Tag: events

Books published in San Diego a century ago.

The 57th Annual Local Author Showcase can now be viewed at San Diego’s downtown Central Library.

One of the display cases features books that were published in San Diego a century ago–in the 1920s and 1930s.

When I think of publishing in San Diego, the name Harcourt Brace Jovanovich immediately comes to mind. One of the world’s most important publishers made downtown San Diego their home for many years.

But have you heard of Torrey Pines Press, Hillcrest Publishing Company and the San Diego Printing Company? They and others were producing books in our city a century ago. Even Arrowhead Spring Water Distributors was part of the action!

The San Diego Library maintains a collection of books published or printed in San Diego. It’s called the Wilmer B. Shields Collection. It’s located inside the Marilyn and Gene Marx Special Collections Center on the Central Library’s 9th floor.

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Korean Heritage Celebration at San Diego Library!

A super fun event was held today at San Diego’s downtown Central Library. Lunar New Year was kicked off with the Korean American Heritage Celebration!

The library’s Neil Morgan Auditorium was filled with a large audience as several organizations provided the free cultural entertainment.

It’s the Year of the Rabbit, and energetic, traditional Korean dancing and drumming had everyone hopping with happiness! Loads of kids were in attendance, and they got to come up on the stage and drum, too!

Beautiful, colorful fan dances brought oohs and aahs, and the drumming was like an exuberant heartbeat beating with the joy of living. A crazy cool drum performance that received loud applause was to the tune of Gangnam Style!

Performers included the San Diego Korean American Folk Dance Association and the San Diego Korean Pungmul Institute. The program was organized by the San Diego Library and the Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles.

I just happened to be walking through the library before the program began, and I’m so glad I stumbled upon it!

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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!

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!

Learning the ropes at the Maritime Museum!

Nearly a hundred new hands were “learning the ropes” on San Diego’s historic tall ship Star of India today!

During my visit to the Maritime Museum of San Diego, I asked what all those folks on the deck were up to. I was told they’re learning all about sailing a tall ship. It was the first day of the Sail Training 101 class that is held every year.

There’s a ton to learn–can you imagine? Different masts, yards, sails, all those different ropes and cables, different knots, the jargon–all of it crucial in the sailing of a ship. (I’m a museum member and avid reader of nautical fiction, and I still become confused by much of it!)

Many of these new volunteer crew members, once trained, will be sailing several of the Maritime Museum’s tall ships, including Californian and San Salvador. This coming November the Star of India will sail with those other two ships out onto the Pacific Ocean!

In one upcoming photo, someone down in the Star of India’s hold is raising a heavy bucket full of rocks. That’s practice for hauling on a line–a very common activity on a tall ship!

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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!

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!

A colorful Lunar New Year in City Heights!

City Heights is possibly San Diego’s most diverse neighborhood. So it isn’t surprising that people from many walks of life have converged in City Heights for the 2023 SD Lunar New Year Festival!

Today I headed to east San Diego to experience the weekend event. This celebration of Tết is presented by Little Saigon San Diego. It’s free to the public at Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park.

I wandered about looking at traditional displays. I sat down to watch several excellent cultural performances on the big stage. The audience applauded energetically and often.

I read that this popular event is helping to raise funds for the creation of a Boat People Garden mini park, to be built somewhere near the festival site. I attempted to gather information about the coming mini park, but all I could ascertain is a groundbreaking ceremony will take place this Wednesday.

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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!

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!

A big Chinese New Year Festival in Balboa Park!

Tomorrow is Lunar New Year! It will be the Year of the Rabbit. (Which signifies good luck!)

This weekend the 2023 Chinese New Year Festival is being held in Balboa Park at the International Cottages. The event is presented by the House of China.

The festival attracted an absolutely gigantic crowd today. We heard from the stage that attendance this year set a record. The lawn at the International Cottages was jammed with humanity.

There were vendors, Chinese food, and a calligraphy demonstration inside the cottage of the House of China. Lots of kids became super excited after two o’clock when speeches ended and the traditional Lion Dance began!

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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!

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!

Concert in Balboa Park helps Save Starlight!

A cool pop-up concert was held today in Balboa Park. Live rock and roll music, played inside the entrance to the historic Starlight Bowl, attracted people like a magnet. The purpose of the concert was to help Save Starlight!

