Tag: cool

Free coronavirus hand sanitizer in San Diego!

This morning I headed down to Barrio Logan, just south of downtown San Diego, to pick up a free bottle of coronavirus killing hand sanitizer! I’d heard free bottles were being handed out on weekends by Liberty Call Distilling during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

When I arrived, I was greeted by a huge smile!

The Liberty Call Distillery and Restaurant appears to be a really cool place, located in Mercado del Barrio, just a block from Chicano Park. They distill a variety of spirits which they serve along with locally crafted beers and wine at their restaurant. Go to their website here if you’d like to check out their menu.

Once the lockdown on restaurants is lifted, they are ready to open and once again become a destination for those around San Diego who like good food and good times!

During the coronavirus pandemic, while supplies last, a free bottle of hand sanitizer, made on site, is handed out to all comers on Saturday and Sunday between 10 am and 2 pm. The spray sanitizer is a World Health Organization approved formula with 80% alcohol content that will effectively kill the COVID-19 virus.

I just used some on my hands when I got home and it smells great, too!

Thank you!

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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 photographs from museums around San Diego!

Museums around San Diego are currently closed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. So I thought you might enjoy exploring a collection of cool photographs from a wide variety of local museums!

Following are 41 links to blogs documenting past visits to museums, exhibitions and museum-like places that I found particularly interesting.

Hopefully you’ll be inspired to check out many of San Diego’s unique and amazing cultural attractions once the pandemic subsides and our world returns to normal!

Click the following links to see lots of cool photographs!

Visit a world-class map museum in La Jolla!

Art from the Mingei at Central Library gallery!

Photos of San Diego and Arizona Railway centennial!

History of IDW at San Diego Comic Art Gallery.

Joan Embery’s My Animal World at Bonita Museum.

Creativity at a museum helps to mend lives.

History of firefighting at San Diego Firehouse Museum.

San Diego’s early history at the Serra Museum.

Freedom Bell at Balboa Park’s Veterans Museum.

Little Italy’s history, culture at Amici House.

Quilters look to the stars for inspiration!

Threads of the Past: Living history in Old Town.

Amazing animal bronzes at San Diego Museum of Art!

A look inside the Portuguese Historical Center.

Art and architecture at La Jolla’s Athenaeum.

History at the Los Peñasquitos adobe ranch house.

Photos aboard historic steam ferryboat Berkeley.

Photos of National City Depot museum and streetcars!

Starfleet Museum’s future Picard exhibit in San Diego!

Fun art outside The New Children’s Museum!

A visit to the Air and Space Museum Annex!

Photos inside America’s most haunted Whaley House!

Steampunk vehicles exhibited in Balboa Park!

Photos of National City’s Heritage Square and Brick Row.

San Diego history at Old Town’s Wells Fargo museum.

The Art of Shag at the Comic-Con Museum!

Cold War history: How one man stopped World War III.

Planes and people on USS Midway’s flight deck.

Photos inside a World War II bunker on Point Loma.

Historical exhibit at Women’s Museum of California.

Historical exhibit features archives at City Hall.

Baseball history at San Diego Padres Hall of Fame.

Museum celebrates diversity in American baseball.

Paintings by Kadir Nelson exhibited in San Diego.

Rare cars, antiques at a surprising museum!

A visit to the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum.

History inside the William Heath Davis House.

Cool poster designs at SDSU Downtown Gallery!

Photos inside the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum.

Architecture and light at Timken Museum of Art.

Rare exhibition of Modern Masters from Latin America.

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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!

Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts.  If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!

To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Cool photo memories from April 2015.

Another weekend of staying mostly indoors. Hopefully the coronavirus pandemic will soon subside. For everyone’s sake.

Be careful out there!

We’re well into April, so I thought now might be a good time to once again look back five years.

Included in these old blog posts are photographs of two very cool things under construction: the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s replica Spanish galleon San Salvador, and downtown’s Horton Plaza Park.

Click the following links…

Photos: amazing tour of Spanish galleon build site!

History lives at English Village Fete in Balboa Park.

Spinning yarns (and twine) in old San Diego.

Art, smiles and activism at 2015 EarthFair!

San Diego museum honors Little League Champs!

Photos of Horton Plaza Park construction progress.

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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!

Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts.  If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!

To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Amazing desktop wallpapers of San Diego!

An amazing photograph of Balboa Park, perfect for your computer desktop wallpaper, provided by the San Diego Tourism Authority.
A breathtaking photo of Balboa Park, perfect for your desktop computer wallpaper, courtesy of the San Diego Tourism Authority.

I just made the above photograph the wallpaper background on my desktop home computer. It’s one of seven stunning images that were made available today by the San Diego Tourism Authority. I learned about it because I subscribe to their email list.

The amazing photos were sized to be used as Zoom video communication virtual backgrounds, but the high quality .jpg images also work perfectly as wallpaper on a computer.

Anyone can freely download beautiful images of Balboa Park, Torrey Pines, Cabrillo National Monument and Windansea.

To download these wallpapers, visit the San Diego Tourism blog by clicking here!

Another recent post links to amazing virtual experiences from around San Diego, including many of the city’s most popular attractions. You can access live webcams at the San Diego Zoo and the Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, go on a virtual tour of the USS Midway aircraft carrier and the San Diego Museum of Art, listen to world-class music by the San Diego Symphony, view clips from some of the Old Globe’s famous productions, and much more.

To check out these virtual San Diego experiences, click here!

Very cool, indeed!

Photos from 35 colorful festivals in San Diego!

San Diego is full of life!

Every year, dozens of colorful festivals around the city and county celebrate diverse cultures, themes, communities and historical moments. Those who participate enjoy great music, art, food and all sorts of unique entertainment, not to mention the cool vibe of America’s Finest City!

