I learned during the Adams Avenue Street Fair that a new community garden is coming to Normal Heights!
The community garden will occupy the south end of Ward Canyon Neighborhood Park, north of 40th Street and Madison Avenue, where the fenced Large Dog Park used to be.
As this webpage explains, amenities will include 28 garden plots, 9 waist-level garden boxes, compost and trash areas, a tool shed, running water, ADA compliant graded paths, and a native/pollinator plant garden. The existing pergola and bench will be retained.
I see local schools will be involved, allowing kids to learn about growing food, the environment, and leading a healthy life outdoors.
Very cool!
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Grant Park and its new River Studio are almost ready to open by the San Diego River!
Finishing touches are being put on the public park and educational center in Mission Valley. The River Studio at Grant Park will start educating local school students in mid-October.
As you can see from today’s photos, sun-filled Grant Park is receiving new greenery, while its amphitheater, shade structure and River Studio building have already been completed.
Over a year ago, before much construction had begun, I posted photos of a tour of the site and wrote about the initial plans. At the beginning of this year I walked outside the project again and posted these photos of work underway.
If you’re curious about the mountain lion and bear in today’s photos–the sculptures will be positioned inside the park to delight visitors. Grass and native plants will fill the outdoor spaces. You’ll notice I spotted some tile art created by kids, too!
(You might find it confusing–the project has also been called “The San Diego River Discovery Center at Grant Park” and “San Diego River Center at Grant Park.”)
Approaching the outdoor amphitheater and River Studio from the nearby parking lot…
Grant Park dedicated July 25, 2025.
The amphitheater is home to The Conrad Prebys Stage. Kids will learn about the San Diego River and its life here.
A beautiful fountain at one end of the amphitheater.
Looking across Grant Park areas that still need to be planted.
Turn left here and what will you encounter?
A bear!
Bears no longer live around here. Human activity is to blame.
Walking beside the McGrath Family Commons. There will be a big grassy area ideal for picnics or play.
A shady place to sit, while gazing out at nature and river vegetation.
Walking along. A friendly worker was busy digging holes and putting in plants.
Wooden benches for relaxation.
Here’s that tile art I mentioned. Each tile depicts a river plant or creature…
Those vertical posts to the right of the River Studio will support a shady canopy.
Now let’s walk back to the River Studio…
I was privileged to be shown the interior of the River Studio, where student groups will learn about the San Diego River environment.
Students from local schools will observe the effects of urban runoff. Using microscopes they’ll examine water samples. They’ll learn how the organisms they observe reflect the health of the nearby river.
Those aquariums will contain live fish.
Also inside the River Studio, there’s a gallery wall with art created by members of the San Diego River Artists Alliance. The group celebrates the San Diego River ecosystem.
The works of art will change from time to time and will be available for purchase. Sales will help fund the San Diego River Park Foundation.
When it finally opens in mid-October, this important addition to Mission Valley is going to be amazing!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Did you know National City in San Diego’s South Bay has a Historic Railcar Plaza?
The small museum-like building is located at the intersection of Bay Marina Drive and Marina Way. A train track running through the building is home to old Passenger Coach No. 1.
I posted a blog about the National City Historic Railcar Plaza almost ten years ago, after peeking inside. You can revisit that past blog post here.
From outside, anyone can peer through windows into four small display rooms at each corner of the building. When I walked by several weeks ago, it seemed that displays in two of the corner windows had changed. So I took photos!
In one window, dummies of passengers in Victorian-era attire stand or sit on a bench, as if waiting for a train or streetcar.
In a second window I found a variety of educational displays. They’re mostly about protecting the wetlands in National City and around the San Diego region.
According to one sign, the public is invited to participate in Creek Day on the last Saturday of every month, from 8 am to noon. The address where people meet is 1815 Hoover Avenue.
You can check out the Facebook page of Paradise Creek Educational Park by clicking here. (Unfortunately, that page doesn’t seem very active right now.)
Another sign inside the Historic Railcar Plaza indicates: “Display rooms are available to nonprofits to showcase artifacts and interpretive exhibits relating to the early railroads and local history. Contact the Port of San Diego Public Art Department for program information.”
What might I see the next time I walk past?
