Imagine my surprise! Nine days until Christmas, and most of the holiday decorations at Old Poway Park are now being taken down!
A worker was removing holiday decorations today as I walked through the historic park. My arrival was just in time to photograph ribbons, wreaths and ornaments before they vanish. Yes, a bit sad.
I was told everything except the lights and Christmas trees (stripped of ornaments) will remain. The big annual “Christmas in the Park” event was held several days ago.
Folks in the Old Poway Park office explained the pre-Christmas removal is being done to preserve the decorations from the weather.
I’m glad I took my Poway walk today and got these photos!
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Balboa Park’s new Botanical Building Pergola is rapidly rising!
Three weeks ago I noticed the beginnings of construction. This newly created pergola, which will stand near the west end of the Botanical Building, recreates one of twelve pergolas that were originally in Balboa Park during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.
You can see my previous photographs and learn more about the project by clicking here. Now compare!
Nearby, workers are continuing to install the Central Gardens that will surround the Botanical Building.
I must say the pergola structure appears larger–longer and taller–than I imagined it would be.
When finished, the shady, restful Botanical Building Pergola should be another beautiful and practical landmark in Balboa Park!
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Perhaps you’ve driven through Gate One while arriving at or departing from Liberty Station. It’s the old Navy base entrance at the northeast end of Liberty Station, where Lytton Street and Barnett Avenue meet.
You might have noticed plaques on the two old guard buildings.
Curiosity getting the best of me, the last time I was in the neighborhood I walked around both historical buildings for a closer look.
Gate One was the main entrance to Naval Training Center San Diego, and the grassy area with an anchor behind it is Sellers Plaza. As this webpage explains: Named for the base’s first commander, Sellers Plaza serves as the Naval Training Center’s front door.
You can see Gate One in the center of this postcard:
Image courtesy Libery Station.
Here are photographs I recently took in front of Gate One…
Identical plaques are mounted to the front of both buildings near the arch. The steel arch was added in 1932.
I’m now standing by Building 20. There across the road is Building 21.
The plaques summarize the history of the San Diego Naval Training Station, which opened in 1923 and was finally decommissioned in 1997. Over 1.75 million sailor recruits would receive training here.
Now I’ve walked behind Building 20…
A plaque by the door to Building 20 identifies it as Gatehouse #1, constructed 1923.
Dodging a car or two, I’m now behind Building 21…
The rear of both buildings feature these beautiful tile fountains.
A plaque by the door of Building 21 identifies it as the Pass/Decal Office, constructed 1922.
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I was exploring the neighborhood near Balderrama Park in Oceanside when I spied this quaint old structure at 1510 Lemon Street. I had stumbled upon the historical 1893 St. Mary’s Chapel.
The location of today’s much larger St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, near the Oceanside Civic Center, is where this old chapel was originally built. The wooden chapel, affectionately called the Capillita, was completed in 1896.
The city of Oceanside was incorporated a few years earlier, in 1888, when its population was only 1000.
After the city had grown and a larger church was built in 1927, the chapel served as Parish Hall. The small chapel was later moved to its present location. It was restored in 1977.
Back in 1915, during San Diego’s Panama-California Exposition, Balboa Park featured twelve pergolas. Three remain today: the columned ones curving on either side of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, and one inside the Alcazar Garden. You can read all about this history in a recent publication of the Committee of 100. Check out page 4 of their Spring 2025 newsletter here.
A fourth historical pergola will soon be returning! As you can see in these photos taken today, its reconstruction has begun by the Botanical Building!
The Botanical Building Pergola will stand to the west of the Botanical Building, directly west of a nearby fountain. For months workers have been digging and preparing the ground for the pergola–for the structure’s foundation, irrigation for nearby gardens, moving a large tree, etc.
Now steel is appearing! The pergola’s construction has begun in earnest!
Take a look at the map in my next photo. My first two photographs (above) were taken from near the “You are here” spot.
The existing fountain appears as the darkened circle. The dashed lines are the recently rearranged construction fences.
My final photograph was taken over the fence from a point just beyond the fountain.
I’ll post updates as the project moves along!
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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 X.
Several historic buildings can be visited at the Escondido History Center in Grape Day Park. One of these buildings was the very first library that opened in Escondido, back in 1895.
The little building was the second public library in San Diego County. In 1971 it was saved from demolition by the Escondido Historical Society and moved to Grape Day Park.
Today visitors step into the little old library (headquarters of the Escondido History Center) on Thursday through Saturday, between 10 am and 4 pm. Inside one can look at historical photographs, conduct research, or view fascinating exhibits. There are also several antique artifacts like an old scale, spinning wheel, and gas pump.
Last Saturday I also found a smile!
I learned the old library and been remodeled and expanded over the years. To me, its present-day use as a museum is the thing of greatest interest.
The exhibits can change a bit over time. During my visit I enjoyed looking at Pioneer Family: Cassou Family, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Here’s an old photo of the Escondido Public Library as it originally appeared. Notice there’s not much else around it!
A big glass display case against one wall is packed full of history.
One exhibit traces the history of Escondido’s influential Cassou family, whose mid-19th century roots were in France.
Transportation in Escondido over the years is highlighted in the second exhibit.
Cruisin’ Grand photographs show how the beloved summer event has previously appeared.
