Tag: events

Hummingbird Jubilee painted at Escondido’s Maple Street Plaza!

Feast your eyes on this!

An absolutely amazing mural is being painted in Escondido. It’s on the side of a building at Maple Street Plaza, and appears to be almost completed. I spotted the new mural behind a fence today as I walked down Grand Avenue. Information posted on the fence tells the story of this colorful artwork, which is titled Hummingbird Jubilee!

The artist is teacher and small business owner Brenda Gunderson Townsend. She operates Brilliant Spectrum Art. Here’s her Instagram page.

According to the posted info, she’s an Art Educator at the Center for the Arts Escondido, as well as the center’s lead Scenic Artist. The mural is her special gift to the entire Escondido community!

Brenda started painting Hummingbird Jubilee in late September. It’s in a stained glass style, in a nod to the Arts & Crafts movement. It measures 100 feet long by 14 feet tall. According to what I read, the City of Escondido will host a big unveiling event for the finished mural.

Wow!

I took photographs through the surrounding chain link fence…

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Exhibition by San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild.

An excellent exhibition by members of the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild is now showing inside Gallery 21 at Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center.

The exhibition, curated by Alex DeCosta of the Hyde Art Gallery, features fine works by some of our city’s most outstanding artists. These eclectic pieces, all of which are for sale, would be valuable additions to any art collection.

I wandered into Gallery 21 late this afternoon and enjoyed viewing all the artwork. I took a few photographs so you get an idea of what you’ll find when you visit.

Make sure to swing by in the next few days. The 2024 SMMAAG Membership Exhibition will be on view in person through December 2, 2024. If you can’t make it by then, view the exhibition online here until the end of the year.

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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.

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Spanish Village in Balboa Park readies for holidays!

Many of the studios in Spanish Village Art Center in San Diego’s Balboa Park are ready for the holiday season! Other artist studios will be getting ready soon!

I walked through Spanish Village late this afternoon and found wreaths, ornaments, and other fun decorations inside studios, on doors and in windows!

Need a unique Christmas gift for a special person? This is the perfect destination!

Peeking into Studio 41 the day before Thanksgiving.

Come on into Studio 34.

Wreath near art outside Studio 23, Southwestern Artists Association.

Santa says Believe when you step into Glass Blowing Studio 19.

Holiday wreath on yellow door of Studio 18, the Spanish Village office.

Wreath and silver stockings hang on door of Studio 10.

Welcome to a snowy forest scene.

At Studio 6, which jolly old elf is the REAL Santa Claus?

A beautiful little Christmas tree in Studio 2.

Studio 2 has several white snowy wreaths with red cardinals!

Come visit colorful Spanish Village Art Center during the holidays. Make sure to drop by during December Nights!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

San Diego Ballet performs in Balboa Park!

A brilliant performance by San Diego Ballet was enjoyed this afternoon at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. Two selections from The Nutcracker–Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Waltz of the Flowers–were the highlight of the two o’clock Sunday organ concert! The outstanding guest organist was Mark Herman.

The company dancers of the San Diego Ballet soared powerfully above the outdoor stage with ease and grace. I don’t know how they defied gravity, dancing on air, moving lightly through space as if by magic.

For a moment, to my mind, they became flowers swaying in a light summer breeze.

I hope these images convey that grace. That feeling of exuberant joy.

The holiday season is a few days away! San Diego Ballet will be presenting The Nutcracker on December 21st at 1 pm and 5 pm, at the Magnolia in El Cajon. Learn more at their website here.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Fun holiday decorations inside House of USA!

Check out all these fun holiday decorations! They fill the House of USA cottage in San Diego’s Balboa Park!

The cottage is typically full of artifacts and images that celebrate American history and culture. When you place Santa Claus in the company of George Washington, visitors to the cottage might blink with surprise!

Are you ready for December Nights in 2024? San Diego’s epic holiday event in Balboa Park is coming up in less than two weeks–on December 6 and 7!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Winter Extravaganza coming to City Heights!

A free holiday event is coming soon to San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood! A big Winter Extravaganza will be held at Teralta Park from 12 noon to 5 pm on Saturday, December 14, 2024!

Teralta Park is the public park above Interstate 15, between El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue.

According to a poster I noticed today, the community event will feature Winter fun, vendors, entertainment, activities & games, snow, and more!

During the Winter Extravaganza, families can also receive free toys for kids, age 0-14, but you must register first by November 8 at the City Heights Recreation Center or the Mid-City Gymnasium.

Wow! This looks pretty cool! I wonder if Santa will be there?

