If you happen to be in San Diego and you love singing Christmas carols, a special event is coming up in Balboa Park that you don’t want to miss!
Carol Along with the Carillon will take place in the Old Globe’s outdoor Copley Plaza on Saturday, November 29, 2025, between 12:30 and 1:30 pm.
Family, neighbors and friends will gather to sing beloved holiday songs, accompanied by the California Tower’s carillon. Lyric sheets will be provided so that you’ll know the words to every Christmas carol!
When I participated a few years ago two dozen popular carols were included. This year, the Ramona Community Singers and the Tremble Clefs will join the public again, so you know it will sound amazing!
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Does your bicycle need repair? Do you live anywhere near City Heights in San Diego? Check out this free, very cool community resource!
Bikes del Pueblo operates on Sundays near the corner of El Cajon Boulevard and 40th Street. You can see them in action in these photographs.
The collective is a bunch of volunteers and neighbors who get together to maintain bicycles and help each other. They provide free educational workshops, and access to tools and bicycle parts. Some of the regular participants have a lot of experience repairing bikes and are happy to help. Bikes del Pueblo welcomes donations–bicycles, parts, and money–to help keep a good thing going.
When I walked by a few weekends ago, they were really busy! Some people were even hanging out at the picnic benches and enjoying the sunny day. What a great resource for a community that can be underserved.
Got a bike? Does it need some work? Check out their website for more info 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.
The 19th Annual Walk in Remembrance with Hope will be held in San Diego tomorrow morning, Sunday, September 14, 2025.
The Walk in Remembrance with Hope celebrates the lives of loved ones lost to suicide. It also raises awareness about suicide prevention.
The walkers and others will gather in Balboa Park on the grass near Sixth Avenue, south of Laurel Street. Registration begins at 7 am.
I met the good people setting up for the event this afternoon. The Walk in Remembrance with Hope is organized by Survivors of Suicide Loss. See their website here.
All ages, friends, family and pets are welcome to join! Start a team and invite your friends & family, or walk individually.
The event is a helpful resource fair, too, with vendor booths and more.
Even if you’ve never been personally affected by the tragedy of suicide, you can still help out these good people with a donation. Make your donation 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.
Dave’s Beach in Carlsbad is a scenic spot that is popular with radio-controlled glider pilots. Small model aircraft are launched by hand above the bluffs beside the Pacific Ocean. The slope provides excellent uplift to keep gliders aloft. Learn more about Dave’s Beach here.
When I walked this way in 2023, I found a lot of gliding activity. See those photographs here. I also discovered a memorial plaque dedicated to Dave Kellogg.
I failed, however, to notice a second nearby plaque. I discovered it yesterday.
The shadow of a chain link fence is visible in my photograph…
In Loving Memory of Our Friend
ORAN “ORANATOR” BLOODSWORTH
Whose spirit will soar on here forever
Feb. 10, 1965 – Sep. 23, 2019
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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.
I’m fortunate to be fairly healthy and active. I know that if I couldn’t enjoy my sunshine-filled walks, meeting friends–if I had severe mobility difficulties–I would become seriously depressed. That’s the way I’m made.
Knowing this, I was excited to learn about AbleGamers today at San Diego Comic-Con. AbleGamers is an organization that fights social isolation by making it easier for the disabled to participate in gaming. Here’s their website.
AbleGamers has been around for around 20 years. They have helped countless numbers of people find more joy and connection in their lives.
Their mission:
Creating opportunities that enable play in order to combat social isolation, foster inclusive communities, and improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.
With your help, we are working every day to make sure people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else for positive experiences through play. With our two decades as pioneers in inclusive play, thousands of hours working with people with disabilities, leading developers and engineers we create opportunities for players to find inclusive places to play and connect with family and friends.
AbleGamers partners with various organizations, including hospitals and rehabilitation centers, to reach more people with disabilities and provide them with a nearby location to assist in setup to enter the world of gaming.
No matter how severe the disability, today’s technology allows anyone to fully connect with other gamers. Gaming controls are made in such a way that even those without use of their hands can join the online community, having fun. Many of the major video game developers work with AbleGamers to make play more accessible.
I hope you are as inspired as I am. Please check out The AbleGamers website and perhaps help these good people in their mission.
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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.
Seniors in San Diego have a great opportunity to get out, make new friends and have fun dancing!
The City of San Diego’s AgeWell Services offers themed dances twice each month in Balboa Park. The dances (including lessons) are held in the Balboa Park Club building’s huge ballroom.
I happened to stumble upon today’s dance while walking around the park. Inside the ballroom a big, happy gathering of seniors was enjoying the day’s Western theme. Refreshments, prizes, decorations in the ballroom and a sprinkling of cowboy hats added to the festive atmosphere!
To see which dances are coming up, check out the information above. Better yet, read the very informative online newsletter published by AgeWell Services! You can do that from their webpage by clicking here.
