Tag: downtown

Deep Flight submersible arrives at Maritime Museum!

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!

See it 34 seconds into the YouTube video here!

…

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!

Improving public transit near Santa Fe Depot.

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…

…

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!

Frogman statue installed in downtown San Diego!

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…

…

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!

Navy SEAL Museum San Diego gets ready to open!

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

Join the Team.

Here’s the museum’s website if you’d like to learn more.

…

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!

Uncharted Elsewhere: surreal art at San Diego Library!

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!

…

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!

Chicago rocks Rady Shell in San Diego!

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!

…

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!

Painting the Merrill Madness mural downtown!

San Diego artist Christopher Konecki was working on painting the new Merrill Madness mural in downtown this morning. The artwork will depict Padres baseball star Jackson Merrill, and will greet fans coming west down Market Street at Eighth Avenue.

The grassroots, fan-funded mural is a collaboration that includes the Merrill Madness Foundation and artist team Christopher Konecki (@konecki_art) and Carly Ealey (@carlyealey). Amazing murals by these artists appear throughout the city. You might recall how they painted two cool Padres murals in North Park. See those photos here and here.

Chris told me this is the fourth day of working on the Merrill Madness mural. It’s huge: four stories high! The mural should be done in a couple of weeks or so.

I’ll provide an update when the artwork is completed.

Looks like it’s gonna be awesome!

UPDATE!

Three days later, much progress has been made!

ANOTHER UPDATE!

And in another three days…

AND FOUR DAYS AFTER THAT…

ONE MORE UPDATE!

It was finally completed!

…

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!

Savannah Bananas arrive in San Diego!

The Savannah Bananas have arrived in San Diego. They will be playing their wacky Banana Ball today and tomorrow at Petco Park. I’m told the wildly popular event is sold out!

A crew was setting up a row of canopies north of Petco Park’s Gallagher Square, where there will be fun activities for fans. I see there will be loads of yellow Savannah Banana merchandise for sale.

I happened to walk this morning down J Street. I took these photos. Lots of smiles!

So, what, you wonder is Banana Ball and how is it different than baseball? Check out the website here.

Among a bunch of strange rules are: batters can steal first base, batters are out if a fan catches a foul ball in the stands, no walks are allowed, no bunts are allowed, there’s a two hour time limit . . . and other peculiar, exciting stuff.

I hear players at Savannah Banana games do choreographed dances and engage in trick plays.

The Savannah Bananas are sort of like the Harlem Globetrotters–but baseball.

Get ready to Go Bananas!

…

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!

Pickleball on the streets of San Diego!

Perhaps you’ve seen stickball on the streets of Little Italy in downtown San Diego–but pickleball in the middle of the Gaslamp Quarter?

Yes!

Gaslamp Urban Pickleball is a new multi-week event where anyone can play pickleball on two blocks of Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter!

As the event website says: Be Part of History — San Diego’s First-Ever Urban Pickleball Courts!

Every Thursday until September 25th, after 4 pm and until sunset, you can play this super popular sport with friends and neighbors, while people cheer you on from the sidewalk, nearby restaurants and bars. Win a prize, too! This cool event has been brought to downtown San Diego by the Gaslamp Quarter Association.

Interested?

To learn all you need to know, and to register, check out the Gaslamp Urban Pickleball website!

…

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!

Eat pizza and help homeless youth in San Diego!

Looking for a great pizza place in downtown San Diego? Do you like to have good time? Would you like to eat tasty pizza, have fun, AND at the same time help homeless youth?

Yes, of course!

Swing by Timmy’s Place at 1404 Fifth Avenue, or check out their website here and place an order for take out or delivery!

So, how does Timmy’s Place help homeless youth?

Let me transcribe a description printed on their menu:

Timmy’s Place is the product of an incredible partnership between Urban Street Angels & UPAC & made possible through the Lucky Duck Foundation, the Rolf Benirschke Legacy Foundation, & Inspiration of Rolf and Mary Benirschke. It is a unique social enterprise that offers training, employment, mentorship, and opportunity for homeless youth towards success and self-sustanability.

So what’s on the menu at Timmy’s Place? A wide variety of signature, classic and traditional pizzas, sandwiches, salads, desserts, slushies, coffee and tea. There is free delivery with a $40 minimum in a 4 block radius.

Place your order and not only will you enjoy great food, but you’ll be helping young people’s lives in a very real and meaningful way.

They do catering, too.

I bought a very yummy and reasonably priced Italian salad chock full of good stuff at Timmy’s Place today. It was actually better than a fancy Italian restaurant I occasionally visit.

As I waited for friendly young people to prepare my order, I enjoyed looking around Timmy’s Place. As you can see from my photographs, all sorts of fun pop culture graphics have been put up to celebrate San Diego’s association with Comic-Con!

Yes, that’s Superman and Krypto flying on the front window!

Hey, I know there are hungry, good-hearted people who live or work in downtown San Diego reading this. Please check out Timmy’s Place website by clicking here.

Eat with a smile!

A picture of Timmy on one wall is accompanied by his inspirational message.

“…living in an orphanage was a tough start… In my early 20s I developed dangerous addictions, pushed my family away, ended homeless for more than five years… Because of my past bad choices…it was difficult to get a job… There are so many people out there who care, who want to help, and who are willing to give us the second chance we need.”

Timmy’s Place provides that second chance. And good eats and fun, too!

…

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!