Sam Malcolm, a juggling comedian from Denver, Colorado, performs high atop a ladder during the Seaport Village Spring Busker Festival!
Today I enjoyed an hour or so at the 2018 Seaport Village Spring Busker Festival. It’s hard to believe, but this is the fourth time I’ve blogged the annual event. Considering how quickly the years have flown by, I must be having fun!
This year’s busker festival is just as colorful and entertaining as ever. It continues tomorrow, so make sure you head down to Seaport Village for lots of fun, laughs and thrills!
Here are photos from a few of today’s performances…
The 2018 Seaport Village Spring Busker Festival is taking place this weekend!Dango (Derrick Gilday of San Diego) climbs a stack of chairs in Embarcadero Marina Park North, right next to Seaport Village.Dango juggles flaming torches to the delight of the gathered crowd!I was laughing out loud at the screwball antics and absurd comedy of Wacky Chad.Wacky Chad jumps rope every which way. An exhibition of amazing physical dexterity.More juggling. This time atop a super tall unicycle.Some crazy, super high pogo sticking was the highlight of Wacky Chad’s routine. He has appeared on America’s Got Talent twice!The Lynx Variety Show, coming from San Francisco, included a feat of amazing sword swallowing.Mitchell Walker is a regular at Seaport Village, and so is his cool didgeridoo!Greg Frisbee prepares to begin his funny Rubber Chicken Show.Extreme Rahim prepares to wow his audience with magic and positive clean humor. I often see him performing at Seaport Village.Extreme Rahim provides a smile and many good memories in San Diego!
…
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 juggler belonging to the Fern Street Circus practices his balancing skills before a special performance.
My walk today included a short visit to the Carnival in the Park event hosted by the Port of San Diego. Lots of families came down to Cesar Chavez Park in Barrio Logan to enjoy a free performance by San Diego’s much-loved Fern Street Circus!
I arrived a few minutes early, stayed for a bit, got a yummy free hot dog and enjoyed watching several performers. I didn’t hang around to see the main act, but I bet it was terrific! As I departed, a whole bunch of people were still arriving!
This fun, kid-friendly event was put together by the Port of San Diego’s Tidelands Activation Program. The program celebrates all sorts of cool artwork around San Diego Bay and encourages creativity in the South Bay and other bayside communities.
Here are a few photos!
Cesar Chavez Park in Barrio Logan was the venue today for a show by the Fern Street Circus, hosted by the Port of San Diego.Friendly people from the Port of San Diego’s Public Art Program look on as the crowd slowly grows at Cesar Chavez Park.This smiling lady was handing out free jars of Kinetic Sand to youth at the event. Young artists can easily mold it to express their creativity.Members of the Fern Street Circus ready props on the main stage as the kid-friendly community event gets underway.An aerial silk performer takes to the air above the grassy park.A smile in the San Diego sky!The circus juggler and some kids play with colorful hula hoops.A small circus school at the event showed people how to walk a tightrope!Lots of smiles and fun were enjoyed today at Cesar Chavez Park, courtesy of the Port of San Diego and the Fern Street Circus!
…
There’s an author in San Diego by the name of Jack Tyler. He has published all sorts of steampunk fiction and offers great advice about how to write effectively. If this interests you, please follow his blog by clicking here!
You might recall Jack has written an exciting tale of adventure that takes place in San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter. To learn more about his novel Stingaree, click here!
An example of an elaborate paper toy theater, a source of family entertainment in the 19th century.
Today, just for fun, I headed up to the Paper Theatre Festival, which is held every year at UC San Diego.
Upon entering the Seuss Room at the Geisel Library, I couldn’t help smiling. Scattered about the room was a large collection of Victorian stage dioramas, character cut-outs, books and ephemera from the 19th century when paper toy theatre was a popular family entertainment.
