Tag: downtown

Fun photos of 2025 East Village Block Party!

This morning, before the East Village Block Party officially began, I walked down J Street just north of Petco Park and checked out a bunch of very cool lowrider cars. You can see those photographs by clicking here.

I returned to the block party in the mid-afternoon as it was in full swing!

The huge crowd wasn’t surprising. The San Diego Padres seem more popular than ever. The East Village Block Party celebrates the beginning of a promising 2025 baseball season.

Enjoy some fun photos!

Mariachi Internacional was performing on the stage at the east end of the block party. As you’ll see, they’d later walk down J Street playing their instruments with big smiles.

The pitching game must be tough. I didn’t see a single person succeed.

Lots of Padres fans had their pets along…

Cody Carter and Quartet were performing country music live on another block party stage.

A fun street performer makes passersby smile…

People (mostly kids) were trying their hand at climbing…

A street artist who said his name is James created this cool graffiti East Village art. A dog with a swag chain gets ready for a photo in front of it!

A sign explains how fans helped to replace a vandalized Padres mural in North Park. (You can see the mural that was replaced here.)

Here come the mariachis!

Will the Padres make the MLB Postseason again in 2025? We hope so!

Firefighters at San Diego Fire Station No. 4 give my camera a thumbs up!

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Cool lowriders at the East Village Block Party!

Very cool lowriders are a big attraction at today’s East Village Block Party in downtown San Diego. As I walked along J Street between Sixth and Tenth Avenues, a few minutes before the event officially began, I took these photos. I was surprised at the number of cars participating this year. Check them out!

The 2025 East Village Block Party is being held one block north of Petco Park and celebrates the opening of the new baseball season. (The San Diego Padres are 2-0 and looking good so far!) The event is today, March 29, 2025, from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm.

When I walked through the outdoor party, several late arriving vendors were still setting up tables and the entertainment hadn’t begun. I’ve thrown in a few miscellaneous photos, as well, so you get the general vibe!

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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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A new Navy SEAL exhibit inside America Plaza!

The new Navy SEAL Museum will be opening in downtown San Diego later this year. Meanwhile, I’ve noticed they’re in the process of installing an exhibit on the ground floor of the One America Plaza office building, near the lobby, in a hallway that leads to the trolley station. (The same hallway where the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego used to have exhibits.)

Two of six large display cases now contain U. S. Navy SEAL artifacts. The other four have signs that indicate EXHIBIT COMING SOON.

If you want to check out this developing exhibit, One America Plaza is located at 600 West Broadway. (It’s that tall bluish building with a top that looks like a phillips-head screwdriver!)

Early this year I posted a blog about a large bronze frogman statue that will be placed outdoors near the coming museum. Once installed, you’ll see it beside the America Plaza trolley station across from Santa Fe Depot.

Read 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.

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Photos around Petco Park on 2025 Opening Day!

The San Diego Padres are playing the Atlanta Braves at Petco Park this 2025 Opening Day. As I type these words, the score is 4-3.

Before the game, I walked around Petco Park and through East Village and the Gaslamp Quarter breathing in the exciting atmosphere.

Padres baseball jerseys, shirts and hats everywhere. The media on the scene. A huge crowd entering the ballpark. Many smiles and thumbs up. Just before the start of the big game, a flyover of military helicopters…

Enjoy a variety of photographs!

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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.

Feel free to share!

San Diego prepares for Padres 2025 Opening Day!

Padres banners and flags are going up throughout downtown San Diego–in the Gaslamp, East Village, and around Petco Park! The city is almost ready for 2025 Opening Day, which is tomorrow!

This morning, Padres personnel were putting up fencing beside Petco Park for the anticipated long lines and crowds. Tom’s Watch Bar, which has taken over the old location of Social Tap, was hurriedly installing big television screens.

Tens of thousands of excited fans will converge downtown for the early afternoon start. The Pads are playing the Braves. Let’s go!

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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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Museum of Illusions prepares to dazzle San Diego!

