It looks like I’ll be missing Cinco de Mayo events this year. Too busy with work. So I figured: why not revisit past Cinco de Mayo festivals around San Diego?
Here we go!
Click the upcoming links to enjoy several past blog posts!
Click the following links for many more photographs…
Many improvements are currently being made to the Escondido Creek Trail!
An effort is being made to make the trail more inviting to pedestrians, bicyclists, and lovers of the outdoors.
New landscaping is coming, as evidenced by many flags in bare dirt. There are new shade structures and seating, and winding side paths. There is new paving, signage, bridge-spanning art, an exercise area, and even attractive brickwork that is being installed at one intersection!
Here’s a City of Escondido webpage that describes what I saw. It explains: This project aims to encourage safe and healthy lifestyles through an improved sense of security, enhanced street crossings, fitness and play amenities, native and CA-friendly landscaping, and further opportunities for walking and jogging in addition to improvements to the bike path. The goal is to revitalize the Creek Trail Corridor through enhanced activities and partnerships with local businesses, artists, schools, and other organizations.
My photographs were taken along a relatively short section of the Escondido Creek Trail, between Juniper Street and Fig Street…
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
Two days ago the Escondido Creek Trail Outdoor Art Gallery made its official debut!
Having missed the ceremony, I headed up to Escondido today to enjoy my first look.
Congratulations to ESCO ALLEY ART, the community organization that presented these six murals to the City of Escondido. To learn more about their ongoing efforts to beautify Escondido, visit ESCO ALLEY ART’s website here.
These half dozen murals each measure 15 by 10 feet, depict local flora and fauna, and were transferred onto Aluminum Composite Material. Their super shiny surfaces made photography without reflections nearly impossible. I did my best!
The murals are located on the Neighborhood Healthcare building at 460 North Elm Street. They face the Escondido Creek Trail–a pedestrian and bike path that is presently undergoing improvement. (I noticed some of the improvements during my walk and will blog about that coming up.)
Curious who the mural artists are? Check out the captions of my photographs…
Nature Watching by artist Laura Green.Coyote by artist Berthis Myers.Wildlife in the Poppies by artist Joanne Sullivan.Aspire by artist Kat Furrow.Tunas Doradas by artist Andres Marin.California Dreaming by artist LaRetta Small-Zamora.
This ESCO ALLEY ART webpage links to information concerning each artist!
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
A cool kinetic sculpture stands in Escondido at the intersection of Valley Boulevard and East Grand Avenue. It’s called, appropriately, Ovalesque. Two ovals containing dichroic glass move independently in the wind, flashing brilliant sunlit colors!
Jeffrey Laudenslager and Deanne Sabeck collaborated to create this beautiful sculpture in 2024. If you want to view more of Jeffrey’s kinetic sculptures, check out his Instagram page here. See Ovalesque moving about by clicking here.
These photos of Ovalesque were taken during my most recent Escondido walk. It was somewhat overcast that day. Imagine bright sunlight and beautiful colors moving through a blue sky!
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
This mural beautifies a wall outside Best Little Hair House at 332 E. 2nd Avenue in Escondido. I noticed it during my most recent walk in Escondido. Enjoy a couple photos!
According to this article, the title of the art is Bellas Rosas. It was created by Charlie Mejia, teacher at Valley High School and member of the Escondido Mural Committee. The City of Escondido has been supporting the creation of public art as a catalyst for economic growth.
This mural replaced another one decorating the same wall. You can see photographs taken in 2023 of that old, faded mural by clicking here.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
A couple weeks ago this interesting sculpture was installed on the grass near the box office of the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. It’s titled Sound Shower.
Artist and neurobiologist Victor Hugo Minces created this immersive sound sculpture. He’s a research scientist at UC San Diego and has published work about how neural networks in the brain represent the sensory world.
The webpage concerning Sound Shower features a video that shows how the sculpture can stimulate the senses of those who stand within it. Using a hammer, a subject strikes the large chime-like pipes and experiences sound as it “showers” all around!
I wish I’d understood the sculpture’s function while gazing at it a few days ago. If by chance Sound Shower is still there when I return to Escondido, I’ll try it out.
(Different sculptures have temporarily appeared in this same place. You might recall how I blogged about a star-like sculpture a year ago.)
(While reading through Victor Minces’ website, I’ve noticed he has another sensory sculpture installed near the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park. I think that today I’ll go experience that one!)
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
Tony Bingham is presently the artist in residence at the California Center for the Arts Museum in Escondido. Visitors to the museum have the opportunity to meet Tony and experience his work when he is present. I was privileged to meet him a couple days ago. He loves to interact with curious people!
Tony told me about his fascination with A. E. “Fred” Coleman, a former slave who discovered gold in Julian back in 1869, launching a gold rush. The gold mining camp Coleman City quickly sprang up by what today is named Coleman Creek, a tributary of the San Diego River. Among other accomplishments, A. E. Coleman created a toll road into Julian.
