This very beautiful and inspiring mural debuted in an Escondido alley last April, during Arts, Culture, & Creativity Month. Titled Community Unity, it was created by twelve students from Calvin Christian School.
I saw the mural for the first time today during a long-overdue walk around downtown Escondido!
This webpage describes the public art and its origin.
The mural contains colorful imagery representing Escondido and people in the local community. It was printed on large panels and placed in the alley that runs half a block south of Grand Avenue. Walk west down the alley from Broadway and you’ll come to it. The mural stands as a joyful reminder that unity is possible when all voices are welcomed and celebrated.
When you see the bright artwork, your day will be brightened, too!
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I was walking along Coast Highway after the big Oceanside Independence Parade when I noticed an absolutely amazing piano in front of the Sunshine Brooks Theater building. I had stumbled upon the Miss Mary Project!
The piano, named Miss Mary, was recently painted by artist and arts advocate BJ Lane. Its new permanent home is the Sunshine Brooks Theater, home of the Oceanside Theatre Company.
Anybody walking along the sidewalk was invited to play the beautiful piano. How could anyone possibly resist?
The Miss Mary Project was initiated by the daughter-in-law of the piano’s beloved namesake, whose spirit lives on. You can find more about the project by reading various blog posts here.
You’ll learn that BJ Lane, as she carefully painted, was thinking about movement, music, and the energy of the performers that will eventually emerge on Miss Mary’s panels.
Also: At its heart, The Miss Mary Project is more than a painted piano. It’s a gathering place for purpose, restoration, and connection.
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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.
Please enjoy this collection of photographs taken today during the 2025 Oceanside Independence Parade!
The Fourth of July arrived a little early this year in Oceanside. “Stars and Stripes by the Sea” was the title of the big parade up Coast Highway. The patriotic spectacle was presented by MainStreet Oceanside.
Families lined the sidewalk, waving flags, wearing red, white and blue, as fellow members of the Oceanside community paraded past.
Oceanside is located next to Camp Pendleton, so it wasn’t surprising the parade led off with the 1st Marine Color Guard, followed by the 1st Marine Division Band and 1st Marine Logistics Group.
Many participants would follow–from hometown heroes, to local politicians, to the fire and police departments, to scouts, churches, the library, clubs, businesses, charities… Several marching bands and cheer groups included a large contingent from El Camino High School. According to the program, about a hundred entrants would go by in the parade!
Hopefully these photos convey the atmosphere…
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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.
Would you like to win a beautiful handmade quilt? You have that chance if you enter the raffle at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park!
A colorful community quilt was made with the help of volunteers, visitors, and California State Park staff, who sewed together a checkerboard of different patches, including many that are hand illustrated. The quilt will be raffled on the Fourth of July. (A variety of fun outdoor activities will be enjoyed by park visitors on Independence Day, too!)
You can view the quilt inside the park’s Robinson-Rose House Visitor Center, which is where you purchase the raffle tickets. One dollar buys a single ticket; five dollars gets you six tickets.
It appeared to me today that people have a decent chance to win this amazing quilt. The small glass jar containing tickets was perhaps a quarter full.
The cool thing is proceeds from the raffle will help fund the activities of the volunteers at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park!
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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.
A free community Garden Fair was held today in Balboa Park celebrating Pollinator Week!
Local organizations that support our natural environment were lined up outside the San Diego Natural History Museum, providing the public with information about native plants and wildlife.
While pollinating bees and butterflies flitted about flowering plants in the Natural History Museum’s nearby nature trail, visitors to the park were learning about how they can help maintain a beautiful and healthy environment.
I walked around the museum to check things out…
Yes! Ecologik is included in a Women in STEM exhibit at the San Diego History Center!There are well over 500 species of bees native to San Diego! They can detect tastes with their front feet!Don’t we all love a clean San Diego? Of course we do!Many informative displays concerning pollinators and our natural environment.I see flowers and pollinators (including a bat) on this table!The San Diego Chapter of the California Native Plant Society is a great resource. They welcome new members!I didn’t know there’s a Paradise Hills Native Garden. I’ll have to check it out!The San Diego River Park Foundation had a table with great information.Volunteers with the San Diego Natural History Museum were providing a tour of their nature trail in Balboa Park.More exhibitors on the museum’s Moreton Bay Fig tree side.San Diego Canyonlands had some native pollinators on display.Hello to the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County!And hello to the San Diego Bird Alliance! They were demonstrating a native seed library. Create your own!You can help save Monarch butterflies by planting milkweed seeds.Endangered Concepts has repurposed unrecyclable plastic. The plastic fills decorative boulders! Clever idea!Learning at the California Native Horticultural Foundation table.Hey, NAT Garden Corps–this Garden Fair is a very cool event! That’s milkweed people can plant.
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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.
