Pirates must be more conscientious than we think, because the Voodoo Ranger pirate ship is being carefully painted the day before it sails for Comic-Con!
This morning I noticed a volunteer at the Maritime Museum of San Diego touching up the beautiful tall ship. It isn’t really a pirate ship. It’s far more amazing. San Salvador is a working replica of a Spanish galleon built and operated by the folks at the Maritime Museum.
The Voodoo Ranger sails are already up, ready to unfurl for all of San Diego and Comic-Con goers to see. Early tomorrow morning the make-believe pirate ship will head down San Diego Bay to its place behind the San Diego Convention Center.
Landlubbers beware! Even not-so-despicable pirates might engage in a little mischief!
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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The pop-up Sonic the Hedgehog Speed Cafe has been open several days in San Diego’s East Village! You can find it at 910 J Street.
The soft opening of the Speed Cafe is already attracting many local families and lovers of the Sonic video games, cartoons and movies. The one-of-a-kind fast food restaurant will have its official Grand Opening at the start of Comic-Con 2023 next week. I suspect the lines will be very long, so if you’re hungry speed your way into downtown San Diego in the next few days! My wait today was perhaps 5 minutes. The restaurant will remain open until mid-August.
What fun! I saw lots of kids enjoying the cool atmosphere and playing several free video games that were scattered about.
The menu includes fast food with names such as Sonic’s Classic Chilidog, The Perfect Eggdog, Knuckles Sandwich, Piko Piko Tenders and The Evil Genius. Drinks include Sonic Heroes Slush, Blue Blur, Flying Fox, Sweet Amy and Team Dark.
I learned the Sonic the Hedgehog Speed Cafe is a project of video game maker SEGA. A new restaurant concept is being tested!
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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Several cool new faces have appeared outside Comic-Con 2023 since my walk around downtown San Diego yesterday!
I caught these faces with my camera this afternoon for all to enjoy.
Those two faces above–‘TIL ALL ARE ONE–are part of very cool artwork leaning up against Paramount’s coming offsite activation in the Gaslamp. The Lodge will be located inside Happy Does.
The big Star Trek wrap on the Marriott Marquis has added the face of Picard…
The Sand Land world premiere screening wrap on the Marriott now features the face of character Beelzebub…
Piccolo is pictured on a crate waiting to be unloaded in the Marriot Marina Terrace, where the Dragon Ball outdoor activation will open to the public during Comic-Con…
A deflated face up in the air above the future Adult Swim on the Green offsite activation…
Jack in the Box has a trolley wrap featuring Jack fan art, it appears! I spotted these faces in the trolley yard from the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge…
Finally, check out this cool graphic on one of the Amazon Prime Video wraps near the Gaslamp Quarter Archway. I’m afraid I don’t know the character. Leave a comment if you do!
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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
There must’ve been a bizarre mix-up in the space-time continuum because the Planet Express Building has been mysteriously transported to San Diego from Futurama–I mean, the future.
I’m not sure if this strange Planet Express Building features a downstairs walrus tank, but I suppose visitors to Comic-Con 2023 will be able to find out! That’s because the time-displaced building, as well as the Planet Express spaceship itself, are now sitting in the parking lot behind the San Diego Convention Center!
It’s all part of the Hulu Animayhem offsite activation, which will be open to the public this coming week during Comic-Con!
Will you glimpse a strange alien during your visit? Look at these photos taken today…
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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
All sorts of tasty sights are popping up around downtown San Diego before the start of Comic-Con 2023!
Today is Saturday. Check out some of the fun stuff I came across while walking around the San Diego Convention Center, through the Gaslamp and into East Village!
A funny hamburger with eyeballs promotes Good Burger 2 from Nickelodeon.The anime film Sand Land will have its world premiere screening at Comic-Con on July 21, 2023.This cool structure will be part of Hulu’s Animayhem activation behind the San Diego Convention Center.And beyond it, you can see the big Star Trek wrap on a Marriot Marquis tower.Archer prop probably needs to be transported over to the FX area.More structures being set up for Hulu’s Animayhem.I can’t wait to check it out during Comic-Con!Adult Swim on the Green hasn’t made much construction progress, seemingly.The FX offsite this year is under construction. It appears to be less elaborate than usual.FX will promote its shows here.Alice in Wonderland and the mad tea party have been painted on the windows of Starbucks at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.Looking across Harbor Drive toward the huge Special Ops: Lioness building wrap.I love the FOX animation wrap on the Omni so much I took another pic today of one section!Looking toward the Gaslamp Quarter Archway from Gaslamp Square.Looking at Hard Rock Hotel from Gaslamp Square.Worker setting up the NBC offsite at Gaslamp Square.The NBC activation appears to have several structures.A big Yellowjackets wrap being applied to the front of the Hard Rock Hotel.This should look pretty cool when finished!Here’s one of the nearby Amazon Prime Video wraps: Invincible.Happy Does will be the site of Paramount’s “The Lodge” offsite.Workers busy getting The Lodge ready for Comic-Con.Part of the big Daryl Dixon wrap on the Pendry hotel. The dead are still walking on AMC.Dead City on a Pendry window.Fear the Walking Dead. I don’t want to become food, so I’ll keep my head on a swivel!A super cool activation at Ninth Avenue and J Street. It’s the Sonic the Hedgehog Speed Cafe!Sonic runs across an East Village window.A few would-be-Sonics were waiting in line for the unique culinary experience. Hungry fans weren’t moving too quickly, but quite excited!
