Tag: cool

A cool Car and Bike Show in City Heights!

A very cool Car and Bike Show was held this afternoon in City Heights!

The event took place in the outdoor community gathering place on University Avenue just east of Interstate 15. If you’ve ever driven by, you’ve probably noticed all the sculptures and murals and the circus tent. Yes, that place!

My friends at Love City Heights put on this show, which featured not only amazing cars and bikes, but vendors and artists and food and music and a bunch of great people!

I took photos as I walked around enjoying myself. Read the captions!

Perfect day for a car show in City Heights! (Okay, the weather was a bit hot.)
Cool cars parked near some outdoor sculptures that were created earlier this year by City Heights residents.
Check out the awesome new mural on a shipping container painted yesterday by GMONIK!
One of my favorites!
Are these the coolest bikes you’ve ever seen, or what?
The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition was present, fixing up bikes! They have workshop in a corner of this City Heights lot.
Smiles appear at the KNSJ radio table!
All sort of crafts were for sale by vendors under the outdoor Fern Street Circus tent.
You see that beautiful blue pillow by The Urban Art Shop? It’s mine now! (According to their website, they are located at 4201 University Avenue, San Diego, CA 92105, United States, Northern American Continent, Earth, Solar System, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Virgo Supercluster, Universe, Third Dimension.)
These smiling faces belong to the Speeding Crow Pressing Co. They make custom apparel and goods!
Artwork created by Andrew Greyeyes. He has also painted murals in City Heights!

If you want to see two fun, very colorful City Heights murals painted by Andrew Greyeyes, click here and here!

A cool Car and Bike Show (and a new GMONIK mural) comes to City Heights!

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Fierce new City Heights mural by GMONIK!

Look what was painted yesterday in City Heights!

You can see this bold new artwork on University Avenue, just east of Interstate 15, in an outdoor space where a variety of community events are held. It’s a fierce new mural on a shipping container painted by artist GMONIK!

If you’ve driven through City Heights, it’s likely you’ve seen other colorful art by GMONIK. Check out past photographs here and here.

I spied this brand new mural during a visit to the Car and Bike Show held at this location today. I’ll be sharing pics of that cool event shortly!

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Stepping into the Art Alley on Cedros!

In Solana Beach, at 320 Cedros Avenue, there’s a surprising art museum . . . outdoors! I just happened to discover the Art Alley on Cedros during my recent walk through the very hip Cedros Avenue Design District.

Anybody can freely wander off the street and into the alley to experience a motley collection of colorful (and groovy) artwork!

I walked the length of the alley and discovered a variety of painted “canvases” including car hoods, skateboards and surfboards, beautiful photographs, unique objects and sculptures, a watery blue mosaic along one alley wall, and many fun, nostalgic pieces that celebrate popular music from the past.

It looks like the Art Alley on Cedros has a Facebook page.

This is some of what I observed…

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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!

Wavy, twisted metal poles spell ART!

Observe this series of photographs and you’ll see some of the coolest public art in San Diego!

Viewed from one particular spot, these twisty wavy metal poles rising 25 feet above the beach turn into the word ART!

The delightful sculpture, titled Banner Art, was created by John Banks in 2006. It was commissioned by the Port of San Diego and the City of Imperial Beach.

You can find this optical revelation near the corner of Imperial Beach Boulevard and Seacoast Drive.

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Hippie Dog in an Ocean Beach alley!

There’s a mural in an Ocean Beach alley that perfectly captures the vibe of this laid-back San Diego community. The spray painted artwork depicts a Hippie Dog!

I saw the mural today as I walked down Cable Street, just south of Newport Avenue. It’s on one side of Maxoto Auto Service.

The artist is @monocrew, and I see from their Instagram page the mural is a tribute to nearby Dog Beach and a particular dog named Tigger. It was painted back in February this year.

That’s one very cool dog!

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

The downtown Silver Line resumes service!