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
A very cool event is taking place in San Diego this weekend through tomorrow, Sunday, August 21, 2025. Artists from the Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park are helping you to create your own art, in a fundraiser that benefits kids!
It’s Art Galore Days!
Between 11 am and 4 pm, head over to the Casa del Prado’s outdoor courtyard and look for various stations where you can make fun art!
Purchase $5 tickets and use them to create what you wish. You get entered in a raffle, too, where you can win a fine work of professional art!
The awesome thing is, funds raised will be used to support Spanish Village art education programs for kids and young students!
Some of the beautiful pieces you can win in the raffle:
You can create a snowman button!
You can paint tribal rocks!
You can paint a sunset (or anything you desire) with a frame!
Make a cool succulent shoe!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The French Market returned to San Diego’s bayfront this afternoon. The fun cultural event, organized by the French-American Chamber of Commerce of SoCal, was held outdoors at Lane Field Park. Its purpose was to celebrate French culture, flavors and innovation right here in San Diego, and to promote vibrant Franco-American business ties and cultural exchange.
I swung by to check it out!
Several vendors and organizations had canopies on the grass, and there was live music provided by Chloe Perrier & the French Heart Jazz Band, too!
Without further ado…
Versailles Café & Pastries had tasty crepes topped with strawberries and chocolate!The Alliance Française de San Diego offers French classes in La Jolla and Vista, and organizes social gatherings. Their French Literature & Arts Festival is coming October 2-4, 2025 in San Diego. More here.The San Diego French American School, in La Jolla, offers bilingual education from preschool through 8th grade.The mobile and online Clotilde French Bookstore had many books at their table!Author Claude Koehl’s book, The American Way of Life: The Foreigner’s Perspective, helps people understand cultural differences, using humor.Some smiling authors!Six Years of Absence is a novel based on French Sergeant Alexandre Rolland’s harrowing experiences during World War II. Written by Alain Rolland, his son.A good time in sunny San Diego.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Eight years ago I posted the blog Natural beauty at the West Coast Shell Show. Today, while walking through Balboa Park, I noticed the West Coast Shell Show was being held again in the Casa del Prado, so I checked it out!
Yes, there were hundreds of amazing shells. All types! I’m no expert when it comes to seashells or marine organisms–all I know is that these jewels from the ocean can be indescribably beautiful. I can see why people collect them.
Dealers had tables full of specimens and there were educational displays to read, too. I learned these shells were gathered from all around the world. One gentleman told me that collecting shells at protected San Diego beaches is illegal.
I must admit that while walking along the sand I’ve never seen anything that approaches these perfect specimens at the Shell Show. When lucky, I might observe very tiny polished shells underfoot, or an occasional sand dollar, or a broken abalone piece glinting in the sun.
Searching for what the vast ocean has churned up is instinctive, I suppose. The sudden discoveries–even shells that are broken–invite a closer look. They’re small hints of our planet’s immense magnificence.
Poetry lovers! All sorts of activities await you in San Diego’s wonderful Balboa Park!
Free to the public and open to anyone at least 18 years old, these Balboa Park Poetic Programs celebrate creativity and the power of the written and spoken word. The three ongoing programs are: Poetry Party, Otherwise Improvise, and Poetic Legacy.
Poetry Party is a fun event held on the first Friday of every month from 3 to 5 pm in Balboa Park’s Santa Fe Room, at 2150 Pan American Road West (across from the International Cottages). The description on one flyer: Read your favorite poetry, listen, or make the scene. Be bold, adventurous, and experience the power of the spoken word.
Otherwise Improvise is held on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month from 2:30 to 5 pm in the Balboa Park Senior Lounge (located in the Casa Del Prado). Be creative! Have even more fun!
Poetic Legacy is a workshop that involves readings and discussions of contemporary and historic poets. Taking prompts from featured poets, participants are then encouraged to write their own poems. This program takes place on the last Friday of every month, from 3 to 5 pm in the Balboa Park Senior Lounge.
The next Poetic Legacy workshop will be held August 29th and will feature poet Naomi Shibab Ney, recipient of numerous honors and awards for her work. In 2019 the Poetry Foundation designated her the Young People’s Poet Laureate for 2019–21.
