Check out some photos of cool, creative door handles that I’ve spotted while walking around San Diego. I snapped a couple of these photographs months ago, and unfortunately I’ve forgotten where I took them. I guess I’m not terribly organized! Or perhaps I’m just lazy and took no notes.
Electric guitar door handle at Hard Rock Cafe in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.Two door handles made of artistically bent rebar.These door handles at the Yard House don’t contain beer. One must step inside.Interesting door handles together form a disk and raised leaf.One very ornate door handle in San Diego.A lion’s head handle on a rusty gate.
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Christmas angels peer out of a window at Silver Crossing in Seaport Village.
Radical changes are coming to nearly 40-year-old Seaport Village. A redevelopment plan that was recently approved will transform the quaint collection of shops and restaurants on downtown’s waterfront into a massive complex called Seaport San Diego. The new development will contain even more shopping and dining options, several hotels, a 480-foot observation tower, a public beach, aquarium, Smithsonian attraction, and more.
Many of the shops that people have come to know over the years will vanish. Admittedly, Seaport Village today is a touristy hodgepodge. One wouldn’t really expect to see a New England lighthouse in Southern California. But no matter. I still enjoy meandering through on a sunny weekend! There are buskers aplenty and live music and people-watching and the nearby grassy park with kites flying in the breeze. And onion rings and pretzels and ice cream!
And there are the windows. Kaleidoscope windows. Windows winking with color. Windows painted with unexpected images. Windows full of gaudy trinkets, the typical souvenirs, whimsical novelties, and even a rare treasure or two you’ll find nowhere else.
Here are a few of the windows.
A lady holding a colorful bouquet in the window of Seaport Deli and Salad Bar.Beach, clouds, muffin and coffee in a window of the Seaport Cookie Company.Exotic masks for a masquerade in one window of Upstart Crow Bookstore and Coffeehouse.Floral designs around one window of the Seaport Fudge Factory.Window mural painted by San Diego artist Joel Sharp in 1996. You can find it in Seaport Village at Margaritas Kitchen and Cantina.Christopher M., known as The Painter of Chefs, has samples of his work displayed in one window of Exclusive Collections Gallery in Seaport Village.Delightful characters fill the window at The Mugger in Seaport Village.A window full of irresistible treats at the Seaport Cookie Company.There are several smiling faces in this Upstart Crow window. Can you spot all three?Zoltar the fortune teller will read your future from his own small window.Coral and other beautiful objects in a window of Seaport Village Shell Co. Limited.Tourists might take home a glittery San Diego sombrero once they glimpse these in the window of Mexican Fiesta.Sunflowers and blue window frames at Frost Me Gourmet Cupcakes in Seaport Village.
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Horse rides in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. One of many fun attractions at the Fall Back Festival and Historic Children’s Street Faire.
Late this morning I walked down to the Gaslamp to enjoy the 2016 Fall Back Festival and Historic Children’s Street Faire. A very long name for a very cool event!
Before the Fall Back Festival begins, clocks are set back one hour, as Daylight Saving Time ends. When the festival begins, however, clocks seem magically set back over a hundred years! Several blocks in the Gaslamp Quarter are transformed into a scene from the Old West, complete with cowboys, horses, a working blacksmith and more! The festival provides an idea of what San Diego might have been like in the mid to late 19th century.
Every year, the family-friendly Fall Back Festival appears about the same, but that’s just fine. Each journey back in time is wonderful!
Kids rides horses, as the citizens of San Diego commonly did in the mid 1800s.The Horton Grand Hotel rises behind a crowd of people enjoying the 2016 Fall Back Festival, an annual event that celebrates a fascinating period in San Diego history.Families dressed in Old West attire had a lot of fun as photos were taken at the Fall Back Festival!All sorts of Western hats, cowboy gear and Victorian finery could be donned at this table.Participants in the Fall Back Festival, wearing clothing from San Diego’s past. I felt as if I’d been transported back in time.A friendly hog greets somebody at the Fall Back Festival.Two ladies smile for my camera at the front door of the historic William Heath Davis House in San Diego’s Gaslamp.A row of shiny vintage cars on display during the popular downtown San Diego event.Many organizations had tents along Fourth Avenue, including the Friends of Villa Montezuma, which is a famous Victorian mansion in nearby Sherman Heights.Fourth Avenue runs through San Diego’s Chinatown, which is officially called the Asian Pacific Thematic Historic District. A colorful lion dancer turns heads at the Fall Back Festival.San Diego’s relatively brief history is remarkably diverse. An informative poster at the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum’s table includes several photos.I doubt anyone produced bubbles this big over a century ago, but I might be wrong!A working blacksmith attracted a big crowd on Island Avenue in San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter.Hammering red hot iron. A very cool demonstration at the 2016 Fall Back Festival!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
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People enjoy unusual aquarium displays at the San Diego Tropical Fish Society Annual Show in Balboa Park.
