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!
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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!
Painting of female face in window of a small shop in East Village containing odd bits of art and used items.
Enjoy these miscellaneous photos of interesting things I’ve spotted while walking around downtown. Examples of artistry and creativity can be seen almost everywhere. Even a bit of wisdom. One simply has to look.
A decorative bird cage dangles above the sidewalk beside Pappalecco, a popular Little Italy cafe.Wine bottles converted into human musicians in the window of Michael J Wolf Fine Arts in the Gaslamp.Beautiful relief panel at entrance to the Embarcadero’s now closed Anthony’s Fish Grotto. An underwater scene.Navy pinup artwork on a tattoo parlor’s entrance sign in the Gaslamp.Wisdom on a corner of a downtown building. Give love. Get love.This artistic metal gate definitely caught my eye as I walked around San Diego!The mosaic tilework of an eatery’s outdoor table in East Village.Colorful tiles beneath foliage above a garage door.Depiction of a city on the wall of Sixth Avenue Bistro.Fancy artwork painted on a column. Photo taken in the lobby courtyard of La Pensione Hotel.Interesting twisted iron gate and shadows on the wall behind it.Unusual bent lamppost along Broadway near Harbor Drive.Cool painting of male face found leaning up against a dumpster enclosure on Cortez Hill.
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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!
Mysterious gold lettering on a door in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter reads: Law Office Eddie O’Hare, Esquire. It’s actually the sneaky entrance to a speakeasy, the underground, 1920’s themed Prohibition Lounge!
Here’s another batch of cool door photographs, taken during my walks around San Diego.
Some of these doors are rather odd, as you can plainly see! Others have interesting historical significance. Most are just plain fun!
To learn a bit more, read the captions!
Nautical-looking door of the American Tunaboat Association on the Embarcadero near Tuna Harbor.Interesting detail above the door of the 1906 Hearne Surgical Hospital Building in downtown San Diego.These old wooden doors to the patio of Indigo Grill in Little Italy are enormous! I don’t know their origin.A very odd metal door in Little Italy. Seems to me it would quite easy to step around it!Not sure I’d want to follow the arrow and step through this door in the Gaslamp Quarter. Looks dangerous!In San Diego’s small Chinatown one can see a cool sight that traces back to early San Diego history. The door to Quin Produce!The unusually tall stained glass door of the Philippine Library and Museum in the Gaslamp. I’ll probably visit one day!It’s what meets you at the front door of Mexican Fiesta in Seaport Village that’s out of the ordinary. A sculpture of a bandito sitting on a bench!Step through the front door of Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills and you’re met by Hollywood movie stars!
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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!
Gaslamp Museum at the William Heath Davis House and Park, 1850. Home of the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation.
These photos inside the historic William Heath Davis House Museum were taken a few months ago. I toured the fascinating house during the Fall Back Festival, which is held every year in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.
Dated 1850, the William Heath Davis House, like a number of other structures in early San Diego, was built on the East Coast and shipped around Cape Horn. At the time San Diego simply didn’t have the resources and tools required to build a fine wooden house. Various rooms inside the museum show what life was like in New Town a century and a half ago. It was a much simpler time. The small museum now sits in the middle of a gigantic, bustling metropolis.
Please read the photo captions for more info, and click the signs to read them.
Photo of the William Heath Davis House Museum taken from across Island Avenue.Tours of the historic house are available. A museum store contains fascinating gifts.The William Heath Davis House, built in 1850, is the oldest surviving structure from San Diego’s New Town. It is a prefabricated “salt-box” style home, shipped from Portland, Maine around Cape Horn.The 1850 Davis-Horton House was used as a military barracks, county hospital, and was home to New Town’s founder Alonzo Horton and several other families over the years.Looking down the stairs from the second floor. A lady in Victorian attire welcomes visitors to the museum during the Fall Back Festival in November.A look at the first floor living room where family and guests would gather.A small piano, sheet music, teacup and candle. Entertainment in the olden days was simple.The dining table is set for a grand meal in what was then a sparsely populated New Town San Diego.An old sewing machine can be found by a window upstairs.The nursery, with crib, chest and small bed.Three beds for the children have colorful quilts.A desk in the study, framed photos, and a cabinet full of books. No internet back then!An old-fashioned penny-farthing bicycle reminds visitors to the William Heath Davis House Museum of what life was like a century and a half ago in San Diego.
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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!
Cool artwork on wall in the famous Donut Bar in downtown San Diego.
Another year. More opportunities for discovery!
Yesterday’s storm ended and the sun came out. So I decided to take a wander around my fair city on New Year’s Day.
I started mid-morning and went for hours, taking photos of everything and anything at my leisure. Mixed among more ordinary looks at life were a few cool discoveries.
I met two friendly street artists during my walk–Carlos and Juli–and meant to include a couple photos of their work here, but I’ve decided to write a special separate blog post tomorrow. Look for it!