Want more information concerning the Balboa Park Poetic Programs? Email SLemire@sandiego.gov.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
When I poked my nose into Balboa Park’s Senior Lounge the other day, I learned that all sorts of great activities are coming up in San Diego for seniors!
The first event I learned about was the AgeWell Services’ 2025 Intergenerational Senior Prom. It’s not a high school prom. It’s a formal or semiformal attire event for all ages, which includes foxtrot and west coast swing dance lessons, lunch, a raffle, and of course, dancing! A glam room will allow participants to have their hair and nails done. The ticket price for all of it is a mere 5 dollars! You can call 619-235-1191 for more information.
Also underway right now is the San Diego Senior Games. Seniors can compete in a wide variety of sports, including basketball, badminton, golf, soccer, table tennis and much more! You can register here. The games take place in August and September.
I also learned the AgeWell Services Craft Sale at Balboa Park is coming up on November 15th and 16th. Are you crafty? Sell the crafts you’ve made by hand at this annual sale that takes place at the Casa del Prado. Find out more by calling 619-525-8247.
You can find additional information about these activities and many more by reading the Fall issue of the AgeWell Newsletter by clicking here.
The pages of the Fall Newsletter are full of offerings for seniors in San Diego, from dances, to trips, to educational opportunities, to social events… Click the above link and check it out!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Super cool! These great comic book paintings at the Comic-Con Museum were created by students from Westview High School!
Students of Westview art teacher Keith Opstad produced these speed paintings during the San Diego Comic-Con Museum’s First Annual Educator’s Night in 2024.
These really are speed paintings? Made while teachers from around San Diego watched? Wow–that’s truly amazing!
Iron Man, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and Batman make a splash on a wall inside the museum’s second floor Makerspace.
I noticed that today, in the Makerspace, guests could use beads to create a starry sky and constellation, then tell a story about it! The activity is called Constellations Across the WHOniverse. Why? An epic Doctor Who exhibition is now showing at the Comic-Con Museum!
UPDATE!
During my next visit to the Comic-Con Museum, I noticed Superman had appeared, too!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
People in San Diego had an incredible opportunity this weekend to step aboard “America’s Tall Ship,” the USCGC Eagle, which has been docked for a few days at the B Street Pier. Visitors were invited to explore the nearly hundred-year-old, 295-foot, three-masted barque, which is used to train future United States Coast Guard officers.
I took the opportunity to come aboard the historic tall ship myself, and I captured photographs of one amazing ship!
A number of interesting banners hang around the Eagle, explaining its history and current role in training future Coast Guard officers. Eagle is the largest tall ship flying the Stars and Stripes and the only active square-rigger in U.S. government service.
I learned a new batch of prospective officers had themselves come aboard a couple days ago. This week they’ll be sailing in the nearby Pacific Ocean. When the Eagle returns to San Diego, this new group of “swabs” will be considered honest-to-goodness cadets!
I must say all of the young people who are training to become officers were extremely friendly, polite and professional. The Coast Guard’s future appears to be in great hands!
Now enjoy my photos…
Welcome Aboard America’s Tall Ship.USCGC Eagle is both a Coast Guard cutter and a barque.The Eagle has over six miles of standing and running rigging, 23 sails, and more than 22,000 square feet of sail area that allow her to sail at 17 knots (19.5 mph).Eagle was originally German, launched in 1936, and was operated by the pre-World War II German navy. In 1946, after the end of World War II, United States Coast Guardsmen sailed the Eagle to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.Originally, the Eagle trained German Navy sailors as Horst Wessel. It sailed to the Canary Islands and West Indies, and later, during World War II, on the Baltic Sea. She carried anti-aircraft guns, and her logs indicate that she fired at Allied and German aircraft.A permanent Coast Guard crew of approximately 60 personnel maintain and operate the Eagle year round.The Eagle gives officer candidates and enlisted servicemembers hands-on, teamwork-focused opportunities to lead, train and serve at sea…The Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut produces leaders of character… Nearly 300 high school graduates enroll annually…Sail training offers…a unique and useful training experience. This includes learning the fundamentals of seamanship, weather, and nautical tradition…
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Cool San Diego Sights! 