All of the colorful artwork exhibited at the festival is part of an immense paper theatre collection assembled over the course of eighteen years by Scott Paulson. I listened to him talk to visitors young and old about his collection, and tried to absorb a bit of this unique art form’s history. I learned how in that bygone age, families would construct these paper theaters from kits, then act out plays with the included scripts and paper doll actors. The entertaining hobby encouraged people to learn about the operation of a real theater, including set design and stage lighting effects.
Walking about the Seuss Room, I bent over to peer into many highly ornate 3-dimensional dioramas. Slots at intervals on the stages allow different paper backdrops–scenery sheets–to be inserted, as you can see from my photos. Paper characters, which are often mounted at the ends of sticks, can be moved about on a stage as a dramatic performance demands.
The festival is geared toward kids, who are encouraged to handle these fun paper playhouses, learn about their history and create their own small dramas. The event continues Sunday and Monday. Click here to learn more!
Paper Theater – It’s the smallest show on Earth! Historical amusements are on display at the Paper Theatre Festival at the UC San Diego Library.Objects on display include books, posters and materials to create paper theaters.A mirthful dance of magical characters!A variety of paper toy theaters and related items are on display at the annual festival.A scenery sheet depicting a London street to be used in a play of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.Detail from one ornate paper stage.These cut-out paper actors include dragons, knights and other fantastic characters.Mr. Jackson’s Elizabethan Theatre includes the characters and text for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.An example of a French paper theatre kit.The exhibition includes a crazy MOV-I-GRAFF card. The outline of the face is a fine chain. The face’s shape can be altered with a jiggle.This stage features a troupe of dancers!Edward Gorey’s Dracula. Classic horror and toy theatre!Teatro de Mexico. A folk art toy theater.Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop. Hansel and Gretel. A model to cut out and make.A fun, very colorful Hansel and Gretel scene made of paper!
…
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!
Guys work on an interactive kiosk that will be at the entrance to the renovated Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park!
I was pleasantly surprised during my walk through Balboa Park today to see progress is being made in renovating the Starlight Bowl!
A couple of super cool guys from Save Starlight were installing an interactive kiosk at the outdoor amphitheater’s entrance. I learned that some events for the outdoor venue are already planned for early this year! How awesome is that?
If you are like me, you might have watched musicals performed in the Starlight Bowl under twinkling stars, before the San Diego Civic Light Opera went bankrupt in 2011. My memories from years ago are still vivid in my mind’s eye. I remember laughing as a young man at the humor of Kiss Me, Kate and The Pirates of Penzance.
I’ve blogged about the effort to save the Starlight Bowl on several occasions, and took a couple of photographs after a new paint job and clean up early last year. I posted those photos on my Beautiful Balboa Park blog here.
If you want to learn more about the Starlight Bowl’s history, challenges, rehabilitation and eventual reopening, visit this website. You can make a donation to help with the effort, or perhaps volunteer!
A performance in the Ford Bowl–now the Starlight Bowl–during the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park. (This no known copyright restrictions image is from Flickr.)Save Starlight is making great progress bringing the famous and beloved Starlight Bowl back to life!
…
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!
Tours of Petco Park include a behind-the-scenes and on-the-field look at the home of the San Diego Padres.
Today I went on a very cool guided tour of Petco Park, baseball home of the San Diego Padres. The one and a half hour tour, which is offered to the public seven days a week, provided a behind-the-scenes look at parts of the ballpark that fans usually don’t see.
I was blown away!
A super knowledgeable and friendly tour guide showed our small group why Petco Park is regarded by many as the best ballpark in Major League Baseball. People in our group who were visiting San Diego, and who were fans of other teams, seemed to enjoy themselves just as much as me!
We saw several parts of the unique Western Metal Supply Co. Building, ventured into the Press Box, and got to briefly see the exclusive Lexus Home Plate Club. We walked out onto the field, and everyone took photos while sitting in the visiting team’s dugout. Then we entered a tunnel that led to the visiting team’s locker room. After passing through a service corridor used for Petco Park deliveries and maintenance, we emerged into daylight, entered the Padres Team Store, and finally ended up at the Padres Hall of Fame.
