Tag: downtown

Cool photo memories from September 2015.

Five years ago in September a whole lot of activity could be found in San Diego. No coronavirus pandemic back then! I must’ve been really busy walking around the city, checking out cool events, because I posted lots of photographs!

Following are links to a variety of interesting blog posts from five years ago.

As you can see, there was a US Sand Sculpting Challenge and Festival of Sail the Labor Day weekend of 2015. And there were other great events that September, including Fiestas Patrias in Old Town, the Trolley Dances, and the Pacific Islander Festival. On top of that, a unique new city park had just opened in East Village and a huge fantastic mural had been painted downtown…

Click the following links for lots of fun photos!

Team USA Olympics sand sculpture in San Diego!

Museum exhibit brings Coney Island to San Diego!

Beautiful tall ships visit San Diego for Festival of Sail!

Listen to the Earth whisper at Fault Line Park!

Photos of Fiestas Patrias in Old Town San Diego.

Photos of Coastal Cleanup Day in Ocean Beach!

Get out of jail free at old police headquarters!

Fun photos of Trolley Dances in water fountain!

Smiles, life and culture at Pacific Islander Festival!

Cool new parking garage mural in downtown San Diego!

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Old mural that encourages voting vanishes!

American's future: your choice. VOTE.
An old mural painted on a building in downtown San Diego. America’s future: your choice. VOTE.

For years and years, the above mural has decorated the side of a building on Broadway near the City College trolley station. It encourages voting.

The familiar old mural will soon completely disappear as new construction in front of it rises.

It’s an election year, so I figured this mural deserved one final look!

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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!

Contemporary art created by thousands.

This morning, as I walked through downtown along Kettner Boulevard, I had to pause for a few moments in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

Right smack dab in front of my eyes was some of the most amazing contemporary art.

What I saw was fantastic, complex, perplexing, sublime. The artwork contained numberless potential meanings, contrasts, mysteries. And it was created by the thoughts, longings and creative hands of thousands.

As clouds moved and the sun rose and a truck turned in front of me, I realized it was living art. And dangerous.

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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!

More cool new murals at Quartyard!

I was told these murals inside Quartyard were painted this year.
I was told these murals inside East Village’s cool Quartyard were painted this year.

Quartyard, an urban park, eatery and event venue in downtown San Diego’s East Village, is constantly changing. As months and years roll by, cool new murals keep appearing!

I wandered into Quartyard yesterday and saw a bunch of murals that were new to me. I learned most of these were painted this year. The artists are all local muralists–you’ve seen many examples of their work over the years on Cool San Diego Sights.

I took photos…

A look at Quartyard from across the intersection of Market Street and 13th Street.
A look at the colorful Quartyard from across the intersection of Market Street and 13th Street.
Colorfully painted shipping container by picnic benches indicates Quartyard is Your City Block.
Creatively painted shipping container by picnic benches indicates Quartyard is Your City Block.
Mural at Quartyard by Nicholas Danger.
Mural at Quartyard by Nicholas Danger.
Mural at Quartyard by España Garcia Feucht.
Mural at Quartyard by España Garcia Feucht.
Mural at Quartyard by Brise Birdsong.
Mural at Quartyard by Brise Birdsong.
The mural on the right with the two dogs was painted last week. You can find it behind Quartyard's fenced dog area.
The mural on the right with the two dogs was painted last week. You can find it behind Quartyard’s fenced dog run.
Eyes on a container outside Quartyard painted by Carly Ealey.
Eyes on a container outside Quartyard painted by Carly Ealey.

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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!

More cool art from another East Village walk!

Face painted on temporary outdoor seating at Pokez Restaurant.
Face painted on temporary outdoor seating at Pokez Restaurant.

I went on a random zigzagging walk through East Village late this afternoon and found some artwork that I don’t believe I’ve already shared, even though some of the street art is obviously years old and faded.

I walked south from Broadway down Tenth Avenue, east on F Street, and south again along Park Boulevard to Market Street, where the last photo was taken. And there’s a good reason to be excited by that last photo!

I then proceeded to the Quartyard, where I photographed a bunch of cool new murals, but those will be in the next blog post!

Colorful parrot in window of Seven Seas Tattoo.
Colorful parrot in window of Seven Seas Tattoo.
East Village painted on a sidewalk electrical box.
East Village painted on a sidewalk electrical box.
Cool street art face on F Street in San Diego's East Village neighborhood.
Cool street art face on F Street in San Diego’s East Village neighborhood.
Your Fate is in Your Hands. Palmistry is illustrated at East Village Psychic Healing Center.
Your Fate is in Your Hands. Palmistry is illustrated at East Village Psychic Healing Center.
This street art is really old and faded, so I increased the photo contrast.
This street art is really old and faded, so I increased the photo’s contrast.
This mural is amazing but a couple years old now, by Gloria Muriel and Dave Persue. For some reason I've never taken a photo until today.
This mural is amazing but a couple of years old, by Gloria Muriel and Dave Persue. For some reason I’ve never taken a photo until today.

