Unexpected faces in the window of Sparks Gallery in the Gaslamp Quarter. This colorful work of art commands the attention of anyone passing down the sidewalk.
The Gaslamp Quarter is usually bustling with humanity, as people shop, dine and take a stroll through the historic heart of downtown San Diego. But occasionally unexpected faces appear!
A mannequin high in a building window made me do a double take as I walked down Sixth Avenue through San Diego’s Gaslamp!A stylish Tatyana on a Gaslamp shop’s sign.Doug Loves Movies so much it seems he has forgotten to shave. A funny face spotted while strolling down a sidewalk, camera in hand.This unexpected face has no skin. The Chrome Domes seem mostly bones.A mischievous face painted next to a deserted patio. Dick’s Last Resort in the Gaslamp has closed after many years.The Grinch is smiling and behaving unexpectedly unGrinchlike in this fun artwork inside the front window of The Chuck Jones Gallery.Very cool! It’s Steve McQueen sporting some shades. An image above the windows of Eyes On Fifth.A large face painted on the brick wall inside a Gaslamp Quarter restaurant is an unexpected, arresting sight.
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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!
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Colorful dots on the side of a building in downtown San Diego.
Every walk through the city is a voyage of discovery. Everywhere you turn there are sudden surprises of color, form and depth. An inquisitive scientist might see geometric order; an artist might discern shades, intimations, emotion.
This morning, during a walk through downtown, I photographed dots, squares, cubes and a rather crazy tangle.
Six blue squares on the north side of the Columbia Place building.Steel cubes on west side of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, which is housed in the Santa Fe Depot’s old baggage terminal. Art by Richard Serra, 2005. Litter atop cube 1 is by Anonymous. Idealized (though rusty) art meets messy (real) life.A crazy tangle of electrical lines in the entrance of the David C. Copley Building in downtown San Diego. A sculpture at MCASD. Power Maze with Sconce, Roman de Salvo, 1998.
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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!
Tourist on a Segway passes a disabled Santa in a wheelchair.
Life contains mingled joy and sadness. These feeling intensify as Christmas nears.
Christmas is a season brimming with generosity and hope. But the difficulties we all face persist. And for some, those difficulties are extreme.
During my walk this afternoon beneath dark, dramatic storm clouds, I captured a few images of human sadness, joy . . . and hope.
Storm clouds above downtown San Diego. Christmas is coming, but so is winter.Palm trees in a row buffeted by a strong chilly wind on a late November day.Someone camped against the San Diego County Courthouse. The number of homeless people downtown continues to grow.Using spice as a drug is a recipe for disaster. Drug use by the many homeless in downtown has become alarming. Lives are being visibly destroyed.The relatively new Horton Plaza Park now attracts homeless people seeking a comfortable place. A deeply sad situation with no easy solution.But there is also hope, and the potential for joy. A child is shown the dancing fountain at the center of Horton Plaza Park.Youthful eyes peer into a fountain hopefully. What is it they possibly see? Dreams filled with light?There is much one can do to brighten this world. I saw this example as I walked. Be the voice of a foster child. Provide hope, and a smile.Will it be a white Christmas in San Diego? Probably not. But perhaps Christmas is something more than mere dreams.I spotted a typical Christmas tree in a shopping center. But this one is special. It’s a giving tree.USO San Diego needs your help to bring holiday cheer to active military families. (Please click the image to read details.)The sun breaks through storm clouds and shines upon downtown San Diego. There is much we can do. A faint rainbow appears like magic above.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk. You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
If you’d like to read an inspiring tale about human generosity, you might enjoy a favorite short story that I’ve written, An Unexpected Sunflower.
Two different buildings are reflected in the glass windows of 101 W. Broadway. On the left is the Spreckels Theater Building; on the right is the Sofia Hotel.
I confess that I love reflections. They often seem magical, like a glowing vision of intermingled dimensions. So I had to take more photos today of windows reflected in glass windows.
Walking down Broadway in downtown San Diego is like moving through a funhouse maze. Left and right, the mirrors rise into the sky. One passes through an otherworldly geometry of reflected forms; light dances like the spinning sun upon bright buildings.
