I arrived late yesterday to the Gaslamp Quarter’s Día de los Muertos celebration. The classic cars and lowriders were already departing, so I couldn’t photograph their colorful Day of the Dead hood and trunk altars.
Fortunately the event continued today, so I made sure to arrive early!
Enjoy these photos of touching Day of the Dead altars. They remember and honor loved ones who’ve passed away. The traditional altars attain a unique quality when combined with Mexican American lowrider culture, which thrives in San Diego.
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How can children develop a love for opera? By watching and listening to a fun performance by Opera4Kids!
Even I, a so-called adult, enjoyed a happy opera staged for children at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion today. It was part of the usual two o’clock organ concert in San Diego’s Balboa Park.
Opera4Kids presented The Bear and the Pear Tree, a simple story sung by two professional opera singers, Victoria Robertson and Bernardo Bermudez. Both have sung with the San Diego Opera.
Kids sat on the stage, swaying and clapping, laughing and shouting encouragement to the sweet pear tree and the hungry bear. The bear wanted a pear. Should he flatter the pear tree? Would the story end with a happily ever after?
Yes, it was a child’s fairy tale, but the singing was strong and very beautiful.
Funny how a simple thing can make one feel uplifted.
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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 X.
This afternoon, a special Youth Artist Showcase was enjoyed by the public in San Diego. The Ecologik Institute, in partnership with Forever Balboa Park, assembled talented young women in Balboa Park near the Bea Evenson Fountain to celebrate their achievements.
The mission of the Ecologik Institute is to empower young women to be champions for nature, innovators in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, warriors for environmental stewardship, leaders in their communities, and changemakers who create a positive impact on the world around them.
The Youth Artist Showcase was part of a larger effort to brainstorm new ideas of how to bring art into Balboa Park in the future.
I was lucky to arrive at the Bea Evenson Fountain when I did. I observed a bustle of activity and learned this special event was soon to get underway.
Enjoy these photographs!
First up, Cindy was showing a project that included images of birds that can be observed in Balboa Park. She also keeps a sketch book.
Next, I enjoyed viewing some great artwork by young artists! Here are two samples…
Then came a wonderful performance of selected dances from The Nutcracker, by members of the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet!
As usual, they’ll be performing The Nutcracker at the Casa del Prado Theater in Balboa Park this holiday season!
Día de los Muertos at the Sherman Heights Community Center has become one of the most anticipated Day of the Dead celebrations in San Diego. In 2024 the week-long event turned thirty years old.
The many traditional altars inside the community center, erected by local families and organizations, remember loved one who are deceased. All around the center a joyful festival is enjoyed by families who engage in activities that celebrate life, past and present.
Walking the short distance from downtown to Sherman Heights, I arrived at the event yesterday.
I was fortunate to join a group that was touring the Día de los Muertos altars (ofrendas in Spanish). Daniel was explaining to several people (including folks from Germany) how these altars originated in Pre-Columbian times and evolved to include Catholic elements when Spain entered the American continent. Most of the altars include symbols of the four elements defined in ancient times: earth, water, fire and air.
In Mexican ofrendas today, earth is still represented by marigolds and offerings of food, water by drink, fire by candles, and air by papel picado, which flutters in a breeze.
Daniel explained that because Day of the Dead has universal themes–family, human mortality, the circle of life and love–and because of commercialization and the influence of popular culture, the holiday is spreading worldwide. He noted that other cultures have inserted their own special symbolism into Day of the Dead celebrations.
I took photographs of the many altars. Most were extremely elaborate.
So many loved ones that have passed on–but who live still in memory…
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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 X.
San Diego’s world-famous Old Globe performed Shakespeare’s play As You Like It today at downtown’s Central Library! It was just one stop during the 2024 Globe for All Tour, which brings fine theatrical performances to various economically, geographically, and culturally diverse communities throughout San Diego County, and even south of the border in Tijuana, Mexico.
I went to the free show, not knowing what it might be like, and WOW–what absolute fun!
