Tag: downtown

New murals on 800 Broadway building!

This morning, during a downtown San Diego walk, I spotted two huge new murals! They’re on the north side of the 800 Broadway high-rise, which has been under construction for some time. The tall building, when completed, will offer apartments with great city views.

People strolling down the sidewalk will have great views, too–of these big, super colorful murals!

I presently know nothing about the artwork. Should I find out more, I’ll provide an update. If you know something, feel free to leave a comment below!

On the Eighth Avenue side:

And on the Ninth Avenue side:

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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.

Restoring the Tony Gwynn sculpture at Waterfront Park!

Did you know there’s a sculpture of Tony Gwynn in Waterfront Park, just south of San Diego’s County Administration Building?

The sculpture, created by world-famous artist Niki de Saint Phalle, is titled #19 Baseball Player. The mosaic sculpture debuted nine years ago, and I was there for the ceremony. You can see those photographs by clicking here.

When I walked through Waterfront Park early this morning, I noticed the fun sculpture depicting Mr. Padre holding a baseball bat was being restored.

According to a sign, the work is being done by Lech Juretko. He operates Art Mosaic Inc. in Santee. For eight years he was an assistant to Niki de Saint Phalle, helping to produce 100 of her works!

Lech now works with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation, and has done restoration work on Niki’s fun Nikigator (in front of the Mingei International Museum) and her epic, mind-blowing Queen Califia’s Magical Circle (at Kit Carson Park in Escondido).

To read a great article about Lech meeting Niki and his subsequent experiences, click 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.

Hand Drawn Sculpture by artist Ken Kelleher.

It looks like a huge, three-dimensional blue squiggle, doesn’t it?

This twisty sculpture, by artist Ken Kelleher, is called Hand Drawn Sculpture. It’s located at the new Research and Development District (RaDD) complex on downtown San Diego’s waterfront.

Among RaDD’s five buildings, one can glimpse all sorts of public art: both sculptures and murals. I took some photos of the art that wasn’t fenced off during construction earlier this year, but I knew next to nothing about any of it.

Well, plaques have appeared near some artworks that are currently accessible to the public. Interesting information is provided about both art and artist.

I took these photographs this morning.

The abstract Hand Drawn Sculpture, according to its plaque, was created in 2023. It blurs the lines between two and three-dimensional art forms by merging the fluid, gestural lines of drawing with the tangible presence of sculpture…

Pretend the blue lines have no depth and were drawn on flat paper. Seen from different angles, the sculpture assumes different forms.

What do you see?

Very cool!

Look for more photos and descriptions of public art at RaDD in future blog posts!

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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.

Photos of first light over downtown San Diego.

Enjoy half a dozen photographs taken this morning around sunrise.

It’s early September, still summer, and the weather has been unusually warm. A bit after 6 o’clock, the sky to the east brightened and broken clouds became even more beautiful above downtown San Diego.

My camera and I moved slowly west down Broadway from the vicinity of Santa Fe Depot. You can see in these photos how obelisk-like America Plaza with its colorfully lit trolley station is prominent in the foreground.

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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.

Young Ukrainian filmmaker visits San Diego.

Thirteen-year-old Ukrainian filmmaker Marusya Shuvalova spoke today at the 20th San Diego International Children’s Film Festival. The event was held in the Neil Morgan Auditorium at San Diego’s downtown Central Library.

Shuvalova’s two films, Me. My Eleven Years. War. and What’s Going On With Us? were among the outstanding selections featured in 2024. Both films document her young life in Kyiv, Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

Please watch the short Me. My Eleven Years. War. on YouTube by clicking here. There are English subtitles.

You will see how Marusya’s life as an ordinary eleven-year-old girl was disrupted by the war–how she had to forgo loved activities, learn remotely, listen constantly to loud sirens, take shelter, and live with fear of an unknown future, and a constant fear for her family’s safety. Her ambitions to be a young actress and film director had to be largely put on hold.

But now she has visited Los Angeles and San Diego for their respective International Children’s Film Festivals and hopefully her future is becoming brighter. Even with her limited knowledge of English, and emotions that you and I might hardly understand, she spoke before the audience in San Diego with perfect professionalism and poise. She is truly inspirational.

Learn more about Marusya Shuvalova 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.

Crackers, candy and San Diego history!

Many ordinary appearing buildings in downtown San Diego have surprising histories. That is certainly the case for the Olde Cracker Factory Building at 448 West Market Street.

The 1913 brick building might now contain retail, office and residential spaces, but would you believe it was once a cracker and candy factory?

According to its website, the building was home to the Bishop and Company Cracker and Candy Factory from 1913-1931, and then Nabisco Biscuit Company until 1941. In 1930, the Bishop Cracker and Candy Factory employed 100 men and women who produced cookies, crackers and peanut butter. Over ten tons of products were produced here annually…

Check out the above website for more detailed history and intriguing old photographs. You’ll see antique delivery trucks parked in front of the Bishop & Company building, and busy factory workers and machinery inside.

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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.

Smile like a sunflower in San Diego!

Sunflowers are smiling on the windows of the Hamilton Building at 640 C Street in downtown San Diego. The painted windows encourage passersby to Smile like a Sunflower!

I don’t know why these happy flowers recently appeared. The building has been vacant for years now. Back in 2019 images of musicians were mysteriously painted on these same windows!

When I first moved to downtown San Diego over 20 years ago, the Hamilton Building was home to the San Diego Computer Museum. All sorts of cool old computers were displayed in a gallery. The museum continues to have an online presence here.

The one time I visited the San Diego Computer Museum I was excited to find a few of the machines I had programmed in my youth, such as the ZX-80, ZX-81, TS-1000 and Commodore 64. A pair of interactive text adventure games that I created in the very early 1980s were published by the now defunct software company Softsync.

You can still play one of my old Commodore 64 games, which is titled Super Clue! Simply click 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.

Official tall ship of California begins Sunday sail!

Californian, official tall ship of the State of California, set out today from the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Passengers aboard the schooner, a replica of a Gold Rush era revenue cutter, began another four hour Sunday sailing adventure!

I stood on the museum’s barge out on San Diego Bay as Californian’s volunteer crew prepared the tall ship to get underway. Once well out on the water, the sails would be employed, so necessary actions were performed beforehand.

At noon, when all was ready, lines were cast off and the ship moved away from the dock by using its motor.

I don’t pretend to understand the details of sailing a traditionally rigged tall ship, but I do enjoy watching the action!

If you’d like to go on one of these Tall Ship Adventures, visit the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s website 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.

People rappel down 34-story building in San Diego!

People in San Diego could experience the thrill of a lifetime today! The annual fundraising Over The Edge event was held downtown, on the vertical side of the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel tower!

People who raised a certain amount of money for Reality Changers could rappel 34 stories straight down! I stood at ground level in front of the hotel and zoomed my camera lens to capture a bit of the action.

Reality Changers helps disadvantaged high school students go to college. They prepare youth to become first-generation college graduates and agents of change in their community. You can donate to this worthy cause by visiting the Reality Changers website here.

That’s rather high, don’t you think? Looks scary! But these events, running for many years now, have never had an accident. Safety is the first priority.

Why don’t you consider participating next year?

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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.

Full moon above a beautiful morning Star.

Early this morning, as the sun rose slowly above San Diego, beautiful tall ship Star of India began to shine.

Beyond the Star’s bright sails, the full moon quietly retired.

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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.