The Golden Era was a literary newspaper that originated in San Francisco in 1852. It was notable for publishing pieces by renowned Western authors like Mark Twain and Bret Harte.
In 1887 the periodical, then a monthly magazine, was brought by James Harrison Wagner to downtown San Diego. It occupied the first floor of a building that stands at 919 Fourth Avenue in today’s Gaslamp Quarter. Much of its focus then would concern the development of San Diego and the West in the late 19th century.
A historical plaque describes the Lawyer’s Block Building, 1889.
Before its completion, 20 spaces of this building’s second floor were rented to some of early San Diego’s best known lawyers, making this an unofficial headquarters for litigators. The first floor had a more literary history. In 1889 it housed the West Coast’s pioneer illustrated literary periodical, Golden Era. The San Diego Union also had its offices here, with printing presses in the basement.
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A great exhibition opened earlier this month at the Gaslamp Museum in the historic Davis-Horton House. San Diego’s First People is the name of the exhibition. It’s presented by the Sycuan Cultural Resource Center and Museum.
Artifacts and a series of displays detail the history, life and culture of the Kumeyaay people, who inhabited the San Diego and surrounding region thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans.
Visitors also learn how the resilient Kumeyaay people thrive today, while maintaining their cultural identity through oral traditions, songs and ceremonies.
This special exhibition continues through May 30, 2026. Click here for more information!
In 1983 a modest Orange Julius stand in Pacific Beach was converted into a palace. It would become the original palace of Ralph Rubio, who today is known as the Fish Taco King.
Rubio, credited with making fish tacos popular in Southern California, opened this very first restaurant on Mission Bay Drive. Lovers of nostalgia and tasty Mexican food can still visit it today.
The first Rubio’s location retains its simple charm. To me it resembles both a taco stand and a vintage roadside diner. The menu might have expanded from the original (when fish tacos sold for 99 cents), but I can attest their food remains mouth-watering good. I enjoyed a couple fish tacos the other day. I also took this photo.
If you’d like to visit the original home of Rubio’s Coastal Grill, head over to 4504 E. Mission Bay Drive, just off Interstate 5 in Pacific Beach. Then perhaps head to the beach for a perfect San Diego day!
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An exhibit inside downtown’s Central Library remembers the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres. Photographs and memorabilia fill a display case on the Eighth Floor, in a corner of the San Diego Ted Williams SABR Chapter Research Center.
Before the San Diego Padres became an expansion team of Major League Baseball back in 1969, the minor league Padres competed in the Pacific Coast League. Between 1936 and 1957 they played at Lane Field near downtown’s waterfront; they would later play at Westgate Park in Mission Valley from 1958 to 1967, and San Diego Stadium in 1968.
The display case might bring back fond memories for old-timers. In addition to many fun, historical photos, there’s a Padres home jersey and cap (1954-1968), old game tickets and other ephemera.
The display items are courtesy of Bill Swank, Tom Larwin, and the San Diego Padres.
The Sullivan Family Baseball Research Center at the San Diego Central Library is a mecca for baseball fans. It’s the largest baseball research collection outside of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York!
Padres fans should go check it out!
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Perhaps you’ve seen this old plaque in downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp Square, steps from the Gaslamp trolley station. It memorializes Christopher J. Mortenson, who was a pioneer in the 1980s revitalization of the Gaslamp Quarter, today a National Historic District.
Who was Christopher John Mortenson?
This link to his Find a Grave page describes a man who was an architect and developer in San Diego, where he was also known as a generous philanthropist. He was associated with many Gaslamp District landmarks including the Ingle Building (Golden Lion Tavern), the Krasne Building and the Pioneer Building at Fifth and K Street in San Diego. He also restored the Marston Building at Fifth and C, and the Abbey Restaurant.
He is also known for ferrying the 1887 Victorian house “Baby Del” by barge from Sherman Heights to Coronado. To see photos of the Baby Del, which resembles a small version of the Hotel del Coronado, click here.
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Baseball is being celebrated at the San Diego History Center. While the 2026 season gets underway, the Inside/Out exhibit in the museum’s atrium summons happy baseball memories.
Artifacts and ephemera from the San Diego History Center’s collection are front and center. Most of the memorabilia on display concern the San Diego Padres and professional baseball in our city. Tony Gwynn, Jerry Coleman, the San Diego Chicken and others are lovingly remembered.
There are multiple objects from the 1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at San Diego Stadium (pre-Jack Murphy Stadium). Padres players Dave Winfield and Rollie Fingers contributed to the National League victory.
I noticed one shelf celebrates Alice “Lefty” Hohlmayer, a longtime Bonita resident who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1946 to 1951. She was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in 2005.
Very cool!
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You might have heard that the Artemis II moon mission will be splashing down off the San Diego coast on Friday shortly after 5 pm. But did you know you can be watching the mission live during its lunar flyby?