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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
With four days to go until Comic-Con 2023 Preview Night, preparation for a massive crowd of pop culture fans descending on downtown San Diego is now in high gear!
Many Comic-Con offsites are in the early stages of construction. More buildings wraps are appearing in the Gaslamp Quarter and by the San Diego Convention Center.
Enjoy these photos from my long, very fun walk late this Friday afternoon!
Twisted Metal banners line Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade.A meaty wrap on one side of the Hilton Gaslamp.The big Fox Animation Domination wrap on the Omni appears over half finished.The stylish Interview With The Vampire graphics on the Hilton Gaslamp are among my favorites.
The following structure that has been erected in Gaslamp Square will promote NBC’s classic show Quantum Leap…
More fun FOX animation graphics on the Omni…
FX has begun building their Comic-Con offsite in their usual spot–the grass in front of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel.
Looks like FX will have a big stage or video screen.
I suspect the big wrap on the Hilton will promote a show on FX.
Adult Swim has returned to their usual spot behind the San Diego Convention Center after their absence last year. They were just beginning to set up their offsite on the green.
A cool new offsite by Hulu, promoting Ani-mayhem, is setting up in the parking lot behind the convention center.
I climbed the stairs behind the convention center…
Look at all the trucks behind the San Diego Convention Center. They’re here for the big Morgan Wallen concerts at nearby Petco Park.Getting things ready under the sails of the convention center.
I got some great views from the convention center…
Back on Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp, I checked out more Amazon Prime Video wraps…
Oops! Well, maybe that’s a new superpower.
And finally a look toward the Marriott Marquis hotel, as a big ESRI building wrap comes down and one promoting Star Trek goes up!
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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
With one week to go in San Diego until the start of Comic-Con 2023, preparations around downtown are accelerating!
More building wraps are appearing in the Gaslamp Quarter and near the San Diego Convention Center. Glimpses of outside pop ups and other fun stuff can now be observed, such as the above smiling chicken . . . or is that someone trying out a Cluckin’ Bell costume?
You might remember Cluckin’ Bell from the Grand Theft Auto video games. You’ll be able to visit a living replica of the fast food joint during Comic-Con. Cluckin’ Bell will be taking over Smokin J’s barbeque restaurant at 751 Fourth Avenue.
Please enjoy photographs I took today during a very long walk around Comic-Con’s outdoor “campus” in San Diego.
First up, I learned that internationally renowned graffiti artist RISK will be showing his artwork at Exclusive Collections Gallery in the Gaslamp at 621 Fifth Avenue. You can meet the artist the Friday and Saturday of Comic-Con week, from 5-9 pm. Here’s a photo of RISK’s Taz…
Posters advertising Twisted Metal on peacock are now all over the Gaslamp Quarter…
The Super Mario Bros. Movie art on the windows of Sweet Things Frozen Yogurt becomes ever more colorful…
Workers getting ready for Comic-Con 2023 clean up trash near the trolley tracks along Harbor Drive…
So many San Diego Trolley cars now have Comic-Con wraps that entire 3-car trains often display the same fun graphics…
Multiple building wraps can now be viewed in the Gaslamp…
The stylish Interview With The Vampire building wrap on the Hilton Gaslamp is pretty awesome…
A big wrap promoting Paramount+ show Yellowjackets is being applied to one side of the Hard Rock Hotel…
Look what has appeared on the Omni Hotel! That looks like Stewie of Family Guy!
And on another side of the Omni, I see Lisa of The Simpsons playing sax!
The Good Omens 2 building wrap I blogged about yesterday appears about done…
Right next to it another wrap is going up. Probably another Amazon Prime Video show…
Finally, here’s a new building wrap being applied to the Pendry San Diego hotel…
What show is this?
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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Will Comic-Con 2023 goers be able to enjoy the entertainment provided by Vampire Theatre? If the early appearance of graphics applied to the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter hotel are any indication, perhaps!
I walked around this evening and captured more photographs of pre-Comic-Con activity. Perhaps you saw my previous blog post where I shared photos of building wraps that are materializing all over!
Here come a few more photos from my latest walk.
Interview With The Vampire is being applied to one window of the Hilton Gaslamp.
That Amazon Prime Video building wrap at Fifth Avenue and K Street has expanded during the afternoon. Friendly workers putting up the graphics told me the entire Hilton Gaslamp and this building adjoining it on Fifth Avenue will be completely wrapped on every side.
That wrap above when competed will advertise Good Omens 2. I got the following picture of a sample showing how it will appear. You can see where building windows will be in relation to the graphics…
And on the San Diego Convention Center side of the Hard Rock Hotel, a wrap is going up that promotes Yellowjackets on Paramount+ . . .
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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Comic-Con 2023 is almost here! Fun art has begun to appear in the windows of Sweet Things Frozen Yogurt at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, near the San Diego Convention Center!
Shirish Villaseñor (@shirishtheartist) started sketching Super Mario characters on the Sweet Things Frozen Yogurt shop windows today. She’ll be adding color and detail in the days ahead. I’ll post updates as I capture new photos!
The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a blockbuster earlier this year, so this artwork outside the world’s most amazing pop culture event is timely! Is that Bowser playing the piano? How many characters do you recognize?
Because Comic-Con is ten days away, my blog will now switch into 100% “Comic-Con mode.” I’ll post photos as I discover new Comic-Con stuff while walking around downtown San Diego.
If Comic-Con isn’t your cup of tea, fear not. More typical Cool San Diego Sights blog posts will resume when the big international event concludes!
UPDATE!
A couple days later, I found Shirish at work!
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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 