Tag: downtown

So Good on an East Village wall!

Drive west down Market Street into downtown San Diego and you’ll probably see this mural. SO GOOD it proclaims!

The mural is located at 17th Street, just west of Interstate 5, at the edge of the East Village neighborhood. Very sadly, homeless people are often camped in front of it.

Yesterday morning there was a relatively unobstructed view of the mural, so I captured these photos. I noticed that written in the mural are the words: “Art by Channin Fulton and United By Design” and “A Good Measure project Sponsored by Mingei International Museum” and “Special Thanks: EVArts and Sherwin Williams.”

I found a page concerning the project here, which describes the “mural for San Diego’s creative community in the East Village area.”

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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!

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Books celebrated at Local Author Showcase!

The 56th Annual Local Author Showcase is presently on display at the San Diego Central Library!

Local writers whose work was published last year are being honored for their hard work and success. Every sort of book is included in the showcase: fiction, nonfiction, biography, autobiography, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, children’s picture books, poetry, music, history, religion, politics, travel guides, self-improvement . . . you name it! And eBooks, too! The authors, young and old, come from every walk of life, and their words all combine to enrich our shared culture and understanding.

I see that in 2021 books came out about Balboa Park, Ted Leitner, Father Joe, and the Padres. And I see a fun book about a visit to the San Diego Library, too!

If you want to learn more about the City of San Diego’s Local Author Program, check out the web page concerning it here.

The Local Author Showcase can be viewed on the ground floor of the downtown Central Library through the end of February.

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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!

Visions and contrasts in downtown San Diego.

The ordinary . . . the bizarre.

The familiar . . . the dreamlike.

Countless intersecting paths down the same streets.

Turned corners, reflections, glimpses, mysteries.

The complexity of living.

Happiness . . . despair.

You will encounter many complex visions and contrasts when walking through downtown San Diego. Which is what I did yesterday morning.

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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!

It was all a dream in Little Italy!

If you’ve driven north up India Street at Kalmia Street, you might’ve seen three new, very unusual street signs.

Do they indicate motorists are about to leave the Little Italy neighborhood? No. Together in sequence they read: IT WAS ALL A DREAM.

On their other side, the signs declare: WORK IN PROGRESS – YOU ARE HERE – STAY PRESENT.

This raises a difficult question. If the past was all a dream, and people are urged to stay present, what should one do? Avoid a return to dreaming?

Does anyone know who installed this public art? And when? I’ve done some googling, but find nothing but an unhelpful Instagram post. If you have more info about these fun signs, please leave a comment.

By the way, the funky, kitschy zebra stripes-like mural on the side of the El Camino Mexican restaurant that you see in the background was recently painted by Delilah Strukel (@Wanderingdelilah).

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Workers on cranes high above San Diego.

If you have a fear of heights, there’s one job you should definitely avoid. Working on cranes high above downtown San Diego!

I took these photos during a walk today along the Embarcadero. Four very tall cranes were swinging through the sky above a large construction site by the new downtown U.S. Navy Headquarters Building. And casually standing or sitting atop the cranes were tiny workers!

New buildings destined to rise along the waterfront, where much of the Navy Broadway Complex once existed, will make up the San Diego Research and Development District, or RaDD. The eight acre life sciences complex will include a 17-story tower, restaurants and shops.

You can learn much more and see renderings of the finished project here!

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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!

A new Empowering Hope mural in East Village!

A huge, absolutely amazing mural in downtown San Diego’s East Village has been painted right next to the Quartyard. The mural is in support of wildlife conservation efforts, and is titled Empowering Hope. The artists are Carly Ealey and Christopher Konecki.

According to the promoted Key Conservation website, one can download their Key App to hook up with and support various global conservation organizations, who are working to save animals from extinction. It appears the project is presently a work in progress and more funding is needed.

If you’d like to check it all out, you can visit the Key Conservation website here.

UPDATE!

I took a photo when the amazing mural was finished…

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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!

Walking information for Bankers Hill.

Would you like to know how many minutes it might take to walk to nearby destinations from Bankers Hill? Then check out this helpful sign!

I saw this new information sign on Sixth Avenue north of Laurel Street. (That’s the grassy west edge of Balboa Park in the photo background.)

I suspect other signs like it must be out there now, too.

If you want to park your car in San Diego and walk, or take public transit, this sign can help you plan a healthy and invigorating shoe leather adventure!

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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!

Art and science in two amazing East Village murals!

Two amazing murals by well known regional artists can be found in a new public plaza located in San Diego’s East Village neighborhood.

The murals, designed by artists Rafael Lopez of San Diego and Joel Sotelo of Tijuana, decorate opposing walls in the amphitheater-like space between the UCSD Downtown Center building and the 34-story The Merian apartment tower. Walk north up the sidewalk from the corner of Market Street and Park Boulevard and you’ll find it.

This welcoming new plaza is so remarkable that it earned a San Diego Architectural Foundation Orchid Award!

For many months I’ve been waiting for a construction site fence to come down, and it finally did, allowing entrance to the new plaza.

If you’d like to read more about this unique public plaza’s inspiration, design and construction, here’s a great article.

My first photos are of the Rafael Lopez mural, titled Iluminación, which was painted by Gran Prestoz. It was completed a couple of summers ago, but not accessible to the public.

Lopez is widely known for his award-winning illustrations in numerous acclaimed children’s books. He has even designed several United States postage stamps!

The next photos are of the mural on the plaza’s east side, by artist Joel Sotelo. The mural’s title is Pulsar Ultra-Marino. According to a plaque I found, “Sotelo’s colorful mural is based on the idea of wonder, from the micro to the macro, from the beauty of nature to the revelations of science.”

(Doing a little research, I was surprised to find out that Joel Sotelo helped conceive of the Tweet Street linear city park with its artistic birdhouses. Tweet Street on Cortez Hill is only a few steps from where I live!)

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Score a field goal at first base!

Very strangely, football goal posts rise in Petco Park near first base. (So reaching first must now mean three points!)

As I walked through Gallagher Square this morning, I saw this peculiar remnant from a football game that was never played. When UCLA backed out of the 2021 Holiday Bowl a few hours before the game, many were shocked and extremely disappointed.

I suppose we’ll soon see Petco Park back in its usual configuration.

An interesting experiment–playing a football game in this baseball ballpark–will now most likely never occur. SnapDragon Stadium in Mission Valley should be completed and ready for football by next holiday season.

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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!

Crazy new mural painted at Seaport Village!

Check out these photos of a crazy mural that was recently painted at Seaport Village in San Diego!

You can find this wacky “Horrible Monsters” artwork in a narrow passageway next to Tuk Tuk Eatery in the food court, not far from the carousel. It was created a couple months ago by @barfalamul and @_baby.brother.

The passageway is rather narrow, so it was difficult getting photos that show both colorful walls in their entirety.

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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!