Tag: history

Archaic Passage at the Old Town Transit Center.

Travelers at the Old Town Transit Center might find themselves walking through an underground passageway. The tunnel safely crosses beneath the San Diego Trolley and train tracks. In this shadowy place curious eyes will encounter public art titled Archaic Passage.

Not in a hurry to catch your bus or other transportation? There are plaques on either end of the passageway that you can read. They provide information about this unique art…

“ARCHAIC PASSAGE”

COMMISSIONED BY SAN DIEGO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT BOARD JUNE 1996

DESIGNED BY SAN DIEGO ARTIST PAUL HOBSON, “ARCHAIC PASSAGE” CELEBRATES THE ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF OLD TOWN, FROM NATIVE AMERICAN TO CONTEMPORARY TIMES. ART MATERIALS USED–CARRIZO CANE, WOOD, STUCCO, ADOBE, BRICK, CLAY ROOF AND DECORATIVE TILES–REPRESENT BUILDING MATERIALS USED TO BUILD OLD TOWN. EACH GEOLOGICAL STRATA-LIKE WAVE REFLECTS A SIGNIFICANT ARCHITECTURAL STYLE.

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Daguerreotypes in San Diego on World Photography Day!

Today is World Photography Day. I didn’t realize that until I met a photographer in Balboa Park, aiming an interesting camera at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

What sort of camera is that? I asked. Anton told me he was using a daguerreotype camera. He was utilizing photographic technology that was revolutionary and popular in the mid-1800s!

Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photographic process, producing the black and white images you’ve probably seen in historical exhibits or documentaries.

Anton was using a silver plate and briefly described the process, all of which was far over my head. Here’s the Wikipedia page concerning daguerrotype photography.

If you’d like to check out Anton’s fascinating The Photo Palace blog, here it is. His site features a variety of cool photographs he has taken.

Anton explains in his blog: Working with analog photographic methods, with concentration on daguerreotype and wet plate collodion methods, Photo Palace offers original art, commissions on location and in studio, as well as workshops, magic lantern shows, and other interactive programs.

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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.

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Exhibit will find San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods.

A new exhibition is coming to the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. It’s called San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods.

The exhibit is now being installed in the museum, and will have its Opening Reception on September 25, 2025. The new exhibit is being produced in collaboration with the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art.

San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods will concern communities in the city that have been substantially changed due to freeway construction, development and other causes. Over the years, these changes have forced some long-time residents and businesses to move.

Yesterday I peeked into the San Diego History Center gallery that will contain the displays.

Time sweeps us all along, and people who have the means like to reshape their world. Change happens for better, or for worse. That’s history.

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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.

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Clowns, history, and the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater!

I was walking in front of the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park today when I thought to check the time. A performance would begin in five minutes! Okay, it had been a while, so I bought a ticket!

The show today concerned The Origin of Clowns.

Petrix the Clown took the stage and, with a gaggle of fun puppets, loosely (and humorously) told how clowns have evolved over the years–from the court fools, buffoons, and jesters to the improvisational commedia dell’arte, to European circus acts and mimes, and finally, to the American big top three-ring circus. The performance lasted perhaps twenty minutes.

If you have very young children, and you happen to be in Balboa Park on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, why not enjoy a happy puppet show? As a rule, performances are at 11 am, 1 and 3 pm. The shows change often, so you never know what to expect!

Oh–and more history. The Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater will be celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2027. Expect big things!

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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.

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Photos aboard Coast Guard tall ship Eagle!

People in San Diego had an incredible opportunity this weekend to step aboard “America’s Tall Ship,” the USCGC Eagle, which has been docked for a few days at the B Street Pier. Visitors were invited to explore the nearly hundred-year-old, 295-foot, three-masted barque, which is used to train future United States Coast Guard officers.

I took the opportunity to come aboard the historic tall ship myself, and I captured photographs of one amazing ship!

A number of interesting banners hang around the Eagle, explaining its history and current role in training future Coast Guard officers. Eagle is the largest tall ship flying the Stars and Stripes and the only active square-rigger in U.S. government service.

I learned a new batch of prospective officers had themselves come aboard a couple days ago. This week they’ll be sailing in the nearby Pacific Ocean. When the Eagle returns to San Diego, this new group of “swabs” will be considered honest-to-goodness cadets!

I must say all of the young people who are training to become officers were extremely friendly, polite and professional. The Coast Guard’s future appears to be in great hands!

Now enjoy my photos…

Welcome Aboard America’s Tall Ship.
USCGC Eagle is both a Coast Guard cutter and a barque.
The Eagle has over six miles of standing and running rigging, 23 sails, and more than 22,000 square feet of sail area that allow her to sail at 17 knots (19.5 mph).
Eagle was originally German, launched in 1936, and was operated by the pre-World War II German navy. In 1946, after the end of World War II, United States Coast Guardsmen sailed the Eagle to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
Originally, the Eagle trained German Navy sailors as Horst Wessel. It sailed to the Canary Islands and West Indies, and later, during World War II, on the Baltic Sea. She carried anti-aircraft guns, and her logs indicate that she fired at Allied and German aircraft.
A permanent Coast Guard crew of approximately 60 personnel maintain and operate the Eagle year round.
The Eagle gives officer candidates and enlisted servicemembers hands-on, teamwork-focused opportunities to lead, train and serve at sea…
The Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut produces leaders of character… Nearly 300 high school graduates enroll annually…
Sail training offers…a unique and useful training experience. This includes learning the fundamentals of seamanship, weather, and nautical tradition…

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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.

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Memories of the Greatest Generation at Liberty Station.

An important exhibition of historical photographs is now on display at Liberty Station in Point Loma.

