I headed back to North County today. During my walk through Encinitas, along Coast Highway 101, I noticed many signs of the Holiday Season!
Not only did I spy workers hanging holiday lights on the Golden Lotus Tower of the Self-Realization Fellowship ashram, I saw the marquee of La Paloma Theatre features Elf and Die Hard XMAS.
Along the sidewalks and in shop windows I noticed poinsettias, wreaths, Christmas trees, and even ugly sweaters!
Enjoy a few fun photos!
…
Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag. There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
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!
An amazing 15 feet high Christmas tree made of 390 poinsettia plants now stands in Balboa Park!
The Christmas tree was installed at the San Diego History Center on Monday. I saw it today, and it’s impressive!
On a wall near the festive red “tree” is a display explaining San Diego’s historical connection to the poinsettia, the World’s Favorite Holiday Flower.
As many San Diego residents know, Paul Ecke’s famous ranch in Encinitas cultivated and hybridized poinsettias for much of the 20th century, producing different colors and variations that have become popular around the world. At one time, the Ecke Ranch sold nearly 90 percent of the holiday plants in the United States.
Flowers and other nursery plants remain a very important part our local economy. As a matter of fact, the poinsettias in the San Diego History Center’s beautiful Christmas tree were grown by Weidners Gardens in Encinitas.
If you visit Balboa Park for the holiday season, especially during December Nights, be sure to step into the San Diego History Center, which is located inside the Casa de Balboa!
…
Thank you for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you’d like, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and check back from time to time.
It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
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!
Check out this fun artwork on trashcans at the J Street Viewpoint in Encinitas!
I saw this public art during my last walk in Encinitas.
While enjoying the J Street Viewpoint park that overlooks the ocean, I also photographed a plaque remembering John Denver, which you can see here, and an extraordinary sculpture titled Humanity, which you can see here.
I don’t know anything about these trashcans. It appears the tiles were painted by community members, including lots of kids. If you know anything, please leave a comment!
…
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!
There’s an extraordinary bronze sculpture in Encinitas at a place that overlooks the wide blue Pacific Ocean. It’s titled Humanity.
Head west on J Street until you can go no farther, then up the steps to the J Street Viewpoint. Keep your eyes open.
The beautiful sculpture was created in 2013 by Del Mar artist Maidy Morhous. It was installed in the park in 2018. The sculpture was commissioned by local filmmaker Sue Vicory of Heartland Films, whose film “One” explores human connectivity.
You can read more about this artwork’s inspiration here.
Humanity is part of the Encinitas Public Art Collection.
Look at these photos. Touch them with your eyes.
One touch forever connects us with Humanity.
…
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!
Travel down the coast highway in Encinitas and you might never know you’re a very short distance from an amazing “hidden” art alley!
Colorful murals fill the alley just west of South Coast Highway 101 between D Street and E Street.
I captured photographs of all the artwork as I walked south down the alley, from a spot behind 7-Eleven.
I noticed several artist signatures and have included that info in my captions.
Enjoy!
A blonde in blue. The one mural you might glimpse from Coast Highway 101.Mural by CJTROXELLART.Cool street art depicts Prince.If you know who this might be, leave a comment! UPDATE! I’ve been informed this is from David Bowie’s album Hunky Dory!Beautifully painted bouquet.Words describe a morally blind society and its consequences.Dog running in a field.Mandala-like design and elephant.Walking south down the alley.Mural by @debisdoodles and @mayranavarroart painted in 2015.I added contrast and sharpness to this photo to pop the Day of the Dead imagery.Mural possibly depicts Mount Fuji in Japan.Bees and flowers!Art around the back door of Better Buzz Coffee Encinitas.Seawalls mural by Aaron Glasson and Celeste Byers, 2016.
…
This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
A new mural was painted at the 1st Street Bar in Encinitas several months ago. I didn’t see it until this weekend, during my walk down South Coast Highway 101.
The mural is a colorful, mystical work by artists Amanda Lynn and Carly Ealey. It’s overflowing with visions of nature’s beauty and cosmic mystery.
This fantastic artwork replaces an older environmental Sea Walls mural at the same Encinitas location, painted by the same artists. I took photos of the previous 1st Street Bar mural in 2019 and posted them here.
It’s interesting to contrast the styles of the two murals. I particularly like this newer one.
Enjoy!
…
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!
Some of the most beautiful gardens in San Diego County can be found in Encinitas. I visited one of those gardens this weekend.
The Meditation Gardens at Self-Realization Fellowship is a quiet retreat for those who like to walk or sit quietly in a place where the mind can find peace and the spirit, inspiration.
Pathways wind through a lush, carefully tended world. Benches in green nooks invite rest and reflection. There are exotic plants, trees and flowers, ponds filled with bright koi, and breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. Like distant poetry, surfers far below ride the curling rhythmic waves of Swami’s.
The Meditation Gardens recently reopened after a long closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Visitors to the garden, as the Self-Realization Fellowship website suggests, might discover “a greater realization of the Divine Presence that lies within.”