You’ve probably seen those book lending libraries placed near the sidewalk in front of homes. The boxes are filled with books that anyone can borrow.
Well, did you know there are similar native seed libraries?
Native seed libraries like the one in my photographs provide free native plant seeds for community members to use in their gardens.
As we know, native plants in San Diego are drought resistant and attract pollinators such as butterflies and birds. They’re good for biodiversity and a healthy environment.
If creating your own native seed library is something you’d like to look into, or do, check out this webpage on the San Diego Bird Alliance website. They provide starter kits that include seeds, envelopes, labels, brochures, posters and other materials for your box. Building the structure is your own fun project! (Perhaps make them similar to one of these.)
I recently walked past Dog Beach in Del Mar and was surprised to see the Dog Memorial Garden and its hundreds of painted rocks had vanished.
Today I learned what happened to the special memorial garden, which is also called Gwen’s Garden. It was relocated to the Del Mar Fairgrounds, and now occupies the space in front of the Del Mar Historical Society’s Alvarado House!
I was told the Dog Beach Memorial Garden was moved because construction work is slated to begin on the nearby bridge.
If you’re going to the San Diego County Fair this year, make sure to visit the Alvarado House. The historic beach cottage is located to one side of the outdoor Paul Ecke Jr. Garden Show.
When you walk up the ramp to the Alvarado House, you’ll see many heartwarming photographs of the beloved rock garden at Dog Beach, before everything was moved.
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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 positive energy was off the charts this afternoon at the Juneteenth Block Party in North Park!
From all around San Diego a big crowd converged on the street in front of North Park restaurant Louisiana Purchase, eager to join in the Juneteenth celebration: a vibrant tribute to Black excellence, music, and food!
Everyone was mingling, smiling, enjoying barbeque, unique vendors, community organizations, live mural painting, fashion, and even a tiny basketball court!
When the dancing began at two o’clock, everyone made their way to the stage to cheer on joyful, high energy performances!
I hope my photographs capture some of the vibes…
It’s time to introduce the youthful dancers!
First up, representing the Lincoln Emeralds…
Next up, Somethin’ Creative Dance Team! (They teach kids who simply love to dance, and perform at special events and compete regionally!)
Some older dance team members come onto the stage…
Ocean Beach has a wonderful public art tradition that started in 1999. If you’ve visited this colorful seaside neighborhood, perhaps you’ve noticed.
The Murals of OB was the brainchild of local artist and activist Rich James. The idea was for the community to come together and create beautiful murals that would be mounted on walls and buildings around town. Over the years, many of these murals have been painted during the annual OB Street Fair and Chili Cook-Off.
This webpage describes the many murals and includes a walking tour map.
During my own walks, I’ve noticed that some of these community murals celebrate important Ocean Beach anniversaries. I’ll now share four that I’ve found.
The first mural (my previous and following photo) celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Ocean Beach Farmers Market.
The popular farmers market got started back in 1992. (Here’s a timeline of certain OB events.) The mural was painted in 2017.
Today, in 2025, people swing by the market every Wednesday, from 4 pm to 8 pm, on the 4900 block of Newport Avenue.
The next two photos show a mural that celebrates 100 years of the Ocean Beach Woman’s Club. It was painted in 2024.
Learn about the club’s fun events and philanthropy at their website here.
The next three photos are of a mural painted in 2012. It celebrates 125 years since Ocean Beach was founded in 1887.
Curious about the image of Wonderland on the right side of the mural? You can read about the short-lived amusement park and the very unique history of Ocean Beach by clicking here.
Finally, the fourth mural I’ve photographed celebrates the 50th anniversary of the OB Pier. The artwork was painted by many hands in 2016.
I happened to take photos back in 2016 during the pier’s big anniversary event. See that blog post by clicking here!
So, you might ask, what does it look like when people in the Ocean Beach community come together to paint one of these amazing murals?
In 2015, it looked like this…
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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 26th Annual Flag Day Parade was held late this morning through downtown La Mesa. Hundreds of residents came out for the patriotic Flag Day spectacle.
Flags lined La Mesa Boulevard. Families gathered along the sidewalks in anticipation. At ten o’clock, the big parade, a beloved La Mesa tradition, began!
There were marching bands, equestrian groups, politicians, scouts, local schools, churches, clubs and organizations, waving queens, costumed cosplayers, cool cars . . . even tractors! It appeared to me the entire community had come together.
The Flag Day Parade this year celebrated service organizations who work to improve lives in the city. Grand Marshalls were the La Mesa Kiwanis Club, the La Mesa Lions Club, La Mesa Optimist International, and the La Mesa Rotary Club.
Most of my photographs were taken a bit away from the crowd, which mostly gathered in the center of La Mesa’s historic downtown. At the end of the parade, I followed the big flag held by volunteers, and I took my final photo with hundreds of flag-waving spectators all around.
Ready? The big parade is starting…
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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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 