A big crowd is streaming toward the San Diego Convention Center for Comic-Con 2026 Preview Night. Fans are coming in on hotel buses. A huge line has formed in the Gaslamp Quarter for Paramount+ offsite The Lodge. Other offsite activations are putting on their final touches. There’s even a tiny bit of cosplay to be seen.
It must be late Wednesday afternoon!
Photos from a late walk…
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Another fun blog post full of photos taken while walking around San Diego before the start of Comic-Con 2026. It’s now Tuesday. Tomorrow is Preview Night.
Shop windows, activations rising, exhibitors arriving, a little cosplay–just random images!
Enjoy!
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Workers putting up building wraps and offsite activations have only four more full days to complete their work before the official start of Comic-Con 2026!
Early this (Saturday) evening I walked through downtown San Diego, through the Gaslamp Quarter, behind the San Diego Convention Center, and back to the Gaslamp. I photographed all sorts of Comic-Con preparations.
Enjoy these images. They provide an idea of what goes on before the start of our city’s epic international pop culture convention!
Sorry if I don’t provide much description this time. I’m tired. Gotta work again tomorrow…
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
These metal benches line the boardwalk behind the San Diego Convention Center. They face San Diego Bay. They were commissioned in 2008 and created by noted artist Nance O’Banion.
As her website explains: Nance produced 13 original designs, each of which was fabricated, once in its original form and once as a ‘mirror image’, in plasma-cut powder-coated steel. The installation of 26 art benches was titled Reverie.
I took these photos yesterday…
Today, a plaque can be seen embedded in the boardwalk near the benches, very close to the entrance to the Fifth Avenue Landing Superyacht Marina. It resembles the Reverie plaque shown in the gallery on Nance O’Banion’s website. The plaque includes her name and the same 2008 year.
But the title of the current plaque is different!
Why is the title Caesure, and not the original Reverie?
At some point, was the name of the installation changed to Caesure? The Latin word caesūra means “a cutting” or “a separation,” which might apply to the mirrored bench designs, or possibly how these benches were made.
Or . . . does Caesure concern another work of public art somewhere nearby? If so, what and where?
It’s a mystery with no solution that I can find!
If you know more about the history of this art bench installation, and why there have been different plaques with two different titles, please leave a comment!
UPDATE!
During a later walk along the boardwalk, I spotted a plaque titled Reverie. So that leaves the question: What was/is the public art titled Caesure?
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The fun has officially begun this Thursday morning at Comic-Con 2025!
Fans are streaming into the San Diego Convention Center, long lines have formed at the many offsite activations, and cosplay has appeared everywhere downtown!
That’s Mario and Donkey Kong in the above photograph riding through the Gaslamp Quarter!
There was a Thursday morning line at the Pendry Hotel for the Donut Bar’s special donuts…
A line outside the Hard Rock Hotel for Spider-Man Magic: the Gathering.
People head toward the San Diego Convention Center past the Percy Jackson offsite in Gaslamp Square.
Check out this cool Code Vein II motorcycle!
Hot dogs!
Friendly masked Green Lantern had some cool comic books on a table along MLK Promenade.
A line of Abbott Elementary fans wait for the Block Party to open!
The line ends way over here!
Super Toucan chalk art on the bayside boardwalk!
The center of excitement: the San Diego Convention Center.
A steady stream of fans were arriving from their hotels by bus.
Get your 2025 San Diego Comic-Con shirt near the Interactive Zone at Petco Park.
Yes, there will be lots of trash.
The Thunderbolts ice cream truck would begin serving at 10 am.
A fun Phineas and Ferb photo op tucked away near the Percy Jackson offsite.
On the other side…
The Gray Sisters taxi outside the Percy Jackson offsite…
An example of cool cosplay on Thursday morning, back on MLK Promenade…
San Diego Comic-Con sights everywhere you turn! I love it!
C-3PO occupies the Coca Cola Star Wars box office!
Now that’s scary!
Heading back up Fifth Avenue. Another long offsite line. This is for The Lodge, promoting Paramount+ shows.
Hello there. This must be San Diego Comic-Con!
King of the Hill graphic at BAIT in the Gaslamp Quarter. Drinking in public gets one behind bars…
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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.
