Tag: history

Histories of the Black Pacific at Maritime Museum.

Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific is an extensive exhibition that recently opened at the Maritime Museum of San Diego.

Spread over two levels of the museum’s steam ferry Berkeley, the exhibit celebrates 500 years of Black Mariner legacies in whaling, fishing, surfing, swimming, sailing, exploration, and defense shaping the U.S. Pacific.

Historical photographs and nautical artifacts transport visitors from the earliest African maritime traditions right up to the present day. The exhibition has been created with the help of UC San Diego curator Dr. Caroline Collins, so every aspect of Black history in connection with the Pacific Ocean is thoroughly covered.

You will learn about history that is too often overlooked.

Did you know that Juan Garrido, an Afro-Spanish conquistador, was the first documented Black person in what is now the United States? Or that by the mid-19th century, men of color made up to 30 percent of whalers? Or that African American blacksmith and abolitionist Lewis Temple invented an improved harpooning instrument called the Temple toggle iron? Or that thousands of African American women worked in the Pacific shipyards during World War II? Or that in 1942, Captain Hugh Mulzac became the first African American merchant marine naval officer to command an integrated crew during the war?

You’ll learn all this and much more when you visit Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific.

In addition, with your general admission ticket, you get to explore all of the historic ships of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, including world-famous Star of India!

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San Diego Scottish Highland Games in Mission Valley!

The 50th San Diego Scottish Highland Games are being held this year in Mission Valley. After making Vista their home for many years, the annual festival has moved to the expansive SDSU Mission Valley river park, conveniently located next to the Stadium trolley station. The games will continue through Sunday. (Check out the above website for all the info.)

A huge crowd came out Saturday to enjoy the traditional games, not to mention the rousing pipe and drum competition, Highland dancing, sheepdog trials and the friendly gathering of several dozen Scottish clans.

During my visit I enjoyed watching amazing men and women compete out on a wide field. They were tossing heavy cabers, throwing hammers, putting braemar stones, and engaged in all sorts of astounding heavy athletics.

I love bagpipe music. So watching and listening to pipe and drum groups from around Southern California as they practiced and competed was quite enjoyable. The sound of bagpipes throughout the grassy park made me wonder if I’d been transported to Scotland!

Adults enjoyed a beer garden, families checked out vendors and watched the colorful Highland dancing, kids loved petting the fluffy heritage cattle. There was tons of fun for everyone!

I took the next photo from atop the elevated Stadium trolley station. You can see how big this event is!

We gather to remember where we came from, celebrate what has been passed down, and welcome those discovering Scottish culture for the first time.

At the Highland Games, heritage is not just something we study. It is something we hear, taste, wear, dance, throw, share, and carry forward.

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Fletcher Cove history at the playground.

A sign posted inside the playground at Solana Beach’s Fletcher Cove provides some history of the place. I discovered the sign this morning and thought you might enjoy a look.

An old aerial photograph allows the viewer to see how Fletcher Cove had changed between 1923 and 2023.

In 1923, Colonel Ed Fletcher began a project that would provide easy public access to the beach. High pressure water sprayed with a fire hose would carve a path down to the beach through the sandstone bluffs.

On July 4, 1924, Fletcher Cove opened with great fanfare!

Cool, historical Sarao jeepney in San Diego!

This was the coolest thing I saw all day! An old Sarao jeepney, displayed at the International Cottages in Balboa Park during the House of the Philippines lawn program!

Take a look at these photos!

The super fun jeepneys are slowly disappearing in the Philippines. This particular one was built in 1964 and awaits restoration. Incidentally, you can help with its restoration. Check out its dedicated website here.

Jeepneys started as abandoned World War II jeeps that were converted into mini-buses. The unique vehicles feature all sorts of bright, colorful decoration, and can be considered objects of folk art. Sarao Motors created jeepneys with metal horses standing atop the hood!

This jeepney has a complex history, including being part of a museum exhibit. A sign that was posted nearby details a campaign to restore this beauty, in anticipation of it being used in parades and festivals, or as a tourist attraction, or as an open air shuttle or party bus rental.

Enlarge my photograph of the sign to find an email address.

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Freedom 250 banner on San Diego courthouse.

A banner has been hung outside the Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse in downtown San Diego. It celebrates the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding.

Freedom 250 is proclaimed among images of four Founding Fathers. You can see the banner up high overlooking Broadway.

Can you believe Independence Day is now less than a month away?

Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association building.

This picturesque building stands in downtown San Diego’s historic Chinatown, the Asian Pacific Thematic Historic District. It’s the 1911 Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association building.

According to this webpage : The building site at 428 Third Avenue has an association with the Chinese community going back to the early days of Chinatown. In 1883 the land and structures were removed and a Taoist temple was built. On 1880’s Sanborn maps, this building was constructed and occupied by the Gee Goon Tong (Chee Kung Tong), known for helping to plot Dr. Sun Yet-Sens’s revolution and founding of the Republic of China.

