I saw this new mural the other day while walking along West Morena Boulevard, at the south end of San Diego’s Bay Park neighborhood. It’s near the new Tecolote Road trolley station.
Nobody in this world should ever feel alone. Even if you have no family. Even if you have difficult problems. Even if you’re feeling depressed or hopeless.
San Diego–and indeed every community in the world–has friendly, compassionate people. Find them.
If you are elderly or disabled, San Diego has a You Are Not Alone program that will call you regularly to see if you’re doing okay. Learn more about it here!
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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 Twitter!
There’s an elaborate, quite beautiful tile mosaic mural outside the old God’s Extended Hand building in San Diego’s East Village. You can see it at the corner of 16th Street and Island Avenue.
The colorful mural is overflowing with compassionate messages and religious imagery, including Christ as a shepherd carrying a lamb.
The God’s Extended Hand ministry endured for 96 years, feeding the homeless and hungry, until it closed down a few months ago. Father Joe’s Villages will be redeveloping the site, creating more affordable housing and support for the homeless downtown. I don’t know whether these mosaics will be preserved.
I walked past part of the artwork this morning and took these photos. I only photographed the wall along 16th Street. Some people camped on the sidewalk were by the other wall on Island Avenue.
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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 Twitter!
Seven years ago I published 20 Ways To Help the Homeless in San Diego. This special page lists twenty organizations and initiatives that can use your help, to reach and assist homeless people all around San Diego.
This morning I revised the page. I’ve removed links to charitable operations and websites that no longer exist, added others.
If you find it in your heart, please visit this page again. There are many opportunities to volunteer, mentor, donate, provide hope.
Perhaps you’ll feel inspired to help out in your own way.
Have you ever wondered what the Rose Creek Bikeway is like just north of Mission Bay?
I did, so I walked along the bike and pedestrian path a few weekends ago. I started at a point near the In-N-Out Burger at Damon Avenue (just east of Mission Bay Drive) and headed south under Garnet and Grand Avenue to North Mission Bay Drive. I then walked west over the Mike Gotch Memorial Bridge spanning the Rose Creek Inlet to the entrance of Campland on the Bay.
As you’ll see in the upcoming photographs, the path along Rose Creek features natural beauty but can be trashy in places. It cuts behind businesses, passes the ends of residential streets, and winds along the edge of several sporting facilities. I also saw evidence that homeless people use the path and camp near it.
The Rose Creek Bikeway is part of the much longer 44 mile Coastal Rail Trail which, when completed, will connect downtown San Diego with Oceanside, California. (Had I walked north up the path instead, I would have followed Interstate 5 toward La Jolla and Sorrento Valley, next to the tracks of the soon-to-open Mid-Coast Trolley extension.)
Looking north for a moment as I get started south.About to pass under Mission Bay Drive.Approaching Garnet Avenue.Approaching Grand Avenue.A couple walks dog under Grand Avenue.It appears someone lives under the bridge.Passing a basketball court.Walking between Rose Creek and the Mission Bay Youth Baseball field.Someone practices pitching.To the right beyond the fence is the San Diego Mission Bay Boat and Ski Club.Passing the Mission Bay Golf Course and Practice Center.Turning for a moment to look back north. Sign at North Mission Bay Drive, just east of the Mike Gotch Memorial Bridge, reads: Welcome To… The Rose Creek Bike Path.Now walking west, near a plaque at the east end of the Mike Gotch Memorial Bridge.Mike Gotch Memorial Bridge. October 4, 1947 – May 18, 2008. In memory of Mike’s commitment to creating the people’s playground, not just for today, but all generations to come. Dedicated April 20, 2012.Looking south toward Mission Bay. I see Fiesta Island in the distance.Passing behind Mission Bay High School’s sports fields.Approaching Pacific Beach Drive, where the dedicated bike and pedestrian path ends.Bicyclists start east along the path, near the entrance to Campland on the Bay.
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Last month the Friends of Balboa Park installed a new information sign at the Golden Hill Fountain Grotto. The sign provides a good description of the fountain grotto’s history in Golden Hill Park. The community park, with views of downtown and Florida Canyon, is located in the southeast corner of much larger Balboa Park.
Five years ago I posted photos of the grotto on my now dormant blog Beautiful Balboa Park. You can read what I wrote and see those photographs here. I walked to the grotto again last weekend to check out the newly installed sign.