Comic-Con 2025 is about ready to begin in earnest! Fans are streaming into downtown San Diego for Preview Night!
My walk around the San Diego Convention Center and through the Gaslamp Quarter in the mid-afternoon kept my camera very busy.
Enjoy another collection of photos!
House of Blues has cool programming during Comic-Con 2025.These guys used lightsabers to remove a Predator’s head.All sorts of merch on display outside the Doctor Who offsite!Twisted activity expected here.Twisted Metal on Peacock graphic.Red Sonja is wanted by order of Emperor Draygan.Hot Wheels is back!Friendly sign spinner directs fans to the Comic-Con Blood Drive at the Manchester Grand Hyatt.Look at the line of buses!ABC will lift Abbott Elementary fans high into the San Diego sky.Graphics near entrance of the Voodoo Ranger offsite.Ramp down to Voodoo Ranger “pirate ship” has these cool graphics.Ahoy there, matey! Voodoo Ranger returns to Comic-Con.Looking south down the bayside boardwalk past King of the Hill’s offsite.Indiana Jones is here! Drinking from the Holy Grail has seemingly preserved his youth.Must Be This Crazy to Ride at Starr Park!Is that a cat mermaid at Adult Swim?Find two Smiling Friends at the Adult Swim activation behind the San Diego Convention Center.This way to Indigo Ballroom in the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.A view of offsites behind the convention center from the Hilton.Down there is the Superman offsite, a production of DC Comics and Old Spice. Does Superman sweat?This smiling guy wants you to ask questions!The Interactive Zone at Petco Park seems a bit sparse this year. At least, so far.The Labu-Tique Pop Up Shop at Petco Park!Lots of stuff has shown up near the Omni.That Thunderbolts graphic kind of looks like a cereal box.Yes, Stitch has huge ears.How adorable.Stitch surfs in San Diego!Spead ’em Nerds! I didn’t realize Liam Neeson can do the splits.A Triple Chocolate Feast sounds good right now.Fifth Avenue is going to be crazy the next four days!Cool sculpture at entrance to the Predator: Badlands activation.I’m not sure I’d want to be a friend of Frendo.Cheetos mascot on a bicycle!Coca Cola presents Holocreator starring you!Would you like to become a Sith?Fantastic Rewards can be grabbed by fans who enjoy the Google Play offsite.Mitchell, didgeridoo player from Balboa Park, has beamed down!Yikes! The Joker has arrived!
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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.
New stuff outside Comic-Con 2025 keeps popping up! Look what I stumbled upon while walking around downtown San Diego this afternoon, two days before Preview Night!
First, check out the Gaslamp Quarter sign! It has been taken over by The Bad Guys 2! Some panels were on the nearby sidewalk, too. Not sure where they’re going to be placed…
Workers were putting up large frames along Harbor Drive near the trolley tracks. And into the frames go Peacemaker graphics…
Still putting up Comic-Con graphics on the San Diego Convention Center…
The Gaslamp is filling up with Comic-Con goodness. Check out some of the awesome AMC graphics…
Work continues on the Percy Jackson offsite at Gaslamp Square…
A spaceship has landed at the southeast corner of the Hard Rock Hotel. I was told there will be a Predator: Badlands screening here!
The Rookie and Abbott Elementary building wraps on Petco Park grow…
That vertical banner workers were having trouble with this morning is now attached to the corner of the Hilton’s parking garage. It promotes Little Nightmares III.
Some cool graphics have appeared on one fence at the Alien: Earth offsite by FX.
Another surprise! I was told this offsite in the courtyard beside the Hilton San Diego Bayfront will concern Superman! It’s a collaboration between DC Comics and Old Spice. I’m told there will be photo ops.
Adult Swim is shaping up slowly…
The fun Abbott Elementary Block Party is also shaping up…
The Coca Cola/Star Wars activation is taking shape at First Avenue on MLK Promenade near Harbor Drive…
The Fantastic Four mural near their offsite is about done, looking cool…
I’ve come full circle back to the Gaslamp Quarter, where STARZ wraps are still being applied to the Hard Rock Hotel…
The IGN balcony is about ready at the Hard Rock. Which celebrities will be spotted here?
I peeked inside The Lodge and found Mission: Impossible!
