Last year, at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park’s annual Fourth of July celebration, diverse people from our community joined together on stage to read parts of the Declaration of Independence.
People from all walks of life, converging from different places, each with their own unique struggles, ambitions and experiences, remembered some of the enduring principles that underlie a free society.
During the event, anyone in the crowd was invited to come up onto the stage to read, and many did.
Of all the photos I took at the event, the above photograph to me is the most powerful.
Even with all of our human differences–the millions of unique personal beliefs and desires that frequently conflict–there are high ideals that are cherished by one and all.
We all want to live. We all want to be free. We all seek happiness.
I was walking along El Cajon Boulevard just east of 54th Street–part of the El Cerrito neighborhood–when I noticed lots of fun street art painted on electrical boxes.
I took photos!
Sometimes you have to make your own sunshine.
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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!
The day that many in San Diego have anticipated for nearly three months has arrived!
Balboa Park is reopening!
During the coronavirus pandemic, the Central Mesa area of Balboa Park–the beloved center of San Diego’s cultural life–has been closed to the public. But that changes today! While most of the museums aren’t quite ready to open yet, visitors will again be able to amble down El Prado and enjoy the park’s sunshine, gardens and architectural beauty.
And a few places in the park will be open!
The world-famous San Diego Air and Space Museum will be open! So will the Visitor Center, the Prado Restaurant and the Japanese Friendship Garden’s Tea Pavilion! Visitors will notice that modifications have been made to ensure social distancing and generally increase public safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can bet I’ll be heading to Balboa Park first thing after work today. And I’ll be there all weekend. I miss it so much.
Here are a few photographs from my rather inactive blog Beautiful Balboa Park. These photos were taken at sunrise on a summer day almost three years ago.
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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!
Do you ever blink your eyes at an oh-so-serious adult and wonder what they were like as a small child? Before growing up and becoming terribly sophisticated, did they love to draw simple things like hearts, flowers and smiles?
I saw this amazing tile wall in Escondido last weekend as I walked from the California Center for the Arts toward Grape Day Park. A plaque states it’s the 1994 Escondido Students’ Tile Mural. Hundreds of names from local schools appear on this happy, quilt-like mosaic.
The tiles were painted 26 years ago.
I have no doubt that many who painted their tile with small hands long ago still love hearts, flowers and smiles.
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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!
There’s so much art to discover around downtown Vista it makes one’s head spin! I don’t think I’ve observed a greater concentration of public art anywhere else in San Diego County.
In addition to many murals (I’ll share photos of those shortly), there are fun, super creative sculptures almost everywhere one turns: on sidewalks, on street corners, on walls, rising from pedestals into the sky!
There are crazy steampunk sculptures, abstract sculptures, healing sculptures along Veterans Memorial Park, joyful sculptures based on the theme Kites Over Vista.
There are so many public sculptures that I only photographed a fraction of them last weekend as I enjoyed a semi-random walk around downtown Vista.
If you follow Cool San Diego Sights, you probably noticed I already posted photographs of two of these sculptures. Wild Horses here, and Love Locks here. (I’ll soon be sharing photos of one additional very special sculpture.)
To discover much more of this amazing public art, visit the City of Vista Public Art Map by clicking here.
Big Blue Kite, by artist Robert Rochin, 2008.Into the Current, by artist Janis Selby Jones, 2017. (Represents the swirling Great Pacific Garbage Patch.)Joy Figure, by artist Josh Bowman, 2008.Healing, by artist Vicki Leon, 2016.
Freedom, by artists Jaydon Sterling Randall and Rick Randall, 2016.Remembrance, by artist Buddy Smith, 2016.
Plaques set in the Paseo Santa Fe sidewalk contain sculpted avocados.Prima Vista, by artist Michael Angelo Venturello, 2016.A View in Bloom, by artists Thomas and Sylvia King, 2006.Carnival, by artist Rick Randall, 2019.
Alley Cat, by artists Rick and Jaydon Sterling Randall.
Tortuga de Mar, by artist John Meyer, 2018.Peace Arrow, by artist Alex Gall, 2019.
A Flock of Kites, by artist Robert Rochin, 2008.
Alley Art Man.
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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!
In the city of Vista many hearts are locked together.
A double heart-shaped sculpture on Main Street titled Love Locks invites residents to permanently attach a padlock. Each lock symbolizes an unbreakable bond of love.
Love Locks was created by artists Rick Randall and Jaydon Sterling Randall in 2016.
People have added hundreds of unique locks to the two joined hearts.
Each lock has its own story.
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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!
To say the least, the year 2020 has been eventful. The coronavirus pandemic, economic disruption, an election year, widespread protests and even riots. During such times, it’s easy to understand we are all living inside history.
The events of five years ago are also part of human history, even if those days in retrospect seem less troubled, less chaotic.
Well, the world continues to turn and it’s time once again to revisit a few Cool San Diego Sights memories. These are from June 2015.
The big centennial of Balboa Park was underway, of course, and Comic-Con was fast approaching . . . plus there were many other happy celebrations of life in San Diego.
To revisit memories from five years ago, click the following links:
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 phone or 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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Cool San Diego Sights! 