Here comes a batch of photos taken Friday afternoon and early evening at 2013 December Nights. If you haven’t been to Balboa Park’s massive holiday festival, you’re really missing out. Hundreds of thousands of people turn out during the two day event, enjoying colorful lights, decorations, music, Christmas carols, food, entertainment, and just a whole bunch of fun. Every corner of the park is crammed with stuff to see and do. And it seems half of San Diego comes out to experience it all!
Some might recall that December Nights was once called Christmas on the Prado. Fortunately, the event is as joyful, bright, inspirational and heart-warming as ever. And the crowds seem bigger than ever!
Vendors set up festive booths in courtyard in front of the Museum of Man.Front of the Old Globe Theatre features a banner of the Dr. Seuss Grinch.How the Grinch Stole Christmas holiday tree in theatre complex.Getting ready for crowds in Balboa Park’s central plaza on Friday afternoon.Funnel cakes, lemonade and kettle corn for the holidays!December Nights crowd grows in Spanish Village by late afternoon.Santa awaits beyond colorful decorations in Spanish Village.Enormous Christmas tree decorates the stage of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.One nativity scene in the large creche at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.Tijuana school kids dressed as vaqueros and angels wait to perform.Children perform by big Christmas tree on Spreckels Organ Pavilion stage.The December Nights fun zone rides will become more active after dark.This guy’s shirt wishes everyone a Merry Solstice.Food and yummy smells can be found all over Balboa Park.Sunset nears and the tower atop San Diego Junior Theatre building turns gold.A December day fades above Balboa Park and the clouds are tinged with color.Now the evening crowd is really growing at December Nights!Glee Club of Australia kids sing and dance in Spreckels Organ Pavilion.One of several Santas in Balboa Park.San Diego Junior Theatre kids sing Christmas carols.Balboa Park Miniature Train in front of San Diego Zoo lit with Christmas lights.Balboa Park fountain and Natural History Museum lit up for December Nights.
One cool feature of Balboa Park is the profusion of street performers. I got a fast pic of this magician setting up on El Prado in front of the reflecting pool. That’s the Botanical Building in the background–one of the largest wood lath structures in the world!
While I didn’t see this sleeveless magician perform last Sunday, I did savor the music of a nearby harp player and listened to a guy playing a funky didgeridoo!
UPDATE! Here’s a pic from a performance, taken on a later day:
Sleeveless magician performs card trick for rapt audience.
I took this photo while strolling down El Prado, Balboa Park’s breathtakingly beautiful central promenade. Lined with fountains, fine museums and Spanish Colonial Revival buildings designed for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, it is one of the most scenic walks in San Diego.
I caught this man taking a stroll with his dog in front of Casa del Prado, one of the spectacular buildings along El Prado.
This closeup photo was taken on a different day:
Ornate plaster elements add elegance to the Spanish Colonial Revival building.
And here’s one more pic!
Casa del Prado facade photographed as evening approaches and lights turn on.
I like this photo…even though an optical illusion makes it appear a bit tilted!
This was taken in the early morning from the short walkway that passes over Balboa Park’s shimmering reflecting pool. You are looking toward the splendid Spanish Colonial Revival buildings on El Prado.
Later in the morning, when the world has yawned, stretched and put on its shoes, people will be sitting on the white benches. Children will be standing at the pond’s edge, gazing down at Japanese Koi and myriad other critters in the water. An older gentleman will probably be heard nearby, playing Mariachi music with his guitar. And dozens of photographs will be taken. Each as beautiful as this one!
Here are some additional pics taken at various times…
View of the entire reflecting pool from the Botanical Building.Side view of the Balboa Park’s reflecting pool.Photographer at work beside the beautiful water.
One of my favorite places in Balboa Park is the reflecting pool, or lily pond, as some call it. This tranquil body of water lies between El Prado and the enormous wood lath structure which is the Botanical Building.
Flower beds, green grass and families enjoying picnics surround the pond, and colorful lotus flowers grace the surface. All sorts of interesting creatures call it home. In addition of numerous large koi (two can be seen in this photo), and floating turtles craning their heads to gaze at tourists, there are crawdads and a variety of fish that people have dumped into the pond. Years ago a small shark was spotted in the serene water!
An interesting historical fact: during World War II, when Balboa Park was utilized to mobilize American soldiers, the Navy used the reflecting pool to train sailors! You can still see old black-and-white photos of men rowing on the pool when you visit the San Diego History Center, a bit further to the east down El Prado.
These photographs are of the small pond-like section right next to the Botanical Building. This is the best place to watch brightly colored Koi swimming about.
Looking down at bright colors in the reflecting pool.Lots of color can be found in this section of the reflecting pool, by the Botanical Building.Turtle comes out of the water to enjoy a bit of San Diego sunshine!Crowd gazes into small section of the Balboa Park lily pond.
Elaborate facade of the beautiful California Building in Balboa Park.
Here’s one iconic sight in Balboa Park I always lift my eyes to enjoy. The elaborate facade of the California Building, home of the San Diego Museum of Man, contains sculpted historical figures molded from clay and plaster. These figures include Junipero Serra, father of California’s Spanish missions, and Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who discovered San Diego Bay nearly five centuries ago in 1542.
This fantastic building, inspired by the church of San Diego in Guanajuato, Mexico, was erected for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, an event that celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal and promoted San Diego as a destination. Like other similar buildings to the east along El Prado, it is in the Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style, which was largely developed by Bertram Goodhue.
The California Building and adjacent California Tower, and the more simple structure to the south across El Prado–housing Evernham Hall and the St. Francis Chapel–form the California Quadrangle. The courtyard-like area at the quadrangle’s center, where visitors can sit at tables and through which cars today travel, is called the Plaza de California.
Every few years I venture into The Museum of Man just to refresh my memory. There are a number of interesting anthropological exhibits, including a whole room full of spooky Egyptian mummies!
Here are some more pics…
Gazing up at the colorful dome of the California Building, and the California Tower.People on the street in front of the Museum of Man. El Prado runs through the Plaza de California.Plaster figures from local history adorn the ornate facade.Banners near the entrance show current exhibits at the Museum of Man.Plaque a bit west of the Museum of Man, beside the archway into Balboa Park’s California Quadrangle, commemorates Cabrillo’s discovery of California.Sitting at a table under an umbrella near the beautiful Museum of Man.
Here are even more photos from a later date…
Sign in the California Quadrangle. Built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, the Plaza de California and surrounding buildings served as the grand west entrance for the exposition.Photo toward the southeast corner of the California Quadrangle shows Mission Revival style arches.Photo of the iconic California Tower from a point east on El Prado.The ornate upper levels of the California Bell Tower. Tours up the tower’s stairs provide amazing views of Balboa Park and San Diego.Photo of the beautiful California Building from the east, near the Old Globe Theatre.Elaborate ornamentation around the archway outside the east side of the California Quadrangle.Colorful dome tiles, part of the Spanish Colonial Revival masterpiece of exposition architect Bertram Goodhue.
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