Hard to believe it’s almost October. Major League Baseball Postseason 2025 begins tomorrow!
The San Diego Padres will be playing in Chicago against the Cubs in their MLB Wild Card Series matchup. Our hometown team ended up with another 90 win season. Let’s go Pads!
I walked around the Gaslamp Quarter, Petco Park and East Village this afternoon, and found indications that small businesses, restaurants and many others in downtown are rooting for the Padres!
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Special tours were enjoyed by the public today of San Diego’s newly renovated Civic Theatre.
The tours were part of the Civic Theatre’s 60th Anniversary Open House Event, which also featured live music, food and more good stuff outside the building in Civic Center Plaza.
I enjoyed a tour and took photos as our group went along.
The renovation concentrated on the theater’s front of house areas. I was told no substantial changes were made in the auditorium.
The work was accomplished during two 4-week periods, and has filled the gleaming Civic Theatre with new tile, new carpeting, new concession areas, new furniture, even new trashcans! The old very red interior is now brighter with sunny, beachy colors that better reflect San Diego.
Even the vertical “bars” on the building’s exterior have been painted in a way that makes its appearance more distinctive.
You can see photos of the Civic Theatre taken five years ago during an architectural tour here.
The old interior, with its lavish reds, made the place seem like a satiny European palace, or that last room in Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. Yes, this is an improvement!
We’ve entered the remodeled lobby. The island that used to be the ticket booth is now an inviting place where theatre-goers can order food and drink. (Tickets are now purchased at the outdoor box office in Civic Center Plaza.)
Now we’re heading upstairs toward the Mezzanine level. Those white onyx columns were wrapped with beautiful gold-colored metalwork during the renovation.
This handsome concession nook has brand new tiles, inside and out.
That’s the amazing Grand Salon with its enormous chandelier ahead. The display on the left (also in my very first photo) shows how things appeared before the renovation. Yes, it was very red!
Beautiful new tables and chairs match the new carpeting. The place even smells new!
Looking down into the Grand Salon. Grand is the appropriate word!
Now we’ve headed up to the Balcony level.
You can learn more about this absolutely amazing chandelier here.
Fashionable new “sconce” lights are evident, too, as we head down stairs to the Dress Circle level.
And here we are at the Dress Circle level, entering the Grand Salon. Beadwork above that smaller chandelier is new, created by a local artist. All the ottomans are new, too.
Beautiful new ornamental touches above the elevator.
More amazing than ever…
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San Diego Theatres and ArtReach are partnering to create a new community-driven mural in Civic Center Plaza. And they want to hear from you!
Do you have any ideas?
I noticed the above sign in a window of San Diego’s City Administration Building.
The mural will be on three Concourse exit doors facing Civic Center Plaza. The plaza’s overall architecture is mid-century modern. (I once blogged about how sculptor and architectural designer Malcolm Leland created modernist elements of the plaza and nearby parking garage. See that here.)
If you’d like to provide your own input on the future Civic Center Plaza mural, here’s the form where you can make suggestions. The link also leads to more information about this project.
Once the design is finalized, members of the community will help paint the mural!
UPDATE!
The following day, during a San Diego Civic Theatre open house event, I met Isabel Halpern, ArtReach’s Mural Program Manager. She had a display concerning the Civic Center murals.
Included was a graphic showing early mural design concepts. The leading artists are Regan Russell and Donald Gould.
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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 artist James Watts (@jewattso), whose fantastic studio is located downtown, is a creative dynamo. Even as he continues to work on his 100 Paintings project, he has begun to produce 100 Scrolls!
His scrolls are painted on fabric and utilize wood sticks he’s found, cut to size and sanded smooth. Unroll the scrolls and you’ll likely find something mysterious, symbolic, humorous or wise. (Possibly all four!) The art of James Watts often concerns aspects of mythology, religion or literature.
The scroll in my first photograph refers to two other works he has created, the Portal to Heaven and the Gates of Hell. Apple and cloud are accompanied by the words: It was not always like this. Seems everything changed with one bite of the forbidden fruit.
The next scroll in unrolled:
If only they knew.
The next scroll, filled with writing, was used by the artist for practice:
…we laughed and cried Oh what a night Who is to know the reason, the whys, the whats, the meaning of it all. To Love is to Love well…
As you can see, some images are created using sumi-e, which is Japanese ink painting.
We are all Broken. We must mend Ourselves.
What is understood Does not need to Be Explained.
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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.
Check out what arrived at the Maritime Museum of San Diego yesterday! This super cool “Deep Flight” submersible!
This electric, one-man submersible was developed about 15 years ago by Hawkes Ocean Technologies. It’s now on display in the museum’s steam ferry Berkeley, in a spot where many model ships can be viewed.
I’m reasonably sure this is DeepFlight I, a submersible that served as a technology testbed for DeepFlight II. You can see a photo and learn more about Hawkes Ocean Technologies on this website.
The exhibit is so brand new, the submersible is still on rollers and there’s no information sign in the museum yet. (I was told that to roll the submersible into the Berkeley, part of the museum’s front desk had to be removed!)
While I don’t know too much right now, I’ll endeavor to learn more tomorrow when the Maritime Museum of San Diego has a special member event. I’ll provide more info here in an update.
But look at how cool this thing is! Imagine lying prone, squeezed inside the narrow craft, down in the mysterious depths of the sea, flying along silently like an underwater aircraft, water and sea life all around!
UPDATE!
A few days later, I noticed two of the historic submersible’s wings had been reinstalled.
