SILO in Makers Quarter is a cool venue in East Village.
People entering downtown San Diego from Highway 94 might glimpse on their left what appears to be a large dirt lot full of odd items and graffiti. At first glance, I figured it was just a junky, neglected old vacant lot. Upon closer inspection, however, I realized the place was something completely unexpected, and pretty cool!
A large black silo rises near the center of the lot, hence the name of this interesting events venue: SILO in Makers Quarter. Beer festivals, bazaars, film festivals…these and other events are staged here in this neglected portion of East Village. According to the Makers Quarter website: SILO in Makers Quarter will be the launch pad to encourage the early adopters in San Diego to embrace the neighborhood and bring about positive change. SILO in Makers Quarter is being established as a year round event venue to bring collaborative community and creative culture to East Village.
I took these photos through a surrounding fence. Very cool!
A black silo rises behind a smile!Painted on a building wall: You are important.Fun events are held in this unusual urban space.Large eye peers from behind chain link fence.Lots of fantastic street art at SILO in East Village.Another example of colorful street art.Makers Quarter’s goal is to attract energy to part of the city.Bold graphics seen from the nearby sidewalk.Photo taken through fence of twisted sculptures.Bales of hay, funky images create a party atmosphere.SILO in Makers Quarter on 15th Street in East Village.
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Abstract surfboards welcome people to Imperial Beach pier. This public art is titled Surfhenge, by local artist Malcolm Jones.
Imperial Beach lies south of downtown San Diego, at the extreme southwest corner of the continental United States. The Imperial Beach pier is just a few miles from Mexico. This beach community is a perfect example of laid-back southern California, mostly just locals kicking back, a smattering of tourists, and a good vibe all around. The days are sunny and people are friendly.
Come stroll with me toward the pier and let’s see what’s going on!
Colorful acrylic surfboard arches frame a pier visitor. Surfhenge was dedicated in 1999.Lifeguard tower behind palm trees and flags.Benches near the pier are made of many different style surfboards, representing different eras of the sport.Imperial Beach pier beckons from the sand.A few people on the beach on a spring weekday morning.Looking down the length of the Imperial Beach pier.Fisherman cuts bait at one of the public sinks.Gazing down at the blue Pacific on a nice day.Approaching the Tin Fish restaurant at the end of the pier.Window of Tin Fish restaurant at end of Imperial Beach pier.Pier pilings rise from an emerald ocean.
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Surfer rides a wave just below the Imperial Beach pier.
Wow! Check out this first cool pic! Did that come out great, or what?
I’m in the middle of my week off from work, and today I went to Coronado again and biked down the Silver Strand to Imperial Beach. I’ve got more photos than you can shake a stick at!
What a beautiful day. I stood on the pier at a spot between the beach and breaking waves and tried to photograph a group of surfers below. Most of action was too far away for my little camera, but a few pics seem worth sharing…
Surfers wait for the perfect wave near Imperial Beach pier.Surfer gets ready to go for a ride.Surfer riding a nice wave on a sunny day.Guy on surfboard just coasting along the foamy ocean surface.No fishing in the surf zone on Imperial Beach pier.
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Mural of a rugged face seems tattered on modern building.Unique image of human face on a building in downtown San Diego.
Here are a few pics of interesting (and sometimes mysterious) faces found in downtown San Diego.
Face of Andre the Giant high on a building near America Plaza. By artist Shepard Fairey.Wide-eyed graffiti face on a downtown taco stand.Painting of female face by an artist near Seaport Village.Bearded face painted on a downtown San Diego building.Grinning monkey head on billboard in San Diego.
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People take a walk through Balboa Park’s amazing Desert Garden.
My walk through Balboa Park last weekend ended at the Desert Garden, located east of the Natural History Museum just across Park Boulevard. I was able to get some cool cacti pics before my camera’s batteries finally fizzled.
Here are some photos that I modified using good old GIMP. It’s fun to goof around randomly and produce different effects!
While I recognized many different types of cactus, I sadly don’t know many names. Sorry about that.
Fuzzy cactus with red thingamajigs attached.I played with the brightness and contrast.Slightly altered pic of cool jagged cactus in Balboa Park.I fiddled with contrast, darkness and color saturation.Sunlight amplified on a green cactus in Balboa Park’s Desert Garden.Barrel cactus photo with super high contrast applied.
Here are even more modified cacti photos from late 2014!
Contrast increased on photo of a spiky cactus.Some fat barrel cacti in a large desert-like garden in Balboa Park.A cool image I created by goofing around with various settings.This huge tangled cactus visible from Park Boulevard is the craziest thing I ever saw!Now I’m radically altering some pics.Cool silhouette in a popular Balboa Park cactus garden.I completely changed these colors just for fun!
Elegant street art found on Highway 163 underpass wall.
I was surprised to discover this polished bit of street art in a place where few venture in Mission Valley: in the darkness under Highway 163, along Camino de la Reina, among graffiti and windblown litter. Joggers and the homeless pass through here, but not very often. Who was the artist? Why did they paint a stylish image in this location? It’s a mystery!
UPDATE!!!
This morning, February 5th, exactly one day after the first photo was taken, I walked to work again and the street art and graffiti were painted over! I don’t know if this is pure coincidence, or the result of my blog yesterday…
Front of the Seeley Stable Museum in Old Town San Diego.
Perhaps my favorite part of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is the Seeley Stable Museum.
The huge old barn and surrounding area were once owned by Albert Seeley, who ran the San Diego-Los Angeles Stage Line from 1868 to 1877. His Concord stagecoaches left San Diego at 5 am, stopped overnight at San Juan Capistrano, and arrived in Los Angeles at 4 pm the next day. Eventually competition with the railroad put him out of business.