Strangely distorted reflections in the windows of a San Diego high-rise.The old Armed Services YMCA building is reflected in the glass windows above the entrance of 501 W. Broadway.One America Plaza, San Diego’s tallest building, seen in a grid of windows across Broadway.San Diego’s distinctive Emerald Plaza reflected in the windows of 501 W. Broadway.The Westgate Hotel building gleams in the windows of 225 Broadway, the former NBC building.Unusual geometry caused by multiple reflections observed from street level.
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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!
Check out some photos of cool, creative door handles that I’ve spotted while walking around San Diego. I snapped a couple of these photographs months ago, and unfortunately I’ve forgotten where I took them. I guess I’m not terribly organized! Or perhaps I’m just lazy and took no notes.
Electric guitar door handle at Hard Rock Cafe in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.Two door handles made of artistically bent rebar.These door handles at the Yard House don’t contain beer. One must step inside.Interesting door handles together form a disk and raised leaf.One very ornate door handle in San Diego.A lion’s head handle on a rusty gate.
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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 enjoy!
Christmas angels peer out of a window at Silver Crossing in Seaport Village.
Radical changes are coming to nearly 40-year-old Seaport Village. A redevelopment plan that was recently approved will transform the quaint collection of shops and restaurants on downtown’s waterfront into a massive complex called Seaport San Diego. The new development will contain even more shopping and dining options, several hotels, a 480-foot observation tower, a public beach, aquarium, Smithsonian attraction, and more.
Many of the shops that people have come to know over the years will vanish. Admittedly, Seaport Village today is a touristy hodgepodge. One wouldn’t really expect to see a New England lighthouse in Southern California. But no matter. I still enjoy meandering through on a sunny weekend! There are buskers aplenty and live music and people-watching and the nearby grassy park with kites flying in the breeze. And onion rings and pretzels and ice cream!
And there are the windows. Kaleidoscope windows. Windows winking with color. Windows painted with unexpected images. Windows full of gaudy trinkets, the typical souvenirs, whimsical novelties, and even a rare treasure or two you’ll find nowhere else.
Here are a few of the windows.
A lady holding a colorful bouquet in the window of Seaport Deli and Salad Bar.Beach, clouds, muffin and coffee in a window of the Seaport Cookie Company.Exotic masks for a masquerade in one window of Upstart Crow Bookstore and Coffeehouse.Floral designs around one window of the Seaport Fudge Factory.Window mural painted by San Diego artist Joel Sharp in 1996. You can find it in Seaport Village at Margaritas Kitchen and Cantina.Christopher M., known as The Painter of Chefs, has samples of his work displayed in one window of Exclusive Collections Gallery in Seaport Village.Delightful characters fill the window at The Mugger in Seaport Village.A window full of irresistible treats at the Seaport Cookie Company.There are several smiling faces in this Upstart Crow window. Can you spot all three?Zoltar the fortune teller will read your future from his own small window.Coral and other beautiful objects in a window of Seaport Village Shell Co. Limited.Tourists might take home a glittery San Diego sombrero once they glimpse these in the window of Mexican Fiesta.Sunflowers and blue window frames at Frost Me Gourmet Cupcakes in Seaport Village.
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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.
Horse rides in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. One of many fun attractions at the Fall Back Festival and Historic Children’s Street Faire.
Late this morning I walked down to the Gaslamp to enjoy the 2016 Fall Back Festival and Historic Children’s Street Faire. A very long name for a very cool event!
Before the Fall Back Festival begins, clocks are set back one hour, as Daylight Saving Time ends. When the festival begins, however, clocks seem magically set back over a hundred years! Several blocks in the Gaslamp Quarter are transformed into a scene from the Old West, complete with cowboys, horses, a working blacksmith and more! The festival provides an idea of what San Diego might have been like in the mid to late 19th century.
Every year, the family-friendly Fall Back Festival appears about the same, but that’s just fine. Each journey back in time is wonderful!