A sign also points visitors to a cool YouTube video concerning the DeepFlight I. Watch it here.
UPDATE!
A sign appeared later. I was surprised to learn DeepFlight I briefly appears in the introductory film sequence of Star Trek: Enterprise!
Long construction fences along Kettner Boulevard in downtown San Diego protect workers who are implementing a public transit upgrade. The work is being undertaken by the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS).
As this webpage explains: MTS has embarked on the America Plaza/Santa Fe Depot Pedestrian Enhancement Project to improve the pedestrian experience in and around this important transit hub.
Today, while walking past Santa Fe Depot’s old baggage terminal building, I noticed how the sidewalk is being widened and made more attractive. Several bus routes have stops in the vicinity.
(Years ago the historic baggage terminal was the downtown location of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. In the future, the roomy building will be part of a new UC San Diego arts campus, referred to as “The Depot.”)
MTS will be making different improvements in the neighborhood of the Santa Fe Depot and America Plaza, and I’ll continue to follow the progress!
UPDATE!
Three months later, I saw how the different bus routes will have their own loading spaces, as is the case at other transit centers…
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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 lifelike bronze statue of a Navy SEAL frogman was installed this morning in downtown San Diego!
The frogman sculpture arrived by box truck, which parked on Kettner Boulevard near One America Plaza, just outside the future Navy SEAL Museum San Diego. (The museum opens very soon–on October 4, 2025.)
With extreme care, slowly, methodically, the new public art was removed from its crate and elevated to its black marble pedestal, which had been installed outside the museum a few days ago.
I and some bystanders were wondering how exactly the operation would proceed. We watched with great interest, and I snapped a bunch of photos.
Words engraved on the pedestal explain:
This statue is adapted from the original at the Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida. It depicts a SEAL placing a limpet mine, an underwater explosive device.
It was designed by master bronze portrait sculptor Lena Toritch, and honors the U.S. Navy SEAL combat diver: a symbol of unwavering courage, stealth, and precision, standing as a testament to their dedication, rigorous training, and selfless service to our nation.
Cleaning the top of the pedestal…
Injecting epoxy into four holes atop the supporting pedestal…
Aha! They’re going to use straps.
Tilting the diving frogman sculpture upright.
Up it goes!
So far, so good!
Centering it…
Workers screw in four rods, which will descend into the epoxy-filled holes on top of the pedestal.
Success!
As I understood it, the statue would remain this way for a while as the epoxy hardened. So I left.
I returned several hours later and found…
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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.
The new Navy SEAL Museum San Diego is almost ready to open! Opening day is Saturday, October 4, 2025. That’s less than three weeks away!
This afternoon, walking past downtown’s One America Plaza building, I noticed the black marble pedestal that will support a Navy SEAL frogman statue has been installed outside. You can see it in my first two photographs. The nearby America Plaza trolley station is in the background.
I also observed new graphics have appeared near the museum’s front entrance!
Abandon Self – Embrace Team… The Deed is All – Not the Glory… Be Someone Special… The Only Easy Day was Yesterday
Responsibility – Service – Commitment – Discipline
Do these works of art represent the “real” world? Are they entirely fantastic?
Surreal pieces now on display in the San Diego Central Library’s art gallery might seem strangely familiar–but why and how?
The free exhibition is titled Uncharted Elsewhere. Stimulating pieces created by nine regional artists transport the viewer into uncharted territory located somewhere in the human mind.
I visited the Central Library’s 9th floor Judith Harris Art Gallery this afternoon and was wowed by the creativity of artists who have a special gift. Through sculpture, textile, painting and works on paper, they make curious people stand a very long while and wonder.
Are those eggs? Are those faces? Are those webs? Is that plant life? Are those landforms? What are these weird, oddly familiar things?
How did these fantastic visions come into existence? And what in our complex world is possible or real?
How, I wondered, might these visions relate to my own experiences in life?
The artists themselves, in their descriptions, explain how, through abstraction, they aim to produce enigmatic, mysteriously organic environments. Their works induce introspection, and perhaps enlightenment.
If you like weird, imaginative works of art, you’ll love Uncharted Elsewhere. For me, it’s one of the most engaging exhibitions I’ve experienced in this gallery.
You can check the artwork out for yourself through January 4, 2026. Learn more about the exhibition, the artists and the gallery hours by clicking 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.
The legendary rock band Chicago performed before a sell-out crowd this evening in San Diego. Even after 58 years of touring, the guys can still bring it!
As the sun set, the Rady Shell filled up with fans. Hundreds more would listen to the concert from benches at the edge of San Diego Bay and the Marriott Marina. Boats anchored in the bay were there for the music, too, and dozens of people in lawn chairs on the Embarcadero Marina Park South pier had some great free seats.
Hit would followed hit all evening long–everything from Questions 67 & 68, to Make Me Smile, to Searchin’ So Long, to Old Days, to Does Anyone Know What Time It Is, to If You Leave Me Now, to Look Away . . .
The timeless jams and ballads were as great as ever. Three original band members–Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, and James Pankow–were unstoppable. It appears they’ve found the fountain of youth.
I hadn’t been to a Chicago concert since Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff departed as lead vocalists, so I wasn’t sure how I’d like the “new guy” Neil Donell. Oh wow! He actually sounds a whole lot like Peter Cetera!
It seems there is no stopping Chicago. America’s Band they call themselves. There’s no denying Chicago is a national treasure.
Yes, I got goosebumps. I’m sure many in the audience did, too!
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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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 