Was that a strange mirage in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter this morning? I don’t think so!

The Museum of Illusions San Diego had its front door open and construction workers streaming in and out. Their building has a brand new paint job and a big Museum of Illusions sign above the entrance. It appears they’re getting ready to open soon!

That’s what their website says, too. Check it out here.

Mind-boggling holograms, optical illusions, rooms that puzzle human perception and play tricks on your mind…

Sounds cool!

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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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World’s most famous fishing boat to visit San Diego!

Western Flyer, the world’s most famous fishing boat, will be visiting San Diego on March 26, 2025, and you have the opportunity to tour it!

If you’ve read John Steinbeck‘s famous book Sea of Cortez, you’ll recognize the name of this fishing boat. In 1940, Steinbeck and his friend Ed Ricketts explored the Gulf of California in this very boat.

For decades the boat was lost, then it was found and restored by the Western Flyer Foundation. It now operates as a floating classroom, educating youth about the intersection of science and literature.

With a General Admission ticket, visitors to the Maritime Museum of San Diego will be able to step aboard and tour the legendary fishing boat as it makes its visit to our city!

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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.

Feel free to share!

2025 San Diego Padres appear on Embarcadero!

The 2025 Major League Baseball season is about to begin. And look who has appeared on San Diego’s Embarcadero along Harbor Drive. Players representing the San Diego Padres!

Before the start of every season, new Padres player banners appear on downtown lamp posts. You can find the banners around Petco Park and elsewhere. Some of the banners inevitably feature new faces.

I took these photographs today.

Last year the Padres were arguably the second best team in baseball. They were a game away from beating mighty Los Angeles and going to the National League Championship Series. How will the team do in 2025?

Jackson Merrill 3
Nick Pivetta 27
Xander Bogaerts 2
Manny Machado 13
Yu Darvish 11
Fernando Tatis Jr. 23

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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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Hidden balcony offers views of Balboa Park!

People who enter Balboa Park through its grand west entrance pass a “hidden” balcony that few observe or know about!

The second floor balcony at the Museum of Us is accessible to museum visitors through the Living with Animals exhibit. The patio-like balcony, with its welcoming chairs and tables, offers views from the southwest corner of the California Quadrangle.

Visitors enjoy views over the Rube Powell Archery Range toward downtown San Diego, and of the Cabrillo Bridge to the west. There’s a fantastic view of the historic Balboa Park Administration Building across El Prado.

The next two photographs show the exterior of the Saint Francis Chapel at the southwest corner of the California Quadrangle.

Looking over the Rube Powell Archery Range toward State Route 163 and hazy downtown San Diego…

Now we’re looking west along El Prado toward the Cabrillo Bridge. Few people entering Balboa Park will notice the little known balcony as they approach the park’s grand west entrance…

The Administration Building, seen fully in the next photo, was the first building constructed (1911-1912) in Balboa Park for the Panama-California Exposition.

Final architectural plans for the Administration Building were developed by Carlton Winslow under the direction of lead exposition architect Bertram Goodhue.

(If it appears the building was designed by Irving Gill, here’s an article that casts doubt on this and discusses the issue.)

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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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Mural in San Diego Waterfront Park stairwell.

On the south side of San Diego’s popular Waterfront Park, a stairwell descends to an underground parking lot. This colorful mural greets people as they begin to descend the stairs.

The public art, dated 2014, is a photo reproduction on aluminum of San Diego-based contemporary artist Allison Renshaw‘s original painting Last Call, which is on display inside the nearby County Administration Building.

As the artist’s website explains: Allison’s work offers multiple perspectives, discordant vocabularies, and malleable boundaries. Her art is informed by particles of our urban and natural landscape along with culture found in the everyday…

I can’t believe it took me 11 years to finally share a good photograph of this eye-catching art. Back in 2014, I posted a blog documenting opening day at Waterfront Park, and you can get a glimpse of the mural in one of those photographs!

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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.

Feel free to share this!