Kids rides horses, as the citizens of San Diego commonly did in the mid 1800s.The Horton Grand Hotel rises behind a crowd of people enjoying the 2016 Fall Back Festival, an annual event that celebrates a fascinating period in San Diego history.Families dressed in Old West attire had a lot of fun as photos were taken at the Fall Back Festival!All sorts of Western hats, cowboy gear and Victorian finery could be donned at this table.Participants in the Fall Back Festival, wearing clothing from San Diego’s past. I felt as if I’d been transported back in time.A friendly hog greets somebody at the Fall Back Festival.Two ladies smile for my camera at the front door of the historic William Heath Davis House in San Diego’s Gaslamp.A row of shiny vintage cars on display during the popular downtown San Diego event.Many organizations had tents along Fourth Avenue, including the Friends of Villa Montezuma, which is a famous Victorian mansion in nearby Sherman Heights.Fourth Avenue runs through San Diego’s Chinatown, which is officially called the Asian Pacific Thematic Historic District. A colorful lion dancer turns heads at the Fall Back Festival.San Diego’s relatively brief history is remarkably diverse. An informative poster at the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum’s table includes several photos.I doubt anyone produced bubbles this big over a century ago, but I might be wrong!A working blacksmith attracted a big crowd on Island Avenue in San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter.Hammering red hot iron. A very cool demonstration at the 2016 Fall Back Festival!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! 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 unique photos for you to enjoy!
Mural painted on the north side of 600 B Street, home of the San Diego Union Tribune. It depicts a man sitting on an actual wall reading a newspaper. Loose windblown pages transform into colorful butterflies.
A mural is being painted on the north side of the building at 600 B Street, a high-rise that is the new home of the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper. The large mural overlooks a fenced park-like space that once was the playground for a downtown child care center.
I saw the colorful new mural behind scaffolding this morning while walking to a nearby trolley station. The artwork cleverly depicts a person reading a newspaper, while “sitting” on a wall that juts from the building. The man doesn’t seem to notice that windblown pages are rising skyward, transforming into butterflies.
The image is quaint, almost nostalgic, as if it were lifted from the pages of a treasured children’s book. Undoubtedly the San Diego Union-Tribune is the inspiration for this mural. It’s a funny choice of images, considering the fact that physical newspapers seem to be gradually fading away. But whatever the digital age might bring, the written word, like language itself, will live on…
UPDATE!
Here’s a photo I took after the mural was completed:
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Wile E. Coyote in a business suit disguise. He secretly peers out of a window at the Chuck Jones Gallery. He’s hoping The Road Runner might zoom on by.
Wile E. Coyote was spotted this morning peering secretly from a window in downtown San Diego. Dressed in business attire, which was almost certainly a clever disguise, the patient cartoon character seemed to be waiting for his breakfast: The Road Runner.
As I walked down Fifth Avenue by the window in question Wile E. Coyote remained perfectly still. Like a cat. He appeared ready to activate another of his diabolical schemes. For a moment I hesitated with vague fear, searching the sidewalk and building above for a dangling anvil, a rocket or a large spring. Nothing.
And so, breathing a sigh of relief, I safely walked past the Chuck Jones Gallery in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.
Cool urban art by Exist1981, created for PangeaSeed’s Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans festival. The public artwork, located at the Quartyard in East Village, warns that melting sea ice due to climate change will affect polar bear populations.
Whenever I walk past Quartyard in San Diego’s East Village, I look around to see what cool urban art I might discover. I took out my camera yesterday and snapped a few photos of the colorful artwork!
Quartyard, at the corner of Market Street and 11th Avenue in San Diego’s East Village, is a place where people can gather to eat, drink, talk, and enjoy entertainment.Mail delivery person heads into Quartyard, a community gathering place made from repurposed shipping containers. Coffee, beer, concerts and food trucks are found here.A cheerfully painted parking meter stands strangely by a mail box.The Meshuggah Shack occupies one shipping container. The funky place is known for their great coffee and friendly vibe.The colorful Meshuggah Shack offers coffee, tea, oddities, smoothies, noshes, and other fun stuff.Words on one shipping container at the Quartyard proclaim this is Your City Block.Sun, water, hungry sharks and a tropical island. I’m not exactly sure what is going on in this crazy street art created by Nick McPherson and MR DVICE.
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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.
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