Travelers who stand outside the Solana Beach train station and look east are likely to be surprised. A very colorful bull and mural beckon from across Cedros Avenue!
I spotted this fun artwork the other day while walking around.
The “crazy quilt” bull sculpture and the mural featuring many faces can be found between Pirch North County San Diego and DRIVE AutoCare. I observed that the mural, which appears to be titled Da Kiss, was created by Sandra R. Escobar.
I immediately recognized the mural’s distinctive style. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Colombia-born artist painted this mural in City Heights!
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One of the most fascinating museums in San Diego County is located in the city of Lemon Grove.
The Parsonage Museum, operated by the Lemon Grove Historical Society, occupies a beautifully restored Victorian building at Treganza Heritage Park. The building began as Lemon Grove’s first church, the 1897 Atherton Chapel.
The old church was eventually moved from its original location, served as a community meeting hall, then became a private residence. Today it houses a museum whose exhibits recall a time when Lemon Grove was a small agricultural town with citrus orchards and packing houses, a general store, and a boast of the Best Climate on Earth!
I walked about Treganza Heritage Park and visited the Parsonage Museum last weekend. I also took a quick look at the 1928 H. Lee House, a Tudor Revival structure that stands nearby in the park and serves as a cultural center.
I urge anyone interested in the history of San Diego and Lemon Grove to head to the Parsonage Museum on a day when they are open. See their website for more information here!
To get an idea of what you’ll discover, please read my photo captions!
Treganza Heritage Park in Lemon Grove was first called Civic Center Park. It’s name was changed in 2020. The Treganza family was an influential pioneer family in Lemon Grove.A view of the H. Lee House. It was moved to this location to make way for the extension of State Route 125.The H. Lee House was built in 1928. It was designed by British architect Frederick C. Clemesha. Today it serves as a cultural center, where events such as History Alive lectures can be enjoyed. One more photo of the handsome H. Lee House.Lemon trees stand in a plaza between the H. Lee House and the Parsonage Museum.The small plaza welcomes visitors to Treganza Heritage Park.A 2002 dedication plaque from back when it was called Civic Center Park.Now turning to look at the Parsonage Museum. The restored Folk Victorian building, the 1897 Atherton Chapel, served as the only Lemon Grove church until 1912. Recovered grave marker of Anton Sonka just outside the museum entrance.
Anton Sonka was the patriarch of the Sonka family that led the growth of Lemon Grove between 1908 and the 1950s. His headstone, along with many others, was removed from Calvary Cemetery in 1970 by the City of San Diego and dumped at Mt. Hope Cemetery for mass burial. In 1985 Lemon Grove Historical Society members rescued and stored the headstone. It was brought to The Parsonage Museum in 2000 and unveiled on this permanent site in 2004.
(If you’d like to learn more about this callous dumping of gravestones, which were discovered in a gully at Mt. Hope Cemetery, I posted a blog concerning it here.)
When I visited in November 2021, the Parsonage Museum was featuring several historical exhibits concerning Lemon Grove.The museum building was “Built in 1897 as First Congregational Church of Lemon Grove.”Stepping into the museum, greeted by a lemony, welcoming doormat!Look at what’s in the museum! A recreation of the Sonka Brothers General Store.Items on display recall Lemon Grove’s rural history, which includes general stores where the community would gather.
The Sonka Brothers General Store stood near the center of town for decades. You can see photos of the Lemon Grove History Mural that’s painted on the south side of the historic Sonka Brothers General Store building here!
Photo from October 3, 1957 of The Big Lemon during a flag-raising. Civic leader Tony Sonka stands at the center.
If you like to see The Big Lemon today, which still stands on Broadway, check out these photos!
Old drum from the Lemon Grove Junior High School band.1891 photograph of the first general store in Lemon Grove, built by A. E. Christianson at Main and Pacific Streets.The many displays at the Parsonage Museum include these Lemon Grove Fruit Growers Association packing crates.Lemon sizers, circa 1930’s. Packers would separate lemons by size.Woman holding lemon sizer, with stacked ready-to-assemble crates nearby.A room on the ground floor of the Parsonage Museum recreates the Parson’s Study. Reverend Isaac Atherton established the First Congregational Church of Lemon Grove in 1894. The building was constructed in 1897.Several rooms can be viewed on the second floor of the Parsonage Museum, including this Parents’ Room, or bedroom.The Sewing Room.The Children’s Room.Back on the museum’s ground floor, in a corner gallery, the current exhibit is titled Miller Dairy Remembered. This local dairy sold its first milk in 1926. Houses were finally built on the ranch site in the 1980’s. An important chapter of Lemon Grove’s agrarian past is recalled.Lemon Grove’s old Miller Dairy and their 300 freely roaming Holstein cows are fondly remembered at the Parsonage Museum.Historical photos show the Miller Dairy in Lemon Grove, from 1940-1980.One last look at the lemon yellow Parsonage Museum!