I love that big model train! It was created by Hollis Watrous in his garage workshop starting in 1960. He ran it on tracks in his backyard!
Here’s a cool old photograph of downtown Escondido in 1911.
It is believed, by the large number of automobiles, that the photo was taken on bustling Grape Day.
Among the shelves behind the front counter I spied this old image of Escondido’s first librarian, Mina Ward.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
In ten years the historic post office in the Village of La Jolla will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
It’s very fortunate the 1935 building has been preserved. The result of a Great Depression-era works program, the post office was threatened by a planned U.S. Postal Service downsizing in 2011. The historic building was saved by an outpouring of community activism.
The handsome La Jolla Post Office was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 and remains a beloved landmark in La Jolla at 1140 Wall Street.
The architectural style is considered Mission Revival. You can read about its construction and history on the Living New Deal website here.
It’s interesting to note the building’s plaque states the La Jolla Post Office’s creation was the result of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Living New Deal website, however, states it was the Public Works Administration (PWA). The two were separate programs.
Inside the post office lobby, a beautiful New Deal-era mural was painted by renowned local artist Belle Baranceanu. The art shows a hilly panorama of La Jolla and the Pacific Ocean. If you’d like to see photos of the mural, click here!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Have you read Two Years Before the Mast? You might remember how author Richard Henry Dana describes the tiny Mexican town of San Diego which he visited in 1835. He would ride into town for pleasure when not unloading, loading or drying cattle hides at La Playa in Point Loma. His famous work of literature vividly describes a fandango in Old Town at the home of Don Juan Bandini.
Bandini’s casa would eventually become Old Town’s Cosmopolitan Hotel, and the very room where the first waltz was likely danced in California can be visited in the hotel today. That’s the room in the above photograph!
Today I ventured into the Cosmopolitan Hotel and discovered two interesting signs in the historic room. The first explains how an extravagant wood floor was installed by Bandini for dancing. It was probably the first wooden floor in California.
Dana wrote in Two Years Before the Mast:
“A great deal has been said about our friend Don Juan Bandini, and when he did appear, which was toward the close of the evening, he certainly gave us the most graceful dancing that I had ever seen.
His slight and graceful figure was well calculated for dancing, and he moved about with the grace and daintiness of a young fawn. He was loudly and repeatedly applauded, the old men and women jumping out of their seats in admiration, and the young people waving their hats and handkerchiefs.”
More photos of the restored room today…
A second sign explains how in the later 1800’s, after the abandoned Bandini house had been acquired by Albert and Emily Seeley and converted into the Cosmopolitan Hotel, big social parties took place in this room once again. They were the talk of the town!
Would you like to visit the historic room yourself? Look for a friendly tintype photographer outside this door. Then step through!
While you’re at it, you can have an old-fashioned tintype photograph taken as a keepsake. Perhaps pretend you’ve traveled back in time to the mid-1800’s, when this photographic technology was developed!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
A variety of construction projects are now being undertaken in Balboa Park. During my walk today, I took photos that show good progress.
No, I couldn’t take photographs of the work being done on the roof of the San Diego Natural History Museum. I don’t have a helicopter! See a recent blog post concerning that here.
Okay, here we go. My first photographs show how a beautiful new pergola is being added to Balboa Park at the west end of the Botanical Building.
The next photo was taken a few months ago. A tree at the corner of the San Diego Museum of Art was being carefully removed from a spot near where the pergola will be built.
The tree has been temporarily relocated to the fenced “island” behind the Botanical Building.
Today, here’s that same spot where the tree was removed:
Banners hung on the construction fence describe how the historic pergola from 1915 is being rebuilt.
And one more photo taken today of progress at the pergola construction site…
Next, the House of Czech & Slovak Republics cottage is almost completely repaired. A corner of the building was decimated by a falling eucalyptus tree during a wind storm earlier this year. I never did take photos of the serious damage.
A few weeks ago, a member of the House of Czech & Slovak Republics told me that he was grateful the work was being done expeditiously.
Today, I saw the exterior is now painted. A worker told me things are “getting there.” I did note as I walked past the cottage that one door is boarded.
Next, a nearby building, which houses both the Hall of Nations and House of Italy cottage, has had the following exterior damage for quite a while now.
The worker I spoke to said he believed these repairs are next.
Finally, I noticed the front entrance of the Municipal Gymnasium continues to be readied for its amazing new marquee and its bronze panel mural.
As more progress is made, and as this historic ornamentation is added in the near future, I hope to take additional photographs. Exciting stuff!
UPDATE!
I’ve learned the tree moved for the pergola construction is a a mature Bischofia javanica, or Toog tree. It will return to its spot once the pergola is completed! Read more here.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
A new exhibition recently opened at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods takes a look at African-American communities that have been substantially altered, injured, or uprooted by practices such as redlining or urban development over the years.
Communities from Downtown to City Heights to La Jolla . . . and even to Julian in our local mountains have painful stories to tell. These stories can be understood through many old photographs, the words of residents affected by racial discrimination, and by viewing historical maps of affected neighborhoods.
Visitors to the exhibit could and should spend a good while taking it all in.
Yes, change over time constitutes history–but change too often has been self-serving, mean-spirited or unnecessarily destructive.
May we all be kind. Hopefully we learn from the past.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Cool San Diego Sights! 