Tag: events

Photos of Colombian tall ship Gloria in San Diego!

The public is invited to tour the very beautiful Colombian tall ship ARC Gloria, which is presently docked in downtown San Diego at the Broadway Pier!

The large three-masted barque is used by the Colombian Navy as a cadet training ship. It’s also the flagship of the Colombian Navy and floating goodwill ambassador. It’s currently on a tour of the west coast of North America.

Through the afternoon of Sunday, November 9, 2025, during daytime hours, anyone can freely board the amazing tall ship and walk about its decks. That’s what I did this morning, camera in hand!

A friendly salute welcomed everybody stepping from the gangplank. There are plenty of awesome photo ops. Visitors, after roaming about the ship, also have the opportunity to purchase souvenirs to remember their experience.

Take a look!

The figurehead of the ARC Gloria is a gilded, winged angel named María Salud. This figurehead is a tribute to the daughter of the sculptor who created it, Victor Gutiérrez Jiménez.

Here we go!

A shining plaque beneath the ship’s crest contains the words HIMNO BUQUE ESCULEA ARC GLORIA… MUSICA Y LETRA DE EVELIA PORTO DE MEJIA.

According to this: Evelia Porto de Mejía (1925-2013), a writer and composer from Cartagena, is renowned for her contributions to music and etiquette on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. She composed the anthem for the Gloria training ship of the Colombian National Navy, as well as several musical pieces that celebrate the traditions and culture of Cartagena.

You can read the anthem’s lyrics in Spanish here.

A medallion-like tribute mounted next to the door to SALON ALMIRANTE PADILLA. With his likeness, it honors GRAN ALMIRANTE JOSE PADILLA LOPEZ.

According to this: José Prudencio Padilla López…was a military officer and sailor and hero who participated in the wars of independence.

UPDATE!

I got a better photo of the beautiful figurehead the following day…

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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 X.

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Renaissance portraits bring poetry to the Timken!

A new exhibition has opened at the Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park. It’s titled Poetic Portraits: Allegory and Identity in 16th Century Europe. Read all about it here.

Visitors to the museum have the opportunity to see the work of notable Renaissance artists, including Sofonisba Anguissola, whose painting  Portrait of Giovanni Battista Caselli, on loan from the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, is being displayed in the United States for the first time.

Lovers of fine art and art history will certainly enjoy this exhibition. They’ll also treasure the excellent booklet concerning the artists that is freely handed out at the front desk. It explains how both allegory (symbolism) and identity (descriptive details) combine in the painting of these portraits. This results in a poetic blending of abstract ideals and visual reality.

To most of us here in the 21st century, the people in the portraits are complete strangers. (A few aren’t even positively identified by experts.) But one can see how, compared to flatter, blander pre-Renaissance art, these portraits have assumed a more definite personality.

Gazing at each portrait, I found myself wondering: what had the subject’s true personality been like? The eyes and facial expressions might provide a hint.

The world-class Timken Museum of Art is always free to the public. The exhibition continues through March 29, 2026.

Check out the museum’s website for everything you need to know 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.

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SDMA Artists Guild exhibit opens in Balboa Park!

Today the finishing touches were being put on a new exhibition of outstanding art in Balboa Park. The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild Membership Exhibition is now open in Spanish Village Art Center’s Gallery 21!

Several of the participating artists were in the gallery and were happy to talk about their creations. I learned the public is invited to attend the show’s official reception on Sunday, November 9 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. Learn more here.

The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild strengthens the bond between the Museum and the artist community of San Diego County by enhancing the Museum’s awareness and appreciation of local artists.

Their annual exhibition in Balboa Park will continue through November 17, 2025. Diverse works in many styles are on display. All of the pieces are for sale.

The exhibition was juried by Johnny Tran of the Thumbprint Gallery in La Jolla. I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Some photos, and friendly guild artists I met today…

Artist Charlene Mosley smiles beside her oil on canvas piece, This Is All That Is Me.
Artist Olga Freedman’s very beautiful watercolor Aspen grove near Lake Sabrina.
James Bliesner is both artist and President of San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild. His half-abstract/half-realistic piece is Wind and Sea. Materials are plaster, paper, acrylic, pastel and oil.

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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.

Feel free to share!

Sign up for a Balboa Park Cleanup!

You can sign up to join the next Balboa Park Cleanup! It’s taking place on Saturday, November 22, 2025 from 9 to 11 am.

Individuals, groups and families are invited to meet in the Plaza de Panama to take part. Trash bags, picker-upper instruments and other cleanup materials will be provided for volunteers!

Feeling inspired? Would you like to take part? It’s easy!

Sign up for the Cleanup event on the Forever Balboa Park website by clicking 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.

