That, of course, means the weekly La Mesa Classic Car Show was held this evening in the Village of La Mesa!
A large crowd was sitting along La Mesa Boulevard east of Spring Street, on sidewalk benches, on lawn chairs, or at tables outside restaurants, looking at cars as families passed by.
There were classic cars, lowriders, hot rods . . . cars that were perfectly restored or partially restored–it didn’t matter. And there were trucks, and vans, and uniquely modified vehicles that were one-of-a-kind. All were admired as works of art.
What an awesome event!
A community drawn together. Generations sharing one passion.
Voices sharing stories. . . the smell of food . . . the sound of a band playing nearby . . .
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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!
If you’re into Dragon Ball, but not in San Diego, you’ll probably like these photos. I took them today at the Bandai Namco activation that is outside at Comic-Con 2022.
If you are in San Diego, head behind the Marriott Marquis hotel to the large outdoor plaza near the Marina Office (the Marriott Hotel Marina Terrace). Once you see the big statues and flashy photo op panels, you’ll know you’ve arrived.
The public is welcome, I found no lines, and no Comic-Con badge is required! There are card and video games to play, lots of figurines to check out, and more. If you get there early in the day–they open at 10 am–swag is handed out!
As promised, here are my photos. The experience is as fun as it looks!
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!
It’s Thursday morning outside Comic-Con! The fun is ramping up!
I spotted more and more cosplay as fans streamed through the Gaslamp toward the San Diego Convention Center. Lines were already forming at the offsite activations, most of which open at ten o’clock. And a huge mass of humanity was crossing Harbor Drive, heading into their first day of Comic-Con!
I got a free NFT from those two guys above! They’re promoting a brand new game on Gamisodes called Inspector Gadget. (Which explains the very first photo of this blog post.)
Grab a redeemable card if you walk down MLK Promenade and happen to see a bunch of Inspector Gadgets!
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!
Local artist Optimus Volts can be found during Comic-Con at the Chuck Jones Pop Up Gallery.
I wandered into the pop up gallery yesterday afternoon, where I met Optimus Volts at a table displaying his work.
In addition to creating several really cool sculptures, he’d painted comic book covers and baseball cards, reimagining them using his own unique vision. Many of the superheroes and baseball players were given sugar skulls and surrounded with imagery associated with Mexico’s Day of the Dead!
Check it out!
Yes, that’s a baseball card of San Diego Padres hero Tony Gwynn!
Optimus Volts and other artists will be meeting the public and selling pieces of their work inside the Chuck Jones Comic-Con Pop Up Gallery through Sunday! The pop up gallery is located at 530 Sixth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter.
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!
The three Audible sand sculptures that are being carved along MLK Promenade for 2022 Comic-Con are nearly complete. And they are beyond amazing!
Check them out!
The artistry is right up there with that of world-class Sand Masters. You know, those internationally famous sand sculptors who’ve come to San Diego to compete many past summers, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
The extraordinary Comic-Con sculptures promote three of Audible’s original spoken word shows…
My favorite sand sculpture of the three promotes the Audible original Impact Winter.A second amazing sculpture promotes The Sandman. (Those figures are definitely sand!)And lastly, an intricate sand sculpture that promotes the Audible original Moriarty: The Devil’s Game. Looks to me like more sand carving will be done on this one before Comic-Con officially opens tomorrow!
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!
The amount of cool stuff popping up for 2022 Comic-Con is mind-blowing! A walk around downtown San Diego this Monday afternoon yielded more fun photos!
Among the burgeoning pop culture sights are vampire drinks, a large, rampaging Great Ape, a Starfleet Outpost, amazing sand sculptures, and some large, creepy dolls. And loads of the other stuff that I’ve already covered during previous walks!
I suppose what I really like about this time of year is how thousands of creative ideas suddenly come together and flower simultaneously in one place. It’s like some sort of human miracle.
Of course, the dreamers, creators, planners, builders, deciders all contribute innumerable hours of combined effort. But look what can suddenly arise if many minds and hands come together!
Why does so much of the popular culture center upon fantasy, science fiction, absurdity and horror? Because, I suppose, our brains are wired for survival. They become excited and active when faced by unknowns…
Crates that were marked Picard have been unloaded into the Starfleet Outpost, a Comic-Con offsite by Paramount+. The public can swing by starting Thursday. It’s located at Happy Does on Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter.Lots of colorful building wraps cover the Hilton Gaslamp. All four sides, in fact!Yikes. I knew Butt-Head would eventually show up.The three Audible sand sculptures on MLK Promenade are becoming more incredible as the sand artists do their thing.The modest Krapopolis offsite by FOX is a bit hidden, across from The New Childrens Museum. Hopefully people can find it. Look for the Super Slide sign above some trees.The big The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power wrap is coming along on one of the Marriott Marquis towers.It’s Great Ape Vegeta rampaging through the Bandai offsite behind the Marriott! I don’t think it can do much damage without its hands, however.Spotted in the distance between two crates.Looking at big The Rings of Power wrap from the San Diego Bay side.Forklifts lined up behind the San Diego Convention Center, with the American Horror Stories dolls wrap on the Hilton looking ever more creepy.Here come The Incredible Hulk! Thank goodness he’s in a good mood.Flying a kite where the Adult Swim on the Green has been in past years. I thought Abbott Elementary was going to set up somewhere back here, but I don’t see them yet.As I crossed the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge, I saw several large The Rookie wraps going up on Petco Park. Those workers on super duper cherry pickers work fast.Well, whoever is going to build the Petco Park Interactive Zone here better get busy. They have two days to do it!The Rookie: Feds is being promoted by ABC at 2022 Comic-Con in a big way!And the big Krapopolis wrap on the Omni, promoting an upcoming animated FOX show, is almost done.Someone checks their phone beneath the IGN balcony outside the Hard Rock Hotel. Keep your eyes on this balcony for celebrities during Comic-Con.NBCUniversal is getting their NBCU Corner ready now. I see a bunch of Good Guys graphics. Those might be going into the Tin Fish.Quantum Leap is back on NBC this Fall.And here is Reginald the Vampire, coming to Syfy. No, I’m not thirsty. Thank you.