The San Diego Trolley’s Silver Line recently returned to service. After a long period of inactivity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the historic cars that operate on the downtown loop route can now be seen on weekends!

Late this morning I enjoyed the Lemon Festival in Chula Vista. (I’ll blog about that event shortly!) I then returned downtown, hopped onto beautiful vintage PCC streetcar 530 and rode much of the Silver Line loop.

As we headed down the track, curious people on sidewalks watched us and listened to the car ding-dinging with astonished eyes.

Learn more about the Silver Line and its restored trolley cars 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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Lowrider, motorcycle, hot rod art at Summer Madness!

Check out these photos of cool artwork spotted today at the Summer Madness By the Bay Car Show!

The big free public event, which draws car clubs from all over Southern California, was held in downtown San Diego at Embarcadero Marina Park North. I was told over four hundred vehicles were on display.

In addition to artistically decorated motorcycles and hot rods, I saw row after row of mind-blowing lowriders.

Super creative artwork could be found on hoods, under hoods, on roofs, on panels, doors, bumpers, engines . . . pretty much anywhere you can add paint or chrome!

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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!

Cool barber shop mural in North Park!

Check out this cool new mural on the side of Matte Blvck Cuts & Shaves in North Park!

It was painted in 2021 by artist Clarione Gutierrez-Owens. He is also a live speed-painter who has performed at Downtown Disney, the San Diego Zoo, Legoland. Here’s his website.

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Lowriders gather for Chicano Park Vive!

Chicano Park Vive! is a series of festive events taking place this summer in Barrio Logan. Families and neighbors gather in Chicano Park for entertainment, cultural enrichment, food and fun. The community events promote “Healing, Educating and Leading.”

Today the theme was lowriders!

I arrived in the early afternoon and was wowed by all the cool vehicles displayed by several lowrider clubs. Dozens of amazing lowriders lined the street, well beyond Chicano Park.

Another simultaneous event, called the Viva La Frida celebration, was taking place along Logan Avenue, making the entire area feel like one huge party!

Chicano Park Vive! is brought to the community by the Turning Wheel Project, the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center, the Chicano Park Steering Committee, and The San Diego Foundation.

I noticed the Turning Wheel Project was featuring their mobile classroom, which I visited a couple years ago in Chula Vista. You can see what I discovered back then by clicking here!

Today I learned that the Director of The Turning Wheel Project, Alberto López Pulido, PhD, Professor of Ethnic Studies at University of San Diego, wrote a book concerning our city’s lowriders! It’s titled San Diego Lowriders: A History of Cars and Cruising. You can find that book here!

I was told by the professor himself that next Sunday about a hundred dancers will be performing at Chicano Park Vive! The theme will be danza. You can bet I’ll be there!

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

The mysterious Coastal Helix sculpture in Carlsbad!

Have you ever wondered about that mysterious shining sculpture in the traffic roundabout at the north end of Carlsbad? You know, where Carlsbad Boulevard meets State Street, just south of the Buena Vista Lagoon?

The fantastic sculpture is titled Coastal Helix. It was created by California artist Roger White Stoller in 2014. Learn more about him here.

As you drive past the silvery flame-like public artwork, watching for merging traffic, you can’t fully appreciate it.

During my walk up the Coast Highway last weekend in Carlsbad I approached Coastal Helix and took a variety of photos. You can see how small stories appear to be told in the metalwork. One sees birds, frogs, surfers, and many other lively elements all mixed together.

According to the artist’s description here: “A celebration of the Pacific Ocean and coastal lagoons, the stainless pattern incorporates abstracted imagery of local flora and fauna: a whale, pelican, heron, crab, bird-of-paradise, waves and many more elements can be discovered. Gateway to the city, it stands atop artisan boulders built by Boulderscape and designed to replicate the local sandstone cliffs…”

These coastal inhabitants all seem to have spiraled upward mysteriously from the rocks upon which the sculpture is perched.

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!