This weekend the 2022 Super Girl Pro event was held next to the Oceanside Pier. A huge crowd of spectators turned out to watch the world’s top women surfers in action.
On Saturday I walked around to check out the many sights. I strolled about the large festival village, walked out onto the pier, paused to listen to a concert, and then headed to the beach.
The theme of Super Girl Pro is female empowerment, and inspiration could be found at every turn. I saw artists, Marines, Air Force pilots, gamers, many striving for health and fitness…
When the surfing superstars came in to the beach after a heat out in the ocean, girls ran to them excitedly to score autographs.
Enjoy these photos…
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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!
Super Girl Pro is taking place this weekend in Oceanside, California near the pier. The big event, the largest women’s surfing competition in the world, is free and open to the public, and the pier is the best place to watch the surfing action!
The longboard competition was so close to the pier I was able to take some pretty good pics that you might enjoy. These athletes are incredible. They ride waves for a great distance, while engaging in complicated footwork.
Check it out! The event resumes tomorrow, Sunday.
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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!
September 8, 1966 was the day when the very first Star Trek episode of the Original Series aired, titled The Man Trap. Remember the shape-shifting creature that sucked the salt out of Enterprise crewmembers?
In the past I’ve photographed all sorts of Star Trek related stuff: from Comic-Con cosplay and extraordinary Paramount exhibits, to artwork at IDW’s San Diego Comic Art Gallery, to the old Captain Kirk’s Coffee in South Park (a block from where Whoopie Goldberg–who played Guinan–once worked), to an amazing Gene Roddenberry exhibit at the Comic-Con Museum . . .
To celebrate Star Trek Day, please enjoy a few of these photographs!
If you’d like to see even more photos on my blog that concern Star Trek, plus written descriptions, click this tag and scroll down. You’ll notice lots of other fun stuff mixed in, too!
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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 4th Annual Archives Month, presented by San Diego’s Office of the City Clerk, is returning in October!
The theme for 2022 is Roaring San Diego. The public will be invited to view exhibits in the lobby of the City Administration Building (202 C Street) that focus on our city’s history during the Roaring 1920s.
In addition, historical lectures by distinguished speakers will be presented at the San Diego Central Library, and there will be very special tours inside the archives!
If you’ve never stepped foot into the City Clerk Archives, in the basement of City Hall, where documents are carefully preserved for posterity, you really should sign up. The archives folks are super friendly and enthusiastic. I went on the tour three years ago and blogged about it here.
I’ve also blogged about two previous Archives Month exhibits that should interest history buffs. You can revisit those old posts here and here.
If you’d like to participate in this year’s Archives Month activities, please check out the City of San Diego webpage by clicking here. Make sure to sign up for the educational lectures that interest you and, of course, the very cool archives tour!
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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!
Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley officially opened today! The SDSU Aztecs are beginning their 2022 football season today with a big game against Arizona!
Before the game, a fun, festive Aztec Village was attracting a huge crowd of students, cheerleaders and fans outside the new stadium!
I watched as thousands streamed in from the Stadium trolley station, which also opened today, after a long closure due to the surrounding construction. I noticed that the river park and other areas around Snapdragon Stadium are very far from completed.
I hope to check out the new San Diego River park with its James Hubbell public artwork once it opens! Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, enjoy photos of all the “Grand Opening Day” fun outside Snapdragon Stadium!
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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!
How many big events are scheduled for this coming Labor Day weekend? Searching online event calendars, I haven’t noticed too many. That certainly wasn’t the case five years ago!
Back in September 2017, during Labor Day weekend, San Diego hosted an amazing international sand sculpture competition on Broadway Pier, another beautiful Festival of Sail on the Embarcadero, and there was the traditional stickball tournament in Little Italy.
Then later that September I recorded even more fun and inspirational stuff! Like Brazilian Day in Mission Beach, Fiestas Patrias in Old Town, the Trolley Dances downtown, and a special Remember Me Thursday in Balboa Park!
Here’s your opportunity to relive some of those moments. Check out the upcoming links for all of the colorful photographs!
Do you know of any fun public events coming up this weekend? Leave a comment! I might head on over with my camera!
