The electric wicker cart Electriquettes are returning to Balboa Park in early 2016!
The wicker carts are returning to Balboa Park! What fun!
The now famous electric motorized wicker carts were introduced to Balboa Park one hundred years ago for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. They were called Electriquettes. They were an enormous success!
Starting in early 2016–perhaps February I was told–visitors to Balboa Park will be able to rent the new wicker carts at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. The test program will run for a year, and I hope it’s successful!
I learned that the carts travel at about 2-3 miles per hour, an easy-going speed appropriate for a pedestrian and family-friendly city park. As I understand it, the carts will be restricted to Balboa Park’s core area. They appear super easy to operate–one just steers and applies power! Perhaps the coolest thing is that these vehicles are a reasonably close representation of the original Electriquettes.
The Electriquettes began running toward the end of March! I even saw a couple driving about the Plaza de Panama, but didn’t have my camera handy! I’ve learned they can be rented right in front of the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center!
An Electriquette is displayed in Balboa Park, in anticipation of the vehicle’s reintroduction. The unique wicker carts will be rented by visitors at the Air and Space Museum.Old photograph of an original Electriquette in San Diego’s Balboa Park a century ago.Introduced at the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park, the historical wicker Electriquettes are making a comeback! Very cool!
Super cool mural in North Park at the intersection of 30th Street and Gunn Street.
This morning, before the threatened rain could begin, I took a long walk through San Diego’s very cool North Park neighborhood. I took lots of pics! I’ll be sharing many of them in the days ahead.
I’ve often admired this super colorful mural while driving down 30th Street. As the years have passed, I’ve also noted that the images have changed. After a little searching on Google, I see this mural is part of the “North Park Mural Project” and I identified a few of the artists. Check out the captions!
Right panel of awesome North Park mural contains the word Esperanza, which is Spanish for Hope.Another section of this cool public artwork depicts a large red rose, among buildings and interesting patterns. Created by Kreashun.Spray paint art by San Diego artist Maxx Moses. A character composed of many diverse elements, beneath the words Place Labels on Us From Childbirth.A beautiful figure seems to pray in a wreath of roses.A childlike blue face and long, colorful wavy hair, created by Gloria “GLOW” Muriel.This street art is on the same building. It reads Reality is Wrong. Dreams Are For Real. Hooligan Arts.Cool street art at 30th and Gunn, part of the North Park Mural Project.
Member of the San Diego Argonauts gets ready to place a small sailboat into Vacation Isle’s model yacht pond.
A silvery sheet of water near the center of Vacation Isle is where dreams take sail. Tiny dreams with tiny sails.
Today I took a long meandering walk about Mission Bay, and spent a fair amount of time lingering around what is simply called the model yacht pond. Connected to the bay with an underground pipe, the pond rises and falls with the ocean’s tides. The tranquil sheet of saltwater, surrounded by grass, trees and the many picnic benches of Vacation Isle Park, has been enjoyed by model boat hobbyists for over half a century.
A very cool club called the San Diego Argonauts utilizes the model yacht pond for radio control model boating and racing. Every Saturday morning, their Scale Boat Division runs electric and steam-powered craft on the pond. Many of the tiny vessels are remarkably detailed, even museum quality. One tiny tugboat even blew its horn at me while I took some photographs!
Saturday afternoons is when the wind-driven sailboats come out to compete or practice. The Sail Division of the San Diego Argonauts has many skippers who’ve won National Championships!
Today I saw so many sails at once, I could hardly believe it! The model yacht pond was the scene of a glorious regatta. These model boat sails tack by remote control, so racing around the tiny floating buoys requires many of the same strategies as racing a full-size sailboat!
On Sunday the pond features model power boats, which can reach speeds of 60 miles per hour! I’ll definitely have to check that out one weekend! I’ll take pictures!
Model boating is a fascinating, beautiful hobby to watch. I’ll bet it’s a lot of fun building a boat and watching it float across this magical pond!