Time for a laugh! Here are some weird, funny, and wonderfully creative fish aquariums!
Today I photographed some of the most humorous aquariums on display at the San Diego Tropical Fish Society Annual Show in Balboa Park. I was delighted to see so much unleashed craziness and imagination. Looks like this fishy hobby can be a lot of fun. Check these out!
A very unique aquarium contains two upside down goblets and one upside down glass fish bowl. The latter acts as a sort of sky observatory for the finny inhabitants.Star Wars characters stand atop an aquarium from a galaxy far, far away. The space-like interior features a duel between a randomly drifting TIE fighter and X-Wing, while darting red fish appear to be laser blasts.Doctor Who and a companion have traveled by TARDIS into the strange, unearthly interior of this humorous aquarium.An old blender or coffee maker makes a fine tropical fish aquarium, I suppose. Just don’t turn them on.I’m sure a fish was hiding somewhere in the ruins of the lost city of Atlantis.Who said bonsai plants couldn’t be submerged? Makes for a lovely but rather fishy garden.And an underwater Buddha, too! These fish must be on the watery path to nirvana.An aquarium alive with silly Minions and Lego creations and jumbled color. Oh, and some shy fish, too.A yellow submarine in a Beatles-themed tropical fish aquarium. Another fun photo taken in Balboa Park during the San Diego Tropical Fish Society Annual Show!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to enjoy!
A cool work of art pieced together in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village. Anyone can do this!
My weekend walk in Balboa Park took me through Spanish Village Art Center. For a few pleasant minutes I paused to watch artist Kathi Vargo piecing together collages and unique assemblage at a table in the middle of the patio. Anyone passing by was invited to join in!
I learned that Kathi offers Paint and Paper Play classes where absolutely anybody can learn to create mixed media collages. If you’re interested, visit her website!
Kathi Vargo was having a fun Paint and Paper Play Collage Workshop in the middle of the Spanish Village Art Center’s colorful patio.All sorts of objects can be used to assemble this unique artwork.Applying some paint to a strip of material.Creating art expands the mind, enriches the spirit, and is just plain fun!You can make this!
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Pottery pumpkins smile outside a gift shop in San Diego’s festive Old Town.
I see pumpkins! Everywhere! It must be mid-October in San Diego!
Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere! Big ones and little ones! Grocery stores are overflowing. It must be mid-October.A fun display of pumpkins and Autumn characters on a street corner in Little Italy. Halloween is on the way! Boo!A beautiful arrangement of flowers, pumpkins and gourds graces a rustic Old Town boardwalk.More golden Autumn colors suggest it’s time to harvest the good things in life.A pumpkin and warm flowers on an antique cart in Old Town San Diego.
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A walk through Liberty Station in Point Loma is always pleasurable. A photographer can find scenes of art, fun and life!
My walk yesterday took me to one of my favorite places in San Diego . . . Liberty Station! The historic old Naval Training Center San Diego in Point Loma has been converted into beautiful courtyards, shops, museums, art studios and more. It’s a lively but leisurely place where one can simply sit on a bench in a park and enjoy people, fountains, flowers and sunshine. It’s also a perfect place to walk randomly about to make new discoveries.
Here are a few fun photos my camera captured!
