Seven positively enormous books stand along a sidewalk in Escondido as if they were filed on a library shelf. All concern the history of Escondido and nearby places.
It you’d like to have a look at these giant books, head to the corner of Kalmia Street and Grand Avenue!
These books, as you can see, are realistically painted in a big mural. The fun artwork was created earlier this year by local artist Zane Kingcade, whose murals can be found all over Escondido.
The titles of these books (which actually exist–and will fit in your hand) are: Yesterday in Escondido, Grape Day Festival 1908-1950, The History of the Hotel Charlotta, San Pasqual A Crack in the Hills, The Royal Highway, Palomar From Teepee to Telescope, and Early Escondido.
If you’re interested in reading any of these books, simply google the title.
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At the intersection of Grand Avenue and State Street in downtown Carlsbad you’ll find benches next to a gently bubbling fountain and a historical bell.
I took photographs of the 1984 Village Fountain and El Camino Real Bell and their respective plaques during my last visit to Carlsbad. You might enjoy these.
Should you explore downtown Carlsbad by foot, this pleasant corner is a good place to sit, relax and watch people passing by while soaking in the Southern California sunshine.
VILLAGE FOUNTAIN DEDICATED TO GLENN McCOMAS SEPT. 29, 1984
EL CAMINO REAL BELL
EL CAMINO REAL BEGAN IN SAN DIEGO AND FOLLOWED A COASTAL ROUTE LATER NAMED HIGHWAY 101. IN THE EARLY 1900’s, BELLS WERE PLACED ON THIS ROUTE TO GUIDE TRAVELERS TO NEARBY SPANISH MISSIONS. THIS IS AN EXACT REPLICA OF THE ORIGINAL BELL AND IS CONSIDERED A SIGNIFICANT HISTORICAL SYMBOL.
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
As many of you know, when a new month comes along I like to revisit interesting blog posts from five years ago. It’s time to check out what Cool San Diego Sights was featuring back in May of 2019!
The upcoming links will take you to photographs of dragon boats races in Mission Bay, Cinco de Mayo in Old Town, a Balboa Park Pow Wow, an arts festival in North Park, and the Manzanita Mountain Man Rendezvous.
And there are photos of murals, monuments, the historic El Cuervo adobe ruins (which few people know about) and a super cool stellarium. What’s a stellarium? Aren’t you curious?
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Earlier this month, National City installed seven new Historic California US 101 Route street signs. They were placed where old Highway 101, the source of many fond memories, once ran. These seven new signs join thirteen others that were installed in Chula Vista and San Ysidro near the beginning of the year.
This very cool project, which commemorates an important part of history in San Diego’s South Bay, was spearheaded by Jack Gechter of the South Bay Historical Society.
Jack indicated these new signs are located along National City Boulevard, from a spot just north of Chula Vista to a spot just south of Division Street. Here are the exact addresses:
North Bound – National City Blvd. north of C Street (just north of Chula Vista) North Bound – 2501 National City Blvd. North Bound – 701 National City Blvd. North Bound – 141 National City Blvd. South Bound – 128 National City Blvd. South Bound – 700 National City Blvd. South Bound – 2340 National City Blvd.
Learning this, I had to check these new signs out! I spotted six of them and took the upcoming photographs during a walk on Sunday.
Are you curious where US 101 ran south of San Diego?
This 1947 Chevron Map shows the Historic California US 101 Route starting near the US/Mexico Border in San Ysidro, and continuing north along Beyer Blvd toward Chula Vista, along National Avenue (Broadway in Chula Vista and National City Blvd in National City) to 8th Street, along 8th Street to Harbor Drive, then along Harbor Drive to Pacific Highway.
This 1933 AA Map shows a slightly different Historic California US 101 Route at the northerly end of National Avenue (National City Blvd) to 1st Street, then along Main Street.
Should you drive along National City Boulevard, keep an eye out for these new signs!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
The Coronado Public Library occupies a 40,000 square feet building that serves as the community’s cultural center. The library contains a large public meeting room and smaller conference room, a separate Children’s Library and Teen area, an Exhibit Gallery, plus an employee work area and used bookstore.
Back in 1909, however, when the original Coronado Public Library first opened, it measured a modest 1,700 square feet. You can see the front of the historic building with its stately columns in the above photograph.
Last month I learned the history of this original “Spreckels Building” during the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s Open House event. John D. Spreckels was owner of the nearby Hotel del Coronado in the early part of the 20th century.
An informative handout included: On February 17, 1908, the Library Board boldly voted to “request Mr. Spreckels to make a gift of a new library building”…public park land set aside by the Coronado Beach Company known as West Plaza was chosen for the location…Spreckels donated the services of his favorite architect, Harrison Albright…(His) design, in the style of the classic revival…was built at a cost of $10,000. It was one of the first California buildings built of reinforced concrete. It was designed to hold 5,000 books…
The following graphic depicts major additions that were made to the library over the years:
The next two photos demonstrate how the original building was cleverly joined to the glassy 2005 addition. (The 1974 addition demolished and replaced a hodgepodge of add-ons and wings that had been attached to the original building during the preceding decades.)
Today the original little library–the Spreckels Building–serves as a cozy, very elegant Reading Room!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
For four decades, Don Diego was a fixture at the Del Mar Fair. With a friendly “¡Bienvenidos Amigos!” the dashing goodwill ambassador greeted visitors to the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
Sombrero in hand, typically in dress representing a gentleman Mexican ranchero, Don Diego also introduced Grandstand shows and escorted the Fairest of the Fair beauty queen and her court.
An exhibition at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park opened several days ago which includes a unique tribute to the fair’s iconic Don Diego, who in reality was actor Domingo Tomás Hernández Bethencourt.