A scale boat enthusiast spends part of his Saturday in San Diego’s sunny Vacation Isle Park.Two electric-powered model boats navigate by radio control across the smooth pond.This small tugboat blew it’s horn as I took this photo!A model sailboat is made ready. The friendly guy who owns this boat showed me how the sails are moved by remote control.Another member of the San Diego Argonauts wheels his sailboat down to the bank of the model yacht pond.Wading out, in order to place one model sailboat into the water.The miniature boats look beautiful on the gleaming water. They operate in the ocean breeze much like actual sailboats.Three model sailboats tack to go around a tiny buoy.The model yacht pond can be found near the center of San Diego’s huge Mission Bay Park, which is the largest urban aquatic park in the United States.Many sails float dreamlike across the blue water.A fun day in the park for young and old alike.
The Art of Music is a cool exhibition “now playing” at the San Diego Museum of Art. Depicted in this poster is Fernando Botero’s painting Dancing in Columbia, 1980.
Do you love beautiful music? Do you appreciate fine art?
Answer yes to both questions, and you have two compelling reasons to visit an exhibition “now playing” at the San Diego Museum of Art!
The Art of Music explores the intersection of art and music throughout world history, from ancient times to the present. Visitors to the San Diego Museum of Art will experience a large variety of paintings, posters, sculptures and film, depicting musicians, dancers and various aspects of life that are splashed with the colors of music. Visitors will also enjoy seeing many extraordinarily beautiful musical instruments, historical objects related to music, and encounter surprising sounds at every turn.
My museum docent friend Catherine recently provided another great tour! There was so much to absorb, so many cool sights and sounds, that I hardly know how to translate my feelings into words. I could’ve spent many hours just lingering. The experience was almost like standing on stage during a symphony orchestra’s performance, and turning slowly around with eyes and ears wide open.
I was absolutely floored by the impressive sweep of this exhibit, and the number of pieces by important artists. I noted works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Salvador Dalí, William Hogarth, Toulouse-Lautrec, Jasper Johns and John Baldessari, a highly regarded artist who grew up in National City in San Diego’s South Bay.
The very first piece visitors encounter is Baldessari’s Beethoven’s Trumpet (with Ear) Opus #127, a fun sculpture which perfectly captures the essence of what is to come. Press your own ear against the ear trumpet and you’ll hear musical notes penned centuries ago by Beethoven, as if they’re emerging from the famous composer’s brain!
In other rooms, visitors can listen to a statuette of a satyr playing the pipes of Pan, a qin from China dating from the 19th century, or an absolutely gorgeous 18th century harpsichord that was converted to a piano.
One amazing room in the exhibit contains the Microtonal Wall, created by Tristan Perich in 2011. A large section of wall contains 1,500 small speakers, which are tuned individually to create a complex and interesting continuum of pitch. The interactive experience was so fascinating, I ended up walking with my ear close to the wall bobbing up and down like a mesmerized chicken!
Another dazzling room is filled to the brim with psychedelic concert posters from the 1960s! Aficionados of this type of artwork will find themselves in heaven!
The Art of Music features so much cool stuff, and such variety, I couldn’t possibly describe it all here. You really have to go see for yourself. I’m no expert when it comes to either art or music, but I found myself completely enthralled!
Here are a few samples of what you’ll experience…
People head up steps from Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama to visit the wonderful San Diego Museum of Art.Neck-Amphora with Apollo Playing the Cithara, and Hermes, Athena and Dionysus. Greece, Attica, circa 510 B.C. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.Shiv Chand, Madhumadhavi Ragini of Bhairav, ca. 1690. The San Diego Museum of Art.Lyre Guitar, early 19th century. The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Childe Hassam, The Sonata, 1893. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s first poster, Moulin Rouge – La Goulue, which introduced into poster design a bold simplification of form, space and composition learned from Japanese woodblock prints.Beauford Delaney, Marian Anderson, 1965. J. Harwood and Louise B. Cochrane Fund for American Art. Depicts renowned singer who was the first African American artist to perform at the White House, in 1936.Hans Burkhardt, Sex Pistols, 1981. Courtesy Jack Rutberg Fine Arts Hans G. and Thordis W. Burkhardt Foundation.John Baldessari, Beethoven’s Trumpet (with Ear) Opus #127, 2007. Beyer Projects.
