Tag: downtown

Demolition of Navy Broadway Complex resumes.

The demolition of the immense, old Navy Broadway Complex on San Diego’s Embarcadero has resumed!

This morning I happened to notice a good chuck of the large remaining Navy building has vanished!

In 2017 demolition began on an adjacent section of the complex, to make room for the new 17-story U.S. Navy Region Southwest Headquarters, which was completed in September of 2020.

Four years ago I posted photographs of that phase of the demolition, and other construction activity along San Diego’s waterfront, here.

Once the last remnants of the Navy Broadway Complex are finally removed, construction can begin in earnest of the Manchester Pacific Gateway, which will feature a total of six new buildings.

According to the site plan, there will be a 1.9 acre plaza across Harbor Drive from the Broadway Pier and USS Midway Museum, a 34-floor Convention Center hotel with retail on Broadway by Pacific Highway, and office space in the five other, smaller buildings.

If you want to learn more about this project, which has evolved over its many years of planning, click here.

It appears the new bayfront hotel and its outdoor park will be called One Broadway Hotel & Plaza.

UPDATE!

One of my blog’s readers has informed me that I’m not quite up-to-date about this project. An article in the Union Tribune last September relates how “IQHQ real estate investment group…completed its acquisition of around two-thirds — or five city blocks — of the development site known as Manchester Pacific Gateway. The transaction paves the way for what IQHQ is calling the San Diego Research and Development District…”

So it seems the plans for this property have continued to evolve…

ANOTHER UPDATE!

I took more photographs a couple weeks later…

MORE PHOTOS!

And here are a four more pics that I took one morning in early June from Harbor Drive…

…and a couple days later…

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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!

Even more Young Art: Outside the Frame!

The San Diego Museum of Art’s unique project Young Art: Outside the Frame continues to expand!

Today I spotted even more SDG&E utility boxes that are being painted for the outdoor exhibition of youth art!

A total of 25 utility boxes are being painted around downtown by professional artists, taking their inspiration from the San Diego Museum of Art’s biennial exhibition of local student art, which this year is titled Young Art 2021: My World, Our Planet. The super nice people at Mindful Murals are coordinating the various artists.

The past few weeks I’ve posted photographs of many other boxes. To see them, and to learn even more about Young Art: Outside the Frame, click here and here and here and here and here. To see how some of the finished utility boxes compare with the original youth art that is now being exhibited in the museum, click here!

The first of the new boxes I spotted today are located on Broadway just east of Park Boulevard. Three stand together in a group. It appears the middle box hasn’t been started yet. I don’t know who has painted the boxes on either end, but I’ll provide an update when I learn!

The fourth box I spotted today is on A Street between Tenth and 11th Avenue, directly in front of the Shell gas station. It’s by abstract artist T. Jay Santa Ana (@tjaysantaana).

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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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Trust Me . . . it’s a cool downtown mural!

It’s interesting that only a small fraction of street murals I spot around San Diego have a commercial origin. But one such mural that was painted about a month ago I’d like to share, because it’s undeniably cool!

The artwork was created by Evgeniya Golik (@evgola), a Russian born artist who resides in San Diego. She describes her work as pop-surrealist, or Neo-Renaissance. Her fantastic pieces are often on display in local galleries and regional art museums. You can learn more about her artistic inspirations and accomplishments at her website here.

This particular mural can be found downtown on the south wall of Mixon Liquor & Deli, on 1st Avenue just north of Ash Street. It advertises Trust Me Vodka.

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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!

Hidden mural celebrates Little Italy!

There’s a hidden mural very few people see that celebrates downtown’s Little Italy community.

Neither drivers nor pedestrians can see it well, unless they head down little-used, alley-like California Street just south of Laurel Street.

I first saw this Little Italy mural because I often ride the Green Line trolley. As the San Diego Trolley rises high in the air to pass over busy Laurel Street, passengers looking down can see the artwork on a parking lot wall. The small lot is located behind a Valero gas station and Fairway Golf USA store, which are both on Pacific Highway.

I walked down California Street last weekend to get a good look at this great mural. It depicts the Little Italy landmark sign above fishing boats in a row by a pier.

Little Italy was once a center of the tuna fishing industry, which was very big in San Diego for much of the 20th century.

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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!

Keep Going (and eat some pizza)!

Two colorful murals decorate the south end of the new 2100 Kettner office building in Little Italy!

One, facing the railroad tracks, encourages everyone to KEEP GOING. Perhaps it should have been written in reverse, because drivers motoring down one-way Hawthorn Street will only see it in their rear view mirrors!

Fortunately, those same drivers by looking to their right will clearly see a playful image of a young skateboarder chillin’ and eating a slice of pizza. The cool street art is by Bumblebee, a well known Los Angeles based artist!

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Amazing, monumental The Shell nears completion!

Oh my goodness! Look at these photos! I took them today during a walk along San Diego’s waterfront, at Embarcadero Marina Park South.