The following photos provide just a small taste of this awesome experience. If you find yourself in San Diego, take the tour! If you love baseball, it’s a must!
People wait by a ticket window for a fascinating ballpark tour at Petco Park in San Diego.Paty, our knowledgeable and super friendly tour guide, familiarizes everyone with the history of Petco Park.Personalized bricks in the Palm Court Plaza were purchased by more than 10,000 fans when the ballpark was built. The bricks sold out in 5 minutes!The Breitbard Hall of Fame was recently relocated from Balboa Park’s old Hall of Champions to the main concourse level of Petco Park. San Diego sports legends are honored with plaques.A view of the ball field in January from inside the Western Metal Supply Co. Building. Trucks are getting the field ready for an upcoming Monster Jam event.A Padres fan on the tour checks out the left field foul pole, which is attached to a corner of the Western Metal Supply Co. Building. The tolling of the nearby mission bell during every game reminds fans of San Diego’s history.An amazing view of the ballpark can be enjoyed from The Rail, an exclusive seating area high up in the Western Metal Supply Co. Building.The Loft at Petco Park contains pool tables, a fun vibe and cool elements of the Western Metal Supply Co. Building’s history that have been preserved.As we continue counterclockwise around the upper level of Petco Park, we learn more Padres facts. We hear stories about the players and relive special moments.A series of photo murals along the upper level depict Padres history. This one from March 24, 1951 shows Whitey Wietelmann out at first base.As we walk along, San Diego’s South Bay comes into view.We are about to go behind-the-scenes and check out the Press Box!Inside a lounge area for the press is a glass display case full of memories from Jerry Coleman’s life as baseball player, Marine aviator, and Padres broadcaster. The folded flag was presented to him by the military upon his retirement.We get to sit inside writer’s row, where the press watches each game and composes their stories! The official scorer has a special seat in one corner.Way to the left we can glimpse the control room for the music, lights and video boards, and the spot occupied by the public address announcer.A couple months before the 2018 season begins, some workers are doing a bit of gardening at the ballpark!Here’s another fun part of the Petco Park tour. Walking out onto the field!We head to the area behind home plate. In addition to other features, we are shown how Petco Park was built to provide intimate, direct views of the action from every seat.Hanging out in the visiting team’s dugout! How cool is this?If you find yourself in San Diego, you should take a cool tour of Petco Park!
…
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!
Members of the Imahen Taotao Tano-Micronesia Dance Group provide entertainment at the 2018 San Diego Multicultural Festival.
Late this afternoon I ventured down to Ruocco Park to get a taste of the 20th Annual San Diego Multi-Cultural Festival.
Every year the fun, family-oriented event showcases diverse cultures from around the world, and how they uniquely contribute to life in our city.
Many organizations were present that work to improve the community, plus all sort of vendors and great entertainment. Please read the photo captions to learn more about a few of the festival participants! You might feel inspired!
The 2017 Multicultural Festival in Ruocco Park had many diverse activities and interesting things for visitors to experience.Some of the vendors had colorful artwork for sale.Entertainment on the main stage included the Micronesia dance group, Taico Japanese Drums and Soaring Eagles Native American Pow Wow.These nice ladies with EF Education First are looking for local families to host international students. Interested?The San Diego International Sister Cities Association had a couple of cool displays showing our 16 sister cities around the world. Participant cities often engage in cultural exchanges, including sporting events.The Japanese Friendship Garden of Balboa Park had something super fun at the festival. Kamizumo!Kamizumo–paper wrestler–is a Japanese game in which folded paper sumo wrestlers are placed in an arena and controlled by vibrating the platform with finger taps. (Click this image and the next to enlarge for easy reading.)If you make these moves you lose: You accidentally step out of the ring while pushing your opponent! You fall over! You step backward out of the ring!Another exciting kamizumo match is almost ready to begin!Cool guys with the Pazzaz Educational Enrichment Center had some Soap Box Derby gravity cars on display. Kids from the community are encouraged to participate in local races! I blogged about one such race in Sherman Heights a couple years ago!A friendly face painter! Some things never change! I captured this same enormous smile a year or two ago!