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!
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!
The Comic-Con crowds typically gather within a few blocks of the San Diego Convention Center. As you head north up Fifth Avenue you see fewer and fewer attendees–mostly those walking to and from downtown hotels.
But there are a couple of cool shops on Fifth Avenue on the block just south of Broadway that you might want to check out!
You might remember BAIT hosted a special Gundam event a few years ago. Well, they’re still there, and the store has plenty of pop culture merch, including some super sized collectible figures…
And check out a brand new shop located just a few doors up from BAIT.
Bard & Cards is a game store, with a big selection of board games, miniature games and RPGs…
I noticed as I walked by their window this afternoon they’ll be hosting several Comic-Con events, too. Check it out!
On Thursday, July 21 at 7 pm there will be a Kraken Dice Ultra-Chonky D20 Launch Event.On Friday, July 22 at 2 pm there will be a New Game Launch. Card game Trickdraw.On Saturday, July 23 at 1 pm there will be a signing and meet and greet with B. Dave Walters, the author of Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish.
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!
Look at this! Even more cool stuff is appearing in downtown San Diego on the Sunday before 2022 Comic-Con!
A castle has materialized, Batman has arrived (in two places that I saw), and a couple of Comic-Con offsite activations have begun construction. I spied something awesome going past on a forklift and a mysterious something you might help me identify!
Workers getting everything ready have three more days. And the big Petco Park Interactive Zone is still a parking lot full of cars. Better get busy!
Some signs for the Comic-Con Shuttle Bus Stops are out on sidewalks already.A unique Batmobile has arrived! I saw this cool vehicle by the Hard Rock Hotel. I was told it belongs to a perennial Batman cosplayer!The NBCU Corner by the Tin Fish is just beginning to set up. I was told the inside of the Tin Fish restaurant will be modified for Comic-Con.Padres fans chill out at Gaslamp trolley station as Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty pass by.The very cool Severance wrap on the Hard Rock Hotel seems to be finished.The Krapopolis wrap on the Omni is nearly done.The Shrek dragon Elizabeth is romping across the Starbucks window at the Hilton Bayside.Okay, guys. I told you I’d include your photo. Having too much fun by a creepy forest, which has been installed at the FX activation near the Hilton.A gloomy gray, creepy look at the American Horror Stories wrap in progress. It was overcast in the mid-afternoon.Woohoo! Crates full of Bandai props have arrived behind the Marriott near the marina. Dragon Ball is coming!Multiple crates indicate Statue of Great Ape Vegeta. Must be huge. Maybe it’s mislabeled, and it’s actually Grape Ape…Look what I spotted on multiple forklifts passing by on the bayfront walkway. It looks like some Comic-Con swag bags will feature a Jim Lee design. (Possibly more than one!)Marriott Welcomes Comic-Con 2022.Look at what’s being attached to the Manchester Grand Hyatt’s parking garage! Batman on a big banner!Batman, Robin and Batgirl are coming this Fall to Cartoonito on HBO Max.Workers are still getting the Super Slide ready at the FOX Krapopolis offsite. Kids across the street at The New Childrens Museum were gazing at the slide dreamily.The Gray Man offsite for Comic-Con is coming along rapidly.I suppose we’ll be walking through there.They were testing the big video screen.The Audible sand sculptures are materializing slowly. They’re really cool.A creepy sand skull!On the Hilton Gaslamp we’re informed that Beavis and Butt-Head are the heroes that we deserve. Thanks a lot.Woah! The House of the Dragon offsite will be a big castle! What lurks inside? A dragon? It must have very large and tough claws.Star Trek’s 10 Forward is now located at 100 North Forward Avenue, by the Happy Does smiley.Do those doors slide open with a quick swoosh?A prop on the sidewalk outside the Star Trek: Picard offsite activation, now being built. Does this futuristic contraption mix matter and antimatter? Or strong drinks?
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!
Are you ready to face overwhelming evil? Have you the courage to ride with terrifying monsters or a brilliant criminal mastermind?
During 2022 Comic-Con, you might need all of your strength and wits should you jump aboard the Doom Breaker bus from WEBTOON, or the Moriarty: The Devil’s Game trolley from Audible!
I spotted both of these vehicle wraps today while walking around downtown.
The Doom Breaker bus appears to be for charter; the awesome Moriarty wrap on the San Diego Trolley is the latest of many cool trolley wrap designs this year!
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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 