The amazing garden is free to the public.
Enjoy a sample of its beauty…
This is the site of the Golden Lotus Temple, built in 1937. Here thousands came to services conducted by Paramahansa Yogananda… In 1942 cliff erosion made the temple unstable and later it had to be dismantled…
…
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!
Head west through Encinitas along J Street. When you reach the end, climb the stairs to the J Street Viewpoint.
You’ll discover beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean, unexpected works of public art . . . and a small plaque.
John Denver
December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997
John Denver, songwriter, singer, actor, humanitarian and an activist for world peace and the environment was a founder of The Hunger Project and Plant-It 2000 which sponsored tree plantings in Encinitas.
“Though the singer is silent, there still is the truth of the song.”
Your friends will always remember you.
“If peace is our vision, let us begin.”
…
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!
Have you seen the cool Trevor Hoffman mural painted on the rear wall of Hansen Surfboards in Encinitas?
I finally did!
Ground Floor Murals painted this San Diego Padres mural last November.
So far, I’ve photographed their Tony Gwynn, Fernando Tatis, Jr., Manny Machado and Yu Darvish murals. Click the links to see the photos and learn more about these talented artists. Their awesome Padres baseball player murals are located all around San Diego!
For many years, Trevor Hoffman held the all-time pitching saves record in Major League Baseball. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Go Pads!
…
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!
If you’re a San Diego resident or visitor, I recommend going on a historical walking tour of Encinitas.
The free guided walks, which are led by a member of the Encinitas Historical Society, typically occur every two months and begin inside the society’s headquarters, a restored one-room 1883 schoolhouse. For the location, and to see the dates of upcoming walking tours, check out their website here.
Last Saturday I and a couple dozen others gathered at the old schoolhouse for the tour. The sky was overcast with May gray, but the cool temperature was perfect for a very active one and a half hour walk.
Our group headed south from the schoolhouse, checking out the two iconic Encinitas Boathouses and a few other historical homes and buildings. After a short eastward leg, we continued farther south down Coast Highway 101 to view the Golden Lotus Towers of the Self-Realization Fellowship from a distance, then headed back north passing numerous historical buildings until we reached Cottonwood Creek. Turning west, we followed the creek, climbed to a spot overlooking Moonlight Beach where we admired a Heritage Tree, then headed south a few blocks back to the old schoolhouse.
These photographs include sights I’d seen during a past walk in Encinitas. Back then I was on my own, wandering about randomly while knowing very little. The guided tour last weekend was extremely informative and I’ve provided a little bit of what I learned (and managed to jot down) in the photo captions.
If you want a great experience make sure to go on the tour yourself! Like every other beach city in San Diego’s North County, Encinitas has a rich history that is often surprising!
The unique Boathouses of Encinitas were built in 1927-1928 and were once called The Arks. They were constructed with recycled lumber from a dance pavilion and bath house that used to be located at Moonlight Beach.The Petrie House, in the Tudor-Cotswold Revival architectural style, was built in 1931. Every cement block was made by hand.The Self-Realization Fellowship Temple was originally the 1916 Mission School. The old Spanish architectural influences are still visible.To the south down Coast Highway 101 we could see the distinctive golden towers of the Self-Realization Fellowship ashram.The 1949 County Realty Building, now home of Encinitas 101 Main Street Association.A surfboard bench and photo of Main Street, Encinitas, California, looking west, circa 1947.Beautiful wood interior of the 1925 Payne Cleaners building. It is home to the longest laundry service business in San Diego County.Rustic-appearing buildings across the Coast Highway at The Lumberyard shopping center were inspired by history. Trains running on nearby tracks once delivered lumber to Encinitas here.Beautiful original glasswork decorates a historic building.The Daley Double saloon was called the Rendezvous in the 1930’s. It once housed an illegal poker parlor and boxing ring.Murals painted by Micaiah Hardison, born and raised in Encinitas.The original Encinitas sign was erected in 1928, removed in 1937 for a highway widening project, then duplicated and returned to the same location in 2000.The famous La Paloma Theater, also called Aubrey Austin Building, opened in 1928. Built in a Spanish Mission/Art Deco style.The sculpture Encinitas Child was created by local artist Manuelita Brown. A young girl was killed on the nearby road years ago.The popular, very colorful Surfing Madonna mural.
Last year I blogged about the Surfing Madonna mural with additional photos and information here.
Encinitas owes its origin to Cottonwood Creek, a source of water and wood on San Diego’s arid north coast. Trains coming down from Los Angeles stopped here. In 1881 the town of Old Encinitas was established.Members of our tour group look down at a huge frog at the edge of the creek.A large, rare Torrey pine tree, on a hilltop not far from the Pacific Ocean.The 2nd Heritage Tree of Encinitas. Planted in 1952, the huge Star Pine is lit during the holidays and Santa arrives on a firetruck from nearby Fire Station One.One of many quaint beach cottages built by the ocean in Encinitas.
…
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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 