Short-lived Coleman City is now a vanished ghost town, but the legacy of A. E. Coleman remains an important part of African American history in the San Diego region. Tony Bingham’s art honors that history.
Tony, with his art, also honors two African American trailblazers: Albert Robinson and Margaret Tull Robinson. In 1887 they started the Robinson Restaurant and Bakery in Julian. Today the establishment is called the Julian Gold Rush Hotel.
Tony Bingham loves to create images using pinhole photography.
He went up to the property through which Coleman Creek runs and took a series of pinhole photographs, often experimenting with different exposures. Here are some of the results…
The words you see above are the names of different mines that were established around Julian during the gold rush.
Tony has also created clay plates that recall the historic Robinson Hotel & Restaurant. The earthy plates among them were formed using the actual grassy soil along Coleman Creek.
Tony has conjectured what food items the restaurant might have had on its menu, and if any vegetables were grown on location.
He has produced plant music that reflects different vegetables, resulting from bioelectrical activity within a living plant. It was very cool listening to a plant “symphony” from his laptop! The potatoes were quite lively!
Tony Bingham is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator from Birmingham, Alabama. His very unique work invites contemplation. It honors the life and legacy of African Americans.
Perhaps his most notable work is the Praise House, an open-air sculpture at a former plantation in Harpersville, Alabama.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
This is one of the most uplifting and creative exhibitions of art you’re likely to experience. It’s a garden of flowers, trees and animals that was created using Persian carpets! You read that correctly!
This unique exhibition at the museum of the California Center for the Arts, Escondido is titled Maryam Bayat: Unrolling Paradise.
I stepped into the “garden” yesterday during my museum visit. With the sound of birds chirping in the background, I wandered through the plush, colorful foliage and wished there was a “park bench” where I could sit and simply be happy and alive.
In this garden paradise life is good. All cares drop away. From my photos you might understand the wonderful feeling this installation produces. It’s like a comfy living room that has come to life all around you!
The exhibition webpage explains: Unrolling Paradise explores the Persian garden as a living design tradition carried through textiles, memory, and everyday objects. Interdisciplinary artist Maryam Bayat reinterprets centuries-old carpet aesthetics through sculptural works that merge traditional Persian rugs with contemporary form and function.
Raised in Tehran in a family of rug producers and now based in North County San Diego, Bayat draws from inherited craft to create installations that reflect on place, belonging, and cultural continuity. Her woven sculptures—appearing as furniture, abstract trees, and domestic interiors—extend the symbolism of the garden into three-dimensional space, linking ideas of sanctuary to personal and collective memory.
If you tend not to visit museums, this might be the time you consider going. There are several other exhibits, as well, including one that concerns graphics used in computer and video games. Swing on by and have a great time!
Maryam Bayat: Unrolling Paradise can be experienced through Sunday, August 16, 2026, at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido’s museum.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
I recently read that a huge new mural was being painted outside the Escondido Public Library during its major renovation. So I had to swing by to see what I might see!
The 100 foot mural is by artist Tim Topalov of Flow&Form, a San Diego-based studio. The Escondido community voted to select the design.
I took these photos today from behind a construction fence, but you can see how amazing this public art will be when it’s finally in full view.
You can find the mural on the east side of the library building, at the corner of East 2nd Avenue and Kalmia Street.
The mural tells a mythological story. It begins:
In the beginning, the earth was covered with water. Two brothers lived under the water and wondered what lay above. They climbed a high mountain, and the younger brother reached the top first. From there he saw the earth being formed by insects coming up from inside the mountain, each carrying a small bit of rock, building the land as ants built their hills…
It is the Kumeyaay creation story. Read more about it here.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
A cool event is being held today and tomorrow at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. Hot Glass, Cold Beer: A Fundraiser for the Arts features lots of amazing glass art created by local artists! Beer, too!
By sheer coincidence I ran into the event today while walking to the nearby museum. It’s very similar to the glassblowing event I experienced last year in the same Cal Club Courtyard.
If you want to check out an amazing variety of glass art and colorful glassware, head over tomorrow, April 4, 2026, between noon and 5 pm. The event is free. The glassblowing demonstration is led by renowned glass artist James Stone of Stone & Glass.
Sit down, watch, and enjoy a beer. Here’s the event website listing some of the participating artists and organizations.
James Stone and participating artists will generously donate hand-blown glass cups, which will be given away with a complimentary drink ticket in exchange for a $25 donation.
My next photo shows some of the hand-crafted fused glass created by Parris Toyzan (@parrisorginals). Here’s the website.
Parris was nice enough to describe how he carefully makes these amazing creations with a kiln and colored glass!
By purchasing a beautiful glass on one table you support kids learning glassblowing at schools in Escondido and North San Diego County!
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
Cool San Diego Sights! 