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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!
During my recent adventure in Nestor I was surprised to find an abundance of street art. As I walked west along Tocayo Avenue and north up Hollister Street to Leon Avenue, I kept spotting electrical boxes painted with farm imagery.
Nestor is a quiet residential community in San Diego’s South Bay. Before urban development covered the landscape with asphalt streets lined with houses, Nestor was mostly farmland. I believe this street art is a tribute to those olden days.
As I walked along, it seemed that goats, cows and horses, and wildlife in wide open spaces, had emerged from the brush by the sidewalk.
The only artist signature I could find appears to indicate David Williams, 2009. It was painted on the wall mural at the corner of Hollister and Leon that features a wide view of an old farm.
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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!
A mural featuring all sorts of fantastic Time-related imagery can be found on a wall behind Timekeepers of Escondido, a watch and clock repair shop on Grand Avenue.
I was walking around downtown Escondido, making my way to one particular alley that is filled with art, when I saw this Time Flies mural. It was painted by Zandy Gilmaher in 2014.
Stay tuned for more Escondido art discoveries!
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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!
Yesterday I arrived in Ramona in the morning, a couple hours before the start of the Ramona Country Fair.
I parked near the McDonald’s on 16th Street and walked east up Main Street to around 4th Street, watching for the many H.E.A.R.T. murals that have been painted in Ramona’s downtown. I found many and will be sharing those photographs before too long!
I also spotted a beautiful sculpture and an interesting historical building, but I’m not posting those photos quite yet, either.
Today I’d like to share photographs of painted street art that decorates electrical boxes along and near Main Street! You can find artist names in a couple of the images.
I probably missed other colorful boxes, but you might enjoy the ones I found!
As you might guess, this street art was next to Ramona’s public library. Book titles on the painted shelves reflect unique aspects of this rural community.
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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!
I don’t know who painted this mural. I do know I’ve seen it in Mission Valley near Friars Road for many years. You can see how faded it is.
The small herd of painted cows occupies a low wall beside lanes of traffic. You pass the old mural as you drive off eastbound Friars Road and approach Mission Center Road.
Those who drive through Mission Valley will also see miles of shopping malls, office buildings, hotels, condos and apartments, not to mention a gigantic sports stadium which is about to be demolished. But had you visited the valley in the first half of the 20th century, you would have seen acres and acres of dairy farms.
Cows began to rapidly multiply in Mission Valley in the 1880’s, beginning with the Allen dairy. As San Diego’s population grew, the demand for dairy products steadily increased, and by the 1920’s there were twenty commercial dairies. But in the mid-20th century city dwellers targeted Mission Valley for development. U.S. Highway 80–now Interstate 8–was built. Dairy farmers were enticed to sell their valuable land, and eventually all of the cows vanished.
So today, if you happen to see a small herd of cows grazing by a Mission Valley roadside, it’s probably because you’ve sped past this faded mural.
Panorama of Mission Valley, 1912. Farmland fills the valley in this historical photo. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)
A view of part of Mission Valley today.
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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!
Two vaqueros chat during an event in Old Town San Diego that reenacts fascinating Californio history.
I enjoyed the Trades That Shaped the West event in Old Town San Diego last Saturday so much, I decided to return today to experience another Stagecoach Days event: Days of the Vaqueros!
Days of the Vaqueros invited curious visitors to experience what life was like when San Diego was a part of Spain, then Mexico. The emphasis was on the vaqueros–the first true cowboys. During the era of the Californios, wealthy ranch owners employed vaqueros to manage their stock.
For a couple of decades–from the early 1820s to the mid-1840s–cattle hides were the primary export of Alta California. Merchant ships from the East Coast (and other places about the Pacific Ocean) would trade the plentiful hides for finished goods that were in high demand in early, geographically isolated, sparsely populated towns like San Diego.
Someone checks out Days of the Vaqueros activities. The banner hangs on the Robinson Rose House in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
Taking place during Old Town’s summer weekend Stagecoach Days, today’s event primarily celebrated life in San Diego when the small town and Alta California were part of Mexico.
Ladies pass by in period dresses. One of many cool sights at the Days of the Vaqueros event in Old Town San Diego.
Tables contained information about life during the era of huge Mexican land grant ranches worked by vaqueros. Vaqueros, the first true cowboys, were mostly indigenous people employed to manage cattle by the wealthy land owners.