My first stop this morning was the Donut Bar. One Boston Cream, please! Super yum!Walking past Symphony Towers, I noticed this graphic on their outdoor display. A free concert for the community next weekend!My feet this New Year’s Day took me through Horton Plaza Park. I recently posted a blog with photos of the Broadway Fountain lit for Christmas at night.An unexpected discovery! It appears Horton Plaza Park has a time capsule buried between the grass and the Starbucks! History happens here.And a few steps to the west I spotted another plaque at my feet. The Salvation Army held its first San Diego meeting here, March 31, 1888.Crossing an intersection in the Gaslamp, I spotted an odd thing at ground level. This tile showing a burglar has been cemented to the asphalt in the middle of the street!It appears Monkey King is a restaurant soon to open in the Gaslamp Quarter. I discovered a shining gold mural on their wall!No mural on this interesting wall. A lady in pink shoes walks her dog in downtown San Diego.Just a cool photo of light and shadow and architectural geometry. The tall glass building is the new corporate headquarters of Sempra Energy in East Village.In East Village, this brightly shining mosaic sculpture in a medical office window caught my eye!Look what I found! These must be new. Two huge baseballs at Petco Park near the Padres Hall of Fame.One huge baseball has the autographs of the 1984 National League Champion Padres!And, of course, the second baseball has the autographs of the 1998 National League Champion team!A car carrier freight train covered with graffiti has stopped along Harbor Drive.People crossing the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge seem to walk in the clouds.Tourists on Segways pass the Coming Together sculpture by artist Niki de Saint Phalle.The Holiday by the Bay ice rink near the Hilton San Diego Bayfront seems to be winding down. A few skaters were out on New Year’s Day morning.Folks with a dog walk along San Diego Bay, approaching the high masts of superyachts.Two superyachts behind the convention center have really, really, REALLY high masts!The futuristic black superyacht Ahimsa has been docked in San Diego for at least a year, it seems. According to one website it’s worth 80 million dollars. Passersby have referred to the sleek vessel as the Bat-boat!The San Diego International Car Show is taking place this weekend. Test drives can be taken in the parking lot behind the convention center.Looks like some folks will be test-driving a new Ford.I saw this guy walking along with a large flag. He seemed to be on a mission. I didn’t think to pursue him and ask why.Just beautiful yachts in the Marriott Marina.I am fortunate to live in such a beautiful city.I spied the new downtown San Diego Central Courthouse between the silvery Marriott Marquis buildings. I believe the courthouse’s construction is nearly finished.The Silvergate ferry heads toward Coronado beyond the Embarcadero Marina Park South fishing pier.Two pelicans hanging out at the pier. A good day to kick back and fish.People descend the San Diego Convention Center steps that lead to the Flame of Friendship sculpture.An art installation in the new passageway between the Marriott and Hyatt waterfront hotels titled Kelp, created by artists Katie MacDonald and Kyle Schumann of After Architecture.Dogs stretch and relax with a human near Seaport Village.Lots of cranes in the skyline lately! The two nearby are for fishing boats. The construction crane on the left is for the new InterContinental Hotel. On the right, a high crane rises by Pacific Gate by Bosa.On New Year’s Day lots of people are enjoying a walk by the water. I see what appear to be two Navy oilers docked at North Island.Uh, oh! Look what I spotted. The live bait-catching seiner Cachalot seems to be drifting away from the Tuna Harbor’s G Street Pier! Those ropes seem loose. Perhaps last night’s storm is the reason.In San Diego, walks are often accompanied by music.Very strange! Wisconsin’s Pulaski High School Red Raiders marching band is in San Diego today! Why? A little searching indicated that they will will perform tomorrow morning in the Tournament of Roses Parade, up north in Pasadena!That isn’t a cruise ship. It’s the MV World Odyssey, a floating classroom! Its Semester at Sea allows students to study abroad, while touring the world!Dozens of sailboats out on San Diego Bay during New Year’s Day. It’s a sailing regatta!Curious gulls analyze a bicyclist at the Embarcadero’s new observation deck, just north of the Broadway Pier. Life is full of surprises!
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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 enjoy!
Amazing, revolutionary holographic painting by visionary San Diego artist Tom Liguori. Photo taken through a window. Image contrast and sharpness adjusted. Photo cropped to eliminate reflections.
You might recall that earlier this year I blogged about some genuinely revolutionary holographic art. I had discovered some dazzling paintings in the windows of downtown’s old Gaslamp 15 movie theater, which has now been closed for almost a year. The paintings were created by Tom Liguori, a retired local entrepreneur, who is working to develop a completely new holographic art form.