Two people on the North Promenade in the middle of the Arts District at Liberty Station learn how to take great photos from a personal instructor.These Star Wars stormtroopers were caught near a parking lot without their helmets. They appear to be quite human and friendly! I believe they were getting ready to provide entertainment for a special event in the big grassy NTC Park.Colorful banner outside the San Diego Watercolor Society Gallery. Their amazing International Exhibition is underway and will be open to the public through October 31.A small collection of paintings can be enjoyed inside the entrance to the old Naval Training Center San Diego’s command building.Art displayed in the NTC Command Center was created by artists who have studios inside several old barracks at Liberty Station.Window into one artist’s studio. Artists, museums and cultural attractions now occupy many of the historic Navy barracks at Liberty Station.A fun sculpture graces the North Promenade at Liberty Station. Flowers, by John Dupree.Families and kids love the small USS Brave boat bench at Liberty Station. Wood art by Jonathan Allen.Photo of entrance to the Dorothea Laub Dance Place building in Liberty Station.Lavendar Ballerina by Jori Owens, one of many paintings on display in the main hallway of the Dance Place San Diego at Liberty Station.Blue Ballerina, a painting by Jori Owens.Red Ballerina, a painting by Jori Owens.A busy Saturday at the new and very popular indoor Liberty Public Market.Flowers add color and life to Liberty Public Market, one of many places to visit at Liberty Station.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to enjoy!
An imaginative performance at Fault Line Park in San Diego’s East Village during the 2016 Trolley Dances!
Check out these fun photos! They show the energy audiences will experience when they venture downtown to watch the Trolley Dances this year!
The Trolley Dances is all about contemporary dance in surprising public places. This year the Trolley Dances, a collaboration between the San Diego Dance Theater and our Metropolitan Transit System, begins with a performance in Barrio Logan. Mobile audiences, following guides, then make their way by trolley and foot to a variety of unusual downtown locations, where dancers appear like magic and perform. The unique experience lasts about two and a half hours and comes to a conclusion at the relatively new Fault Line Park in East Village. That’s where I snapped a few pics of the final two dances.
I’ll try not to give away too much. Let your imagination go to town–or better yet, buy a ticket. The 2016 Trolley Dances takes places this weekend and next!
A mobile audience arrives at San Diego’s Fault Line Park. The park will be the setting of two energetic dances.The audience takes a seat. Is something behind that wall?Yes, indeed! These suddenly rising dancers seem to have paddled in to shore!Perhaps it’s an invasion!Dancing on boulders at Fault Line Park! Flight of the Valkyries plays!A unique work of modern dance at the 2016 Trolley Dances in San Diego.The dancers approach the audience as if rowing a Viking longship . . .They have conquered!Meanwhile, out on the nearby grass, not far from some people practicing football skills, I spot a circle of baseball players . . .These baseball players also happen to be dancers!Just like professional baseball players, each performer is introduced by name to the Trolley Dances audience.And a joyful dance commences . . .Just a lot of fun.Dancers rest for a few minutes. They await the next mobile audience that will arrive at Fault Line Park during the 2016 Trolley Dances.
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Tiny dogs surf mighty waves in Imperial Beach during the 11th Annual Unleashed by Petco Surf Dog Competition!
And now for something on the light side. Surfing dogs!
Enjoy these funny photos of tiny dogs riding “huge” ocean waves near the pier at Imperial Beach! This morning I swung by the 11th Annual Unleashed by Petco Surf Dog Competition, just to check out the action. The first 10-minute heat featured smaller breeds. These dogs are some of the most talented surfing athletes you’re likely to ever see! Well . . . maybe. But they definitely appeared to be having fun!
All you non-dog athletes, take note! No aspiration is too lofty! No wave is too large!
A crowd gathers on the beach in the morning, as the very popular Surf Dog Competition is almost ready to begin!A pooch says “Hi” while hanging out with a few buddies. It’s going to be another great day in San Diego!This thoughtful dog is checking out the perimeter of the surf competition starting area, which is fenced off from those often interfering human types.We’re almost ready for the first heat! These small dogs pose atop their surfboards for photos and make the most of their superstar status.A line of people awaits the start of the Unleashed by Petco Surf Dog Competition’s first 10-minute heat of the day!And these small surf dogs are off, making toward the Pacific Ocean with the help of a few human assistants!The excitement has built to a doggone unbelievable level. Which four-legged contestant will catch the best waves and impress the judges?The crowd watches these talented canine athletes as they take to the thundering waves!Those are awfully big breakers! Only the most skillful and fearless dogs will master this tough surfing competition.An amazing dog athlete has successfully caught the first wave! Here he comes! Great form!A tiny canine contestant receives encouragement as this year’s surf dog competition in IB gets underway.This innovative dog–I believe his name is Samson–doesn’t adhere to those old surfing traditions. He rides his surfboard backwards.Oh my goodness! Three dogs on one wave! Remember this moment, because you’ll probably never see it again!Two furry athletes vie for surfing supremacy!I’m thinking of submitting this amazing photograph to SURFER Magazine. I wonder if it might make the cover. (Just kidding!)Samson seems to have finally straightened himself out. Maybe he just wants to leap back onto dry land.These best buddy pals are happy just to walk along the beach. No need to show off their mad surfing skills.And these two sneaky dogs want to pretend they’re honest-to-goodness surfers. Can’t fool me!Tiny surfing dogs have mastered the mighty waves at Imperial Beach during the Unleashed by Petco Surf Dog Competition. They are superstars, indeed!