A vaquero shows a visitor to Old Town how to properly handle a rope.
The visitor successfully lassoes his cow–the rear end, that is–first try!
A gentleman who used to work for Buck Knives makes unique knife handles out of elk antlers. He has developed his own technique, which takes great skill and precision.
A hat maker shows how beaver felt material was steamed then pushed over a hat-form block.
What’s cooking on the campfire? Some tasty pozole, I was told!
Pozole is a traditional Mexican soup or stew, made from hominy, meat and various vegetable seasonings.
Decorating eggshell cascarones. Near the end of a fiesta, Californios flirted by cracking eggs filled with scented water or confetti over the startled head of someone they liked.
A group called Los Californios played authentic early California music–tunes that were preserved over a century ago on wax cylinder sound recordings made by Charles Lummis.
A couple dances to the happy, gentle music.
Publications by a nonprofit project called San Diego Friends of Old Time Music. Author Vykki Mende Gray is helping to preserve the musical history of California.
A display of braided ropes and rawhide, once commonly used by vaqueros as they worked on the large cattle ranches around San Diego.
On this table I see more ropes, a canteen, iron brands and boot spurs.
A gentleman who teaches school students visiting Old Town about history holds up an illustration of bear-baiting, which early Californians found entertaining.
These guys were making adobe bricks. I learned earth and water are mixed, and straw or manure are often added for strength and cohesion.
Authentic adobe bricks take weeks or months to properly dry. When hard, these bricks will possibly be used in new construction or to restore existing exhibits inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
Traditional dancing in the courtyard of Casa de Estudillo of Los Camotes (which translates the sweet potatoes), a tune from old Mexican and Spanish California.
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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 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.
Jogging and biking past the historic adobe ranch house in Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve.
The second oldest residence in San Diego County can be found inside Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve. The adobe ranch house was built in 1824 by Captain Francisco María Ruiz, who was Commandante of San Diego’s presidio. He built two small adobe buildings on Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos, his large 8,486-acre Mexican land grant north of the Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá. It was the first land grant by the Mexican government in this area. The grant was made in 1823, just two years after Mexico became independent from Spain.
The historic adobe ranch house has been modified, enlarged and restored by various owners over the years, and today is a popular destination for visitors to Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve. People often bike or hike through the picturesque ranch, and motorists can park in a nearby lot. Picnic tables are plentiful; there are goats and chickens to captivate children; and guided tours are available on weekends.
I toured the ranch recently and took photos of its various features. There are a variety of interpretive exhibits within the adobe house. Please read these informative displays (click to enlarge the images) to learn more about this fascinating place’s long and colorful history.
(What is the oldest structure in San Diego County? You’ll be completely surprised! I blogged about that here.)
The Los Peñasquitos Ranch House is open daily from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. Guided tours are at 11:00 am on Saturday and 1:00 pm on Sunday.
The ranch house is nestled among some shady trees. Two small adobe buildings were originally built in 1824. The house was enlarged by Captain George Alonzo Johnson in 1862.
Plaque describes the establishment of the Johnson-Taylor Adobe Ranchhouse in 1862. The residence and later additions were used as a hotel, bunkhouse, and quarters for a working cattle ranch into the 1960s.
A sculpture inside the courtyard, located on the east side (rear) of the ranch house. The planters were probably used by the residents to grow herbs and flowers.
Part of the ranch house’s long porch beside the courtyard.
Inside a living room that today contains museum-like exhibits, looking north out a window at various small structures on the ranch, including a chicken coop and goat pen.
The Californio Period, 1821 to 1850, included vaqueros (cowboys) living at Peñasquitos. The American Rancher Period, 1850-1970, began after California became a state.
1823-1834 timeline of the Mexican land grant of Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos, that was made to Captain Francisco María Ruiz.
In 1859 Captain George Alonzo Johnson married Maria Estéfana Alvarado, daughter of Francisco María Alvarado, who bought the ranch from Ruiz in 1837.
A hand blown and painted glass pitcher and drinking glass that belonged to Maria de Jesus Alvarado de Sepulveda, daughter of Francisco María Alvarado.
The large earthenware olive jar was found under the ranch house floor during an excavation in 1983. Used for food storage, it was probably made in Spain or Portugal in the early to mid 1700s.
Captain George Alonzo Johnson, a pioneer and businessman, came to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. He became a rancher and horse breeder.
Historical newspaper articles describe the ranch house, outbuildings and grounds of George Alonzo Johnson’s ranch.
Floor plan of Rancho Peñasquitos from 1975 HABS survey.