Well, I noticed a new crop of his holographic paintings in the same windows the other day, so I’ve taken more photos. This new batch of works, if possible, seems even more vibrant and visually interesting. Some paintings are presented on a turning carousel allowing the sidewalk viewer to perceive their three dimensional quality. Placing my camera right up to the window glass, I tried hard to take photos without morning street reflections, and I’ve cropped some of the resulting images and adjusted contrast and sharpness to present this spellbinding art to the best of my ability. But you really have to see the holographic effect in person!
I was fortunate to meet Tom Liguori by chance a few months ago while I was walking around the Gaslamp. He was out on the sidewalk with some photographers, who were documenting one of his fantastic paintings. He’s a super friendly and interesting guy!
To see my earlier blog post, which I published in June before I met Mr. Liguori, click here. I didn’t adjust the images of those paintings a great deal, and the street reflections are much more evident. In that earlier blog post I also provide much more background about this new art movement, and what it all means to Mr. Liguori, an artist with an interest in physics and philosophy. Fascinating stuff!
I see he now has a website, where you can learn even more. This revolutionary artwork is available for purchase. To check his website out, click here!
Another work of fantastic, light-imbued art by Tom Liguori, a retired businessman who experiments with proprietary holographic paints.Colors and light change appearance in this holographic painting as the point of view shifts. This almost looks like an abstract still life.Several brilliant paintings turn in a spotlight on a carousel. One can see these at the now closed Gaslamp 15 movie theater on Fifth Avenue.A shield-like work of holographic art seems to produce streams of light in this photo. But it’s actually reflections on the window from the nearby street.One can get lost in this shining, jewel-like art. Wonderful!
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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 enjoy!
Old tin shop sign still visible on the historic 1882 Independent Order of Odd Fellows Building in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. A remnant of a past era.
While walking around downtown San Diego, I’m always pleased to make unexpected discoveries. Once in a while I’ll spot faded signs and advertisements that were painted years ago on historic old buildings. Unfortunately, many of those old signs are vanishing and will eventually be lost to time. Some of those walls will be painted, or new buildings will sprout up . . . That’s progress, I suppose.
I did some searching on the internet looking for information about the more mysterious signs, but with very little success. I increased the contrast of many photos to try to make out the faded words. If you know anything, leave a comment!
Most of these photos were taken in the morning, the last three or four days…
A faded sign is painted high on the 1888 Nesmith-Greely Building on Fifth Avenue. It is just visible from the street.One can barely make out the words HOTEL . . . ROOMS 50c to $1.00Old brick building at Seventh Avenue and G Street has words so obliterated I can’t decipher anything.The William Penn Hotel building at Fourth Avenue and F Street opened in 1913 as the elegant Oxford Hotel.Painted words from San Diego’s past. The Windsor Hotel on Fourth Avenue was built in 1887. The first floor was once a pool hall; in the 1960s it contained cardrooms and nightclubs with go-go dancers.The 1910 Western Metal Supply Company Building is now an iconic part of Petco Park in San Diego, home of the baseball Padres.The faded word LYON on a building at the corner of K Street and Fourth Avenue.From a distance, a square space on the side of the Simmons Hotel on Sixth Avenue appears to be blank reddish bricks.But a closer look reveals old words from many years ago. Perhaps you can figure out what they say.Faded words can also be spotted high on the Plaza Hotel building on Fourth Avenue.I can barely discern a few letters.The building on the right is The McGurck Block, built in 1887. A drug store was located in it from 1903 to 1984. Actor Gregory Peck’s father worked there as the night druggist.High up, painted on the old brick building’s side is a fading advertisement. A glimpse of San Diego’s past.
Here’s another pic I snapped on Fifth Avenue just south of Broadway:
Faded sign on side of a building on the 900 block of Fifth Avenue.
I’ve blogged in the past about a variety of cool old painted signs and images in downtown San Diego. Here they are:
Here’s a pic I took several years later, as I sat waiting for a bus at the City College trolley station, looking west…
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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 enjoy!
Unexpected faces in the window of Sparks Gallery in the Gaslamp Quarter. This colorful work of art commands the attention of anyone passing down the sidewalk.
The Gaslamp Quarter is usually bustling with humanity, as people shop, dine and take a stroll through the historic heart of downtown San Diego. But occasionally unexpected faces appear!
A mannequin high in a building window made me do a double take as I walked down Sixth Avenue through San Diego’s Gaslamp!A stylish Tatyana on a Gaslamp shop’s sign.Doug Loves Movies so much it seems he has forgotten to shave. A funny face spotted while strolling down a sidewalk, camera in hand.This unexpected face has no skin. The Chrome Domes seem mostly bones.A mischievous face painted next to a deserted patio. Dick’s Last Resort in the Gaslamp has closed after many years.The Grinch is smiling and behaving unexpectedly unGrinchlike in this fun artwork inside the front window of The Chuck Jones Gallery.Very cool! It’s Steve McQueen sporting some shades. An image above the windows of Eyes On Fifth.A large face painted on the brick wall inside a Gaslamp Quarter restaurant is an unexpected, arresting sight.
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