Tag: downtown

JOURNEYworm takes form at San Diego High School!

The JOURNEYworm appears to be taking form along Park Boulevard in front of San Diego High School. I saw it today during my walk from Balboa Park to downtown!

This temporary art installation will be one segment of the completed 1.7 mile long Bay to Park Paseo, a special corridor that is being created to celebrate the designation of San Diego/Tijuana as World Design Capital 2024. Here’s a page that describes the Bay to Park Paseo.

The JOURNEYworm is described as an arc-shaped sculpture, assembled from screens and wires, to evoke the shapes of our region–ocean waves, desert canyons, and gabled roofs…At night, JOURNEYworm will come alive…it will change colors and blast pulses of light in response to ambient sounds and music played by passersby…

I noticed many transparent fabrics moving in the wind among the eucalyptus trees. Curling together, with clouds and blue sky behind, they can create some very beautiful effects, as you can see!

I can’t really envision how the JOURNEYworm will finally appear. I intend to take more photos as the worm turns and develops!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Sunrise paints the sky above downtown.

This morning, as the sun broke above the horizon somewhere east of downtown San Diego, sunrise colors painted the sky and reflected from building windows along Broadway. It was stunning.

I stood in the median of Broadway at Kettner Boulevard and aimed my camera at the risen beauty. A few minutes later, the fiery colors would fade.

Late tonight another big storm rolls into San Diego. More flooding is expected. Hopefully everyone stays safe!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Bay to Park Paseo arriving in San Diego!

An epic art project along Park Boulevard has begun to take form in downtown San Diego!

The Bay to Park Paseo is a planned 1.7 mile walking experience that will connect San Diego Bay to Balboa Park. The massive, temporary art installation is being created by local artists and designers, to celebrate the selection of San Diego/Tijuana as World Design Capital 2024!

Today I noticed one section of the Bay to Park Paseo being installed just south of the City College trolley station. Local artist Armando De La Torre (@guavasufi) was putting up images on a construction fence on the east side of Park Boulevard.

You can see how the entire Bay to Park Paseo will appear here.

That big old trolley and other images I discovered are part of the Zone 8 artwork, which will express the block’s mobility and walkability throughout time… Four 20 feet wide panels will include a mixture of photos, drawings and text in a 3D shadowbox format. They will depict the evolution of San Diego, from small settlement to metropolis.

The artist Armando De La Torre was born in Tijuana, Mexico and lives in Chula Vista. Among his other accomplishments, he teaches homeless kids art at Father Joe’s Villages!

The urban designer for this particular section of the Bay to Park Paseo is native San Diegan Howard Blackson.

The property behind the fence, owned by Kilroy Realty, is the site of a future tech hub.

Stay tuned as I follow this exciting project!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Shimms indie rockers perform on the Embarcadero!

Three residents of Little Italy were rocking San Diego’s Embarcadero this afternoon!

The band Shimms had set up their instruments by San Diego Bay, just south of the Grape Street Pier, and were performing indie rock for an audience that had gathered on the boardwalk.

I lingered for a short while and listened to some darn good music.

You never know what you might encounter during a walk along San Diego’s waterfront. Street musicians, jugglers, dancers, bubble makers, a person costumed like Chewbacca, a dead-ringer for Maverick in Top Gun, a guy with flame-throwing bagpipes–it can be quite surprising!

You might also encounter some talented musicians!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

The forgotten Seiko clock in San Diego.

There’s a street clock in downtown San Diego that few seem to know about. It rises at the southwest corner of 7th Avenue and B Street. Perhaps you’ve seen it. Many of the people I’ve questioned over the years haven’t.

The clock is slender and about 20 feet tall, and appears a bit like a sleek, elevated wristwatch–indeed, the word SEIKO appears on the clock’s face.

I did a little research and discovered this “Solar Post Clock” was a gift in 1983 from Seiko to Jacobs & Sons Jewelers, a family business that used to be located on this city corner.

According to an interesting National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors web page, this Seiko street clock is an unusual and novel device that was supposedly the first solar powered clock to be installed in San Diego…. It has a very accurate time only quartz movement and runs on a solar powered battery system that theoretically can run for 90 days without sunshine.

The clock’s hands no longer move. While our San Diego sunshine continues, it seems time eventually ran out for this unique street clock.

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Concert Series kicks off at San Diego Library!

The 2024 Winter/Spring Concert Series kicked off today at the San Diego Central Library. Sue Palmer and her Motel Swing Orchestra entertained a packed house inside the library’s Neil Morgan Auditorium.

The audience really dug the jazzy selections, including music by Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and great pieces written by San Diego’s “Queen of Boogie Woogie” Sue Palmer. A few audience members felt inclined to dance during the upbeat performance!

Sue Palmer is an inductee into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame. Her top notch Motel Swing Orchestra includes piano, saxophone, guitar, drums, trombone and bass. Each musician wowed the crowd, receiving spontaneous applause. The strong vocals were provided by Jazz and Blues singer Liz Ajuzie.

More concerts are scheduled in the months ahead. Several make use of the Central Library’s Steinway piano and will feature some of San Diego’s top pianists!

