Tag: construction

Lots of activity on San Diego’s waterfront!

Right now there is a whole lot of construction activity along downtown San Diego’s waterfront.

Today, during a walk along the Embarcadero, anyone could observe new buildings rising, an aircraft carrier’s hull being inspected, a cruise ship pier being reinforced, and an iconic San Diego landmark being painted!

First up, check out how quickly the buildings of the Research and Development District (RaDD) are rising!

The five new bayfront buildings will be grouped around the U.S. Navy Region Southwest Headquarters building, which itself was completed two years ago.

I learned from a USS Midway Museum volunteer that the Midway’s hull is inspected and cleaned every year.

The extensive operation consumes a substantial part of the aircraft carrier museum’s budget.

There are numerous sealed inlets in the enormous ship’s hull where saltwater from San Diego Bay might invade. There is also algae and other marine growth to be removed below the waterline. It’s part of a vital hull preservation program.

As I approached the B Street Pier today, home of the Cruise Ship Terminal, I observed a huge drill and other ponderous machinery.

I’ve learned the structural stability of the pier is being improved.

The Port of San Diego project is technically described as curtain wall repairs and backfilling. Don’t ask me exactly what that means!

Lastly, the landmark 1938 County Administration Building’s new paint job continues.

The sections that have been finished look great!

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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!

Looking to the future at SANDAG Community Fair!

What will the San Diego region look like in the future?

Glimpses were provided today of future possibilities during a free family event at Ruocco Park. The SANDAG (The San Diego Association of Governments) Community Fair brought together a variety of public and private entities who are advocating and working for change–primarily when it comes to mass transit.

The projects previewed include a future Central Mobility Hub, which will connect regional transit to San Diego International Airport; a solution to relocate train tracks that run near eroding bluffs in Del Mar; and the upcoming Otay Mesa East Port of Entry. I also saw intriguing plans for a trolley station in Tijuana, Mexico.

Other SANDAG initiatives include advancing digital equity in neighborhoods, the Youth Opportunity Pass Pilot Program of MTS, and the creation of affordable housing.

I saw lots of charts, maps, infographics and smiles. I asked some questions and learned a few things.

I also walked by the kid activity stations, picked up a new bike map, learned about the trails of San Elijo Lagoon, and learned about butterflies, birds and replenishing beach sand.

Then I got some free popcorn and flavored ice, and watched Hanna paint a cool mural, which would eventually depict a scene of San Diego’s beautiful environment.

The SANDAG Community Fair was a great way for the public to interact with those making plans to shape our shared future. Public input, including concerns, were welcome.

And it all was fun, too!

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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!

The only constant in a city is . . . change.

In San Diego, as in any city, the only true constant is change.

Trucks load and unload. Buildings fall and rise. Cars turn corners. People from every walk of life funnel through crosswalks. Lives intersect.

We travel down countless paths to futures unknown.

To curious eyes, the city reveals infinite complexity. And infinite mystery.

I took most of these photographs very recently.

In East Village, a new high-rise is being built above the old façade of the Farkas Store Fixtures building. A 2020 Carly Ealey mural still smiles.

People walking very different paths cross the same street.

Tearing down to build up.

Millions of Dole bananas show up on schedule at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. Some changes are predictable.

Other changes aren’t quite so predictable. San Diego Padres make the Major League Baseball Playoffs in 2022!

Old friends. New friends. Soon to be friends. TwitchCon at the San Diego Convention Center.

I was told another track is coming by the Green Line platform at the 12th and Imperial trolley station.

Heading toward the border. A life in progress.

Pesos, Euros, Dollars and a bicycle. Where to?

What change is coming to this corner of the Plaza de Panama in Balboa Park?

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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!

Reflections where an old courthouse stood.

The old downtown San Diego Superior Court building that once stood on Broadway was demolished over two years ago.

On the vanished courthouse’s large city block a 37-story mixed-use tower, called West, has risen. The project is now rapidly approaching completion.

New windows installed on the building’s exterior have brightened downtown with more mirror maze reflections!

I took these photographs today as I walked west on Broadway, then north up Union Street beside the Hall of Justice toward San Diego’s five-year-old Central Courthouse.

On a sunny day the blue sky seems painted on the shining glass!

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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!

New beauty inside historic Santa Fe Depot.

I believe that efforts to revive the life and beauty of historically important buildings should be celebrated. So today let me celebrate a project underway inside San Diego’s historic 1915 Santa Fe Depot.

Earlier this week, as I was waiting for Jimmy at the Santa Fe Depot concession stand to microwave a burrito, I noticed some yellow tape. The enormous Waiting Room’s wooden benches were being sanded down and newly varnished!

When I walked through the depot this morning, the work had progressed. More of the benches were richly shining! Jimmy had informed me it took about one day to complete each bench.

The interior of an amazing space in downtown San Diego is becoming even more beautiful.

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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!