Over the past six and a half years, I’ve attended many of these festivals. I’ve met lots of amazing people and have taken hundreds of photographs.

Unfortunately, with the current coronavirus pandemic, nearly all public events scheduled for the first half of 2020 have been cancelled or postponed. So, as we wait for life to return to “normal,” wouldn’t it be fun to have another look at some past festivals?

I’ve selected 35 festivals that have been featured on Cool San Diego Sights!

To see lots of colorful photographs, click the following links:

A taste of the Lemon Festival in Chula Vista!

Photos of Vista’s Annual Viking Festival!

Photos of 2018 Cherry Blossom Festival!

Photos of good times at Chula Vista’s HarborFest!

Fun photos of Chula Vista’s Pacific Rim Festival!

Colorful photos of Escondido Tamale Festival!

Photos of cool sand sculptures at Sun and Sea Festival!

Scenes from Without Walls Festival 2019!

Colorful photos of Founders Day in Old Town.

Readers, writers gather for Festival of Books!

Great writing, reading celebrated at TwainFest!

Dancing with joy at a big Greek Festival!

Photos at kite festival in Ocean Beach!

Photos of North Park’s Day of the Dead festival!

Photos of San Diego Scottish Highland Games.

Memorial Day weekend at Festival of the Sea!

Street art painted live at North Park festival!

Cool discoveries at the Encinitas Street Fair!

Fun photos of Cinco de Mayo in Old Town!

Colorful photos of San Diego Tet Festival.

Photos of the colorful 2019 Mariachi Festival!

Fun stage dioramas at Paper Theatre Festival!

Smiles and culture at San Diego Multicultural Festival!

Photos of the San Diego Brazilian Day Festival!

Festival celebrates Wizard of Oz in Coronado!

Cool photos of the Imperial Avenue Street Festival!

Photos of the San Diego Wooden Boat Festival!

Festival recreates landing of explorer Cabrillo.

San Diego history comes alive at Fall Back Festival!

Photos of art come to life at CityFest in Hillcrest.

Photos of Fiesta del Sol in Solana Beach!

Smiles, life and culture at Pacific Islander Festival!

Celebrating San Diego history at Festival of the Bells.

Cool photos of fun, funky Ocean Beach Street Fair!

Culture and history celebrated at Festa in San Diego!

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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!

Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts.  If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!

To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Photos from 2019 San Diego Comic-Con!

Last year I took hundreds of photos while walking around 2019 San Diego Comic-Con. It’s something I’ve done for many summers now. Living downtown near the action is definitely a lot of fun!

2020 Comic-Con is still scheduled as of this moment, but the worldwide coronavirus pandemic has made the future of conventions and all public events uncertain. Hopefully the pandemic will subside by July and everyone can enjoy another great Comic-Con!

Meanwhile, I thought it would be fun to post some random photos from last year. Most are in no particular order.

Enjoy!

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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!

Cool photo memories from March 2015.

We’re well into March. Drizzly winter weather has returned to San Diego.

I haven’t been walking much this week, so I thought we might travel back in time and revisit some cool events from five years ago.

Click the following links!

Fun photos from today’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Creative kids paint San Diego River Estuary mural.

Photos of International Drone Day in San Diego.

International Day of Happiness in San Diego!

Kids explore science, engineering at STEM event.

Art, stories, dance at World Water Day Celebration.

Leonard Nimoy lives at Spock Block in Encinitas.

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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!

Walk under an enormous, historic tree!

Would you like to walk beneath the branches of one of the most impressive and beloved trees in San Diego?

I remember when I was a boy, people used to walk right up to the trunk of the huge Moreton Bay Fig tree in Balboa Park–that enormous tree just north of the Natural History Museum. Kids would even climb about its limbs. But over the years too many feet compacted the soil above the tree’s root system, threatening to kill it. So the historic tree, planted just before the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park, was fenced off to the public.

But there are plans that will allow people to approach this mighty tree once again!

A raised platform is to be built at the base of the Moreton Bay Fig. The structure will not interfere with the tree’s root system, which has been carefully mapped. Once the project is complete, the public will be able to more fully appreciate the beauty and majesty of this amazing 78 feet tall tree.

The Friends of Balboa Park, an organization whose mission is to preserve Balboa Park’s legacy for future generations, is raising money to construct the platform, and they could use a few more donations.

If you’d like to learn more about this cool project, and perhaps help out the Friends of Balboa Park, visit their website here!

Sign in Balboa Park describes Ficus macrophylla, the Moreton Bay Fig.
An old photograph from my blog of a sign in Balboa Park. It describes this particular Ficus macrophylla, or Moreton Bay Fig. The enormous tree is listed as a co-champion with the Santa Barbara Fig in the California Department of Forestry Registry of Big Trees.

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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!

Street art on the National City Mile of Cars.

One of my walks today was an easy loop through National City, which included a stretch of the Mile of Cars.

I ventured up National City Boulevard, north of Mile of Cars Way, wondering what I might discover. I knew I’d pass many car dealerships and parking lots filled with thousands of vehicles. But would I see any street art?

The few examples of art that I found were colorful and very cool!

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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!

Two cool, abstract murals at Bibbey’s!

Today I took two short walks in the South Bay. One of my modest adventures was near the Imperial Beach Pier.

I noticed that on Seacoast Drive, across from the pier, Bibbey’s gift shop now has two very cool murals, one painted on the south wall and one on the north. Both are super creative and contain all sorts of abstract characters, including kooky surfers, a mermaid, and what appear to be faceless underwater ball players!

That mural with elements from pop culture that I blogged about almost six years ago here seems to be long gone. Only the shark remains at the building’s southwest corner–an updated and rather fierce version!

UPDATE!

About a year later I walked past Bibbey’s again and took more photos…

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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!