This afternoon I’ve been watching live video from NASA as Artemis II has begun passing around the far side of the moon! It’s the farthest humans have ever flown from planet Earth. Over 250,000 miles!
Right now as I type this they cannot contact Earth due to loss of signal, but as soon as they come around the opposite side of the moon, we’ll hear from them again and see new views! From over a quarter million miles away!
I urge everyone to watch the live feed from NASA as this historic mission progresses. Human eyes are seeing what they have never seen before. You can watch the live feed from the NASA website. Click here!
All my photos are screenshots taken from the live video feed.
Here’s one look inside the Orion manned capsule:
And here’s the Earth–that tiny bright sliver–about to pass behind the moon as the Artemis II mission moves around the moon:
UPDATE!
Later, the crew of Artemis II would watch a solar eclipse–one never seen before! From a point near the moon!
Yes, the moon at their position appeared much larger than the sun. That tiny dot is Venus.
Science will benefit from this unique observation of the sun’s corona.
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Tony Bingham is presently the artist in residence at the California Center for the Arts Museum in Escondido. Visitors to the museum have the opportunity to meet Tony and experience his work when he is present. I was privileged to meet him a couple days ago. He loves to interact with curious people!
Tony told me about his fascination with A. E. “Fred” Coleman, a former slave who discovered gold in Julian back in 1869, launching a gold rush. The gold mining camp Coleman City quickly sprang up by what today is named Coleman Creek, a tributary of the San Diego River. Among other accomplishments, A. E. Coleman created a toll road into Julian.
Short-lived Coleman City is now a vanished ghost town, but the legacy of A. E. Coleman remains an important part of African American history in the San Diego region. Tony Bingham’s art honors that history.
Tony, with his art, also honors two African American trailblazers: Albert Robinson and Margaret Tull Robinson. In 1887 they started the Robinson Restaurant and Bakery in Julian. Today the establishment is called the Julian Gold Rush Hotel.
Tony Bingham loves to create images using pinhole photography.
He went up to the property through which Coleman Creek runs and took a series of pinhole photographs, often experimenting with different exposures. Here are some of the results…
The words you see above are the names of different mines that were established around Julian during the gold rush.
Tony has also created clay plates that recall the historic Robinson Hotel & Restaurant. The earthy plates among them were formed using the actual grassy soil along Coleman Creek.
Tony has conjectured what food items the restaurant might have had on its menu, and if any vegetables were grown on location.
He has produced plant music that reflects different vegetables, resulting from bioelectrical activity within a living plant. It was very cool listening to a plant “symphony” from his laptop! The potatoes were quite lively!
Tony Bingham is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator from Birmingham, Alabama. His very unique work invites contemplation. It honors the life and legacy of African Americans.
Perhaps his most notable work is the Praise House, an open-air sculpture at a former plantation in Harpersville, Alabama.
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This coming Fourth of July, 2026, the United States of America will celebrate its semiquincentennial–its 250th Anniversary!
At noon on Independence Day, people in San Diego and across the country will be ringing bells to celebrate two and a half centuries of freedom. Would you like to join them?
There’s a free website that will help you, your family, friends, and interested organizations celebrate the moment. It counts down to noon local time, provides a digital Declaration of Independence, educational material, helpful information about creating your own ceremony, a participation certificate, and will produce eight different selectable bell sounds if you don’t have your own bell handy!
There’s even information about how to produce a ceremonial bell ringing broadcast on local radio stations.
The website is called Freedom Bells. You can learn more at FreedomBells.org or click here! Check out the website FAQs for useful ideas.
Share the news! Get those Freedom Bells ringing from sea to shining sea!
Motorists heading down Interstate 8 at the east end of Mission Valley can’t help but notice this elevated trolley station. It’s the Grantville Station, of the San Diego Trolley’s Green Line.
The architecture of the Grantville Station is truly eye-catching and unique. Small signs posted in various places explain:
The central courtyard is a river-like gathering spot surrounded by pillars and beneath the station. Free form cast stone veneer walls, water washed flagstone caps, native riparian trees, shrubbery, and river rock mulch become a visual link to the nearby San Diego River.
Leather ferns and bamboo reeds planted near the stairwells grow from the plaza towards the elevated station 40 feet above.
The soaring station is a tribute to the aviation and nautical industries. The Trolley platform bows out in the middle, inspired by ship and plane architecture. The design repeats in the granite benches and bus shelters.
At night, spectacular streams of light beam upwards illuminating the pillars, stairways and octagonal tops of the twin elevator shafts.
On the platform, enjoy the unparalleled views to the north and south before boarding a Trolley to your next destination.
San Diego’s rich history includes important ships, shipyards, major aviation milestones and airplane construction.
The station’s architect was Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. and the station first opened in July, 2005.
Last month I disembarked at the Grantville Station and walked around with my camera…
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Cool San Diego Sights! 