Having an amateur photoblog is loads of fun. My eyes are constantly moving about, searching for and anticipating interesting images.
Cool San Diego Sights helps me to perceive what I otherwise might not. Unusual reflections, shadows, hues, angles, spatial relations, minute details: an object’s complex, often momentary essence.
Before sunset today I walked along the Embarcadero, just north of the Broadway Pier. Glass buildings along the waterfront were shining. A jumble of bright reflections produced all sorts of fascinating contrasts.
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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!
Some of the coolest posters you’re likely to ever see are now on display at the SDSU Downtown Gallery! Take a look at a few examples!
The exhibition is titled Give-and-Take: Poster Design by Nancy Skolos and Thomas Wedell. Thirty-four awesome posters by the husband and wife team leap out from the walls and make the viewer feel they’ve entered dazzling, conceptually complex three-dimensional puzzles.
In their posters the two artists have created a unique fusion of analog and digital technology. Skolos is a graphic designer and Wedell is a photographer. Many of the posters were brainstormed and carefully worked out by collaging bits of colored paper and images cut from magazines. The posters in the gallery were produced between 1980 (many years before the advent of high quality digital design) and 2017.
Skolos-Wedell posters have been collected by the likes of the Smithsonian Design Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.
This very special exhibition at the SDSU Downtown Gallery runs through July 22, 2018. Admission is free!
Give-and-Take: Poster Design by Nancy Skolds and Thomas Wedell.The SDSU Downtown Gallery now has a very cool exhibition concerning poster design.
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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!
Art on the food court level of Horton Plaza shopping mall.
Tasty artwork can be found on the food court level of downtown’s Horton Plaza mall!
This fun art was created by VISUAL, whose distinctive work you might recognize. Some of my street art blog posts include photos of utility boxes decorated by VISUAL. You can spot them throughout the city.
Walking through colorful Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego.Sign describes VISUAL, an art supply shop and gallery in North Park. Street art created by VISUAL artists can be spotted all around San Diego.Eating spaghetti.A cupcake and ice cream!
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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!
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego has a special Extended School Partnership (ESP) program for local 6-12th-grade students. Teachers have the opportunity to expose their students to contemporary art in partnership with the museum.
Students are taught about art making, collaboration and, according to a new sign posted near MCASD’s downtown location, their own identity, solidarity and activism. (As someone who is passionate about writing, I hope there’s an emphasis on personal freedom, truth-seeking and authentic creativity–not politics or propaganda.)
Yesterday I took a photograph of this sign in the breezeway between downtown’s Santa Fe Depot and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. The two art panels were created by local students at Valhalla High School.
Read the sign if you’d like to learn more about this program.
(Click this photo to enlarge for easy reading.)
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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!
As I approached Civic Center Plaza along B Street, I watched someone changing the sign at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
Just a quick blog post. These photos are from my morning walk downtown.
I didn’t pull my camera out until I spied that guy above changing the San Diego Civic Theatre sign. After steering my feet through Civic Center Plaza, I proceeded west along C Street.
Over the past few months, I’ve been observing the construction of a new Courthouse trolley station on C Street. Beginning April 29, 2018, it will be the final stop of westbound Orange Line trolleys.
Until further notice the Blue Line will still terminate at America Plaza. Once the San Diego Trolley’s extension up to La Jolla is complete, I believe the Blue Line (and possibly the Green Line) will be reconfigured.
Workers prepare the new Courthouse trolley station on C Street. Starting April 29, 2018, the Orange Line will terminate here.As I proceeded west on C Street, I turned my camera skyward for a shot of the fascinating new San Diego Central Courthouse.Here comes an eastbound trolley, approaching the new Courthouse station that is presently under construction.Buildings to the north catch early morning light.I’m passed by a westbound Blue Line trolley as it enters America Plaza.A morning delivery and more sunlight on buildings. These days one can see a whole lot of construction throughout downtown.I’m nearing the Santa Fe Depot, which stands across Kettner Boulevard from America Plaza. Increasing clouds would produce rain a few hours later.Almost to Santa Fe Depot, where I’ll catch a Green Line trolley for work on the other side!
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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!
Two humorous surfing signs in window of San Diego Trading Company.
I like to peek into shop windows whenever I walk through the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego. Many of the windows are sure to have displays that are amusing or eye-catching.
Enjoy these fun photos from this morning!
T-shirt proclaims Being Normal is Boring in window of IT’SUGAR Candy Store.A wine bottle has been converted into a salty sea captain at the Michael J Wolf Fine Arts gallery.A dish towel at Bubbles Boutique reminds everyone to be nice to your kids–they choose your nursing home.Frida Kahlo socks in the window of Find Your Feet. Viva La Vida!Art by prolific local muralist Gloria Muriel in the window of Sparks Gallery.
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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!
Early this morning, while it was still dark, I moved curiously around (and inside) the new Jaume Plensa sculpture Pacific Soul in downtown San Diego. Bright lights shining up from beneath the sculpture give its hollow but extremely complex form weird substance. Every angle fascinated my eyes.
If you’d like to learn more about this amazing public art, which now stands at the corner of Broadway and Pacific Highway near the Embarcadero, visit my original blog post, where several months ago, over the period of several days, I documented Pacific Soul’s installation. In that post I also provided some information about Jaume Plensa, who is a world-renowned artist from Spain.
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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!
Photo of Santa Fe Depot as it appears today. Some changes to the historic building are possibly in its future.
