Lots of activity on the grass behind the San Diego Convention Center. It’s the Saturday before 2017 Comic-Con! A big wrap is being applied to the Bayfront Hilton!
This afternoon I walked all around the San Diego Convention Center and the Gaslamp Quarter. The application of building wraps and the construction of most outdoor venues is well underway with five days to go until Comic-Con! I didn’t walk around Petco Park. The Giants are in town through Sunday. I’ll probably head that way in the next couple days to see what, if anything, is going on!
These guys are starting to set up the Adult Swim site.A guy said Fox will have their site in the middle area of the grass, like last year.Looks like a lot of work is still to be done! They’ve got five days!I see a wrap being applied to the Marriott Marquis!The outdoor site for FX this year, like past years, will be on the grass right in front of the Hilton.A closer look at the developing Marriott wrap. It will promote the TBS comedy television series People of Earth.Working on the Midnight, Texas attraction near the Tin Fish.More Netflix wraps are going up on the Hilton Gaslamp.Will Smith peers brightly from between palm trees.Looks like another strange thing is being attached to a building in downtown San Diego. Five days until the start of 2017 Comic-Con!
I also noticed that work continues at The Tick Takeover site! I haven’t seen a 20-foot-tall animatronic Tick yet! You’ll see it shortly after I see it!
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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 Twitter!
Models of characters in the stop motion animated film ParaNorman displayed inside the Laika Experience San Diego for 2017 Comic-Con.
The Laika Experience San Diego opened this afternoon! This very cool exhibit created in the Gaslamp by Laika Entertainment runs through the end of Comic-Con. It’s free to the public and well worth checking out! You can find it at 520 Fifth Avenue.
Here are a few photos I took of the many highly detailed models, props, sets and puppets used by Laika in making their four films: Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings.
Laika still uses the stop motion method to create their awesome animation. I learned they only use CGI sparingly, for things that are difficult to animate, like fire and water. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and the kids in our small group had a blast. There are lots of amazing models from each of their four movies, and a video and informative displays that explain the stop motion animation process.
Kubo greets passersby in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. A free exhibit by Laika Entertainment demonstrates their stop motion animation and includes puppets, sets and props.This cool artwork, made of LED lights, is from Laika’s acclaimed first movie Coraline.Detailed model of Beldam from the movie Coraline.Awesome model of the crooked house from ParaNorman!Cool models of characters from ParaNorman.From that hallway locker scene in ParaNorman!Archibald Snatcher in his giant robot in the movie The Boxtrolls. Amazing detail!A miniature set from Kubo and the Two Strings.This model of the Moon Beast from Kubo and the Two Strings was made using 3-D printing then pieced together.Norman is out on a San Diego sidewalk! You can meet him during Comic-Con and see a very cool free exhibit created by the stop motion animation wizards at Laika!Shoe and Fish of the Boxtrolls wave hello!
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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 Twitter!
A cool wrap promoting The Defenders on Netflix has been applied to a Gaslamp building for 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.
This morning there’s some Comic-Con preparation going on in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. Three Netflix wraps are already up and construction has just begun on the Midnight Texas outdoor experience by the Tin Fish!
I got some photos!
A Comic-Con wrap in the Gaslamp promotes the second season of Stranger Things. The supernatural series thrills audiences on Netflix.Construction has begun on the Midnight, Texas 4D experience near the Tin Fish, across from the San Diego Convention Center. The show is coming to NBC.A third Netflix wrap on a Gaslamp building for Comic-Con. This one promotes upcoming fantasy film Bright, starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton.
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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 Twitter!
A pad has been set up near the Convention Center Trolley Station on MLK Promenade. Amazon will set up their The Tick venue here.
While no building wraps are being applied quite yet, a few interesting things have popped up near the San Diego Convention Center that indicate 2017 Comic-Con will soon be here! I walked all over the place after work and this is what I saw. A week and a half to go! (I spoke to a guy at the Amazon site, and he said they’re getting started a bit early, before lots of other construction trucks arrive in the coming days.)
Another nearby pad that I also believe will be utilized by Amazon during 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.Have u seen this person? I noticed these flyers all around the Gaslamp Quarter and also along Friars Road in Mission Valley today. It appears Nickelodeon is engaging in a guerrilla marketing campaign during 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.The second of three types of flyers I spotted. It seems we’re supposed to search for characters in the popular animated television series Hey Arnold!The Chuck Jones Gallery in the Gaslamp will be featuring DC and Marvel Comics fine art, and other great pop culture stuff, as usual!A poster promoting Shooter on USA Network is already up near the Tin Fish and Hard Rock Hotel.The Omnia Nightclub will have Rave of Thrones during Comic-Con weekend!The San Diego Trading Company in the Gaslamp is already stocked up with lots of Comic-Con gear!Finally, I spotted Supergirl patrolling the Gaslamp, making sure no supervillains have appeared yet!
