Tag: cortez hill

Help beautify Tweet Street in downtown San Diego!

A public park clean-up event will take place this weekend in downtown San Diego. Neighbors will be coming together to beautify the Tweet Street linear park on Cortez Hill!

You are encouraged to join the community volunteer effort! It’s led by the Cortez Hill Active Residents Group (CHARG).

I saw the above flyer posted at one end of Tweet Street Park. The beautification project takes place on Saturday, November 16th, 2024.

Meet at the corner of 9th Avenue and Date Street, near the playground. Equipment will be provided! Downtown San Diego’s Clean and Safe Program will be on hand to help out!

Very cool!

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New banners for Cortez celebrate the outdoors.

New street lamp banners have recently popped up throughout San Diego’s downtown Cortez neighborhood. They celebrate the outdoors!

Cortez Hill might be considered the sunny “summit” of downtown San Diego, where the historic El Cortez rises and jacaranda trees flourish. As the banners suggest, Cortez is a fine place for outdoor activities, too, like bicycling, walking or running!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

New sign in San Diego welcomes to Cortez.

Walking down from the top of Cortez Hill a couple days ago, I noticed a brand new landmark sign that welcomes people to the neighborhood!

The metal, ribbon-like sculpture greets those driving into downtown San Diego via California State Route 163 and Ash Street. It’s located at the corner of Eighth Avenue and Ash Street, near the southeast corner of the historic El Cortez building.

(Did you know the El Cortez had the world’s first outdoor glass elevator? See photos and a video by clicking here!)

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Aviation enthusiasts spot planes in San Diego.

There’s a community of aviation enthusiasts in San Diego who love to spot airplanes. I met two of these spotters recently on top of downtown’s Cortez Hill. They were taking photographs of planes approaching San Diego International Airport.

The first spotter I spoke to is named Scott. He operates the SANspotter website. We spoke for a few moments about the many different aircraft I’ve seen while walking atop Cortez Hill–from huge airliners flying nonstop from London or Tokyo, to small, sleek business jets, to relatively tiny propeller-driven planes.

About a week later, I encountered a second friendly spotter whose smile and enthusiasm were infectious. He became excited when a shiny, colorful Southwest Airlines plane came into view. With his powerful telephoto lens, he took an amazing crisp photograph.

Both spotters found their ideal position at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Date Street, near the west end of Tweet Street city park, across Interstate 5 from Balboa Park’s Marston Point.

If you’re interested in joining this community of San Diego spotters, here’s the San Diego Spotters group page on Facebook.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Community members tidy Tweet Street park!

The Friends of Tweet Street Park were at it again this morning!

Many community volunteers had gathered at Cortez Hill’s Tweet Street linear park to tidy up and beautify a special corner of the neighborhood!

They were assisted by two friendly members of downtown San Diego’s Clean and Safe program.

As I hurried off to a morning appointment, I snapped a couple pics of the work crew getting started. When I walked past again around noon, oh, what a difference! The planted areas were more beautiful than ever!

If you want to join these good people or help them out, check out their Facebook page here!

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You can explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!

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!

New downtown trashcans celebrate neighborhoods!

New trashcans are being rolled out by the Downtown San Diego Partnership’s Clean and Safe program. And these cans celebrate the neighborhoods in which they’re placed!

I saw the first such trashcan a few weeks ago on the corner of C Street and Sixth Avenue, next to the Clean and Safe headquarters. Today, as I walked down from the top of Cortez Hill, I noticed multiple cans have recently been installed that celebrate the Cortez neighborhood, with images of the landmark El Cortez building.

The next two images are different sides of the above trashcan. I love the fact they are relatively mess proof and foot activated. No touching a dirty, germy handle!

The next two photos are of that first can by the Clean and Safe headquarters. It celebrates the “Business District”–an area of downtown sometimes referred to as the City Center or Core–with images of skyscrapers and the interior of historic Symphony Hall.

I’ll keep my eyes open for new cans in additional neighborhoods. Watch for updates here!

UPDATE!

I took photos of new East Village and Columbia District trashcans a couple weeks later and posted them 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!

Downtown’s Jacarandas begin their Spring bloom!

Do you know why there are so many Jacaranda trees in San Diego? A century ago, horticulturist Kate Sessions, the Mother of Balboa Park, planted hundreds of these colorful trees in the heart of our city. They are native to South America.

Twice a year–in Spring and Autumn–the striking lilac-blue blooms appear along city streets, adding their unique hue to sunny San Diego. Of course, they’re very messy trees, and you don’t want to park under them when the sticky flowers are dropping!

In 2000, Jacaranda mimosifolia was designated the official non-native tree of San Diego.

I walked from Cortez Hill to Little Italy this morning, and these photos represent a little of what I saw!

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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!

Walking down from Cortez Hill on a shining morning.

The light early this morning was magical.

A few minutes after sunrise, I walked from the top of Cortez Hill south into the heart of downtown San Diego.

Many of these photographs were taken as I turned my camera west. Look at all the golden reflections!

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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!

San Diego hero beautifies our city.

An unselfish, unsung hero in San Diego has dedicated countless hours of hard work to making our city more beautiful.

I’m speaking of Joseph Ciavarella. For five years he spearheaded the improvement and beautification of Tweet Street Park, a neighborhood park atop Cortez Hill.

During my walks over the years I often saw Joe in the park spreading mulch, pruning, cleaning up debris, and planting flowers and other greenery. I would express my appreciation, and he was always modest.

Joseph Ciavarella’s quiet optimism, his effective community organizing and relentless hard work, along with the important contributions of Friends of Tweet Street volunteers and San Diego Parks and Recreation, have turned the Tweet Street linear park into the amazing lush garden that it is today.

Joe moved away from Cortez Hill not long ago. His last day at Tweet Street was Arbor Day. I noticed today that the Downtown San Diego Partnership planted a tree in his honor.

That tree will grow and become ever more beautiful over time, bringing a little joy to the lives of so many people.

That’s was Joe did.

Check out the “Friends of Tweet Street Park” Facebook page here.

Donate to the Friends of Tweet Street via a new web page provided by the Downtown San Diego Partnership here.

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!

Morning light and rainbow from Cortez Hill!

As I started my day at the top of Cortez Hill, I was greeted by magical morning light reflected from downtown buildings to the west and south.

Then I saw the rainbow!

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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!