If doing stuff on the internet isn’t your thing, you can also call Skyler at 619-525-8247. He’s a great guy and will be pleased to help you out!
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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.
There’s a San Diego-based nonprofit organization that rescues dogs from high kill shelters and the streets of Mexico. The Animal Pad rescues all breeds with its connections in Baja California–particularly in Ensenada and Tijuana.
Early this afternoon, as I walked through San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, I met smiling volunteers who were engaged in community outreach. I learned a little about the good work they are doing. The Animal Pad rescues dogs from Southern California as well as Mexico. They provide veterinarian care and rehabilitation for the rescued dogs before four-legged friends head to loving foster homes.
The Animal Pad also has a youth education program and operates the fun Camp Tappy Tails for dog loving children ages 7-12. Their La Mesa facility hosts birthday parties, too!
The Animal Pad website explains: The Animal Pad is only able to do what we do through the efforts of a wide network of volunteers, fosters, donors, sponsor organizations, and adopters. It truly takes a village. And we are always looking for help! The Animal Pad is seeking new avenues for fundraising, veterinary and pet supply connections, and anything else that can assist TAP in helping these innocent souls.
Would you like to adopt a new friend? Do you want to be a hero and help out in some other way? Go to The Animal Pad 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.
The city of Oceanside is very lucky to have such a wonderful used book store. Jane and Evie’s Used Books is where you want to shop if you love to read, watch movies, listen to music . . . or solve jigsaw puzzles or view walls filled with art!
Whenever I’m in Oceanside I like to drop by, simply to look around and possibly add to my collection of books and digital media, including CDs and DVDs. That’s what I did today!
A cool thing about shopping at Jane and Evie’s Used Books is that all of the sales benefit The Friends of the Oceanside Public Library. When you enjoy a purchased book, others might enjoy a library book, too!
The store’s volunteers are all super friendly!
I asked about the history of the bookstore and was shown a photo of Evie Magana and Jane Cheadle, who were early members and officers of The Friends of the Oceanside Public Library. They were both known for their love of books and their dedication to the Oceanside community. The bookstore was named in their honor.
Unlike certain used book stores, it’s spacious and very well organized. Like a library! Linger, peruse the shelves, and talk to friendly people!
Jane and Evie’s Used Books is located at 323 North Coast Highway. Hours are Monday through Wednesday 11 am – 3 pm; Thursday through Saturday 10 am – 6 pm.
Procrastireading: The Art of Reading, instead of doing whatever else it is you should be doing.
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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.
You possibly know about Bum, San Diego’s “town dog” during the late 19th century. He was the free-spirited dog who belonged to no one, but was loved by practically everyone.
An excellent History Talks presentation concerning Bum can be viewed here on YouTube. The video was produced by the Gaslamp Museum at the Davis-Horton House, where a sculpture of Bum can be enjoyed in the museum’s pocket park.
Bum was a stowaway on a ship from San Francisco, and when he arrived in San Diego he took ownership of the city, roaming about and doing whatever he pleased. He befriended a Chinese fisherman, a news reporter, newsboys, shop owners, restaurant owners (and their handouts), and practically everyone he met, particularly children.
Bum would lead parades. He led horse-drawn fire engines to fires. He jumped on the ferry to Coronado. He hopped onto a train at Santa Fe Depot and took a trip to Los Angeles, where he was greeted like a celebrity because a telegraph by his reporter friend told of his coming. When Benjamin Harrison visited San Diego in 1891, the United States President rode a special carriage in a grand procession. And Bum was provided with his own carriage, too!
Less known is that Bum travelled to El Cajon, where he was introduced to alcohol at a political event. And he became a drunk who’d often languish in the middle of the street. Those at San Diego’s downtown Army barracks thought it great fun to give him a drink. I didn’t know this about Bum until I viewed the YouTube presentation.
This great history presentation includes many old newspaper cartoons, photographs and stories concerning loveable but sometimes feisty Bum, San Diego’s famous Town Dog. To watch it, click here!
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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.
Do you love to create art? Are you a senior? Answer yes to both questions and you might want to enter a free art contest in San Diego!
I learned about this art contest by reading The Scroll, a quarterly newsletter for seniors published by San Diego Parks and Recreation AgeWell Services.
If you’d like to read the Spring 2024 edition of The Scroll, and discover all sorts of activities and opportunities for seniors, click here! You can find information concerning the art contest on page 7. Or check out the graphic I’ve posted above.
Art submitted for the contest will be on public display for an entire month at the Cathy Hopper Clairemont Friendship Center. Media include acrylic, drawing, pastel, mixed media, oil and watercolor. Time to get inspired!
My friend Mark greeted me last Saturday when I poked my nose into the Balboa Park Senior Lounge while walking around. Folks had just finished playing bingo that morning in the lounge.
Mark reminded me that seniors 65 years or better get free admission to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park during this month of February! If you want to learn more about that amazing offer, click here!
Spread the word!
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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Cool San Diego Sights! 