The exhibition is titled Fashion Redux 2024. In its 13th year, the annual event is a collaboration between the San Diego History Center and Mesa College’s Fashion Program.
What immediately caught my eye today were the two ensembles once worn by Don Diego, which belong to the San Diego History Center’s very extensive Historic Textile Collection.
Visitors to the exhibition can also watch old video footage that shows Don Diego at the Del Mar Fair.
A few personal memories were rekindled. As a child my family would visit the fair, and I remember seeing Don Diego on promotional material and on television. He was quite famous. I don’t recall whether I saw him in person. I think I might have. That was a long time ago.
Tommy “Don Diego” Hernandez passed away in 1984.Actor Tommy Hernandez, as Don Diego, with 1958 Fairest of the Fair winner, Raquel Tejada. She became famous as Raquel Welch during her later acting career.Don Diego ensemble, inspired by traditional Mexican charro costumes.Brown felted cardboard sombrero worn by Don Diego.Don Diego ensemble, inspired by traditional Spanish flamenco costumes.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
During my walk last weekend through Ellen Browning Scripps Park in La Jolla, I paused to take photographs of two plaques. One is over a century old. The other was created much more recently.
Both plaques honor people who, in their own way, made the world better. Both are heroes.
The Abraham Lincoln Centennial Memorial, set inside a boulder, is dated February 12, 1909. It was placed by the people of La Jolla beside a flagpole that no longer exists. I found an article that concerns the placement of this plaque. Read it here.
The second plaque reads:
In honor of our beloved mother Selma Malk, who enjoyed this view from her home at the La Valencia Hotel for 31 years.
The plaque was recently placed between a newly renovated picnic area and the scenic boardwalk south of La Jolla Cove.
According to this article: Selma Malk lived for 32 years at La Jolla’s La Valencia Hotel and volunteered at the Birch Aquarium and Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego’s Balboa Park. She died in La Jolla in 2017 at age 103.
In the next photo, you can see the historic La Valencia Hotel.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Some unusual art was recently moved onto the second floor of San Diego’s Central Library. Cedar Fire was created by local artist Timothy Murdoch in 2019.
The work is composed of collected burnt wood and house paint. Many communities throughout San Diego were affected by the historic, incredibly destructive Cedar Fire in 2003. The fire destroyed 2,820 buildings including 2,232 homes.
I still remember how all of San Diego County was disrupted as people coped with the fast moving, Santa Ana wind driven fire. I had to drive up Interstate 15 under a dark orange sky during the fire, and it seemed I was the only one on the freeway. It’s hard for me to believe that was over twenty years ago. Seems like yesterday.
Does this sculpture look familiar? Cedar Fire, part of the City of San Diego Art Collection, was previously displayed in the lobby of San Diego’s City Administration Building.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
What’s that tall brick smokestack near the world-famous Hotel del Coronado?
It’s the most noticeable part of a historic industrial complex!
I walked around the Hotel Del’s old laundry building, ice house and power plant last month during the San Diego Architectural Foundation Open House event. I discovered several plaques that provide information about these three buildings, which, clustered south of the hotel lobby entrance, are called the industrial complex.
The brick building shown below once provided the Hotel del Coronado’s laundry service. It’s now home to The Laundry Pub!
Laundry, established 1919.
The original hotel laundry opened on the second floor of the Power Plant in January 1888. The Laundry occupied the majority of the second floor and employed 20 women. In 1919 this brick structure was built to house the laundry operation, which had expanded to serve all of Coronado Island with a fleet of five laundry trucks and a branch location on Orange Avenue. Laundry services were provided here for the hotel until 2018.
The next photo is through the window of The Laundry Pub, which features an 1880s-era bar and the laundry’s early conveyor system above restored wood floors.
North of the brick laundry building is the hotel’s old ice house.
The ice house is now home to the fascinating Ice House Museum of the Hotel del Coronado, where you can view historical displays and artifacts, plus photographs of the many celebrities, movie stars and United States Presidents who’ve visited the Victorian resort over the years. I blogged about the museum two years ago here.
In the rear of the ice house is this plaque…
Ice House, established 1889.
Ice was originally produced with a small machine inside the Power Plant until this masonry structure was built to house a new 10-ton De Coppet ice machine. Renowned for excellent tasting ice, the De Coppet system was cutting edge technology at the time and allowed The Del to manufacture and supply ice throughout Southern California. In 1909, the building was converted into a storeroom with later uses including an upholstery shop and offices.
Lastly, north of the ice house is the old power plant with its tall, striped smokestack.
Power Plant, established 1887.
Built in 1887 to house the incandescent electric light plant, laundry, and engine house, the Power Plant supplied electricity to all of Coronado Island until service was established with SDG&E in 1922. The Power Plant housed five Mather dynamos, two Hazelton boilers, and heavy pumping and heating machinery. To this day, a utility tunnel connects the Power Plant to the historic hotel.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
San Diego never disappoints. So many cool events were held in April five years ago that I had a difficult time selecting which ones to revisit as this new month begins!
Back in April 2019, my camera recorded knights in shining armor battling in Balboa Park, the inside workings of a Peruvian Navy tall ship, a wheelchair OTL tournament, a couple of Earth Day events, a tour of a United States Coast Guard cutter, Witches’ Night at the Comic-Con Museum, a local skatepark’s 20th anniversary, the Encinitas Street Fair, a big Shakespeare festival, a super fun Pet Day on the Bay…and much more!
I have 15 links coming up to blog posts that contain oodles of photographs!
Click the following links for hundreds of cool photos!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Cool San Diego Sights! 