The Art of Music lives in San Diego!
Go check it out! The Art of Music, at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park, runs through February 7, 2016.
Benjamin Franklin with his famous kite, and Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb and phonograph, are depicted on a very unique mural in Ocean Beach.
Here’s a cool (and somewhat unusual) mural that I spotted on a wall next to a parking lot in Ocean Beach. It’s called History of Electricity! Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi and Alessandro Volta share the OB streets with images of pop culture icons and surfers!
This artwork was created by Janis Ambrosiani of Walls With A View. Take a look!
Janis Ambrosiani of Walls With A View painted History of Electricity in Ocean Beach. OB is a cool, laid-back neighborhood with lots of colorful street art.Guglielmo Marconi was instrumental in the development of the radio.Alessandro Volta invented the electrical battery.Electricity has become a modern necessity. Technology is the backbone of our day-to-day living and central feature of 21st century culture.
…
Follow this blog for more photos of cool stuff! Join me on Facebook or Twitter.
View of the lit dome of San Diego’s downtown library, seen from the 9th floor at night.
Yesterday evening after work I walked a bit in the darkness. The air was cool, downtown was quieting. I was drawn to the San Diego Central Library, and of course I had to ascend to the 9th floor. Few others were about. I lingered high above the city, outside under the lattice steel dome. I watched small trolleys slip past below. A thousand distant lights stretched toward the South Bay. The world seemed remote. Paths of gentle light were traced above, around and below. I seemed to float in a swirled galaxy; but I saw no stars.
Inside a glowing steel lattice. The new library’s dome in the past couple years has become a distinctive feature of San Diego’s skyline.Gazing through the unique dome toward the 12th and Imperial Transit Center’s clock tower.Nine stories below, a trolley heads north into the heart of East Village.Looking down into the large reading room of the San Diego Central Library after dark. Under the dome, people were quietly studying, or just gazing out into the nighttime.Meshed paths of light seem to radiate like a halo from the top of San Diego’s amazing downtown library.
…
Follow this blog for more photos of cool stuff! Join me on Facebook or Twitter.
Amazing 28 foot tall Robot Resurrection stands in Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama during 2015 Maker Faire San Diego!
Get ready to see some super cool stuff! Here are a bunch of photos I took at Maker Faire San Diego this morning. The festival, which celebrates human creativity, with an emphasis on engineering and technology, is being held in Balboa Park all weekend long!
2015 Maker Faire in San Diego offers young and old a glimpse of what creators, dreamers and inventors are up to. Here we see some projects of San Diego City Robotics.Checking out a 3D printer at the San Diego Public Library table at Maker Faire. The downtown library is about to expand their Innovation Lab and will have nine 3D printers!Four of these funny cupcakes cars were cruising around Plaza de Panama and up and down El Prado.This guy was showing how he employs magnets in very unique bicycle wheel hubs that he produces.Photo display shows how guitar building–including cutting, drilling, shaping, sanding and dipping–inspires STEM learning.Wow! Maker Faire is about to officially open and Robot Resurrection has begun to shoot flames from its fingers! Let’s check it out!According to Shane Evans, maker of the giant robot, we humans have all become automatons in a highly controlled world.Robot Resurrection has been joined by the famous 17 foot tall mechanical walking Electric Giraffe!Local company Qualcomm had a large exhibit showcasing their electronic chips, some drones, and this little remote control race course which utilizes smart phones.Another fun part of the Qualcomm exhibit at Maker Faire. Robots stack blocks, then cross a finish line.Down by the Balboa Park reflecting pool I discovered something really awesome. It’s a Victorian-era whimsical flying machine!This fantastic, imaginative creation is called the Strato Sculpin. It’s a project of the Starburner Galactic Courier Service, a local steampunk group!Here are some members of the cool group engaged in steampunk cosplay!Smiling members of the Starburner Galactic Courier Service. They are the galaxy’s only bonded courier service operating throughout time and space!This cool guy with the big wheeled penny-farthing bicycle is often seen around Balboa Park. He has