Bones, stones, and ancient history in San Diego.

Did you know humans might have been living in your neighborhood 130,000 years ago?

I was visiting the San Diego Natural History Museum when my eyes fell upon an interesting display concerning the Cerutti Mastodon site.

Thirty years ago, during the expansion of State Route 54 in the South Bay, a team of researchers from the San Diego Natural History Museum discovered mastodon bones among cobbles. The bones appeared to have been intentionally broken. It was believed the stones, which had impact marks, had been used by humans to fracture the mastodon bones to extract marrow.

Using radiometric dating, the bones were found to be about 130,000 years old. If, indeed, early humans had worked these bones, that would mean humans were in North America about 100,000 years earlier than previously thought!

Many experts asserted the bones were broken due to the heavy machinery used for freeway construction. Two years ago, however, more evidence was obtained. Bone micro-residues were observed on the cobbles, which seems to confirm that ancient inhabitants of San Diego did indeed hammer at fresh, tasty mastodon bones!

If all of this excites your curiosity, the Wikipedia article concerning San Diego’s scientifically important Cerutti Mastodon site can be found here.

And here’s a detailed article about the discovery written in 2017.

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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!

Last minute frenzy as Comic-Con is almost here!

Less than a day to go until Comic-Con officially opens for 2022! As you might imagine, lots of people are bustling around trying to get their stuff ready!

Workers at many activations are in a hurry to complete the downtown “offsite” attractions that will welcome huge crowds beginning tomorrow.

I took one final long walk through the Gaslamp Quarter and around the San Diego Convention Center this afternoon to see what I might see..

Barriers are being set up on Fifth Avenue just north of the convention center. This section of street will be cosplay central beginning tomorrow!

Someone attached a memory from last year to the Tin Fish restaurant sign. This is where the SDCC Shrine was located during the two years Comic-Con was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An offsite by the Omni hotel is setting up. Looks pretty crazy at the moment.

And just down the walkway, Bob’s Burgers was setting up their Comic-Con activation.

Getting the Sanctum Sanctorum ready! A small offsite promotes the recent movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The hotel shuttle buses this year all have Amazon Prime Video wraps on them. This one promotes Invincible.

A helpful smile and an answer awaits!

A little detail work to ready the big FX offsite.

All sorts of graphics are now up at ABC’s Abbott Elementary offsite.

Oh, look! That is this year’s Adult Swim on the Green.

I’ll keep it a mystery.

Workers were putting up big graphics on the IMDboat.

Yikes!

Getting the Voodoo Ranger IPA “pirate ship” ready!

The Gray Man offsite is ready, just waiting for the big crowds tomorrow. I was told the race/obstacle course itself is relatively short. But once inside it’s definitely cool looking!

The Audible sand artists are running out of time!

A big smiling Franklin Armstrong has appeared on the windows of the Peanuts offsite.

A long banner has been added to the MLK Promenade side of the House of the Dragon.

And the front of the castle is beyond awesome. Look at those doors!

Getting the Dungeons & Dragons tavern ready. They better hurry up!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click 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!

More offsites, wraps, action before Comic-Con!

The pre-Comic-Con action is really picking up in downtown San Diego. Today is Monday, several days now before SDCC 2022 opens.

Look at all the new offsite activity, and the new building wraps, and all the rapid construction that’s going in the Gaslamp and near the convention center!

The Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves offsite activation for 2022 Comic-Con is being prepared at Sixth and Island.

The Star Trek: Picard offsite will fill the outdoor patio of Happy Does on Fifth Avenue. I noticed lots of cool graphics ready to be installed.

A huge Severance building wrap is now being applied on the Fifth Avenue side of the Hard Rock Hotel. Your orientation begins here.

At the NBCUniversal offsite, by the Tin Fish, those mastodon tusks look rather familiar. Didn’t I see them here during Comic-Con Special Edition?

Now that the Padres have finished their home series with the Diamondbacks, workers have begun putting up big wraps on Petco Park. I learned this one will promote The Rookie.

The Star Trek wrap over on the Marriott Marquis is beyond awesome.

Another corner of Petco Park getting started.

This will be the entrance to the FX offsite near the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, behind the convention center. Looks amazing.

I see a columned building and a stringy tunnel in the FX labyrinth. Various shows will be promoted.

It looks like a small nursery along a stretch of the bayside boardwalk. Lots of trees and shrubs are being used for this year’s epic FX activation.

Vendors are now unloading their stuff in a parking lot behind the San Diego Convention Center. The massive Comic-Con move in has begun!

At the Bandai offsite near the Marriott Marina, something has emerged from a crate. Are those two huge limbs that belong to Great Ape Vegeta?

Here’s a better look at the Batman Cartoonito banners on the parking structure of the Manchester Grand Hyatt. They went up yesterday.

Looks like a combination of Batman and the movie Cars.