Outside, Happy Does’ yellow smiley face has been replaced with the Paramount mountain logo!
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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.
With about three days to go until Comic-Con 2025’s Preview Night, new offsite activations and building wraps continue to appear! My previous blog posts provide a lot of the action up until now.
Early this morning I set out on a looping walk through downtown San Diego–through the Gaslamp Quarter, around the convention center, and back. Even as the city slept, workers were getting busy!
Check out some photos.
First off, Gaslamp Square is going to be the location of Disney’s Percy Jackson offsite. They were just beginning to set up as I walked past…
I’ll skip past the Fantastic Four and Doctor Who offsites. There was nothing going on, and it appeared they hadn’t made much progress since late yesterday.
I did notice the big Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wrap on the Marriott Marquis hotel is almost complete now!
Behind the San Diego Convention Center, the Abbott Elementary Ferris wheel appears to be somewhat assembled.
Guys were working on the entrance to the King of the Hill offsite…
The huge FX building wrap on the Hilton will take several days to finish. It promotes Alien: Earth…
I passed the quiet Adult Swim and FX offsites and crossed Harbor Drive, heading back to the Gaslamp Quarter.
Nothing on the grass that stretches near the Omni hotel yet.
The long Gen V wrap facing Fifth Avenue is expanding…
And, surprise! The Hard Rock Hotel’s wrap will be…STARZ! Workers got started on it this morning…
UPDATE!
I took a similar walk in the mid-afternoon. Here’s what I saw!
Surprising how quickly the STARZ building wrap on the Hard Rock Hotel was applied on the hotel’s Fifth Avenue side…
And across Fifth Avenue, the Gen V wrap was moving along…
Now I’m walking along San Diego Bay with the FX wrap and Abbott Elementary Ferris wheel in the distance…
The next two photos were taken from Embarcadero Marina Park South…
(The Alien: Earth graphic is looking cool!)
Back on the boardwalk behind the San Diego Convention Center, the Abbott Elementary Block Party has some graphics up…
King of the Hill’s entrance…
The Brawl Stars barge… (Whoever waved at me–hello!)
Looking over Adult Swim toward the Hilton…
Starbucks has the beginning of fun Scooby-Doo window graphics…
The FX offsite has added additional fences, making photos from the outside more difficult…
ABC television wrap just beginning to be applied to Petco Park…
Disney’s Percy Jackson offsite has a lot of metal, but no substance yet…
Up MLK Promenade, the Doctor Who offsite entrance is almost done, it appears…
Heading back toward the Gaslamp, The Fantastic Four offsite is looking epic. It’s almost Clobberin’ Time!
Finally, heading back north up Fifth Avenue, the sidewalk was closed in front of The Lodge. Lots of activity inside!
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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.
Four days to go until the start of Comic-Con 2025 in San Diego. And so many mysteries! And a surprise!
First, a mystery! Why are bales of hay being forklifted into the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter? And why is a lamppost and weathervane also heading into AMC’s Shudder offsite? Shouldn’t there be a scary clown and cornfield?
Next, a big surprise!
NBCUniversal will not have a prominent offsite at Gaslamp Square as they have for years on end. No–it’s going to be Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians!
Mystery!
What are those arches at The Fantastic Four/Google Play offsite? Will those large people movers take visitors through the Baxter Building, or perhaps through an interdimensional portal? Will Galactus be waiting around the corner?
Mystery!
What the heck are these things? Is this the beginning of the Doctor Who Black Archive offsite???
Mystery!
Will The Lodge promoting Paramount+ be as cool as ever?
Mystery!
Will the old ESRI conference building wrap on the Marriott Marquis hotel vanish before the cool new wrap for Star Trek is completed?
Mystery!
Why is the vintage trolley of MTS out and about? It usually rolls on holidays. Something up?
Mystery!
Did these guys at the FX Alien:Earth offsite catch the escaped xenomorph yet?
Mystery!
Why have trees suddenly sprouted outside the King of the Hill offsite fence?
Mystery!
What will become of people on the Brawl Stars island, Starr Park, should a large ship pass through the bay and create a huge wake?
Mystery!
How blazing hot will it be outside when Comic-Con 2025 opens in San Diego next Wednesday?
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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.