appeared in other blog posts. I spoke briefly with him and he’s really nice!But his big wheel can’t compare to this! Coming down El Prado, this awesome personal transportation doohickey looks like it arrived from another world!And here comes another cool rolling steampunkish robot thingamajig. How cool is this? Human imagination on display at Maker Faire!Shortly after 10:30, San Diego Mayor Faulconer welcomed the attendees to the first annual Maker Faire.I couldn’t believe how much press was gathered for the event. If you live in San Diego, I’m sure you’ll see it on the television news!Jorge Astiazaran, the Mayor of Tijuana, Mexico speaks about our two cities collaborating in various areas, including technology.After the brief ceremony and speeches, I headed to the fountain by the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Lots more cool stuff was attracting a crowd.Back down El Prado, and now the Electric Giraffe is on the move! This creation has been featured on national media, and even was tickled by President Obama.Not only do the neck and head move, but it talks! The head is equipped with webcam eyes and special touch-sensitive sensors.Russell the Electric Giraffe, also named Rave Raff, heads down El Prado in the heart of Balboa Park!A costume zone near the Japanese Friendship Garden had stuff that looked like a combination of Star Wars and steampunk! Chewbacca is wearing some goggles!The huge Battlepond near the San Diego Air and Space Museum had sea battles taking place! The Western Warship Combat Club makes radio-controlled model ships which engage in real combat!National University’s School of Engineering and Computing had a futuristic vehicle on display.Some artists by the San Diego Automotive Museum were painting a nearby Prius!Compressed air launched rockets high into the sky, to the delight of kids!Holy mackerel! Look at this thing! It’s a gigantic robot spider, or something! Wow!I didn’t get the name of this amazing, jaw-dropping contraption, but a close examination shows that it actually walks on those spider-like legs!Leonardo Da Vinci was the ultimate innovator. The world famous San Diego Air and Space Museum has a special exhibition about the legendary Renaissance inventor.These kids are playing human foosball by the Hall of Champions!The Drones and Outdoor Play zone had lots of material for young, imaginative creators to assemble.A free spirit parked their car nearby. You are more than any mind can or could understand.A delightfully painted car topped with flower pots!San Diego’s first ever Maker Faire is a huge success. There are so many cool things to see, your eyes will pop clean out of your head!
…
Follow this blog for more photos of unbelievably cool stuff! Join me on Facebook or Twitter.
Robot Resurrection is being assembled for Maker Faire, which takes place in Balboa Park this weekend!
A super gigantic fire-breathing robot is coming! You don’t believe me? I saw it today!
The amazing 28 foot tall mechanical man will be drawing a crowd in Balboa Park during the big Maker Faire event this weekend, but right now it’s lying in the Plaza de Panama being assembled!
Robot Resurrection, the name of the giant robot, is actually an articulating sculpture made from 95% airplane parts, piloted by a human operator in the metal torso. The cool creation is the brainchild of Shane Evans, who is based in Denver, Colorado. Robot Resurrection has thrilled kids and adults alike at Maker festivals all around the country!
Maker Faire kicks off Saturday at 10 am. At this epic celebration of technological and artistic innovation, all sorts of inventions and gizmos will be outside on display, including cupcake cars, a giant 12 foot electric giraffe, drones, and something called a Battlepond! Ten of Balboa Park’s museums will also participate, with related exhibits and cool events of their own! If you like this sort of stuff, you’d better go check it out! I’ll definitely be there!
Maker Faire San Diego will include many cool sights up and down El Prado, including the Imagining Zone!Robot Resurrection will stand 28 feet tall when ready to go. It will move its arms about and shoot fire from its mouth and fingers.Getting a giant robot ready to thrill thousands at Maker Faire San Diego in Balboa Park.I was told this is one of Robot Resurrection’s feet.And here’s the futuristic-looking head. It kind of appears like a robot from an old sci-fi movie or the cover of a vintage science fiction magazineFlames will be shooting from the mouth of Robot Resurrection! I’ll try to get photos!Working inside the robot’s torso on late Friday.This complicated creation arose from an airplane junkyard and one man’s fantastic, unfettered dreams.
