Tag: events

Song and butterflies in the Zoro Garden.

Did you miss the Zoro Garden Theater Festival today? No worries! The festival continues tomorrow, Sunday, August 17, from 2 pm to 5 pm. The free cultural event, produced by the City of San Diego, takes place at the Zoro Garden in Balboa Park.

The program today began with three powerful singers. They each sang about the journey of life.

Of struggle. Uncertainty. Freedom. Happiness.

I and others in the audience sat in the sunken stone grotto–what today is called the Zoro Butterfly Garden–and listened while butterflies flitted above and around us.

The butterflies seemed to move with the singing. I saw as many as six Monarchs at one time, dancing before us in the pleasant breeze, in the San Diego sunshine.

Later on there would be poetry readings and a play. I was told some of these same performers will return on Sunday.

…

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 X.

Feel free to share!

Guam Artist Collective displays their creativity!

The Guam Artist Collective exhibited some of their work today in San Diego. The public could meet four of the collective’s artists in Balboa Park’s Hall of Nations during the House of Chamorros Hafa Adai Festival!

The Guam Artist Collective seeks to recruit more members in San Diego and beyond. The Guam Artist Collective showcases the vibrant talents of 10 passionate Guam-based artists, celebrating the island’s unique artistic culture.

If you’re curious to learn more about the Guam Artist Collective, here’s their Instagram page.

I also found two pages concerning the group and their 19Forgotten exhibition, where you can see some fine examples of their work. Here and here.

Neeko David had his great art posters on display.
Zard Apuya Art fills this table.
Magnets are used by Kenneth Paulino Jr. of Kottura Innovations to create animated videos concerning Chamorro legends.
Jenna Aguon Makaka-Bali Tres, a tattoo artist, shows some of her artwork in Balboa Park’s Hall of Nations.

…

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 X.

Feel free to share!

The joyful Hafa Adai Festival in Balboa Park!

“Hafa adai” is a warm, friendly hello in the Chamorro language. It was also the name of a festival held today in San Diego!

The Hafa Adai Festival took place on the lawn of Balboa Park’s International Cottages. It was a joyful celebration filled with dance, food, crafts and culture, organized by the House of Chamorros.

The Chamorro people are indigenous to the Mariana Islands. Many with Chamorro ancestry live in Guam and the Northern Marianas. And more than a few live here in San Diego, too!

The House of Chamorros program today included an Opening Ceremony (complete with National Anthems and a beautifully sung traditional blessing), the Imahen Taotao Tano Dancers, and much more. I departed after the latter performance–too much else to do in the park!

I did take these photographs which I hope you’ll enjoy. One couldn’t stop smiling at this joyful event!

…

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 X.

Feel free to share!

Lowriders depart, so that Ferraris can arrive!

Half a dozen lowriders exhibited at the San Diego Automotive Museum have begun their departure. The exhibition was called Low and Slow: A Celebration of Lowriders. But now room on the museum’s floor is being made for fast, shiny Ferraris!

The new exhibit, opening on August 30th, 2025, will concern the evolution of Ferraris–from street to track. I learned sports cars to be displayed include a Ferrari 360, 550, 430, 308 and more!

I love how the San Diego Automotive Museum frequently changes vehicles in their 17,000 square foot exhibit space. Every time I visit, I find something new!

…

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 X.

Feel free to share!

Upcoming activities for seniors in San Diego!

When I poked my nose into Balboa Park’s Senior Lounge the other day, I learned that all sorts of great activities are coming up in San Diego for seniors!

The first event I learned about was the AgeWell Services’ 2025 Intergenerational Senior Prom. It’s not a high school prom. It’s a formal or semiformal attire event for all ages, which includes foxtrot and west coast swing dance lessons, lunch, a raffle, and of course, dancing! A glam room will allow participants to have their hair and nails done. The ticket price for all of it is a mere 5 dollars! You can call 619-235-1191 for more information.

Also underway right now is the San Diego Senior Games. Seniors can compete in a wide variety of sports, including basketball, badminton, golf, soccer, table tennis and much more! You can register here. The games take place in August and September.

I also learned the AgeWell Services Craft Sale at Balboa Park is coming up on November 15th and 16th. Are you crafty? Sell the crafts you’ve made by hand at this annual sale that takes place at the Casa del Prado. Find out more by calling 619-525-8247.

You can find additional information about these activities and many more by reading the Fall issue of the AgeWell Newsletter by clicking here.

The pages of the Fall Newsletter are full of offerings for seniors in San Diego, from dances, to trips, to educational opportunities, to social events… Click the above link and check it out!

…

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 X.

Feel free to share!

Creating the beloved Luanniverse!

When I was a kid, one of the best things about Sunday morning was opening up the newspaper to find the funny pages. Lying there on the carpet, going through the comic strips, was like falling through two-dimensional doors into so many magical universes.

I must admit that as a boy I often skipped over the comic strip Luann. But now I have a new appreciation for the Luanniverse, because yesterday I enjoyed an exhibit at San Diego’s Comic-Con Museum: Growing Up Luann.

I hadn’t realized Luann’s universe was so vast and complex. Luann herself, and the strip’s large cast of characters, experience evolving relationships, lifelike troubles and humorous situations that stimulate in the reader a range of emotions. But Luann’s essential happiness is never far away.