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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 Twitter!
Fatman on Batman with Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin will be showing during San Diego Comic-Con at the American Comedy Co. in the Gaslamp.
Later today I’m heading to the OB Street Fair. But, first, this morning I walked through downtown San Diego and caught a few cool sights that anticipate 2017 Comic-Con, which is only a month away! I noted that workers were hanging more Comic-Con banners in the Gaslamp, now that the big Bio conference and the Startup San Diego events are completed.
If you follow Cool San Diego Sights but don’t care all that much about Comic-Con, fear not! I’ll be blogging a lot of other San Diego stuff in the days ahead!
Workers hang San Diego Comic-Con banners along Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter.Conan O’Brien’s funny TBS talk show will be in San Diego during Comic-Con, as the marquee at the Spreckels Theatre on Broadway attests!
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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!
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Cowboys on horseback drive cattle down Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego. They are promoting this year’s San Diego County Fair.
This morning there was a big cattle drive through downtown San Diego!
Huh? What?
It’s true! About 200 head of cattle were driven by cowboys on horseback and herding dogs down Harbor Drive, then up Fifth Avenue, then back west along Market Street. The intention of this unusual spectacle was to promote the San Diego County Fair, whose theme this year is How the West is Fun!
I followed along much of the way! Here are some photos!
At Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway, police escorts gets ready for the big cattle drive!The 2017 theme for the San Diego County Fair, which opened yesterday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, is Where the West is Fun.Excitement mounts nearby as the cattle drive is about to get underway.A temporary corral set up by Ruocco Park contained about 200 head of cattle.Here they go, starting down Harbor Drive!Lots of cowboys on horses and some excited herding dogs start the cows along the street.Hundreds of people lined the sidewalk to watch the unusual spectacle. It seemed like the Old West was being relived in San Diego!The downtown cattle drive will head along Harbor Drive, turn north up Fifth Avenue, then head back west along Market Street.You don’t see this every day!Neither does this city dog! What is going on?A guy in a crazy cow costume gets a photograph of the cattle drive.Cowboys keep a close eye on the cattle as they head along San Diego’s waterfront.Not your ordinary Saturday morning in the big city!Skyscrapers in the background. The cows didn’t seem to notice.The cattle drive heads past the San Diego Convention Center. So does a jogger.The downtown cattle drive has turned onto Fifth Avenue. Here they come!Cowboys ride under the famous Gaslamp Quarter landmark sign.The Gaslamp hasn’t seen so many cowboys on horseback in a good century and a half!The cattle are driven up Fifth Avenue into the heart of San Diego.Folks ride in a wagon that promotes the 2017 San Diego County Fair – Where the West is Fun!A rather unusual sight proceeds north up through San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter.The Old West has come back to life in downtown San Diego!
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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.
A fiberglass rabbit named Willabee painted by artist Matt Forderer contains images from San Diego’s history.
As I walked about the Jacaranda Spring Thing festival on Cortez Hill this afternoon, I noticed an unusual critter hanging out near the Tweet Street park. Turns out it was a Rabbitville bunny!
Rabbitville is a public art project of the Gaslamp Quarter Association. Fifteen fiberglass rabbits are being painted creatively by local artists to represent the Gaslamp Quarter’s colorful history. The area in the mid 19th century was jokingly called Rabbitville because there seemed to be more rabbits than people.
New Town, established by Alonzo Horton, would ultimately become the location of today’s dynamic downtown. The revitalized Gaslamp, which includes an area that was once a red-light district called the Stingaree, is now a modern entertainment hub.
The rabbit I spotted is called Willabee and was created by artist Matt Forderer. It is the first rabbit of the Rabbitville Public Art project! Images painted on it include Horton Plaza’s historic Jessop’s Street Clock and the Gaslamp’s famous Louis Bank of Commerce Building, location of Wyatt Earp’s notorious Oyster Bar.
These Rabbitville rabbits were spotted today at the Jacaranda Spring Thing festival on Cortez Hill. One has yet to be painted.A bunny with a fascinating story to tell.In this photo I see the Jessop’s Street Clock and the Louis Bank of Commerce Building!
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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 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 share and enjoy!
Window near entrance to a Gaslamp retailer contains DC Comics characters and Star Wars helmets. Comic-Con is a few months away!
Walk around downtown and you’ll be reminded that San Diego is home to an international phenomenon of colossal proportions: San Diego Comic-Con!
Here are some fun photos that I took today. Are you energized? About three months to go!
I’ll be taking a whole week off–before and during San Diego Comic-Con–and blogging like crazy!
