A horde of insane, terrifying Psychos was observed prowling about San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter today. The bandits, arriving from the Borderlands, meandered about Fifth Avenue, startling innocent civilians who merely wanted to have a good time at Comic-Con 2024.
I suppose this gang of Psychos thought the Vault must be located somewhere in the Gaslamp Quarter. I’m not sure how they hoped to find it, however. They didn’t appear too bright.
One approached me and I thought of running for dear life. But when it asked whether I was its mother, I could only feel sorry for the poor bandit.
Of course, these guys were out during Comic-Con promoting the upcoming movie Borderlands. And they were handing out Entertainment Weekly Comic-Con Special Issue magazines, too!
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It’s Wednesday in San Diego. This evening thousands will converge on the San Diego Convention Center for Comic-Con 2024 Preview Night.
This morning during my walk around downtown everything was still relatively quiet. Most offsites for Comic-Con were still getting ready. Vendors and event participants could be seen trickling in toward the convention center through the Gaslamp Quarter and from nearby hotels.
I took these photographs during my walk…
Quiet on early Wednesday morning at the Those About to Die offsite in Gaslamp Square.SpongeBob graphics now fill the Hard Rock Hotel! Check it out!SpongeBob greets guests at the Hard Rock Hotel’s front desk!The Petco Park Interactive Zone has more to go before it’s ready.Before you know it, crowds will be visible everywhere around the San Diego Convention Center.Hulu animated show graphics adorn the elevators at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.Bart Simpson is loose in the hotel!The big FX offsite is quiet on Wednesday morning.Adult Swim will be having a pirate parrrty on the green!Do pirates and dinosaurs go together?The IMDb Boat appears about ready.The entrance to the long green Hulu animayhem tunnel.It was early. Few people about.I didn’t realize pirates could board ships so easily.The A.V.A. FEST is looking ever more festive.Blessed and Pressed.The Dragon Ball offsite is looking just as cool as ever.Setting up the transportation tent near Harbor Drive.This will be the Bathroom Battlestation offsite, on First Avenue just north of Harbor Drive. The Mr. Beast Labs offsite is also supposed to be on this parking lot–where cars are still parked! Better get busy!I love Peanuts. Two of their classic television specials in the window of their offsite activation along MLK Promenade.The Subway sandwich sign spinners are ready on Fifth Avenue!
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Preparations are well underway for all the activities outside the San Diego Convention Center during Comic-Con 2024!
I walked through San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, along MLK Promenade and around the convention center a couple times today, curious to see what all is going on. I took a bunch of photos! (You might notice I haven’t sharpened or edited them.)
First, The Penguin banners were going up along the trolley tracks across from the convention center…
There’s going to be an Unknown Comics Pop-Up Store in the Gaslamp.
Workers were getting The Lodge ready for Paramount+.
Batman: Caped Crusader posters pasted to a downtown San Diego wall.
The two Star Trek/Dr. Who offsite locations now have outside graphics.
Workers were adding superhero graphics to the Marvel Contest of Champions Ferris wheel.
The Marriott Marquis now has Dragon Ball graphics above the front entrance.
Workers were preparing the Dragon Ball offsite on the Marriott Marquis Marina Terrace.
Here I’m walking down the bayside boardwalk toward the Hilton.
Abbott Elementary’s A.V.A. FEST has added their big slide. Happy people will plunge into a ball pit.
Work is finally underway at Adult Swim’s offsite: the Pirate Parrrty!
Workers are putting up the big FX wrap on the Hilton promoting What We Do in the Shadows.
Peeking into the FX offsite. Looks like a topiary garden.
More photos of the FX activation at Comic-Con.
Peacock’s offsite in Gaslamp Square, recreating the ancient Roman stadium Circus Maximus, now has a handsome exterior.
Baja Rick’s at Gaslamp Square now has graphics promoting the Olympic Games on NBC.
IGN is getting their balcony at the Hard Rock Hotel ready. Watch for celebrities here!
Workers are finishing up the AMC building wraps on the Hilton Gaslamp.
Getting the Peanuts offsite ready on Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade.
Not sure what this will be for.
The entrance is being created for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, just beyond Peanuts.
San Diego is nearly ready for Comic-Con in 2024! Preview Night is in two days!
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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!
Hand and shoe prints in concrete of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
If you’re heading to San Diego Comic-Con this week, heads up! Did you know you can see the actual hand and shoe prints of major movie stars and celebrities in a Gaslamp Quarter restaurant?
The prints of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Downey Jr., William Shatner, the actors who played R2-D2 and C-3PO, and even Michael Jackson can be viewed on the floor when you step into Mr. Tempo Gaslamp San Diego at 701 Fifth Avenue!
The building formerly was home to the Theatre Box movie theater. They had these hand prints brought in from Los Angeles, and they remain here to this day. Sadly, Mr. Tempo has dropped the Hollywood theme and many of the prints are now covered by tables. But it’s well worth stepping inside for a quick look!
By the way, the Shatner prints, if you can find them, were created here in San Diego, a couple years ago during Comic-Con!
Hand and shoe prints of The Hunger Games actors.Hand and feet prints of Shirley Temple.Hand and shoe prints of Humphrey Bogart.Hand and shoe prints of Robert Downey Jr.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
SpongeBob SquarePants and his watery friends are now greeting guests inside San Diego’s Hard Rock Hotel!
Fun SpongeBob graphics can be spotted in the hotel’s lobby. They celebrate the 25th anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants during Comic-Con 2024. The Hard Rock Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter will be buzzing with activity once Comic-Con begins later this week!