San Diego Symphony’s monumental The Shell is nearing completion and it’s more amazing than I anticipated!

As I understand it, the San Diego’s Symphony’s popular summer concerts will resume this year, after being cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And for the very first time, Bayside Summer Nights will be held at this permanent outdoor venue.

I spoke to a construction worker and he said the project is indeed nearing completion. I could see that landscaping is now underway, and that most of the structures seem about ready to go.

If you’d like to compare how the project appeared in late 2019, as it was just getting started, you can check out photos I took here. At the time the venue was referred to as Bayside Performance Park.

Today this outdoor stage, the only venue of its kind on the West Coast, whose acoustic quality is said to be as good as any indoor concert hall, and whose white “shell” is made of the same material as the San Diego Convention Center’s iconic sails, is simply called The Shell.

As I walked outside the construction fence peering at The Shell, I could immediately see that this extraordinary landmark will help further distinguish San Diego from every other city in the world, and is destined to become a beloved part of the already beautiful skyline.

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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!

Ready to make history at Petco Park.

At Petco Park, everything appears ready.

Padres street lamp banners have been hung around the ballpark. Bunting decorates the stands. The playing field is immaculate. Tomorrow the home team starts a new baseball season undefeated.

Many baseball experts say 2021 might be the beginning of a Golden Age for the San Diego Padres. All of the pieces are in place. Finally.

I walked around Petco Park this evening and felt the quiet anticipation.

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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!

Discovering more Young Art: Outside the Frame!

While walking up Park Boulevard in East Village today I discovered more utility boxes that are being painted for the San Diego Museum of Art’s cool outdoor exhibition Young Art: Outside the Frame!

Most of the boxes you see here are located around Park Boulevard and F Street. Last weekend I discovered other newly painted utility boxes in this same general area and posted those photos here. Click the link and you’ll learn more about this unique, very cool project!

(I noticed some of those earlier boxes are now finished, and I’ll be updating that blog post with additional images shortly.)

To see even more colorful utility boxes painted for the Young Art: Outside the Frame project, you can check out additional blog posts here and here and here!

As you can see in the next photo, the fun goldfish box was painted by Ground Floor Murals. They also created a super cool mural in City Heights celebrating Tony Gwynn. See that here!

For the other boxes that follow, many of which are just getting started, I don’t know the artists yet…

The next three boxes are on the sidewalk adjacent to some very cool East Village murals I blogged about here!

UPDATE!

Here are a couple photos I took several days later…

ANOTHER UPDATE!

And a week or so later I took more photos! I now see the box with the words YOU ARE MAGIC is by artist Amanda Lopez (@amanda.makes.art). The box with the whale in the clouds is by Tory Brooke Marshall (@afrothynothing). And the face with flowing red scarf is by Mindful Murals!

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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!

Young Art: Outside the Frame in East Village!

This morning I spotted five more utility boxes that are being painted for the San Diego Museum of Art’s project Young Art: Outside the Frame!

These five boxes are all in downtown San Diego’s East Village neighborhood, along Park Boulevard between E Street and Market Street. Other boxes I’ve previously spotted are also along Park Boulevard, but to the north. To see those colorful utility boxes, click here and here and here!

The unique outdoor exhibition Young Art: Outside the Frame is a collaboration between the San Diego Museum of Art, SDG&E, and Mindful Murals who is coordinating the many artists.

Environmental artwork that has been selected from the museum’s upcoming biennial exhibition of local student art (this year titled Young Art 2021: My World, Our Planet) is being reproduced by professional artists on 25 SDG&E utility boxes. A map of the box locations is forthcoming, and I will post it!

The five boxes I spied today are in various stages of completion. I can identify one of the artists so far. The black box with the blue sea life is by Shelly S. (@fairywulf).

I’ll post updates as I learn and discover more in the days ahead!

(The upcoming photo is of a mural directly across Park Boulevard from the above box. It’s titled The Strength of the Women. It was painted by renowned artist Rafael Lopez years ago. I blogged about it in 2014. You can see those photos here.)

Now back to the boxes…

UPDATE!

The following weekend I took photos that show some of the above boxes are now finished.

I see the utility box with the flowers and the face on top is by Donovan Diaz (@drawntworks). The now completed black and white box with the wildlife is by Amanda Kazemi (@grayfractal). And the box with the wind turbines is by Sean Hnedak.

ANOTHER UPDATE!

The last box in this group is finished. I see the artwork is by Carlos Quezada and Melody De Los Cobos (@chicanalilly)!

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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!

Gaslamp gets ready for St. Patrick’s Day.

I walked through the Gaslamp Quarter this afternoon and noticed several bars, eateries and shops are ready for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow! All sorts of Irish green could be seen as I walked down the sidewalk.

(Unfortunately, I also noticed numerous places appear to have closed permanently, most likely due to the prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns.)

Lucky’s shamrock isn’t green, but apparently it’s lucky anyway!
I’m not sure if that’s a case of green beer, but it seems worth a video, anyway!

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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!