This year, Cinco de Mayo was celebrated a couple days early in San Diego’s festive Gaslamp Quarter. And I’d like to share a collection of photographs!
Entertainment on a couple of stages, exciting Mexican lucha libre wrestling, “Fast and the Furriest” dog races, cool lowrider cars, a beer garden, tasty food… People smiling, laughing, dancing, enjoying a good time…
It was a bit amusing to see so many people in business attire at this very casual, family event. Around lunchtime, a small army of professionals had streamed up Fifth Avenue from the San Diego Convention Center, where the Digestive Disease Week 2025 conference is being held. Gaslamp restaurants were packed!
The guy with the typewriter in the next photo wrote a poem about “Dog Races” for me. A shout out to creators who strive for truth.
Karl M. Stout (@astrotheosis) completed his poem: …the friends we made along the way.
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A huge lucha libre audience looked on with amazement as the unforeseen happened in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter during today’s Cinco de Mayo celebration!
The first high-flying match was amazing, as exciting as anything you’ll see on television or in a big arena. The luchadores of World Power Wrestling (WPW) entertained everyone with their moves, and the good guy (despite having his mask removed and eyes viciously raked when the official wasn’t looking) was victorious!
That wasn’t the big surprise, however. That came in the second match.
Miguel Lopez, General Manager of Margaritaville Hotel San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, took to the ring with two other wrestlers, promoting his establishment. As the two wrestlers (one appearing like an evil clown) began to grapple, Miguel suddenly removed his outer clothing and revealed his lucha libre costume! Like a sudden flash of lightning he decimated the evil clown!
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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 X.
Today, in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, not only can you enjoy the big Cinco de Mayo festival along Fifth Avenue, but if you spot Rolling Wave Comics among the vendors, you’re invited to grab free comic books! Those are some in the above photo!
I see DC and Marvel and independent publisher titles. I see Superman, Spider-Man, Star Wars, Godzilla and more superhero and comic book favorites.
If you’re heading down to the Gaslamp today, keep your eyes open!
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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.
If you’ve seen the USS Midway Museum in the past few days, you’ll notice the historic aircraft carrier is covered with yellow ribbons.
I learned today that the approximately 60,000 ribbons honor the same number of members of the United States Armed Forces who were killed in action during the Vietnam War.
The ribbons, tied several days ago around the edge of the aircraft carrier, will remain in place through Memorial Day. Visitors who go to the flight deck’s information stand can ask to tie their own yellow ribbon.
I notice some of the ribbons have messages written upon them. Loved ones can be remembered in this way.
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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.
San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) workers were testing a new development at the Gaslamp Quarter trolley station this morning. They were setting up that large umbrella in my photo!
I learned that during upcoming Comic-Cons and other similar events near the San Diego Convention Center, temporary umbrellas will be installed at the station platform to provide shade. One of the umbrellas, I was told, will shade a spot for police canines. Dogs can overheat in San Diego’s summer sunshine!
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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.
A new art gallery recently opened in downtown San Diego. Juried works by diverse artists can be freely viewed from the sidewalk in front the Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse!
From behind several large windows, works by local artists greet the curious eyes of those walking down Broadway. This new Courthouse Gallery of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California is now displaying The Art of Freedom.
The courthouse website describing the project and a call for submissions explains: The inspirations for this on-going, rotating art display are: making art more accessible to the public, enhancing civic engagement through the arts, and creating an opportunity for local artists to increase exposure to their work. The gallery will be featuring emerging and established artists 18 and older residing in San Diego and Imperial Counties.
It’s difficult to photograph through these windows with the reflections. Enjoy several pieces…
Woman Charging I by Cathy Deibler.Forest Dance, by Leah Schaperow.Remember When We Were Free by Cynthia Sue Kelly.
Years ago, these same windows displayed artwork created by students for San Diego County Bar Association’s Law Week Poster and Video Contest. See three years of those displays here and here and here.
Over the years, my photos of those Law Week posters have been viewed thousands of times through Google search–quite possibly by teachers and students around the nation and world. Amazing.
