Flower vendor at the Saturday Little Italy Mercato Farmers’ Market.
Several walks today.
This morning it was around downtown, mostly near the water. I saw many colors, much life, and even a little bit of history.
Banner at Civic Center Plaza celebrates Office of the City Clerk’s Archives Month. Images include glimpses of San Diego history. (Click to enlarge.)
The above Archives Month banner is hanging from the City Administration Building. It shows interesting bits of San Diego History, including the 1887 Circus Parade, construction of Balboa Park for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, and aircraft over downtown celebrating the end of World War I.
Members of Navy Band Southwest entertain visitors to the Broadway Pier during Fleet Week San Diego 2017.People fill the Embarcadero near the Broadway Pier during Fleet Week.Waiting in line for the weekend Fleet Week event, which includes a ship tour of the amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage.Banner along the Embarcadero promote the Breeders’ Cup, which is coming to Del Mar in November.A sailboat out on San Diego Bay.Relaxing at the Waterfront Park on a beautiful October Saturday in San Diego.Lots of yummy food is found at the Little Italy Mercato Farmers’ Market.
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This year, Trolley Dances includes several performances at San Diego’s downtown Central Library!
Trolley Dances in 2017 is as cool as ever!
Trolley Dances is an annual event in San Diego that uses unusual public spaces as settings for dance. The inspired, provocative performances are produced and choreographed by the San Diego Dance Theater.
Buy a ticket for this year’s event and you’ll be led on an adventure for mind, body and spirit. Mobile audiences, following Trolley Dances group leaders, disembark the San Diego Trolley’s Blue Line at various stops to view performances from Chula Vista to downtown San Diego.
Trolley Dances runs for only two weekends. It’s a brilliant concept that’s a lot of fun and full of surprises.
A few of the performances this year take place at San Diego’s downtown Central Library. I took some quick photos so that you can get a taste of what you will experience!
A mobile audience has arrived on foot from a nearby trolley station. They are led into downtown San Diego’s dynamic public library to enjoy fantastic dance performances!The dances all contain raw organic energy and beautifully expressed emotion.The dancers use the Central Library’s public entrance as an unusual stage during Trolley Dances. In another superb dance, which I didn’t photograph, the nearby escalators were used to produce an outstanding dramatic effect.Outside the library, in the courtyard, the audience now watches dancers framed in glass windows!The dancers come outside and engage the audience.Grace and power.A day enjoying the Trolley Dances makes for a great 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!
A recently improved section of Tweet Street Park on Cortez Hill. Volunteers help make this downtown neighborhood even more beautiful.
Do you love Tweet Street Park on Cortez Hill? I feel very fortunate that I get to walk through the narrow but lush park almost every single day.
Over the past weeks and months, I’ve noticed smiling volunteers busy pruning, planting, removing trash, and adding new beauty to our downtown park. They are the Friends of Tweet Street Park! They welcome new community members!
A couple days ago I talked to Joe Ciavarella as he was working on one section of the park. I learned that Cortez Hill residents and anyone interested in beautifying this special corner of downtown San Diego can make a tax deductible contribution that benefits the Friends of Tweet Street Park. Funds obtained go to the purchase of gardening tools, new plants and materials that are used for a variety of landscaping improvements.
If you’d like to make a donation, visit this page.
Positive people doing positive things make each corner of this world a whole lot better!
IMPORTANT UPDATE!
There’s a new web page where you can now make your donation. You can find it here.
In addition to the work of volunteers, improving the park requires the purchase of tools, plants and other material. Anyone can now easily make a donation!
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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!
Replacement of the San Diego Convention Center’s white “sails” is underway. The old fiberglass sails, dating from the time when the beautiful convention center debuted in 1989, have been removed.
Without the Sails Pavilion’s roof, which shelters the enormous 90,000 square foot exhibit space below, the glass walls, the supporting structures and crisscrossing cables combine with levels of scaffolding to form something that resembles an unusual crystal lattice. Which makes for intriguing photographs!
This afternoon I walked across the top of the San Diego Convention Center and took a close look for myself. As you can see, one can discern all sorts of unique patterns. The geometric complexity is a delight for the eye.
If you find yourself in downtown San Diego, check it out for yourself!
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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 sailboat glides between beautiful yacht America docked at the Maritime Museum of San Diego and the shining downtown skyline.
Ships are like small islands of human activity. So it’s interesting when different ships, each serving a unique function, converge and dock in one place.
Yesterday evening many fascinating ships were huddled together on the Embarcadero. There were the usual museum ships and harbor tour ships that call San Diego their home. I also saw: the enormous Disney Wonder cruise ship; The World, which is the largest residential yacht on the planet, containing 165 apartments; the Coast Guard cutter Stratton, which recently offloaded around 50,000 pounds of cocaine and heroin intercepted at sea; and the Maersk Launcher, which assisted in the drug operation.
I walked to the end of Navy Pier and watched different vessels come and go, as the sun set.
The sails of Star of India rise beyond one cathead of HMS Surprise.Late sun through the colored glass at Carnitas’ Snack Shack on the very busy Embarcadero.The World and the Disney Wonder at dock in San Diego.The illegal drug intercepting Coast Guard cutter Stratton is docked at the Broadway Pier next to the San Diego Festival of Beer.A bustle of activity seen from Navy Pier. The Spirit of San Diego harbor tour ship and a bus converge near parked cars.The Maersk Launcher at anchor in San Diego Bay.A photo of The World and Disney Wonder beyond the Port Pavilion as sunset approaches in San Diego.Late sunlight on shining downtown buildings.The Disney Wonder backs away from the B Street Pier as it departs on another cruise. Many ships and boats cross paths on San Diego Bay.