Feel free to share!

Botanical Building Pergola begins reconstruction!

Back in 1915, during San Diego’s Panama-California Exposition, Balboa Park featured twelve pergolas. Three remain today: the columned ones curving on either side of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, and one inside the Alcazar Garden. You can read all about this history in a recent publication of the Committee of 100. Check out page 4 of their Spring 2025 newsletter here.

A fourth historical pergola will soon be returning! As you can see in these photos taken today, its reconstruction has begun by the Botanical Building!

The Botanical Building Pergola will stand to the west of the Botanical Building, directly west of a nearby fountain. For months workers have been digging and preparing the ground for the pergola–for the structure’s foundation, irrigation for nearby gardens, moving a large tree, etc.

Now steel is appearing! The pergola’s construction has begun in earnest!

Take a look at the map in my next photo. My first two photographs (above) were taken from near the “You are here” spot.

The existing fountain appears as the darkened circle. The dashed lines are the recently rearranged construction fences.

My final photograph was taken over the fence from a point just beyond the fountain.

I’ll post updates as the project moves along!

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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.

Feel free to share!

San Diego graced with the Gift of Dance!

Young dancers with the Gift of Dance, a local ballet folklórico school, performed today in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter during the annual Fall Back Festival.

These colorful photographs provide a hint of the dancers’ energy, fluid grace and poise. The dances transmitted pure joy. If you were there, you felt it.

Traditional Mexican dances included La Negra, La Raspa, La Madrugada, Tehuantepec, El Jarabe Tapatio, Los Machettes, and Las Chiapanecas.

Audience members were often clapping along with the music!

I hope you enjoy my photos…

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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.

Feel free to share!

Lion dancers bring Gaslamp Quarter good luck!

Good fortune arrived today in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.

The San Diego Lucky Lion Dancers brought their good luck to the annual Fall Back Festival!

Shortly before noon, the dancers departed their headquarters at the San Diego Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, crossed Third and Fourth Avenue, and entered the festival with traditional costumes and musical instruments.

Those watching at the Fall Back Festival would be entertained by the performers’ exciting entrance and the following lion dance.

The Lucky Lion Dancers perform at many San Diego events, and I never tire of watching them. The energy, joyfulness and magical good vibes…anyone who watches is indeed lucky!

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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.

Feel free to share!

Tasty sights at the Escondido Tamale Festival!

Do you love tasty, award-winning tamales? If you went to the Escondido Tamale Festival today, you were in heaven!

The annual event, held in Grape Day Park, brings out families for good times, great food (many types), and lively entertainment.

Some of the tamale vendors had impressive displays of trophies they’ve won! These are the best of the best!

They came well equipped, too, serving tamales of every variety fresh on the spot. (Even pineapple and strawberry tamales!) A substantial quantity would be consumed by the large, hungry crowd!

Some fun photos from my afternoon visit…

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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.

Feel free to share!

Preparing for Día de Muertos in Escondido.

I walked through the California Center for the Arts, Escondido a couple hours before the start of this evening’s 30th Annual Día de los Muertos Festival. Workers, artists, performers and vendors were busy getting ready!

Papel picado was being hung, elegantly dressed skeletons were standing about, and squares were outlined on the ground, ready with candles and crosses for visitors to memorialize loved ones.

Inside the Concert Hall’s lobby I found a beautiful ofrenda and other traditional Día de Muertos decorations.

Back outside, I noticed a vendor had many marigolds.

This beautiful Día de Muertos is produced every year by the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. You can help support the event and learn about others by visiting 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.

Feel free to share!

Fun pics in Balboa Park on Halloween!

Any day in Balboa Park is a great day.

Halloween in Balboa Park makes for a really great day!

Look at all the fun pics I captured while randomly wandering around!

Buzz Lightyear emerged on Halloween from the Balboa Park Administration Building. To infinity and beyond!
There’s a gremlin inside the Museum of Us! And I thought their Egyptian mummies were disturbing!
Looks like the Balboa Park Carousel has been bewitched again.
A spooky photo op backdrop in Spanish Village Art Center.
Lots of Halloween stuff inside the Senior Lounge.
Eek! Who’s this strange character haunting the Senior Lounge?
The San Diego Automotive Museum is home to a friendly ghost.
A fun Halloween costume exhibit inside the Comic-Con Museum.
A spooky jack-o’-scarecrow grins at me in the Comic-Con Museum. I hope a superhero is nearby.
Yes, one can find Cheetos inside the Balboa Park Visitors Center.

Not to be overlooked, I also found some fun Día de los Muertos stuff…

Getting ready for a Día de los Muertos event this weekend at the Old Globe.
A balloon sugar skull outside the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater!

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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.

Feel free to share!