The crazy, mixed-up play about rivalry, misunderstandings and triumphant love was full of physical comedy and outrageous action! The story included occasional audience participation (including holding up butterflies that we made), surprising and funny pop culture references, and even some spoken lines in Spanish. We in the audience were laughing much of the time. I loved the hilarious WWE-style wrestling match between the brothers Oliver and Orlando!
The experience was even more awesome because the professional acting, taking place in the library’s Shiley Special Events Suite, could be experienced up close and personal–just a few feet from the chairs where we sat. When the actors went “offstage” to corners of the room we could watch them, even as they changed costume.
After the conclusion of As You Like It, the audience was invited to make comments and ask questions of the cast.
Actress Emma Svitil (smiling in my first and final photo) played Phoebe. She explained that Shakespeare is loved to this day because his works tap into universal truths about humanity. He addresses love, friendship, the struggle for power, etc. His plays can be easily adapted to the times we live in. The Bard’s ingenious wordplay is amusing, too!
Everyone should take advantage of the free Globe for All Tour. Young people (and certain adults like myself) might not comprehend every word of Shakespeare’s centuries-old language, but the super expressive acting speaks for itself!
To see if there are upcoming performances of As You Like It in your community, click here.
Photography is prohibited during the performance, so I took these beforehand. The pics are of some actors and props. (As you can see, the Central Library’s ninth floor special events suite has amazing views of downtown San Diego!)
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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 X.
Is that the Ghostbusters cool ECTO-1 car . . . with a skeleton and a señorita? I wasn’t expecting to see this when I walked up Fifth Avenue during San Diego Gaslamp Quarter’s annual Día de los Muertos celebration!
I arrived around 5 o’clock, just as all the classic and lowrider cars were starting to depart. Unfortunately I was too late and missed their unique hood ofrendas.
I did observe several static Day of the Dead altars around what is essentially a big street festival. And elaborately face-painted Catrinas. And live music on a stage, and lots of food and vendors and people in a late Saturday party mood.
The very colorful, family-friendly event continues this evening until 9 pm. It returns tomorrow, Sunday, November 3, from 11 am to 6 pm. You can learn more about the Gaslamp’s Día de los Muertos Festival by clicking here.
(I’ll probably swing by again tomorrow, when I go to the nearby Fall Back Festival!)
Enjoy a few photos!
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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 X.
Five years ago, during November 2019, Cool San Diego Sights featured photographs from a variety of interesting places and events. My favorite event by far was the San Diego and Arizona Railway centennial that was held out in Campo.
If you have a curious mind, and if you’d like to take a time machine back five years and look at some of those old photographs, click the links that are coming up!
To see many fascinating photographs, click the following links:
A fantastic event kicked off Fleet Week San Diego this evening. At the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park, members of Navy Band Southwest joined members of Marine Band San Diego for a spectacular Military & Veteran Appreciation Concert!
The music was rousing, patriotic, and even jazzy at times. But the highlight of the concert occurred before a single instrument was played. A group of Vietnam Veterans were called to the front of the audience in order to be recognized and honored.
Each hero shook the hand of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and received a special cap and Vietnam Veteran Commemorative Pin. Then all who’d been recognized formed a line for photographs.
I took my own photos from a distant bench. You can see the appreciation and the smiles.
If you’d like to learn more about San Diego Fleet Week, which in 2024 runs until November 11, click here! There are free activities available to the public, including tours of Navy and Coast Guard ships!
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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 X.
The Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter has an awesome Halloween display inside their lobby!
The hotel’s different departments have each “carved” a pumpkin. Their creative efforts fill a large table, and guests are invited to vote for their favorite. The winning department receives a trophy!
I checked out all the great pumpkins this morning. Some are really scary. Some are pure fun. (I like the pumpkin with a spa facial.)
Here come the photos…
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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 X.
Should we be frightened? Halloween has crept into San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter!
I took these spooky (and fun) photographs early this morning in dim light, then in the late afternoon as restaurants and bars prepared for a terrifying onslaught of evening partiers.
Trick or treat!
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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 X.
Cool San Diego Sights! 