The sign explains how Golden Hill Park, developed in 1889, was the site of San Diego’s first playground. The Golden Hill Fountain Grotto was a decorative park installation designed in 1907 by Henry Lord Gay. He was also responsible for downtown San Diego’s Western Metal Supply Co. building, which is now a part of Petco Park.
Henry Lord Gay “created a sunken garden grotto built of stone and concrete with twin cobblestone stairways curving down to a sheltered fountain and seating area in a rugged canyon…Stones evoke mystery, creativity and contemplation; flowing water signifies life, and pathways lead out to the open sky…”
You can see in my photos how the fountain was made to appear like a natural spring whose pool trickles down into a hollowed rock.
Sadly, I observed evidence of homelessness and drug use in the secluded grotto. These tragic problems have become widespread in San Diego. Trash, graffiti and a burnt out fountain is probably not what Henry Lord Gay and the early residents of our city envisioned.
The Golden Hill Fountain Grotto is over a century old and is, according to the information sign, Balboa Park’s oldest designed feature.
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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 Twitter!
Some of these photographs are disturbing. They show a few of the many contrasts curious eyes will observe in a city. A city that is forever evolving.
People come and go. Businesses come and go. Buildings come and go. Dreams come and go. And we are always right here in the present, trying to recall what was.
These photos were taken during a walk on Saturday. I started up Fifth Avenue from downtown, climbed north through Bankers Hill, and finally entered Hillcrest.
I observed new high-rise and bike lane construction. Striking contrasts appear in photos that include St. Paul’s Cathedral and The Abbey.
I observed new signs and fresh ambitions, and dreams that were shattered.
I glimpsed a complex world, and now even those small glimpses are a fading memory.
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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 Twitter!
A beautiful mural depicting Mother Teresa expresses the potency of unconditional love.
Roman Catholic nun and missionary Saint Teresa of Calcutta stands in a field of grain and flowers holding a small orphaned child. White doves raise a banner containing the words: “Saint Mother Teresa never judged people, she took more time to love them.”
Indeed, Mother Teresa and her sisters devoted themselves to loving and aiding the poorest of the poor, providing comfort for those suffering with leprosy, AIDS and other awful diseases, caring for those who lived in hopeless situations of homelessness and extreme hunger.
She loved those whom others would not love.
Would any of us do that?
This gentle but extremely powerful mural was painted in San Diego, California, in the Memorial neighborhood of Logan Heights. You can find it in an alley off 30th Street, north of Franklin Avenue.
The mural was painted recently by the artists of Arte Atolondrada. To visit their website, click here!
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
As I walk around San Diego, I try to find what is uplifting and keep a positive attitude. But these photographs from the past few days aren’t happy. They show tragic aspects of the long COVID-19 pandemic nightmare.
Throughout downtown San Diego it seems time has stopped. It seems the life of my city keeps draining away.
It’s now December and I still see posters for events scheduled last March or April. I see hundreds of boarded windows and a steadily increasing number of For Lease signs. I see people avoiding people. I see more and more who are homeless. And now we’re told a second lockdown in San Diego is imminent.
They tell us this terrible pandemic will finally end in the coming months as vaccines are distributed. But for the time being the tragic scene downtown seems to only worsen.
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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 Twitter!
Tree has returned to San Diego. She has been travelling.
This morning Tree had her beautiful art on display on a downtown sidewalk. I happened to see her as I walked down Broadway near the Santa Fe Depot.
Tree is a passionate artist, full of life and energy. She’s always happy to greet passersby with a big smile.
Her small abstract watercolor paintings are like splashes of life seen through prisms. They are created with a careful eye and fine brush. Every complex design is a surprise. The colors are brilliant like jewels.
Next time you walk down Broadway just south of the Santa Fe Depot, keep your eyes open. You might discover unexpected treasures spread at your feet. And a smiling Tree.
I took photos of these colorful urban art murals several weeks ago during a walk along Imperial Avenue. They’re spray painted on the 1835 Creative Studios building, at the corner of Imperial and 19th Street, just east of downtown San Diego and Interstate 5.
Sadly, as you can see in a couple photos, many homeless people find refuge in this neighborhood. It’s a grittier part of the city, where one is likely to find all sorts of lively graffiti and urban artwork.
I believe I recognize the unique styles of both the first and last murals–very similar street art can be seen elsewhere in San Diego–but I’m afraid I don’t know the artists. I tried to decipher the signatures, to no avail.
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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 Twitter!
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