Deco Bike rental station still contains graphic from last year’s San Diego Comic-Con. The television show Colony, a science fiction series on USA Network, was being heavily promoted.Godzilla rises at the nexus for all things pop culture. The Gaslamp is a popular playground for those attending San Diego Comic-Con.The Tin Fish near the San Diego Convention Center still features an Emerald City canopy, nine months after last year’s Comic-Con.Star Trek graphic on a wall in downtown San Diego’s Domino’s Pizza store. A Starfleet insignia. Going boldly where no one has gone before . . .San Diego’s Domino’s Pizza has a fun wall with lots of pop culture imagery, including an alien, Bat signal, Mario, and the downtown skyline.Of all the cool space helmets in the known universe, Darth Vader tops them all!Walk around downtown and you might be reminded our fair city is home to San Diego Comic-Con!
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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 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 share and enjoy!
Look! Up in the sky! A Red Bull Air Race plane is about to buzz the San Diego Convention Center!
Check out this cool sight that just went up in San Diego’s Gaslamp, right next to the trolley station and Tin Fish restaurant! A Red Bull Air Race plane appears to be flying low over downtown! I think it might buzz the nearby convention center!
This morning, when I took these photos, I spoke to friendly guys putting up some promotional banners and learned the cool “plane on a post” had just been installed. A couple cranes were nearby. It appears to be an actual plane that is flown during the Red Bull Air Race World Championship.
The next big race comes to San Diego Bay in two weeks. The best pilots in the world will fly a few feet above the water through an insane aerial obstacle course. Some years back a Red Bull Air Race was held in San Diego, and I caught some of the incredible action from a distance. All I can say is those pilots must have amazing reflexes and nerves of steel!
This unique motorsport was devised by the people at Red Bull. The planes move at high speed and are extremely maneuverable. This year the Master Class category features fourteen of the world’s top pilots.
There are eight races around the globe, mostly in cities by water, and San Diego will be the second race. I hope to catch it! If I do, I’ll post photos!
The type of cool airplane flown at a Red Bull Air Race. The upcoming aerial race will be through a unique obstacle course above San Diego Bay.San Diego Trolley leaves the Gaslamp Station and passes a new banner advertising the Red Bull Air Race in mid-April.Poster promotes the upcoming Red Bull Air Race over San Diego Bay, on April 15 and 16.It might be small, but it can turn on a dime and is super fast!One can see some of the airplane’s inner workings. There doesn’t appear to be much room in the cockpit!Now the Red Bull Air Race plane seems to be banking toward the Gaslamp! Perhaps it will fly up Fifth Avenue!
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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 Twitter!
On a weekday morning, construction workers remove debris from the interior of the now vacant Gaslamp 15 movie theater.
Here comes a batch of lively photos that I took downtown this morning. I have the week off from work, so I’m trying to take full advantage of it.
On this typical workday, I simply walked down from Cortez Hill and enjoyed some of the ordinary bustle downtown that I don’t always have time to appreciate. Among other things, I noticed the clean up is still going on from last night’s Mardi Gras celebrations. Life goes on…
Workers on scaffolding renovate the exterior of a building on Sixth Avenue.Meals are being delivered by the San Diego Unified School District’s Food and Nutrition Services to Kipp Adelante Preparatory Academy.Priests from St. Paul’s Cathedral provide Ashes To Go and a quick blessing to believers passing by on B Street on this Ash Wednesday.A window washer at work at City Pizzeria.Sidewalk sign proclaims that your future is waiting upstairs!I saw this art in a shop window as I walked by so I had to post it, of course!A row of motorcycles, and a worker taking a break near Horton Plaza.Torn sign at a Broadway bus station informs riders about yesterday’s Mardi Gras detours.This cool guy holding a parking sign outside the Bristol Hotel was nice to smile for a pic.A construction worker crosses Broadway while a homeless man looks into a trashcan.Here comes a guy riding a cool bicycle that appears to be designed for deliveries. Perhaps he’s a courier. A few bike couriers still make deliveries downtown.One guy crosses the street while carrying plans; another escorts dogs with a coffee in hand.People board an MTS bus near the Fifth Avenue trolley station.A walker runs his cane through some spilled leftover ice on a Gaslamp sidewalk.A firetruck turns a corner in the Gaslamp, and reflections of nearby buildings appear in the windows.A worker with Clean and Safe’s downtown program mops the sidewalk while a businessman walks by.An Old Town Trolley Tours vehicle loaded with tourists waits for a homeless man with a packed shopping cart to clear an intersection.People work on laptop computers outside a coffee shop.Birds fly in a blue downtown San Diego sky.Someone unlocks the security gate in front of a small downtown shop. It’s morning, so time to open.I wait for a pollo asado burrito inside The Taco Stand and gaze out the window at B Street.A street musician near the C Street trolley tracks.Finally, I spotted these people as I headed back up Cortez Hill. They were crossing the street with some shining balloons. I guess it must be an anniversary!
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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 Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 