa is all about. Read the captions for explanations, and click the images of signs in the cultural pavilion if you’d like to read them. By the way, the food and music were great. I wish this blog could convey the deliciousness of my slice of Filippi’s pizza!
Thousands turned out along several blocks of India Street for the annual celebration of Festa.A cultural pavilion at Festa attracted people who were interested in Little Italy’s rich culture and history.An exhibit in the cultural pavilion included old photos of life in Little Italy, a neighborhood in San Diego once associated with fishing.The Italian neighborhood remained deeply rooted in social tradition revolving around family, work and church.The fishing industry defined the residents’ lives and included labor in boat building, net mending, and tuna and sardine canning.Historical photos of Little Italy fishermen at work off the coast of San Diego.Photo of young man on a boat with a very large catch.Old photos of life in Little Italy include workers at a cannery and fishermen mending nets.A display at Festa includes nets and old commercial fishing gear.A pillar for San Diego’s Italian community, Our Lady of the Rosary Parish has endured for more than 80 years.Photographs and puppets provide a glimpse of San Diego’s past.The Columbus Day Queens are presented on stage during 2016 Festa in Little Italy.The Sicilian Band performs during Festa in San Diego.A crowd admires chalk art, or Gesso Italiano, during Festa. The amazing artwork celebrates Italy’s history and culture.A vendor at Festa sells funny signs and aprons to Italy lovers.Of course, lots of pizza, pasta and other Italian food could be found up and down India Street.Chef Boyardee (Ettore Boiardi) appears on a street lamp banner in Little Italy.People at Festa check out some shiny new Vespas.An exhibition of Italian sports cars included Maseratis and Lamborghinis.A kid and gondoliers at Festa. Anyone can ride elegant gondolas in San Diego at the Coronado Cays.
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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!
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