Another very cool (and colorful) mural by the same two artists was on the above wall years ago. See it here!

I only got a glimpse of the above mural, because a construction fence won’t let the public into a courtyard area between the big, soon-to-open downtown UC San Diego Extension building and its adjacent residential tower.

Does this mural’s style look familiar? It’s by world-renowned illustrator and muralist Rafael López! His studio is just down the street!

Once the public gets access, I’ll try to get good photos. Plus there appear to be other murals in that courtyard!

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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!

A walk filled with light, creativity, butterflies!

My walk early this morning through downtown San Diego was filled with more wonder.

I observed magical light, human creativity, and an unexpected profusion of butterflies!

The butterflies had gathered on the windows of The New Children’s Museum!

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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!

Neighborhood restaurant mural: Better is Possible.

The East Village restaurant Neighborhood closed for renovations earlier this year. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, they have yet to reopen.

I walked past their boarded-up windows this afternoon and saw a mural had been painted on them. After a little searching on the internet, I see that artists Joshua and Ezra Andrade created the artwork last month.

Positive messages in the mural, which includes images of fighting, a knife and brass knuckles, include Ego is not Your Amigo, Better is Possible, Regulate Impulses, and Hood Must be Born Again!

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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!

Tony Gwynn street art in East Village!

San Diego Padres hero Tony Gwynn, painted as street art not far from Petco Park.
San Diego Padres hero Tony Gwynn. This fantastic street art is not far from Petco Park.

San Diego loves Tony Gwynn. Look at his face as depicted in this recently painted street art and you can sense why. It’s all in his smile. He was a friend to everybody. He was simply a great human being.

And, of course, Mr. Padre was one of the best Major League Baseball hitters of all time!

I spotted this amazing electrical box today while walking near the intersection of Park Boulevard and Market Street in East Village. It stands near another box painted with legendary musicians. I shared those photographs in my previous blog post.

The artist’s signature is identical on both boxes, but I’m not a hundred percent sure who it might be. If you know, leave a comment!

Remember these two things--play hard and have fun. Tony Gwynn.
Remember these two things–play hard and have fun. Tony Gwynn.
If you work hard, good things will happen. Tony Gwynn.
If you work hard, good things will happen. Tony Gwynn.
The smiling face of Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Fame baseball legend.
The smiling face of Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Fame baseball legend.

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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!

San Diego’s historic Samuel I. Fox Building.

A very unique historic building stands at the southwest corner of Sixth Avenue and Broadway in downtown San Diego.

The Samuel I. Fox Building, built in 1929, always attracts my attention when I walk by. It’s earthy colors seem to change depending on the time of day, due to shifting sunlight and shadow.

The Samuel I. Fox Building was designed by renowned architect William Templeton Johnson, who also masterminded the San Diego Museum of Art and Natural History Museum buildings in Balboa Park, the Serra Museum in Presidio Park, and the La Jolla Athenaeum. He is one of several architects responsible for the San Diego County Administration Building.

He also designed the extraordinary San Diego Trust and Savings Bank Building, which stands directly to the north across Broadway. You can see photos of that building, where William Templeton Johnson kept his office, here.

A Gaslamp Quarter plaque near the Samuel I. Fox Building’s entrance describes its history:

Entrepreneur Samuel Fox built this four-story structure for a half of a million dollars. It was intended to accommodate his Lion Clothing Company, which was the sole tenant until 1984. It boasts 16-foot ceilings, antique oak wood paneling, heraldic lions in full relief, and an over-hanging tile roof. The building was recognized as an artistic masterpiece and a merchandising success.

A few days ago I took these exterior photos.

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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!

A strange mixture of sights downtown.

Go on any walk through downtown San Diego and you’ll see a strange mixture of sights. Sometimes you have to stop in your tracks to look again.

Many of the visions that rise before your eyes seem contradictory. Urban hipsters drinking coffee and listening to live music . . . a few steps away from people who are homeless. The boarded window of a looted Gaslamp shop . . . and spray painted messages of empathy and kindness.

And there are the sights that are wonderfully odd. Downtown’s reggae dog. A surprising tree in a surprising place. An insurance company for sharknados.

So much strangeness is mixed in the ordinary life of a city.

The mysteries appear everywhere.

I took these photographs during several walks the past few days.

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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!