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Christmas at Fiesta de Reyes in Old Town.

Fiesta de Reyes in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park appears to be ready for Christmas!

The Mexican restaurant and its colorful shops have been decorated with bright wreaths, poinsettias, Christmas trees, a Nativity scene, and a larger-than-life display up on one stage depicting the three wise men.

As you can see from my photographs taken this morning, many of the holiday decorations have a festive Mexican flavor!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Holiday season appears in downtown San Diego!

With less than a week to go until Thanksgiving, signs of the Holiday Season have begun to appear around downtown San Diego!

Several hotels and destinations have already put up Christmas trees. Banners and other fun, festive decorations are springing up on street lamps and inside windows. I took these photographs this morning during a long meandering walk through the city.

I was told by downtown workers that the decorating should begin in earnest on Monday. I have no doubt I’ll be seeing many more Christmas trees, Santas, reindeer and winter wonderlands in the next few days!

Season’s Greetings on B Street.

The Westgate Hotel has a Christmas tree in their elegant lobby. Giant nutcrackers and more should be going up early this week.

The Westin San Diego Bayview has a couple of beautiful Christmas trees up, including this one.

Poinsettias have been planted in front of The Guild Hotel on Broadway.

You can watch the annual Parade of Lights on San Diego Bay on both December 8th and 15th. Why not do it from the Maritime Museum of San Diego?

Seaport Village is ready for the holidays!

Frosty the Snowman on a window of the Seaport Village Carousel.

Surfin’ Santa will visit Seaport Village next Saturday!

Seaport Village boasts the biggest Christmas tree ornaments I’ve ever seen!

A very large Christmas tree in the courtyard at The Headquarters!

Twenty tons of snow will be arriving at The Headquarters on Saturday, December 14th. Santa will be available, too!

Kansas City Barbeque (of Top Gun movie fame) is once again providing a free Thanksgiving dinner to Active Duty Military! They’ve been doing it for over 40 years!

The Grinch welcomes customers to Cali Cream Homemade Ice Cream in the Gaslamp Quarter! (I see Santa, too!)

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

San Diego history and the origin of Hawaii’s paniolos!

Did you know Hawaii has it own unique cowboy culture? Hawaiian cowboys are called paniolos. You might be surprised to learn that the origin of paniolos in Hawaii has a direct connection to San Diego’s early history, when our nascent city was part of Mexico and cattle ranches flourished!

An extensive new exhibit at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park has the unusual title Aloha Vaqueros. It recalls how several Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) from San Diego moved to Hawaii to help control an exploding population of cattle!

I’ve read Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s Two Years Before the Mast, and I do remember how sailors from the Sandwich Islands (later called Hawaii) participated in the cattle hide trade up and down California’s coast. Several Sandwich Islanders also lived on the beach near the hide houses in Point Loma at La Playa.

I was unaware, however, that in the early 1830s, Joaquín Armas, a soldier and vaquero born at Mission San Diego de Alcalá, was hired by Hawaiian King Kamehameha III as an advisor on how to control thousands of wild cattle that had multiplied on the islands. Armas would then recruit three other Mexican vaqueros from the San Diego region, helping to establish vaquero traditions in Hawaii!

The thousands of environmentally destructive wild cattle had descended from long-horned cattle that were given by British Captain George Vancouver to King Kamehameha I in 1793. The wild cattle, evading hunters and traps, came under control about half a century later as vaquero-inspired ranches popped up on Hawaii’s islands. The cattle were valuable for the tallow and hide trade. Skilled ropers and riders were in demand, so many native Hawaiians would learn cowboy skills!

The paniolo experience would eventually become ingrained in Hawaiian culture. Take music, for example. One important development was Hawaiian open-tuning for the guitar called kihoʻalu, or slack-key.

Why are Hawaiian cowboys called paniolos? One theory is that the word is derived from español–the language spoken by the Mexican vaqueros.

If this very unique history fascinates you, go visit the San Diego History Center!

A few photos to provide a taste…

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Help beautify Tweet Street in downtown San Diego!

A public park clean-up event will take place this weekend in downtown San Diego. Neighbors will be coming together to beautify the Tweet Street linear park on Cortez Hill!

You are encouraged to join the community volunteer effort! It’s led by the Cortez Hill Active Residents Group (CHARG).

I saw the above flyer posted at one end of Tweet Street Park. The beautification project takes place on Saturday, November 16th, 2024.

Meet at the corner of 9th Avenue and Date Street, near the playground. Equipment will be provided! Downtown San Diego’s Clean and Safe Program will be on hand to help out!

Very cool!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!