A drawing of the Los Peñasquitos residence of Colonel Jacob Shell Taylor, who purchased the property in 1882. He raised Durham cattle and thoroughbred horses and would found Del Mar.
Various branding irons on display in the adobe house that were discovered around the ranch. Included are early Spanish irons used by rustlers.
Rancho Peñasquitos courtyard photo taken circa 1889, showing ranch employee H. T. Sandford and his family.
Photo of the San Diego-Escondido Stage Line circa 1906. In the mid-1800s, Peñasquitos was a way station on the wagon road between San Diego and Warner’s Ranch.
Porch along the front (or west) side of the adobe ranch house, which faced the so-called Road to Yuma.
I spotted someone riding a horse past the ranch house. Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve is an ideal place for those who love to ride down peaceful trails.
Looking west at a meadow north of Peñasquitos Creek. I posted photos of those sycamores in the distance a few weeks ago.
An artificial pond south of the ranch house was filled with water from the adjacent spring house for irrigation of a nearby citrus grove.
The rock Spring House was constructed around an artesian spring. Water from the spring was used by the Native American Kumeyaay for as many as 12,000 years!
The Mohnike Barn was constructed in 1912 of adobe and wood. Charles Mohnike, a rancher who purchased the property in 1910, was the builder.
The Mohnike Barn is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with other ranch structures.
An octagonal concrete reservoir to the north, uphill from the ranch house. Photographic evidence shows water might have been pumped up here by windmill.
More ranch structures just west of the barn.
These friendly Nubian goats like to greet hikers and those on bicycles.
These chickens were wondering what I was up to.
The southeast corner of the adobe ranch house.
One last photo of the courtyard, a focal point of the ranch house, which has seen many lives, much history.
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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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Cowboys on horseback drive cattle down Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego. They are promoting this year’s San Diego County Fair.
This morning there was a big cattle drive through downtown San Diego!
Huh? What?
It’s true! About 200 head of cattle were driven by cowboys on horseback and herding dogs down Harbor Drive, then up Fifth Avenue, then back west along Market Street. The intention of this unusual spectacle was to promote the San Diego County Fair, whose theme this year is How the West is Fun!
I followed along much of the way! Here are some photos!
At Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway, police escorts gets ready for the big cattle drive!
The 2017 theme for the San Diego County Fair, which opened yesterday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, is Where the West is Fun.
Excitement mounts nearby as the cattle drive is about to get underway.
A temporary corral set up by Ruocco Park contained about 200 head of cattle.
Here they go, starting down Harbor Drive!
Lots of cowboys on horses and some excited herding dogs start the cows along the street.
Hundreds of people lined the sidewalk to watch the unusual spectacle. It seemed like the Old West was being relived in San Diego!
The downtown cattle drive will head along Harbor Drive, turn north up Fifth Avenue, then head back west along Market Street.
You don’t see this every day!
Neither does this city dog! What is going on?
A guy in a crazy cow costume gets a photograph of the cattle drive.
Cowboys keep a close eye on the cattle as they head along San Diego’s waterfront.
Not your ordinary Saturday morning in the big city!
Skyscrapers in the background. The cows didn’t seem to notice.
The cattle drive heads past the San Diego Convention Center. So does a jogger.
The downtown cattle drive has turned onto Fifth Avenue. Here they come!
Cowboys ride under the famous Gaslamp Quarter landmark sign.
The Gaslamp hasn’t seen so many cowboys on horseback in a good century and a half!
The cattle are driven up Fifth Avenue into the heart of San Diego.
Folks ride in a wagon that promotes the 2017 San Diego County Fair – Where the West is Fun!
A rather unusual sight proceeds north up through San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter.
The Old West has come back to life in downtown 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 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.
I had taken a pic of an unusual poster about this event several weeks ago, so I decided to swing by during my Saturday morning walk. (Stay tuned for pictures of the San Diego Zombie Walk later today!)
I walked through Embarcadero Marina Park North about 10:30, half an hour after the animal rights protest had begun. It didn’t seem that many people had shown up yet. I’d estimate perhaps fifty scattered about the grassy areas and in the nearby gazebo and bay overlook.
This lady sat alone holding a poster indicating that cows are friends.
Here’s a photo of two men in the nearby parking lot being helped by a woman into animal costumes. One is a cow; it appears the other is a pig.
These tables seemed to be the central feature of the event. The attendees all were smiling. You can see haze in the distance–mostly overcast skies and very much like Autumn today.
Two more posters. One indicates that a rooster is someone, not something.
As I left the public park and returned through Seaport Village, I noticed a few more people trickling in for what seemed to be a very laid-back protest.
Cool San Diego Sights! 