This happy mural was painted in 2017 at the Golden Hill Recreation Center. It depicts children together with nature.
Members of the community and volunteers with I Love a Clean San Diego came together on Coastal Cleanup Day to paint the colorful art. It decorates a retaining wall behind the center near the playground. You can see a photograph of the event and people working on the mural here.
Despite a little vandalism, the mural remains bright and beautiful almost ten years later. Flowers, butterflies, a hummingbird, coyote and rabbit populate a world where children jump and play.
A few photos for you to enjoy…
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On a fence at the Golden Hill Recreation Center there’s a student art exhibit. Kids attending Golden Hill Elementary School created neighborhood treasure maps!
I took these photos when I visited the Goldenpalooza festival on Saturday.
According to the posted “My Neighborhood Treasure Map” sign: Students were asked to draw a map of their favorite spots in their neighborhood using any art supplies. They had the option to make it realistic, whimsical or pure fantasy. Students from TK up to 7th grade participated.
Questions to guide their personal journey were: Where do you feel happiest? Where do you love to explore? What place do you want to go back to again and again?
So, what is important in a young person’s life? Take a look at these maps to discover treasure!
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Art and creativity were busting out everywhere at today’s big, very colorful Goldenpalooza festival at the Golden Hill Recreation Center! Check it out!
The festival offered families creative opportunities at every turn. There were multiple art-making stations and workshops for every age. You could learn how to make a cyanotype, a monster and a zine!
Friendly artists were painting, printmaking, demonstrating their technique and showcasing fantastic creations. There was even a cool, highly original video game created by San Diego locals that kids (or adults) could play!
All this while listening to live music from the stage!
Literacy also had a big presence at the festival. Kids were encouraged to read. Reading is fun and expands your mind!
Okay, can you tell I really loved Goldenpalooza? It was my first ever visit to the festival, and will likely not be my last.
Words Alive San Diego encourages children to read. It’s done with art and adult participation.A lot of activities for Makers!Sun Art! Golden Hill is the perfect place for this!The Joey, Jeremy & Camille Trio wave from the Goldenpalooza stage.INSIDE:ART (@insideart_sd) supports the fostering of identity for adults with developmental disabilities through dignified access to the creative arts community of San Diego.The Wall of Questions & Colors by Compagnia Creativa (@compagniacreativa) asks festival goers “What makes you smile?”Made me smile!Testing out the cool, locally developed Behemoth video game (find it on STEAM). A bit like the classic arcade game Joust.
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Everyone was smiling at Goldenpalooza in Golden Hill today, especially those at tables stocked with free healthy food, courtesy of Feeding San Diego!
The cost of living seems higher than ever in San Diego, so keeping food on the table is a struggle for too many residents. Feeding San Diego is there to fill in the gaps (and hungry stomachs).
At the Goldenpalooza community festival, people could fill a bag with potatoes, melons, tuna, low fat milk, and other nutritious essentials.
On behalf of so many in San Diego, thank you!
If you’d like to help Feeding San Diego fulfill their mission, or receive help putting food on your own table, visit their website here.
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Did you know there’s a bridge over a freeway in San Diego that is also a musical instrument?
Drivers passing over State Route 94 on the 25th Street bridge might not realize they are traveling beside an interactive chime rail that pedestrians with a good stick or (better yet) metal rod can play!
Called the Crab Carillon, this musical feature of a very unique bridge is part of the City of San Diego’s Civic Art Collection. The Crab Carillon, created by artist Roman de Salvo in 2003, features 488 individually tuned chimes spanning the full length of the bridge, which can be played by passersby.
De Salvo commissioned Joseph Waters to compose a short, sophisticated palindrome, which sounds the same played forward or backward. The title refers to the way that crabs scuttle from side to side, similar to the movement of those who interact with the artwork.
As I walked south down 25th Street from Golden Hill toward Sherman Heights, I happened to find a piece of broken wood on the sidewalk. Perfect! I thought. Up ahead is San Diego’s musical bridge! Now I’m ready to play the Crab Carillon!
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A large, bold mural in San Diego’s Golden Hill neighborhood shows a praying nurse and reads: Essential – Bless The Healers. It can be seen on the side of a building on the southwest corner of 30th Street and B Street.
I discovered the mural yesterday. I hadn’t walked this way in quite a long time. Given the message, I suppose the mural was created during the COVID-19 pandemic. But I don’t know exactly when it was painted, or by whom. Leave a comment if you know!
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Thank you for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often, so you might want to bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and check back from time to time.
You can explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
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!
During the late 19th century, Golden Hill was an affluent neighborhood at the east edge of downtown San Diego. Wander its streets today and you’ll encounter countless old Victorian homes and mansions, some a bit decayed, others gloriously restored.
I was walking up B Street recently when my eyes were arrested by one stately building fronted with impressive, two story tall Greek columns. I’d discovered the Leroy Wright House.
The Leroy Wright House was built in 1898. It was designed for California State Senator Leroy Wright by the Quayle Brothers, prominent architects at the time. Its unmistakeable architectural style is Classical Revival.
If you’d like to see more San Diego buildings that were designed by the Quayle Brothers, who are probably most remembered for historic, now vanished Balboa Stadium, you can click here.
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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!
Last month the Friends of Balboa Park installed a new information sign at the Golden Hill Fountain Grotto. The sign provides a good description of the fountain grotto’s history in Golden Hill Park. The community park, with views of downtown and Florida Canyon, is located in the southeast corner of much larger Balboa Park.
Five years ago I posted photos of the grotto on my now dormant blog Beautiful Balboa Park. You can read what I wrote and see those photographs here. I walked to the grotto again last weekend to check out the newly installed sign.
The sign explains how Golden Hill Park, developed in 1889, was the site of San Diego’s first playground. The Golden Hill Fountain Grotto was a decorative park installation designed in 1907 by Henry Lord Gay. He was also responsible for downtown San Diego’s Western Metal Supply Co. building, which is now a part of Petco Park.
Henry Lord Gay “created a sunken garden grotto built of stone and concrete with twin cobblestone stairways curving down to a sheltered fountain and seating area in a rugged canyon…Stones evoke mystery, creativity and contemplation; flowing water signifies life, and pathways lead out to the open sky…”
You can see in my photos how the fountain was made to appear like a natural spring whose pool trickles down into a hollowed rock.
Sadly, I observed evidence of homelessness and drug use in the secluded grotto. These tragic problems have become widespread in San Diego. Trash, graffiti and a burnt out fountain is probably not what Henry Lord Gay and the early residents of our city envisioned.
The Golden Hill Fountain Grotto is over a century old and is, according to the information sign, Balboa Park’s oldest designed feature.
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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!
Yesterday my long walk included a stretch through Golden Hill. As I headed back down E Street, I enjoyed viewing the handsome exterior of the historic Alfred Haines House.
This renowned Craftsman-style home, built in 1908 for San Diego Judge Alfred Haines, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Master Architects William, Charles and Edward Quayle designed the house.
The Quayle Brothers are responsible for many other notable structures in San Diego, including the Neo-Classical style Salt Lake and Union Pacific Building, which used to stand east of the Organ Pavilion during the 1915 Panama‐California Exposition. They designed the North Park Theatre in 1928 and the San Diego Police Department in 1939. They also designed San Diego’s historic Balboa Stadium (originally called City Stadium) for the Panama-California Exposition. It was the second concrete stadium built west of the Mississippi River.
If you want to see photos of the Alfred Haines House’s very elegant interior, click here!
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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 photos for you to enjoy!