I went on a short tour of the Santa Fe Depot last week during the San Diego Architectural Foundation 2018 OPEN HOUSE event.
I’ve posted about the depot several times in the past. One fact-filled post concerned an historical exhibit inside the waiting room; another shared hundred year old photos of the building. During our tour I learned even more and enjoyed looking at additional old images.
This downtown San Diego landmark was designed by Bakewell and Brown to welcome the many anticipated visitors to the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. The depot’s construction began on May 28, 1914. The building officially opened on March 7, 1915. Materials that were used include a steel frame with wood trusses, concrete slabs, brick arcades and hollow clay tile infill walls. The architects Bakewell and Brown also designed San Francisco City Hall, the Coit Tower and Pasadena City Hall.
During the course of its history, there have been various changes to the building and its forecourt. The original arched forecourt, pictured in some of the following photos, was demolished in 1954 to make way for a parking lot. The current outdoor plaza featuring a fountain and colorful tiled benches replaced the parking lot in the 1980s.
The gentleman providing the tour indicated that recent new ownership of the Santa Fe Depot has opened up the possibility of future development. I learned an unused second story of the depot, once containing a manager’s apartment, telegraph room and railroad worker bedrooms, might be converted into office spaces, but an elevator, heating and electricity are now lacking.
I learned that the fountain in the forecourt’s plaza is leaking and permanently turned off. This valuable property between the main depot building and Broadway might be developed into a space for downtown eateries.
I also learned the large iconic Santa Fe sign atop the depot dates from the mid 50’s, and that there are plans to light it up at night using LED lighting.
Read the captions for some additional fascinating facts about this architectural marvel!
Looking up at one tile-domed tower. The black material is holding together cracked terracotta columns on chicken wire. The 1915 depot was built for the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park.Our tour group and a few Amtrak passengers move through the Santa Fe Depot’s large waiting room. The building’s architecture is in the Mission Revival style with Spanish Colonial Revival influences.We learn about the beautiful tilework throughout the depot.The depot’s glazed Kaospar tiling was created by California China Products Co. of National City, the same company that produced all of the tile for Balboa Park’s 1915 exposition.Raised levels of these gorgeous tiles each feature a different color!We’re shown an old postcard image of the original Main Waiting Room. Ticket and vending kiosks lined the west side of the depot’s interior. There used to be a Fred Harvey lunch room near the current ticket area at the building’s north end.Looking up at the amazing ceiling. Most of the woodwork has never been painted. The original bronze light fixtures have an appearance that is masculine and sturdy.More handsome woodwork around a door that leads to an old Stair Hall on the waiting room’s east side.Our group heads outside to the forecourt’s sunny plaza.Looking at the south side of the depot. Sadly, the fountain leaks and is turned off.We are shown more old images. This is an illustration of the original arched forecourt structure on Broadway. I also see the tower of the original 1887 Victorian station to the west (the other side of the tracks) before it was demolished.Here’s the old parking lot. (I see the distinctive County Administration Building to the left.)Streetcars used to run along Broadway right up to the old forecourt!A photo of the now unused second floor of the Santa Fe Depot.Another historical photo. This can be found on one side of the information kiosk presently inside the depot.Our tour guide collects old postcards. Here’s another that shows the arched west side of the depot, beside the railroad tracks.Information sheet shows map of the Santa Fe System and the San Diego Depot. Today the depot is the 3rd-busiest train station in California and 13th-busiest in the Amtrak system. (Click image to enlarge it.)Gazing from the forecourt’s plaza over a tiled bench toward America Plaza and buildings along Broadway. This area might soon undergo changes!
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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 Rabbitville bunny on display at the 2018 Padres Opening Weekend Block Party is painted with images of Tony Gwynn and Randy Jones!
Here’s a bunch of photos I took this evening during the first day of the 2018 Padres Opening Weekend Block Party!
The family-friendly event stretches from the Gaslamp Quarter into East Village, along J Street between Sixth and Tenth Avenue. You’ll find it just north of Petco Park, adjacent to the Park at the Park. As you can see from these photographs, there’s tons of food and entertainment, plus one large section devoted to adult beverages. And sprinkled throughout there’s some very cool artwork! Every year this block party seems to get larger and more popular.
The Padres Opening Weekend Block Party continues tomorrow so head on down if you’re in San Diego!
GO PADS!
Padres fans enjoy walking along four blocks of J Street near Petco Park. It’s the Opening Weekend Block Party in San Diego!Lots of people were lined up to spin a California Millions prize wheel.It appeared to me that all of the Gaslamp Quarter Association’s Rabbitville sculptures were out on display. This cool one pays homage to CW superheroes and Comic-Con.Some folks were singing their hearts out doing Street Karaoke.Kid throws a perfect strike!More fun rabbit sculptures in front of Bub’s.Ladies at one table were showing off the East Village-opoly board game!These guys were playing table soccer at a local TV station’s booth.A Padres fan wearing a Garry Templeton jersey is interviewed live on a Mighty 1090 sports radio program.I was seriously tempted to grab a Dunkin’ Donut!Nobody was playing giant Jenga when I happened to pass by.Cheerforce San Diego is trying to get to the World Series of Cheerleading. Read their sign if you’d like to help!A family of Padres fans is interviewed at the Opening Weekend Block Party.Another side of that first Rabbitville bunny! I believe that’s Dave Winfield and Trevor Hoffman. Padres and San Diego are celebrated with a super fun event as baseball season gets underway!
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 