Believe it or not, this marks the 68th season of free concerts at the San Diego Central Library.

To see what’s coming up, check out my next photo, or visit the library’s web page 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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Children play in rain, and hope for the homeless.

As it rained in San Diego yesterday, children played hide and seek on a sidewalk near Father Joe’s Villages. The bronze sculptures of small children caught my eye as I rode a bus past the Saint Teresa of Calcutta Villa, where homeless people transition into permanent housing.

I had discovered the Father Joe Memorial Promenade.

The promenade was completed two years ago. It honors Father Joe Carroll, who during his life helped thousands of unsheltered people in San Diego. His footprints are in the sidewalk. A memorial plaque remembers his unselfish love. There are words to be read on several planters. More plaques can be read near the Saint Teresa of Calcutta Villa entrance.

The Father Joe Memorial Promenade and its hopeful sculptures were designed by architect Jowaan Lee from J2 Ventures.

Would you like to follow Father Joe’s footsteps? Will you touch many in San Diego who feel hopeless, and provide hope?

Learn more, and perhaps provide a donation to Father Joe’s Villages on their website here.

THE FATHER JOE CARROLL MEMORIAL PROMENADE

During his 40 years of service in downtown, Father Joe Carroll taught the San Diego community to see those living on the streets as neighbors. Through the eyes of grace, he looked beyond the difficulties of the past and the challenges of the present to believe in a better future for each person he met, and taught others to do the same.

As they beckon us to join in their game of hide and seek, the carefree children playing along this path–Faith, Grace, Hope and Peace–remind us that everyone we encounter was once a child whose life was full of possibility…

Faith sees the light in your heart when all your eyes see is darkness.

Grace silences the past and opens you to the opportunities of a brighter future.

Peace hears the calm within you amid the noise of life.

Father Joe’s Villages has always been about neighbors helping neighbors. This is a place where people from all walks of life–rich and poor, educated and not, needy and well-off–come together as equals to change peoples’ lives. –Father Joe Carroll

In 2013 the Congressional Medal of Honor Society honored Father Joe Carroll as a Citizen Hero for his selfless service and dedication to all…

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

A morning walk along MLK Promenade.

Today, January 15th, is Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

As the sun rose early this morning, I strolled along Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade in downtown San Diego. A few other walkers were out, too.

I photographed public art along the linear park that honors a great civil rights hero. (You can see more of the three sculptures here and here and here.)

Many famous and thought-provoking MLK quotes are engraved along the pathway. I randomly aimed my camera at two. (See more of the quotes here.)

I started near the intersection of Harbor Drive and Market Street, headed southeast past the newly renovated Children’s Park, then concluded my walk at the Convention Center trolley station.

Just a few photos…

Shedding the Cloak, by artists Jerry Dumlao, Mary Lynn Dominguez, and Tama Dumlao.

DREAM, by artist Roberto Salas.

Breaking of the Chains, by artist Melvin Edwards.

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Fine stamp collection displayed at Central Library.

Postage stamps from the award-winning Helen Cushman Philatelic Collection are now being exhibited at the San Diego Central Library. Several large display cases inside the Special Collections Center contain dozens of colorful stamps that should interest art lovers and philatelists alike.

As one sign explains, Helen Cushman, a prominent civic activist in San Diego, participated in many regional and national competitions that showcased her Topical stamp collections. Her 1974 book entitled “San Diego Vacation” won the top prize at the national SOJEX Stamp Exposition. The book illustrated the best of San Diego using postage stamps to illustrate why San Diego is a great place to visit.

Peering into the display cases, I noticed postage stamps of different shapes and sizes from many nations. Her collection, in fact, spans 234 countries and over 160 years of production. Many of the stamps she collected commemorate events and/or people of historical significance, capturing a glimpse in time.

I fondly remember collecting stamps when I was very young. I would carefully tear away the corners of received mail, soak the stamps in a sink to separate them from the envelope, dry the stamps on a towel, then use a licked hinge to attach my new finds to the correct pages of a big stamp album. That was long ago. I’m not sure what became of my album. Sold at a swap meet, perhaps. It’s fun to imagine that those stamps I gathered might now be in the collection of another young person!

If you’ve never visited the San Diego Central Library’s rooftop Ninth Floor, you really should. There are beautiful views of the city, an art gallery, and the Marilyn & Gene Marx Special Collections Center, where you’ll find not only these stamps, but a museum-like collection of research materials, fine art and rare books!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Cool rooftop eatery overlooks Petco Park!

There’s a cool eatery that overlooks Gallagher Square at Petco Park. It’s called Fairweather Rooftop Bar and Grill. Check out their website.

Friendly bartender Chris saw me taking photos of construction at Gallagher Square and invited me up to their rooftop patio for a much better look. How could I say no!

What a fantastic view!

I enjoyed a long talk and was shown a little of the historic Simon Levi Company building, where Fairweather is located. I also spied some beautiful artwork by the outdoor bar.

It might be a bit difficult to find the rooftop bar and grill, so follow the signs. As you can see from my first photograph, this would be an ideal place to watch a future Gallagher Square concert or hang out during a Padres game!

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!