The award-winning strip was launched in 1985 and continues to this very day. That’s forty years of living. Fortunately, time in Luann’s universe unfolds very slowly!

What interests me most about the comic strip is its evolution–both the art and Luann’s story. By reading the displays, one can follow the creative process undertaken by Luann’s creator, writer and artist Greg Evans.

Visitors to the exhibit learn how fleshing out a beloved character and her universe took years of dreaming, experimentation and work. And how the effort has resulted in worldwide popularity and the National Cartoonist Society’s ultimate award, a Reuben.

Are you fascinated by the creative process? Do you love art? Do you love Luann?

Pay this exhibit a visit!

A bit of what you’ll discover…

…

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 X.

Feel free to share!

Zoro Garden Theater Festival in Balboa Park!

This weekend, August 16th and 17th, 2025, the Zoro Garden Theater Festival will be held in San Diego. The unique venue is the “sunken stone grotto” Zoro Garden in Balboa Park!

I thought I’d bring attention to this free, family-friendly festival. It’s certain to be a lot of fun!

As the above sign explains, the Zoro Garden Theater Festival will be a celebration of drama, comedy and creativity. The performances will be between 2 and 5 pm, and will include singing, dancing, music and buskers!

If you’d like to be involved, enlarge my photo and find an email address and phone number.

Will I see you there?

…

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 X.

Feel free to share!

Meatball sandwiches and opera in Balboa Park!

Two professional opera singers performing Italian songs outdoors in Balboa Park? That’s what we got today during the House of Italy lawn program at the International Cottages!

We also got meatball sandwiches (which were really, really good) and spumoni!

I was surprised when I recognized one of the smiling singers: Victoria Robertson. She also performs with Opera4Kids! I’ve enjoyed two Opera4Kids productions at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in the past few years. See my photos here and here!

Today I learned something else. Both of today’s amazing opera singers, Victoria Robertson and Rosario Monetti, have opened a new coffee shop and wine bar in Hillcrest. It’s appropriately called Divo Diva! They’ll be singing together in a dinner show concert later this month. Visit their website here!

A few more fun photos from today’s House of Italy lawn program…

…

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 X.

Feel free to share!

Clowns, history, and the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater!

I was walking in front of the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park today when I thought to check the time. A performance would begin in five minutes! Okay, it had been a while, so I bought a ticket!

The show today concerned The Origin of Clowns.

Petrix the Clown took the stage and, with a gaggle of fun puppets, loosely (and humorously) told how clowns have evolved over the years–from the court fools, buffoons, and jesters to the improvisational commedia dell’arte, to European circus acts and mimes, and finally, to the American big top three-ring circus. The performance lasted perhaps twenty minutes.

If you have very young children, and you happen to be in Balboa Park on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, why not enjoy a happy puppet show? As a rule, performances are at 11 am, 1 and 3 pm. The shows change often, so you never know what to expect!

Oh–and more history. The Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater will be celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2027. Expect big things!

…

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 X.

Feel free to share!

Photos aboard Coast Guard tall ship Eagle!

People in San Diego had an incredible opportunity this weekend to step aboard “America’s Tall Ship,” the USCGC Eagle, which has been docked for a few days at the B Street Pier. Visitors were invited to explore the nearly hundred-year-old, 295-foot, three-masted barque, which is used to train future United States Coast Guard officers.

I took the opportunity to come aboard the historic tall ship myself, and I captured photographs of one amazing ship!

A number of interesting banners hang around the Eagle, explaining its history and current role in training future Coast Guard officers. Eagle is the largest tall ship flying the Stars and Stripes and the only active square-rigger in U.S. government service.

I learned a new batch of prospective officers had themselves come aboard a couple days ago. This week they’ll be sailing in the nearby Pacific Ocean. When the Eagle returns to San Diego, this new group of “swabs” will be considered honest-to-goodness cadets!

I must say all of the young people who are training to become officers were extremely friendly, polite and professional. The Coast Guard’s future appears to be in great hands!

Now enjoy my photos…

Welcome Aboard America’s Tall Ship.
USCGC Eagle is both a Coast Guard cutter and a barque.
The Eagle has over six miles of standing and running rigging, 23 sails, and more than 22,000 square feet of sail area that allow her to sail at 17 knots (19.5 mph).
Eagle was originally German, launched in 1936, and was operated by the pre-World War II German navy. In 1946, after the end of World War II, United States Coast Guardsmen sailed the Eagle to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
Originally, the Eagle trained German Navy sailors as Horst Wessel. It sailed to the Canary Islands and West Indies, and later, during World War II, on the Baltic Sea. She carried anti-aircraft guns, and her logs indicate that she fired at Allied and German aircraft.
A permanent Coast Guard crew of approximately 60 personnel maintain and operate the Eagle year round.
The Eagle gives officer candidates and enlisted servicemembers hands-on, teamwork-focused opportunities to lead, train and serve at sea…
The Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut produces leaders of character… Nearly 300 high school graduates enroll annually…
Sail training offers…a unique and useful training experience. This includes learning the fundamentals of seamanship, weather, and nautical tradition…

…

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 X.

Feel free to share!