…
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!
Looking east past the Bow Wave fountain in San Diego’s Civic Center Plaza. The skyscrapers you see are in the heart of downtown’s Financial District.
When I walk through downtown San Diego, sometimes I’ll pass through Civic Center Plaza to see if anything new or interesting is going on at the San Diego Civic Theater, or at Golden Hall in the San Diego Community Concourse.
I personally have a fond memory of Golden Hall. It’s where I attended my first San Diego Comic-Con with a school friend who happened to be a huge comic book fan. I believe that was in 1982, because I remember the artist Mike Grell was there, and penciled a free detailed sketch of his creation the Warlord for my friend. Back then the initial Superman and Star Wars movies were huge sensations. Yes, that was many, many years ago!
Civic Center Plaza today contains several cool sights. So far my blog hasn’t included images of the Memorial to Alonzo E. Horton plaque and the impressive Official City of San Diego Seal in the passage under the City Administration Building. So here they are!
(You might recall that in the past I’ve posted photos of the Bow Wave fountain, the terrazzo image in the plaza of Cabrillo’s galleon sailing into San Diego Bay, and the Sister City signs. Not to mention photos of other incidental stuff encountered during walks.)
Walking west into Civic Center Plaza from Third Avenue. Golden Hall is directly ahead.Lots of people are excited that the smash hit Hamilton is playing right now at the San Diego Civic Theater.Cool photo of Bow Wave, created by artist Malcolm Leland in 1972.A few people stroll through Civic Center Plaza. Windows in the old (and many say outdated) City Administration Building rise over a passage to C Street.Charles C. Dail Concourse conceived by citizens of vision. This Community Concourse is dedicated by the people of San Diego as a tribute to culture, industry and good government, 1965.Memorial to Alonzo E. Horton, 1813-1909, founder of the new city of San Diego, 1867. Placed by the San Diego Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution in the Bicentennial year 1976.People walk toward the San Diego City Information Center past a large terrazzo City of San Diego Seal.Detail contained in the official City of San Diego Seal.
…
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!
Raúl Prieto Ramírez, San Diego’s new Civic Organist, raises his arms in greeting.
I’m still in a state of elation after experiencing the exciting debut this afternoon of San Diego’s new Civic Organist!
The first appearance of Raúl Prieto Ramírez as official organist for the city of San Diego was nothing less than phenomenal. He performed in Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ Pavilion, where the public will now enjoy his free performances every Sunday at two o’clock.
His great love of music, his energy, his vivaciousness and his extraordinary skill were apparent from the start. An enormous audience filled the Spreckels Organ Pavilion and welcomed him warmly. At the conclusion of the exciting concert, he received a well-deserved standing ovation.
San Diego is so fortunate. The shoes of previous Civic Organist, Dr. Carol Williams, would be difficult for anyone to fill, but Raúl Prieto Ramírez seems definitely up to the task. His playing is crisp, nimble, precise, and full of expression. His smile is enormous. His mission in life, he told the audience, was to bring to the world great music. That makes him happy.
Raúl Prieto Ramírez comes to San Diego from Barcelona, Spain. He is internationally acclaimed, the founder of the Barcelona-Mataró International Organ Festival. Now he will perform his magic in Balboa Park as Civic Organist and Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society. I can tell you right now the future of the 103-year-old Spreckels Organ is incredibly bright.
My photos of today’s concert captures a true artist’s unbounded passion. That passion translates into musical gold.