A new exhibit space, inside Liberty Station’s old Quarters D building, features photographs by famed World War II era photographer Edward Steichen and his colleagues. The free exhibition is titled Memories of the Greatest Generation.

The newly opened exhibit space operates as a satellite for the Maritime Museum of San Diego. The photographs are in the Maritime Museum’s collection.

Learn all about this exhibition by clicking here!

Historical photographs portray military ships, airplanes and personnel operating at sea in the Pacific Theatre during World War II.

Renowned artist Edward Steichen and his team of eight photographers were commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1942 to document the war. They were called the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit. Over the next four years, most of their work would be aboard aircraft carriers. They created about 15,000 photographs.

Many of these excellent photographs are emotionally powerful. In my opinion, the best images include sailors, submariners and aviators, ordinary people doing their best in difficult wartime circumstances.

Should you look for the old Quarters D building (location of the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s new exhibit space)–it’s at the corner of Rosecrans Street and Dewey Road. Watch for Maritime Museum signs. You can find parking down the hill a short distance away.

Also, watch for friendly museum volunteers! They are pleased to tell you all about this great historical exhibit!

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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.

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A visit to La Mesa’s McKinney House Museum.

Residents of La Mesa and history buffs who live in and around San Diego should experience the McKinney House Museum, headquarters of the La Mesa History Center.

Last weekend I paid a visit.

The historical museum occupies a modest house that was built by Henry Albert McKinney in 1908. He was a Methodist minister, librarian and operator of a furniture store.

The McKinney family lived on two floors that appeared much as they do today. The McKinney House Museum’s seven rooms have been furnished to reflect the period between 1908 and 1920, and many of the objects visitors encounter were actually owned by the family.

The kitchen, dining room, living room, a room used by boarders, and the upstairs bedrooms are all open to the public. Numerous signs provide information concerning the history of the place.

In 1975 the house was acquired by the La Mesa Historical Society. The year 2025 is the all-volunteer organization’s 50th anniversary!

My photographs provide just a hint of what you might see. You’ll have to imagine how the house once stood in a larger lot full of lemon trees, and had a vegetable garden, rabbits and chickens.

The free McKinney House Museum, at 8369 University Avenue, is typically open on Saturdays, from 1 pm to 4 pm. School and group tours can be arranged. Here’s the website.

When I arrived on Saturday afternoon the museum appeared to be closed, but I found several friendly individuals in a small building in a corner of the property, where the La Mesa History Center archives are kept. The McKinney House was graciously opened for me and the lights turned on.

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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.

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Students win statewide contest for Lemon Grove video!

During my recent visit to the Lemon Grove Historical Society’s newly renovated headquarters–the Parsonage Museum–I learned something extraordinary. Last year two high school students who attend Canyon Crest Academy, Sarah and William Gao, won a statewide contest for their outstanding video concerning the Lemon Grove Incident.

The contest had the theme Turning Points in History.

Their extremely well done documentary concerns the fight that led up to the landmark court order in 1931 that ended school segregation in Lemon Grove. View their excellent video on YouTube by clicking here.

This is such a great achievement that I thought it deserved additional recognition. Their video concerns history that everyone should know. Let’s run up the views, comments and likes on YouTube and give their video more traction!

The Lemon Grove Incident was the United States’ first successful school desegregation case. It was a pivotal event in our nation’s history. For the longest time I myself hadn’t known that.

Back in 2022 I took photographs of a mural in Lemon Grove that celebrates the Lemon Grove Incident and those who courageously fought for the victory against segregation. My first photograph above shows part of the mural. See the other photos 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.

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More hidden treasure in Old Town San Diego?

Is it possible that more hidden treasure will be found in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park?

The adobe walls of a room inside the Casa de Machado y Silvas are undergoing restoration. Do these walls contain additional secrets?

During a past restoration of the same Machado y Silvas building, an incredible treasure was found. Important historical papers concerning early San Diego resident Allen Light were found inside the adobe walls!

As I explained in a past blog post: Historical documents discovered by archeologists hidden in the Casa de Machado y Silvas shed light on the life of San Diego resident Allen B. Light. He was also know as the “Black Steward.” Allen arrived in California during the 1830s, aboard the sailing ship Pilgrim, the same vessel that brought Richard Henry Dana Jr. who would later write Two Years Before the Mast.

One document was “a sailor’s protection,” which proclaimed Light was a “coloured man, a free man, and a citizen of the United States of America.” The second document was his commission from the Mexican Governor of Alta California to investigate illegal sea otter hunting along the coast.

If you’re curious what might be found during the present restoration, you can follow Old Town San Diego State Historic Park’s Facebook page here or their Instagram here.

Will a stash of coins be found? A skeleton? More valuable documents? Nothing at all? You can submit your best guess by clicking 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.

Feel free to share!

Century-old locomotive to be restored in La Mesa!

Old No. 3, the 1923 steam locomotive on display outside the La Mesa Depot, is to be restored. I learned that yesterday from Timothy, who is Station Master at the historic old train depot in La Mesa.

No. 3 originally was purchased to haul lime rock on the Mojave Northern Railroad from a quarry near Victorville, California. In 1966 it was retired and donated to the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association in Campo, then made its way to the La Mesa Depot Museum in 1981. Unfortunately, in its outdoor setting, exposed to the weather, the century-old locomotive now needs a little loving care.

Old wood needs to be replaced. Rust has eaten holes in steel. Missing instrumentation in the locomotive’s cab needs to be replaced.

Timothy, after showing me how the steam locomotive operates, told me that La Mesa’s old No. 3 shouldn’t appear like a thing in a junkyard, so its restoration is on the way.

Once the work begins, hopefully I’ll be able to swing by and record another bit of history!

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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.

Feel free to share!