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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I have a tendency to take photos of everything and anything while I’m walking. Sometimes I’m surprised at the results!
Here are some visually interesting photos of buildings in downtown San Diego. You’ll find reflections in windows, strange shadows, and splashes of light. There are unusual shapes, surprising contrasts, and a few delightful discoveries.
Every walk through downtown is an optical 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!
A batter gets ready to swing during the Labor Day Stickball Tournament in San Diego. Sixteen teams, including five from the East Coast, played over two days.
I watched some of the action today at the 2017 Labor Day Stickball Tournament in Little Italy. This annual San Diego tradition–which has been going on for 19 years now–includes West and East Coast stickball teams competing for glory. Even a slight drizzle couldn’t stop the intense street action!
I took some photos while enjoying a few of the games. A good crowd lined the sidewalks to watch play on three different street blocks in Little Italy. Stickball in San Diego seems to be growing in popularity–at least it appears that way to me!
Every year the event seems to grow. Many people were lining the sidewalks watching action-packed stickball games. The dog barked excitedly with every great play.Banner for the Nineteenth Annual Labor Day Stickball Tournament in Little Italy, sponsored by Mission Federal Credit Union.Cars head down the nearby street as a game is in progress. It rained a little bit today, as you can see.Running for home in front of the San Diego Firehouse Museum during the 2017 Labor Day Stickball Tournament.Playing hard with a smile. Good times, good people.A big grid of 16 teams this year for the stickball tournament. Just from personal observation, the event seems to grow every Labor Day weekend.A player stretches as a team huddles. The play on hard asphalt is blazing fast and fierce.Getting ready to be a stickball hero!
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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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Putting sand into wooden forms, preparing to make sand sculptures that will welcome visitors to the Broadway Pier!
Look what I spotted during my walk along the Embarcadero after work today! Preparations are underway for the big 2017 U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge which takes place this coming Labor Day Weekend!
As you can see, sand is being put into large wooden forms at the base of the Broadway Pier. I learned from a friendly guy scooping sand that the competing sculptures will actually be created inside the Broadway Pier’s Port Pavilion! (In past years they were outside, along the south edge of the nearby B Street Pier.)
I also see that this year, outside on the Broadway Pier, there will be all sorts of food, cool “dimensional art” and live music, much like the past events.
Finally, I learned that the three sand sculptures just getting started today will welcome visitors to the Broadway Pier. One sculpture will depict the USS Midway and Star of India. Another has something to do with LEGOs. A third will promote MTS, San Diego’s public transit system.
I’m getting excited! The best sand artists in the world will be here next weekend! I’m going! It will be cool to see their masterpieces!
The U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge is coming to San Diego’s Broadway Pier during Labor Day Weekend!Meanwhile, this afternoon during my walk, I saw some folks enjoying the pier, watching two harbor cruise ships coming in from the bay.This friendly guy told me there will be three sand sculptures here at the base of the pier. The competing sand sculptures will actually be created inside the Port Pavilion this year!Quarry sand mixed with water will be compacted, and then carved here into three cool sculptures during the coming week! Stay tuned!
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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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Gazing up from Union Street at the unique new Superior Court building in downtown San Diego.
Yesterday I walked past our beautiful new downtown courthouse. The opening of the high tech half billion dollar San Diego Central Courthouse has faced several delays, but the very unique exterior has already added more character to San Diego’s gleaming skyline.
Here are some photos. The rooftop canopy is rather unusual, as you can see. The crystal-like lattice of geometric reflections and shadows that it produces delights the eye.
The new San Diego Central Courthouse is nearly completed. It stands north across the C Street trolley tracks from the Hall of Justice. A pedestrian bridge connects both buildings.Flags in a pleasant breeze. The new courthouse, most expensive in California, has faced various construction delays.This new Superior Court of California building is across Union Street from the old, less-functional courthouse, which will be torn down.Fascinating reflections and shadows on glass windows beneath a projecting rooftop canopy.
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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 building is rising at the corner of Ash Street and Kettner Boulevard.
Many new buildings are rising in downtown San Diego.
Yesterday I walked east from the Embarcadero along Ash Street and took photos of three projects: the Savina luxury condo building, the LUMA luxury apartment building, and a new, elegant Carté Hotel.
Savina is a 36-story high-rise building containing luxury condos, coming to downtown San Diego.Photo of Savina construction from intersection of Ash and Kettner.As I walked east up Ash I noticed some bicyclists looking around. Up ahead to the left is more construction.I’m heading up the sidewalk and getting closer.A concrete mixer truck turns the corner at Ash Street and Columbia Street. Under construction is LUMA, an apartment building opening in Fall 2018 according to their website.What LUMA will look like when completed.Construction worker atop the rising luxury apartment building.A third construction site is visible as I walk east on Ash.A prestigious new 240-room Carté Hotel is coming to 401 W. Ash in Little Italy in Fall 2018.The Carté Hotel downtown construction is still in the early stages!
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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 interesting photos around San Diego!
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