…
Follow this blog for more awesome stuff! Join me on Facebook or Twitter.
Public art on display in downtown San Diego’s dynamic Horton Plaza shopping mall.
I made a cool discovery today! I was walking through Horton Plaza, downtown’s extremely unique shopping mall and popular tourist destination, when I noticed that some art was being displayed on a lower level. A sign indicated that Horton Plaza is showcasing the work of local San Diego artists. Great idea! Here are some pics!
The San Diego artist Beau Carney was born and raised in Southern California. He works with a variety of mediums.Some very colorful painted work by Beau Carney.Public art and other unexpected discoveries add character to a very unique shopping mall.Westfield Horton Plaza supports local artists. For information on how to showcase your art, contact hortonplaza@westfield.comA few early evening visitors to Horton Plaza mall in downtown San Diego walk past cool artwork created by a local artist!One last photo of eye-catching panels by local San Diego artist Beau Carney!
…
Follow this blog for more photos of cool San Diego stuff! Join me on Facebook or Twitter.
This astonishing ceiling impressed San Diego Trust and Savings Bank customers back in 1928, when it originally debuted.
There are many amazing hotels around San Diego, especially downtown. Several of the hotels are located in historic old buildings. For several months, the San Diego Trust and Savings Bank Building (1928), now occupied by Courtyard by Marriott, has been undergoing outside restoration. A few days ago I noticed that much of the work has been completed, so I decided to go inside the lobby to ask a question or two. And wow!
This was my first time inside the truly eye-popping lobby. Look at the ceiling! The old bank hall, which now welcomes hotel guests, appears almost like the interior of some medieval church, with its arches, vaulted doors, medallions, bronze window grilles and a 32-foot high colorfully painted coffered ceiling. Also reflecting the building’s Italian Romanesque Revival architectural style, the grand interior contains 35 decorative columns with Corinthian capitals, chiseled from 19 different types of marble from around the world. Additionally, the walls, counters, pilasters and floor all feature rich imported marble.
The elegant building, which was constructed with the finest materials available at the time, was designed by notable architect William Templeton Johnson, who is also credited for the San Diego Museum of Art and Natural History Museum buildings in Balboa Park, the Serra Museum in Presidio Park, and the La Jolla Athenaeum. He is also one of the architects responsible for the San Diego County Administration Center.
I was told by a friendly front desk clerk that the restoration involved patching cracks in the building’s exterior. Looks to me like somebody did a good job!
Photo of the San Diego Trust and Savings Bank Building taken from one block east on Broadway. The 14-story structure is topped with a two-story penthouse and cupola.Flag on stately exterior of Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Downtown.Plaque at 530 Broadway. This property has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior.Elegant bronze and glass entrance to the eye-popping lobby of the Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Downtown.Stand inside the old bank hall and gaze upward. You’ll think your visiting a fantastic cathedral or medieval building in Europe.The welcoming interior of a modern hotel. An historical building smartly preserved and repurposed.I like this cheerful painting of a girl lying on a turtle behind the hotel’s front counter!Yet another cool sight in my amazing neighborhood: downtown San Diego!
UPDATE!
When I stepped into the hotel during the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s OPEN HOUSE 2017, I learned from a friendly event volunteer that I could head down to see the old bank’s vaults, which are now meeting rooms! Here are some photos!
Map near the ceiling where steps descend from the lobby to elevators.The beautiful arched ceiling near the hotel’s bank of elevators.Elegant area near the entrance to The Safe Deposit Room.Formidable steel doors in a lower level hallway, leading to The Vault, a very unique meeting room. The San Diego Trust and Savings Bank Building has unusual historic features that hotel guests can enjoy.The Safe Deposit Room in the Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Downtown has a rather unusual entrance! The 1928 Mosler safe door weighs 47,000 pounds! Meetings can be held inside.
…
Follow this blog for more photos of cool San Diego places! Join me on Facebook or Twitter.
Cool San Diego Sights! 