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Where can you listen to exquisitely played classical music, then laugh at absurdly silly slapstick humor . . . all in one sitting?
At Silent Movie Night!
This evening, acclaimed concert organist Clara Gerdes played classical compositions by Dvořák, Duruflé and Liszt on the incomparable Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park. Then immediately after, the audience was laughing uproariously to the gag-filled antics of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton! (Accompanied by organ, of course!)
From the sublime to the absurd. That was the magic of Silent Movie Night at the 34th San Diego International Organ Festival!
You didn’t go? Why not?
Silent Movie Night is one of the most fun events every summer in Balboa Park. A couple thousand happy people fill the benches at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. And it’s free!
So watch for it next year!
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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!
The COVID-19 pandemic was difficult for all of us. Tragically, many would not live through it.
We all remember the long days of uncertainty, fear, loneliness, forced isolation.
If you head to Balboa Park today, you need to stop by the San Diego Museum of Art to experience Paintings from the Confinement. Today is the final day of this emotionally moving exhibition.
I viewed the small egg tempera paintings, created by San Diego artist Marianela de la Hoz, at the urging of my museum docent friend Catherine.
The images are symbolic, spare, often grim. There is darkness. There are claustrophobic spaces. There is flat human life on small cold screens. But there are a few rays of hope beyond the confining walls. Thank goodness those walls have now mostly come down.
The artist found it hard to honestly paint her many feelings. In particular, it was very hard to portray death.
In her statement, Marianela de la Hoz explains the only treasures I have are my loved ones, family, friends, and art; everything else remained as non-essential.
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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!
The Clearing, André Derain, circa 1906. Oil on canvas.
The San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park has been invaded by wild beasts!
Les Fauves is French for Wild Beasts, and paintings by early 20th century artists known as the Fauves are running rampant in one amazing gallery!
These particular paintings are part of a wider exhibition titled Monet to Matisse: Impressionist Masterpieces from the Bemberg Foundation. I visited the San Diego Museum of Art back in May and blogged about the exhibition here.
During my visit yesterday, my docent friend Catherine took me through several of the museum galleries and explained how Impressionism evolved into Post-Impressionism and other avant-garde movements.
Fauvism was a modern movement that shocked art lovers in France between 1905 and 1908. It was led by Henri Matisse, André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck.
Looking at these canvases, museum visitors can see how the Fauves loved strong contrasts, saturated colors and bold brush strokes producing abstract, often weirdly unexpected forms.
Trees can appear as gangly streaks of pure color. Thick smudges and dabs of paint create startling still life images and brilliant landscapes.
In a strange way the dreamlike effect is similar to the gauzy, delicate work of the Impressionists. The viewer feels the momentary impression of a place or object. But these particular dreams are quite vivid!
The more I looked at these unique works, the more I appreciated the artistry and visionary genius of the Wild Beasts.
Head down to the San Diego Museum of Art and experience this famous artwork with your own eyes!
Monet to Matisse: Impressionist Masterpieces from the Bemberg Foundation was to end in August, but it has been extended through October 10, 2022.
The Gulf, Henri Manguin, circa 1920. Oil on canvas.Still Life with Fish, Maurice de Vlaminck. Oil on canvas.View of Chatou, Maurice de Vlaminck, circa 1907. Oil on canvas.
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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 free, family-friendly event was held today at Chula Vista’s Memorial Park.
The annual Arts in the Park festival brought the community together to enjoy music, artists, dance, food and all sorts of cultural fun! The event was presented by Chula Vista’s own Onstage Playhouse and CARPA San Diego.
So many smiles! So much creativity!
Take a look!
A smiling stilt walker from Circus Joy!Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe and Old Man puppets take to the stage!Write Out Loud provided Kamishibai story box theatre performances. They also read poetry. (I enjoyed Robert Frost’s Mending Wall.)Chula Vista Learning Community Charter Elementary School smiled while creating art!The many colors of life.The Rad Hatter was helping people create crazy cool hats with paper bags!Artists and art organizations could be found under canopies all around the festival.Many young performers took to the stage in Chula Vista’s Memorial Park and received great applause!
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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! 