What is Save Starlight?

They’re the folks who’ve been working tirelessly for years to reactivate San Diego’s beloved old Starlight Bowl. Perhaps you have memories of performances in the outdoor amphitheater when it was active many years ago.

I’ve learned Save Starlight just needs a long-term lease from the city to get events at the venue started! They need you to raise your voice in support!

Help them by clicking here!

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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!

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!

New trees planted at Bennington Memorial Oak Grove!

Twenty five new oak trees were planted today in a very special place in Balboa Park!

Forever Balboa Park, trained Tree Stewards and dozens of volunteers gathered in the USS Bennington Memorial Oak Grove to revitalize a historically important area of the park that’s a bit off the beaten path.

Perhaps you’ve driven down 26th Street from Golden Hill toward Naval Medical Center San Diego and seen many old oak trees off to your left. Those live oaks were planted in 1905 to memorialize 66 sailors who died in San Diego Bay when the boiler of the USS Bennington exploded.

As these coast live oaks have aged, some have died or approached the end of their life. Planting small new oak trees infuses new life and meaning into this truly special urban forest.

Walking along, camera in hand, I got “volunteered” to help plant three of the twenty five trees! Cool thing is, when I walk this way again, I’ll know that I and others have tangibly touched the future with these living trees. They will be growing more beautiful long after I’m gone.

If you’d like to become a volunteer Garden Steward or Tree Steward in beautiful Balboa Park, click here!

Before the planting of new trees, Kathleen Winchester tells everyone the history of the USS Bennington Memorial Oak Grove.

Some of the spots where new coast live oaks will be planted.

Everyone learned the proper way to plant a tree so that it thrives.

Here’s a tree my group planted.

Using the shovel to make sure the tree is planted at the correct depth.

The planting of these 25 live oak trees in Balboa Park was the final phase of the 26th Street Trail park improvement project.

Last year members of the California Conservation Corps greatly improved the trail that leads up 26th Street to Golden Hill Park. The path, badly eroded in many places, was replaced with decomposed granite, and three new footbridges were built!

I walked up the trail to take some photos…

Lastly, thanks again to the Boy Scouts and sailors of the USS Theodore Roosevelt who made their mark improving and beautifying the oak grove five years ago. If you’d like to see what they did, click here!

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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!

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!

Kimonos reimagined by Mesa College students!

Human creativity is limitless. That was apparent today when I stepped into the Inamori Pavilion at the Japanese Friendship Garden.

An exhibition in the pavilion is titled The Kimono Reimagined. Reimagined, indeed! The extent to which the traditional Japanese kimono can be transformed by fashion students into something completely new might surprise you!

Students from the San Diego Mesa College Fashion Program teamed up with the Visions Museum of Textile Arts in Liberty Station to create this brilliant clothing. They used upcycled kimonos and accessory garments that had been donated to Mesa College.

I don’t claim to know much about fashion, but my eyes beheld all this rampant creativity with wonder!

You can admire these inspired works of art at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park through February 24, 2023.

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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!

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!

Smiles before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade!

Look at all the smiles! They could be seen everywhere before the start of San Diego’s big 41st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade!

MLK Day is tomorrow, so today was a fine day to celebrate the legacy of the great civil rights leader. The rain even paused for the parade and a bit of sun peeked through!

But the sun couldn’t outshine the bright smiles I saw on Harbor Drive!

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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!

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!

Filipino Artists of South Bay exhibition.

An exhibition by Filipino artists who reside in the South Bay is now on display in Chula Vista. Their works can be viewed inside Chula Vista’s two libraries and the City Hall lobby.

Yesterday I enjoyed looking at some of these pieces while visiting the Chula Vista Public Library Civic Center Branch.

I found the artwork on several library walls. Many of the beautiful creations seemed like glimpses of larger stories, emerging from an artist’s memory and heart.

Filipino Artists of South Bay continues through January 2023.

These photos provide an example of what you might see…

Family Dinner, Primo Gallanosa.
the luckiest cat, Nadine Tan Saldaña.
The Kiddos, Vince Alvendia.
Pag-uwi (Returning Home), Clarissa Tong.

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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!

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!