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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.
An extraordinary exhibit concerning the history of baseball’s Negro Leagues officially opens tomorrow, April 15, 2025, in San Diego!
Extensive displays celebrating African-American baseball players who helped lead the way to a more integrated and tolerant society can now be enjoyed on the 8th Floor Reading Room of the Central Library. The exhibit is titled Barrier Breakers.
Visitors to the Central Library are in for a treat. The epic exhibition is brought to our city by the San Diego Padres and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
There are biographies of athletes who competed in the Negro Leagues–complete with stats, accomplishments, photographs and memories. There are stories of how trailblazing players were eventually accepted by Major League Baseball. Different eras are represented, and key moments are remembered.
As one might expect, Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball, has a special place in the exhibit. It’s no coincidence that tomorrow, the day Breaking Barriers opens, is Jackie Robinson Day. Jackie made history by starting at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
Another display celebrates the San Diego Padres’ own trailblazer, hometown hero catcher Johnny Ritchey. He made Pacific Coast League history when he joined the team in 1948. (He had seven hits in his first eleven plate appearances!)
Anyone who is a baseball, sports or history buff needs to check out Barrier Breakers. I just happened to swing by the Central Library today, and was super fortunate to observe a special preview presentation.
If you can’t make it to San Diego’s downtown Central Library, you can view an online virtual exhibit by clicking here.
Just a few photos…
During today’s special presentation, Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, presented The Home Run for Humanity Award to worthy recipients in San Diego. Congrats to all!
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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.
On May 10, 2025, a monument will be unveiled in the northeast corner of Pantoja Park. The bust of William Heath Davis Jr. will debut, commemorating the founder of downtown San Diego!
The public event will take place between 10:30 am and 2 pm. There will be speeches, informational booths, a blessing by Kumeyaay Bird Singers, and Pacific Islander traditions. William Heath Davis “Kanaka Bill” was born in Hawaii.
Many associate Alonzo Horton with the founding of downtown San Diego. Horton’s ultimately successful New Town, however, came after an attempt by William Heath Davisto build a new community closer to San Diego Bay than the original Old Town San Diego… His New Town was located west of today’s Gaslamp Quarter. The venture did not do well due to a lack of fresh water and hostility from the established settlements at Old Town and La Playa…
Pantoja Park, at 500 West G Street, was established in 1850. It was created at the center of William Heath Davis’ 160-acre subdivision and is San Diego’s oldest city park. Originally it was known as New Town Park. Appropriately, it will be home to the soon-to-be-unveiled bust.
The William Heath Davis Monument and the Monument Unveiling Ceremony are the work of the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation and The Kanaka Davis Trust Group.
(I saw a preview of the monument a couple years ago. See that blog post here.)
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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.
You can tell Spring has arrived in and around Seaport Village!
During my walk today, as I enjoyed the warm San Diego sunshine, I found bright flowers, colorful kites flying above Embarcadero Marina Park North, and a huge yellow duck!
I asked a shopkeeper why a giant inflatable duckie has appeared in Seaport Village. She just assumed it was the time of year. Makes sense to me!
I looked for ducklings in the Seaport Village pond, but didn’t find any. I did observe a duck taking a springtime nap.
Shorts and other beach attire have appeared outside shop doors…
Bird poop must be periodically cleaned off Morning, a sculpture created by renowned San Diego artist Donal Hord. Seagulls like perching on the head. (Imagine how the droppings appear. Yuck.)
The Beach Bunny Kite Festival will be taking place at Seaport Village this Saturday, April 12, 2025, from 1 to 4 pm. (I wonder–is the Beach Bunny a friend of Surfing Santa?)
Today was the perfect day to go fly a kite…or many kites!
You know it’s Spring if the American Academy of Neurology is in town for their big convention. Seaport Village, the San Diego Convention Center, and the surrounding area was swarming with attendees.
You can always count on Alamo Flags to have seasonal banners outside on display! Easter Sunday is less than two weeks away.
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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.
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