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
It’s a cosplay of Lego Venom in the middle of the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con crowd!
Here’s another large collection of cosplay photographs! I took these Saturday outside 2016 San Diego Comic-Con!
Seeing so many super creative costumes is one reason I love walking around during Comic-Con. It’s an opportunity for individuals to find unabashed joy in their own personal creativity. It’s all about fantasy and imagination come to life. People young and old can choose to be whatever they choose to be. It’s all good. And it’s all fun!
This cosplay of a Cylon from the original Battlestar Galactica had a moving red light in its helmet and cool Cylon sound effects!A great cosplay of Marvel’s famous superhero couple, Ant-Man and the Wasp.A truly great Addams Family cosplay on the street outside Comic-Con!I was told these ladies are characters from Alice in Wonderland. It appears to me one is the Queen of Hearts and the other is Alice.This cuddly killer is Unipool. He’s even got his own hashtag!I recognize Green Arrow, but the other cosplay I didn’t hear properly when I asked. Does someone out there know? Leave a comment if you do.I learned the cosplay on the right is Mega Man, but I didn’t catch the identity of the fellow on the left. Help!Cosplay of Raven of the Teen Titans.A very cool cosplay of a Jawa from Star Wars.This funny guy combined Joker and Donald Trump!A zombie walks through the Gaslamp with a big pink ribbon. Even the undead can fight for life!It took a moment, but then I realized these little guys were familiar. That’s Crow T. Robot from Mystery Science Theater on the right, and Tom Servo on the left!Menacing cosplay of Cobra Commander.It’s Pac-Man and a small Blinky!A super creative cosplay of a steampunk Batman.I hope the zombies rampaging through the Gaslamp Saturday night were careful. Because these guys wanna kill zombies.This cosplayer seemed a bit surprised that I recognized he was the Mouth of Sauron. I guess I’ve read and watched Lord of the Rings too many times.I learned these guys are cosplaying characters from the video game Fallout.A fun, creative cosplay of characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas.Here comes Spidey!These nice ladies were cosplaying Toriel and Frisk from Undertale.I think I heard this is a Pokemon cosplay. I might be wrong.These Medieval period enthusiasts hail from the Barony of Calafia. They are members of the Society for Creative Anachronism.Incredible cosplay of Ornstein the Dragon Slayer, from Dark Souls.Another super good cosplay. It’s Cable of the X-Men.Some really great costumes–all characters from Game of Thrones.Hey, Cap! What’s up?I was told this cosplay is Tyson Rios, of Army of Two.Super creative cosplay of Marvel’s Lady Sif, Asgardian warrior. Looks like the Jack Kirby version.This cosplay, I believe, is Victarion Greyjoy, from Game of Thrones.The Suicide Squad movie is coming up. This is the original Harley Quinn with an absurdly huge hammer. A little more humor in this version, perhaps.Cosplay of long-time movie hero Zorro!Cosplay from the original Tron. He thought the first movie was best.I was informed this is just a purple fuzzy creature with long ears! Even so, it looks somehow familiar.Cosplay of Liliana Vess, from Magic: The Gathering.This Poison Ivy cosplayer must’ve mistaken me for Batman, because she’s blowing a lethal kiss my way!Now a cosplay Catwoman is about to strike me with her whip! Ouch!These musicians in wild Mexican outfits were simply having fun entertaining 2016 San Diego Comic-Con fans in the Gaslamp.Here comes a cool cosplay of Cyclops. Don’t activate your visor! I’m a good guy!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to enjoy!
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