Here comes another gigantic wrap on one side of a silvery Marriott Marquis tower. It promotes The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power!

The CW has banners all over the place advertising The Flash and Superman & Lois.

The Gray Man offsite is taking shape. You can see parts of the race/obstacle course. You better put on some fast shoes!

I learned this is the beginning of the Peanuts offsite. Their pop-up will be called All Things Armstrong. That Charlie Brown orange looks familiar.

Beavis has arrived in San Diego. Butt-Head can’t be far behind.

HBO’s offsite promoting upcoming series House of the Dragon looks cooler and cooler as time goes on. Was San Diego suddenly transported to medieval times?

Even downtown’s Ace Hardware is getting ready for Comic-Con!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click 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!

More photos of 2022 Comic-Con popping up!

As we get ever closer to the opening of 2022 Comic-Con, more and more cool stuff is popping up in San Diego, particularly near the convention center!

For the past several days I’ve been documenting Comic-Con preparations downtown. Well, today, Saturday, I walked around again and found more stuff to share!

The distinctive Comic-Con logo now appears all over the San Diego Convention Center!

Workers are setting up the outdoor canopies near the convention center. There will be huge crowds for Comic-Con as usual. Fortunately, the weather is forecast to be quite comfortable.

That huge Star Trek wrap on the Marriott Marquis is looking really awesome. (I had to add contrast to my hazy zoom photo.)

FX continues to set up their large offsite activation by the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. I believe those artificial hedge sections will form the walls of a simple labyrinth.

Local artist Shirish Villaseñor works on the Starbucks windows graphics. They show scenes from Shrek. Her painted windows on Sweet Things Frozen Yogurts next door are the Faces of Comic-Con.

The rear of the FX offsite for Comic-Con under construction.

The big American Horror Stories wrap on the Hilton is getting bigger…

Almost done with the cool Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero wrap decorating the Marriott.

The other day I was informed correctly! FOX will have a small offsite with a Super Slide and photo opportunity on the grass opposite The New Childrens Museum.

Cool trolleys all over!

Sand artists have begun carving the three Audible sand sculptures.

The big TREK building wrap seen from MLK Promenade across Harbor Drive.

Looks like a Beavis and Butt-Head wrap on one side of the Hilton Gaslamp!

House of the Dragon offsite looks ominous. I’m now told there won’t be a maze inside, but something. Looks exciting, whatever it might be!

More graphics have appeared at the Hilton Gaslamp for The Walking Dead special event.

The Krapopolis wrap grows on the Omni hotel. NBC hasn’t begun their offsite construction by the Tin Fish yet, nor is there anything on the grass by the Omni…

The cool Severance wrap on the Hard Rock Hotel is nearing completion.

That banner on the Gaslamp trolley station fence is left over from the recent ESRI conference at the convention center.

Here comes another wrap on the Hilton Gaslamp! This one promotes Interview With The Vampire.

Nerdy stuff is popping up all over downtown San Diego with less than a week to go before Comic-Con!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click 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!

Comic-Con preparations continue in San Diego!

It’s Friday before 2022 Comic-Con. Preparations for the big event are now well underway around the San Diego Convention Center and the Gaslamp Quarter! This weekend workers are going to be very busy!

Many building wraps are up, and others are rapidly appearing, section by section. More offsite activations have begun construction. The pre-Comic-Con atmosphere around town is becoming increasingly electric! (I’ve noticed quite a few people wearing superhero t-shirts!)

I walked around downtown after work to see what progress has been made.

First, I saw that FX is setting up their outdoor labyrinth in the park by the Hilton San Diego Bayfront–their usual spot. FX always creates an awesome offsite experience. As usual, they’ll be promoting a variety of new and favorite shows.

The beginning of a huge wrap on the Hilton promotes the FX weekly anthology series American Horror Stories.

Check out the huge Star Trek wrap on the Marriot Marquis hotel! Every series. Every episode. Sign me up!

I walked around the Marriott and what did I find…

Workers are applying a huge Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero wrap!

After crossing Harbor Drive, I checked out the parking lot by 1st Avenue where NETFLIX will have their The Gray Man offsite. Looks like the activation includes a derailed train? I guess we’ll find out soon enough!

Then I headed down Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade to see how the Audible sand sculptures are doing. The sand is still compacting and drying, waiting to be carved…

Then farther down MLK Promenade I saw that the platform that will support the indoor maze of House of the Dragon has plastic walls. And I see two wraps up ahead, too!

What’s this on the Hilton Gaslamp? You tell me.

Wow–I see The Walking Dead is preparing to welcome people to their special Comic-Con event inside the Hilton Gaslamp hotel…

And look up ahead! That huge building wrap on the Omni hotel is enlarging.

I see it promotes FOX’s new animated comedy Krapopolis! (I wonder what those ancient Greeks would think about this?)

Lastly, I spied a big The Gray Man wrap on the San Diego Lions Manor building…

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click 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!