Curious? Follow the above link for much more history.

A historical plaque near the entrance is now barely readable…

The original tenants of the two-story, Oriental theme structure were the Gee Goon Tong, famous for their help in plotting the 1912 revolution, which formed the Republic of China. The Benevolent Society was founded in 1920 as an outgrowth of the Tong, to serve the Chinese community.

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A very tiny Taco Bell in San Diego!

There’s a Taco Bell in San Diego so tiny you might drive past it without noticing. The building is so small you have stand beside it and bend over just to have a good look!

The miniature building is located next to a regular-size Taco Bell at the corner of University Avenue and College Avenue. Look for this oddity between the drive-thru and parking lot. You’ll see a model of the original Taco Bell that stood at this location from 1965 to 2008.

Longtime San Diego residents might remember the first incarnation of the fast food restaurant, which attracted customers with its distinctive sign and Mission style architecture.

A plaque at the base of the mini Taco Bell reads:

In Commemoration of Taco Bell #15 1965-2008

The 1st Taco Bell in San Diego

Thank you! Glen and Marty Bell

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A visit to Navy SEAL Museum San Diego.

Navy SEAL Museum San Diego opened late last year, but I visited it for the first time a couple weeks ago. What was it like?

The museum at 1001 Kettner Boulevard occupies a very small section of downtown’s America Plaza, right next to the trolley station. It serves as the West Coast wing of the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Florida.

Even though the museum space is somewhat limited (there are plans to move to a location closer to San Diego’s waterfront with much more square footage), I was truly impressed by the depth and extent of its displays–particularly those on the second floor.

One begins on the first floor walking past biographical tributes to notable Navy SEALs, a room showing fascinating videos, and a digital Memorial Wall. There is also a display concerning the work of the SEALs with NASA, helping to recover space capsules and astronauts that returned to Earth.

Once you step out of the elevator on the second floor, the displays become really impressive. Words, photographs and artifacts show how the Navy SEALs operated in different eras, from their origin during World War II scoping out invasion beaches, to Korea, Vietnam and the War on Terror. Visitors can see how the SEALs operate on and under the water (two submersibles hang from the ceiling), the sort of equipment they’ve used over the years, how they’ve rescued hostages, and how they took out Osama bin Laden.

There’s so much to read about and experience, one could spend a good hour slowly moving through the museum, absorbing every detail. You can purchase a virtual reality experience, too, that allows you to carry out a short mission!

When visitors return downstairs, there’s a very extensive gift shop. And, of course, there’s the frogman statue to check out just outside the entrance, next to the America Plaza trolley station. (I took photographs of the statue being erected last year. See those here.)

If the history of the United States Navy SEALs or military matters interest you, this is an absolutely must see. The curtain is pulled back a bit on the secretive elite maritime force, whose premier training ground and primary home base is across San Diego Bay in Coronado!

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The old Hard Rock Café mural in the Gaslamp.

Yesterday, when I shared photos of the original stained glass windows of the Gaslamp Quarter’s 1906 Ingle Building, it occurred to me I’ve never photographed the full mural on the south side of the building. I don’t know its exact history, but I do know the fading artwork existed when the Hard Rock Café was located here.

After reading the historical plaque, I believe this mural might retain elements of an original one decorating the outer wall that depicted the camaraderie found in the Golden Lion during the early years of the Gaslamp Quarter. “Rooms each $2.50” and the painted stained glass suggest a time prior to the Hard Rock Café.

If you know more about this mural, such as its history and who painted it, leave a comment!

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Stained glass from 1906 in Gaslamp Quarter.

I’ve always admired the elaborate stained glass windows of the building that now houses the Mad House Comedy Club & Restaurant. They appear to be antique.

Well, I paused during a walk to read the building’s historical plaque and learned these stained glass windows along Fourth Avenue are original and date from 1906. Back then the bottom floor of this, the Ingle Building, was home to the Golden Lion Tavern.

The historical plaque reads:

For many years, the bottom floor of this building was known as the Golden Lion Tavern, its legacy still evident in the original lion sculptures near the entrance and along the outer walls. The stained glass windows on Fourth Avenue and some of the flooring are original as well. In 1980, the second floor was destroyed by fire. During its reconstruction, a salvaged glass dome, originally created for the Elks Club in San Francisco in 1906, was installed. The replicated mural on the outer wall depicts the camaraderie found in the Golden Lion during the early years of the Gaslamp Quarter.

During that recent morning walk, when the comedy club was closed, I saw no evidence of lions or a mural concerning the early years of the Gaslamp. There is an outside mural that remains from those years when the building was home to the Hard Rock Cafe.

One day I’ll have to venture inside and look around.

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