Horton Plaza, located in downtown San Diego, is a fun and interesting place for shoppers to visit. The unique mall’s crazy, whimsical design makes an interesting contrast to the restored old buildings in the adjacent Gaslamp Quarter. Many bright colors and types of architecture have been cleverly integrated into a visual feast. Horton Plaza was designed so that people intentionally get a bit lost, to provide a feeling of adventure and the unexpected.
Here are some random pics for you to enjoy…
Here are three fun photos! I stood for a moment on an upper level at Horton Plaza, watching two guys play a game with giant chess pieces.
San Diego’s downtown Horton Plaza shopping mall is more than just typical retail stores and a food court. It’s a wonderland of colorful, whimsical, unexpected architecture, with cool discoveries around almost every corner, including this shady nook where you’ll find giant-sized chessboards and checker boards.
Here are a couple more photos I took during another visit…
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Should you ever walk through Civic Center Plaza, you’ll probably see this unusual group of signs. These are a few of San Diego’s sister cities. Pointing in almost every direction, the signs indicate distances in miles and kilometers.
Another similar group of fun signs can be found directly across the plaza.
San Diego’s 16 sister cities are:
Alcala de Henares, Spain
Campinas, Brazil
Cavite, Philippines
Edinburgh, Scotland
Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Jeonju, South Korea
Leon, Mexico
Perth, Australia
Quanzhou, China
Taichung City, Taiwan
Tema, Ghana
Tijuana, Mexico
Vladivostok, Russia
Warsaw, Poland
Yantai, China
Yokohama, Japan
UPDATE! I walked through Civic Center Plaza about half a year later and I noticed brand new signs!
Embarcadero Marina Park North was overrun today with hundreds of cool cars and custom hot rods, and I’ve got some pics to prove it! The event was called Mustangs by the Bay, put on by the The Mustang Club of San Diego. Lots of people were just chillin’ for the weekend, checking out all the different cars. It was the perfect spot to enjoy barbeque served by Boy Scouts, classic oldies music, and awesome views of downtown, Seaport Village and beautiful San Diego Bay.
That big aircraft carrier with the number 76 is the Ronald Reagan, docked at North Island.
I checked out that gray ship docked at the pier just north of Seaport Village. It appears to have been a Navy ship, but its number has been removed; I don’t have a clue what it’s used for.
I saw lots of cool artwork!
Yesterday morning, as I walked through the Gaslamp, I spied some spooky new banners hanging from the lamp posts. Looks like Halloween is coming!
UPDATE!
Here are similar Gaslamp banners spotted the following year!
Here are some interior pics of San Diego’s brand new downtown public library! It’s been open for only one week!
The first photo is what you’ll likely see upon entering the new building. It’s the front desk and lobby area, containing escalators, a view of three floors, helpful librarians and lots of library patrons!
The beautiful library shop is just steps from the main entrance. It’s full of great library-related gifts!
As I meandered about the first floor, I discovered this historical exhibit in the middle of rows of bookshelves. It explains how women, after a hard fight, earned the right to vote in California in 1911.
On the first floor you’ll find the children’s section of the library. The walls are painted with characters and scenes taken from Dr. Seuss’s popular picture books. Check out the Cat in the Hat! As many San Diego residents know, Dr. Seuss’s real name was Theodor Geisel, and he was a resident of La Jolla just up the coast.
Check out the reading room on the eighth floor of the new Central Library! It’s roomy, filled with light and lots of comfy chairs. The immense view toward South Bay is awesome!
Here we’re looking upward toward the ceiling of the big reading room. That’s the interior of the Central Library’s iconic steel lattice dome!
There’s a cool baseball history archive and exhibit right next to the reading room. Check out the silvery statue of a baseball player, and all the nostalgic photos on the wall! The exhibit is made possible by the San Diego Ted Williams chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research.
A couple more pics I took during a later visit…
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Check out this very cool art on an electrical transformer! I discovered it near a bus stop, directly across Orange Avenue from Coronado island’s famous Hotel Del Coronado. Other utility boxes on the sidewalk closeby were painted in similar fashion. In addition to dolphins and a sexy mermaid, I saw some colorful coral and a sea turtle!
I had a busy weekend! On Sunday I took the ferry from downtown San Diego across the bay to Coronado. You’ll soon see some photos I took from the ferry.
In the middle of my island adventure, while walking down Orange Avenue, I met a friendly man in front of the VFW. He was selling a bunch of amazing airplanes that he’d created using soda and beer cans.
Before he retired, he explained, he’d worked on actual aircraft, so he transfered his knowledge to this very unique hobby. The models he makes all have propellers that whirl in the wind. Each design is aerodynamic, and every plane takes several hours to produce. Only a couple other people in San Diego produce similar work.
He went on to say that over the years, he’s sold thousands of these cool planes! He also displays them in Balboa Park and other locations. I almost bought one!
This colorful street art dazzles the eye on a downtown parking lot wall. It contains elements from many different cultures. You can find the cool art on the west side of Ninth Avenue just south of C Street.
I took a closer, more complete pic about half a year later. The bold black graffiti has obliterated part of the old artwork.
Three more pics! The fence around the parking lot was open one morning, so I could walk up close to the mural!
Here are a few more cool pics of San Diego’s brand new Central Library! I took these photographs today after the ceremony celebrating the grand opening. Check out the modern, inventive architecture of this truly eye-popping downtown landmark! The amazing design is by San Diego architect Rob Wellington Quigley.
The first photo is from 11th Avenue and K Street, in the heart of East Village, facing roughly northeast. This is the way you’d likely go if walking from Petco Park. What you see is just a fraction of the cool sight to come…
Here’s a photograph from almost due south. Wow! Beautiful landscaping and palm trees complement the distinctive building, which features a metal lattice dome and a gigantic, airy reading room. Other features include an auditorium, community meeting rooms, a sculpture garden . . . even a downtown high school occupying two floors!
Now we’re looking toward the northwest. Here comes a red San Diego trolley! Views from the trolley are very cool. You can peer up and into the lower windows of the new library. During the past couple months, riding the trolley, I watched as shelves of books slowly appeared as if by magic throughout the spacious building. Our old downtown library was less than half the size, ugly, and lacked many amenities.
From the trolley and nearby sidewalk you can also see a handful of wise quotes engraved in the library’s concrete exterior. Here’s a pic of the following inscription: WE WILL BE KNOWN FOREVER BY THE TRACKS WE LEAVE.
UPDATE!
I walked around the now “relatively new” library in early November 2014 and took more pics…
Cool San Diego Sights! 