Sign on the Blacksmith Shop behind Seeley Stable.
Behind the Seeley Stable is a cool blacksmith shop, where tourists can watch skilled hobbyists demonstrate the shaping of red hot iron. The hammers ring loudly and the sparks fly! Unfortunately it wasn’t open the day I took these photos.
Covered wagon, anvils and relics of the Old West behind Seeley Stable.
Across from the blacksmith you’ll find this. Very cool!
Several unrestored wagons.Peering through old wagon wheels.Donkey awaits young visitors to historic Seeley Stable.
On the south side of the stable you’ll find a couple of donkeys, which are used by park rangers to teach children about life in the Old West.
Concord stagecoach from the Los Angeles to San Diego route.
Finally, we’re inside the museum! You can see many different wagons and stagecoaches inside the dark old barn, plus other artifacts from life one and a half centuries ago.
Museum display with horse and saddles recreates the old stable.Huge freight wagon on display at Seeley Stable.Old Wells Fargo wagon once used to transport the mail.Old Town San Diego State Historic Park ranger chats with friendly lady at the ticket window.
The Seeley Stable Museum is free!
UPDATE!
Here are a few more interesting and informative photos that I took inside the museum in August 2017…
Roscoe E. “Pappy” Hazard was a developer and rancher who collected stagecoaches, carriages and wagons from the Old West. Many are displayed today in Old Town’s Seeley Stable Museum.In 1869, Albert L. Seeley transformed the nearby Bandini adobe into the two-story Cosmopolitan Hotel, which became Old Town’s stage depot and social center.Photo of Seeley Stable’s barn and yard taken from Presidio Hill in 1872. The Cosmopolitan Hotel can be seen on the right.Map shows important stagecoach routes, including the Butterfield Overland, and the Birch’s Line from San Antonio to San Diego.Signs and old photos concerning freight wagons in the Old West, which often employed large teams of mules.Spaniards introduced mules to America along with the horse. Hardy pack mules were used by trappers to haul furs, and by gold miners to move supplies and equipment.This delivery wagon was brought to San Diego by Frank Kimball in 1868. It was used to show passengers land that he had for sale in National City.This old Park Wagon was used by cattle rancher Walter Vail. He owned a land in Arizona, Santa Rosa island off the coast of California, and Warner’s Ranch northeast of San Diego.How a corner of the stable might have once appeared. Stable hands had many chores, including feeding, watering and grooming animals, and cleaning stalls.
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Victorian house once owned by San Diego’s historically important Scripps family.
Here are several pics of the very cool Britt-Scripps House in Bankers Hill, a neighborhood just north of downtown San Diego. The large townhouse, a great example of the Victorian Queen Anne style, is reputed to have been designed by Stanford White, the architect of New York’s second Madison Square Garden.
Completed in 1888 by prominent lawyer Eugene Britt, the magnificent house was purchased in 1896 by newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps, half-brother of Ellen Browning Scripps, the famous La Jolla philanthropist. After 1907 it was used as a guesthouse and second residence to supplement the newly-built Scripps ranch in Miramar. The lavish exterior includes a high conical tower and three elegant brick chimneys.
Britt-Scripps house as seen from Fourth Avenue.
Until recently the house served as a Bed and Breakfast. In the above photo you can spot one of the most interesting features: an amazing two story stained glass window.
Nearby carriage house behind flowers.Britt-Scripps house is a very cool sight on Bankers Hill.
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HO Scale model train travels through Tehachapi Pass exhibit.
I could happily spend many hours at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. Not only is it the largest such museum in North America, but it features some of the coolest, most realistic model train layouts you’ll ever see!
Located in Balboa Park, the model train museum contains five huge sections. The Cabrillo Southwestern exhibit is in O Scale, the same size as Lionel toy trains. The San Diego and Arizona Eastern, and the Southwestern Pacific-Santa Fe Tehachapi Pass exhibits are both in the popular HO Scale. The Pacific Desert Lines exhibit is in tiny N Scale. Finally, there’s a toy train gallery crammed with Lionel-type trains and many amazing moving accessories, including cars and people. One train is mounted with a Choo-Choo Cam which provides an engineer’s moving view of the dazzling layout.
I took lots of pics yesterday afternoon. Many of the shots taken through glass or in darkness didn’t come out so great. But I did get some fairly good ones. Enjoy!
Kids love the San Diego Model Railroad Museum.Windows to the big Cabrillo Southwestern O Scale exhibit.Large O Scale model train exhibit includes many detailed buildings.Rail yard action at the Cabrillo Southwestern exhibit.Tiny human figures at work near some trolley tracks.The elaborate O Scale exhibit is full of train action!Men work on unfinished San Diego and Arizona Eastern exhibit.HO Scale bridges and a detailed mountain scene.Attention to detail makes these model train exhibits lifelike.Tracks under construction climb to Tehachapi Pass Mezzanine.Pacific Beach Club Room with trains, videos and Lego exhibits.The famous Tehachapi Pass HO Scale exhibit is amazing.Train tracks meander through highly realistic hillside scenes.A stretch of desert highway in HO Scale.Model of a desert town at San Diego Model Railroad Museum.These huge train exhibits are a child’s fantasy come to life!Member of Model Railroad Museum attends to derailed train.
UPDATE!
Almost every day this blog post is receiving visitors from Pinterest.
Welcome!
I decided to visit the museum again in May 2017 to get more photos!
The layouts are so huge and detailed it would take some time to describe exactly what the photos depict and from what position they were taken. So I’m just going to insert a bunch of random photos for you all to enjoy.
Feel free to share any of these photos if you’d like. It’s all for fun! And if you ever have a chance, make sure to visit the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park. The place is truly incredible!
Are you a railroad or streetcar enthusiast? Do you love railway history?
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