The exterior of the hotel is now covered with colorful SpongeBob graphics, too! If you’d like to see photographs of the huge, very funny building wrap, click here!
Paramount+ is behind the hotel’s fun interior and exterior during Comic-Con. They encourage people to Stream Like a Sponge!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Animation Domination awaits those who ride these special elevators during Comic-Con 2024!
The Omni San Diego Hotel has been decorated by FOX to promote their popular animated shows, from The Simpsons to Family Guy to Bob’s Burgers to Krapopolis. In addition to a positively enormous Animation Domination building wrap, the hotel’s main elevators now have some very colorful graphics, as you can see in these photos taken today.
As we approach the start of Comic-Con, more and more cool stuff is popping up around downtown San Diego! Stay tuned!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
A pair of big carnival rides have popped up outside Comic-Con in San Diego!
It’s several days now until Comic-Con 2024 commences, and today a big swing ride and a Ferris wheel are being installed for two different outside activities that will be open free to the public!
The YOYO swing ride that you see in the first photographs is part of the family friendly A.V.A. FEST offsite, which will also include a ball pit and water squirt game. The carnival-like activation promotes the ABC series Abbott Elementary.
You can join the fun starting Thursday behind the San Diego Convention Center. It will be hard to miss!
On the other side of the convention center you’ll be able to freely ride the Marvel Contest of Champions big Ferris wheel, also starting on Thursday. (To ride you must play an exclusive Marvel Contest of Champions quest on your phone.)
The Ferris wheel is located on the grassy side of the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter hotel, alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade. It will be hard to miss too!
The ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium Circus Maximus is presently being built in San Diego! Workers are putting the structure together in downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp Square!
Admittedly, this Circus Maximus might be more of a minimus, seeing how it’s vastly smaller than the Roman ruin. It’s going to be a super cool offsite during Comic-Con 2024!
Comic-Con fans who enter the stadium (which I previously and mistakenly assumed was the Colosseum) will get to actually ride simulated chariots! While hundreds of tiny Romans cheer!
The whole experience promotes Peacock’s new series Those About to Die. As you can see in the next photo, the new Gaslamp Square video screen operated by MTS is showing an advertisement for the Roman gladiator show.
Circus might also describe activities outside Comic-Con once the international pop culture convention begins. Massive crowds and loads of craziness! The good kind!
UPDATE!
Whoa! Check it out! Later on I saw this…
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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!
Comic-Con is back in full force! After a few difficult years, due to COVID and a writers strike, it seems that in 2024 the epic international pop culture convention is going to be bigger and more exciting than ever! And outside the San Diego Convention Center there will be many fun offsites for the public to enjoy!
Many of those offsite activations are now under construction with less than a week to go until Comic-Con begins.
I walked around downtown San Diego, the Gaslamp and the convention center this morning and found all sorts of exciting activity. Check out these photos…
First up, The Lodge is under construction at the Happy Does Bar on Fifth Avenue. The Lodge is an activation that will showcase Paramount+ shows…
Next, at Gaslamp Square, Peacock’s unique Those About to Die Chariot Racing offsite is under construction. I was told visitors can actually ride around the tiny colosseum that is being built!
When I walked over the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge, I noticed a lot of canopies are being prepared outside the San Diego Convention Center! It’s summer, the lines and crowds will be big, and shade will be welcome!
Between the convention center and the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, FX is setting up on the grass in their usual spot. I suspect that big building wrap on the Hilton will promote What We Do in the Shadows…
Not much is ready with Adult Swim’s offsite, yet. Looks like their usual setup…
I believe that next behind the convention center is the Hulu offsite. I’ll have to wait and see. I read the Abbott Elementary A.V.A. Fest offsite will be somewhere back here, too…
The Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina’s Terrace is where Dragon Ball will have their always super cool offsite. Workers were cleaning to get ready this morning…
A Shaun of the Dead offsite will be at 520 Fifth Avenue during Comic-Con 2024. I spotted a Winchester Tavern sign on the sidewalk outside!
What are these mysterious props coming down the street in a truck? Time will tell!
UPDATE!
The following morning I walked around to see what progress had been made…
First, I found where the Abbott Elementary offsite will be–at the end of the superyacht landing. They were getting ready to erect the A.V.A. FEST’s big swing ride!
Then I walked past Hulu’s huge site, which they continue to work on…
I passed the Adult Swim offsite by, where not much had happened yet, and then checked out FX’s progress, including their big wrap on the Hilton…
I crossed over to the Gaslamp where I checked out Peacock’s Those About to Die chariot racing offsite. My next blog post will show what I saw here this Sunday morning in more detail.
On the grass to one side of the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp some workers had begun conferring. I didn’t speak to them, but I’m assuming the Marvel Champions Ferris wheel will be here.
Some more construction going on at The Lodge…
And the Shaun of the Dead offsite up Fifth Avenue is making progress..
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
What would you do if you found a magic ring from Middle Earth? Would you place it on your finger? Would you eventually fall under the power of Sauron?
Well, some Rings of Power can be found in San Diego during Comic-Con 2024! You can see them near the Gaslamp Quarter, Historic Heart Of San Diego archway!
Some large, very cool looking building wraps are being applied to the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp across Fifth Avenue from the Hard Rock Hotel. They promote The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime.
I’ll take more photos as these building wraps approach completion and post them in an update below!
UPDATE!
The wraps appeared nearly finished the following morning. I took the following photographs under less than ideal light conditions, so I had to radically adjust contrast and brightness. But the darker images are fitting! After all, darkness will bind them!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Cool San Diego Sights! 