Jack Lasher, President of the Spreckels Organ Society, welcomes new San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez to the world’s largest outdoor organ in Balboa Park.A sparkling debut concert is about to begin.A tradition for the Sunday organ concerts in Balboa Park, Raúl Prieto Ramírez plays America to get things started.The San Diego audience loved our new Civic Organist from the word go.Raúl Prieto Ramírez talks about coming to San Diego, before his brilliant performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor.Playing the Spreckels Organ with style and passion.There were many smiles throughout the large audience at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. Every bench was full.Finishing a difficult Classical piece with a triumphant flourish.With theatrical flair, Raúl Prieto Ramírez talks about the next piece, Danse Macabre.Concentration.Feeling.Intensity.More smiles.After a great organ rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, Spreckels Organ Society’s Executive Director Ross Porter announces kids are needed for the next number.Kids from the audience take the stage right next to the Spreckels Organ console.Here comes a fifth kid.Instructions are secretly given.While Raúl Prieto Ramírez plays Batalla Famosa, the kids read a short dramatic sentence that introduces each part of the music.Too much fun!Meet the new San Diego Civic Organist, Raúl Prieto Ramírez!
…
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 annual Mormon Battalion Commemoration Day is coming to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park on January 27, 2018.
Anyone interested in the long march of the Mormon Battalion from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego and their important contributions to our city’s early history should put the event on their calendar!
I’ve been informed by the commemoration day organizer that entertainment will include a Native American dance group featuring drums and singers, some colorful ballet folklorico dancers, and an old time fiddler’s group!
To get a taste of the many interesting things you might see, view photos of past Mormon Battalion Commemoration Days here and here!
…
I recently finished writing a short story about generosity and the true spirit of Christmas. To read it, click here!
Someone in downtown San Diego’s Horton Plaza Park peers through a spy hole into a tiny Model Home.
The La Jolla Playhouse has invaded Horton Plaza Park! Several red houses have been placed inside the downtown San Diego park, and inside these tiny houses professional actors and actresses perform. A public audience can freely watch through spy holes!
Model Home is the name of this improvisational performance art concept, and anyone can check it out through Sunday. It’s a part of the La Jolla Playhouse’s annual Without Walls Festival which this year takes place in venues around downtown.
The genius behind Model Home is Mimi Lien, and I believe the idea is to inspire thought about what makes a home, and about those things in a home that individuals deem to be important.
A home is like an enclosed stage where humans act out much of their lives. As one nearby sign says, houses aren’t just structures, but contain human identity, memory and experience. Peering through the various spy holes in these Model Homes is like secretly peering into the mind of another person. It’s an inner life that the observer can never truly know.
I spoke to a couple of friendly La Jolla Playhouse folks and learned the actors and actresses inside the houses perform all day long, with periodic breaks. They are aware that eyeballs are staring in at them, but as trained acting professionals they aren’t fazed at all.
I also learned that at certain times the tiny house that is dangling from a crane is swung around through the air in a Crane Ballet! Perhaps I’ll “swing” by again this weekend and “crane” my neck at what must certainly be an unusual sight!
If you’re in downtown this weekend, you really should check it out!
Inside one tiny house I saw an actor in a small kitchen baking bread!Model Home, in downtown San Diego’s Horton Plaza Park, is part of the La Jolla Playhouse Without Walls WOW festival! (Click image to enlarge.)Several tiny red houses stand in Horton Plaza Park–and one is dangling high in the sky from a crane!People pause to read a sign that describes some very unique and thought-provoking performance art that can be enjoyed freely by anyone passing by.Peering through one of the spy holes…Inside this very bare Model Home an actor seemed to be sleeping in poverty. But every small “stage” and improvised performance invites the viewer’s personal interpretation.Inside another Model Home were the abandoned remnants of a birthday party. I didn’t see an actor. (Perhaps the kids ran outside to play…)And inside this Model Home an actress was studying a feather, holding it up and turning it about in the soft light. She seemed to be quietly thinking.
…
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! 