Tag: horton plaza

A San Diego Milestone in Horton Square.

A plaque in downtown San Diego relates a bit of our city’s early history. It’s titled A San Diego Milestone.

You can find the bronze plaque in Horton Square, an outdoor area north of the old Horton Plaza shopping mall. (Not to be confused with larger Horton Plaza Park.)

The plaque states:

San Diego bay is a natural harbor. First sighted in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the bay was originally named San Miguel. Next visited in 1602, Sebastian Vizcaino renamed the bay after a canonized priest, San Diego, from Alcala, Spain. Seldom visited for the next 150 years, Father Junipero Sera came overland from Mexico and founded the first of the California missions in San Diego (Old Town) in 1769. The mission grew and officially became an American town in 1846.

The bay was too shallow for ships to come close in, so passengers were taken to shore by rowboat to the water’s edge and then carried to dry land on the backs of sailors or Indians. Then they were taken by wagon to town…a few miles north to Old Town. In 1867, Alonzo E. Horton first came to San Diego and was immediately convinced that “the town should be down by the wharf.”

This plaque is one of several in Horton Square. Two bronze statues stand among them.

Apparently, according to one corner of the plaque, all together these make up the Horton Walk.

Twelve years ago, back when Cool San Diego Sight was brand new, I photographed the other statues and plaques. See those by clicking here.

The old statue of Ernest Hahn has since been moved–I don’t know where. If you know, please leave a comment!

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Forgotten mural atop Horton Plaza garage.

In 2011, a large mural was installed on the top level of Horton Plaza mall’s parking garage in downtown San Diego. Today that mural can still be seen, although it is badly damaged from its long exposure to sun and weather.

The Circle (on 7 Lemon) is named after the mural’s circular design and its location: the seventh level of the large parking garage in a section that is designated “lemon.”

As you can see from these photographs taken yesterday, the top of the garage was completely empty. Horton Plaza mall and its shoppers have vanished–the property is being redeveloped. The mural is all but forgotten.

A plaque still can be found by the old mural. It explains that the art was created by Chor Boogie and Writerzblok. Mural commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and Horton Plaza in conjunction with the exhibition Viva la Revolución: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape…

Here’s on old web page that describes that exhibition, which featured works both in the Museum’s galleries as well as at public sites throughout downtown San Diego.

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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.

Horton Plaza model at San Diego History Center.

Little remains of the colorful old Horton Plaza shopping mall in downtown San Diego.

Shoppers who once wandered through the creatively designed complex, which debuted back in 1985, might enjoy heading over to the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. There’s a great scale model of Horton Plaza now on display!

Living downtown for over two decades, I’ve used my camera to document various developments in and around Horton Plaza during my walks. Most recently, I took photos of how the whimsical, touristy shopping mall is being redeveloped into a mixed-use technology and biotech campus called Horton. You can see those photos here.

The display of the Horton Plaza model at the San Diego History Center coincides with their newly opened Fashion Redux 2023 exhibition. Fashion students from Mesa College viewed garments in the History Center’s textile collection dating from the “Glam 1980s” and were inspired to create their own bold clothing. I’ll be blogging about that soon!

Horton Plaza Model. Metal, paperboard, plastic, wood. Gift of H.S.D./Horton Associates.

Commissioned by the Hahn Company, the model was built to illustrate and “sell” the Jon Jerde Group’s design of Horton Plaza to the public.

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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 Twitter!

A very new look for old Horton Plaza!

Horton Plaza, the colorful old shopping mall that once attracted crowds to downtown San Diego, is now being redeveloped into a brand new mixed-use research campus called Horton.

I walked past the north entrance of the original Horton Plaza this morning. And look what I saw!

That’s very different from how things originally appeared! You can see the change in the next photograph that I took in 2014, while a small demonstration house was being built by Habitat For Humanity in nearby Horton Square…

Next is a photo I took in 2020 while Horton Plaza’s redevelopment was getting underway…

And here comes a photo taken later that year after the north entry’s original façade was entirely removed…

And now, here’s how things appears today!

This morning, after taking photos of Horton’s new north entrance, I proceeded south down First Avenue along the project’s west side, until I reached Horton’s southwest corner at G Street…

The Horton website provides an idea of how the interior of the complex will appear when completed. As you can see, some of the fun architectural elements of old Horton Plaza will be retained.

UPDATE!

In July 2023 I was walking down Fourth Avenue when I noticed the Balboa Theatre, at the northeast corner of old Horton Plaza, has been painted mostly white!

The new paint job will make it fit in with the rest of Horton’s white exterior. But is this an improvement?

Here’s how the Balboa Theatre used to appear…

The Balboa Theatre stands adjacent to downtown's equally famous Horton Plaza.

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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 Twitter!

Swarming gulls, Horton’s new skin, and a relic.

I observed a few interesting things in downtown San Diego during my morning walk.

First, a parking lot in East Village was swarming with hundreds of seagulls. Someone was tossing the gulls a large quantity of crumbs. It was quite a spectacle, as you can see in my photographs.

Of course, feeding birds downtown makes them more of a potential nuisance. And the people who’d parked nearby might have something to say…

Next, as I walked past old Horton Plaza, I noticed its redevelopment is progressing right along. The exterior of the now enlarged building at the corner of G Street and 1st Avenue, former home of a Nordstrom department store, has some new skin!

If you want to see how the project appeared about a year ago, with the once popular shopping mall stripped and gutted, click here!

If you want to see how the new mixed-use high-tech downtown campus will appear when finished, click here!

Finally, check out the following old relic.

How many pay phones remain in the city? I never see them anymore. I did find one here, at the Convention Center trolley station, next to a brand new high-tech PRONTO ticket machine!

Put that pay phone in a museum!

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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!

Horton Plaza stripped and gutted!

Horton Plaza, the innovative outdoor shopping mall that was once a downtown San Diego attraction, has been stripped and gutted! Its redevelopment continues!

Six months ago I noted that demolition of parts of the old shopping mall had begun. I posted those photos and some information concerning the project here.

Well, take a look now!

UPDATE!

Several months later I took these photos. The southwest corner of Horton Plaza has risen and now appears quite different!

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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!

Jessop’s Street Clock removed from Horton Plaza.

The historic 1907 Jessop’s Street Clock, San Diego’s biggest tourist attraction over a century ago, has been removed from Horton Plaza. I made the discovery after work today as I walked through downtown’s once popular but now almost vacant shopping mall.

Horton Plaza is to undergo redevelopment. The one-of-a-kind, gold-plated, precious gem-filled, award-winning Jessop’s Clock has been moved to a warehouse for refurbishment. According to a posted notice of application, the amazing street clock will be reinstalled at a new location.

To learn more about the history of the Jessop’s Street Clock, and see many more photographs, you can check out an old blog post of mine 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!

Tasty VISUAL art in Horton Plaza!

Fun art on the food court level of Horton Plaza shopping mall.
Art on the food court level of Horton Plaza shopping mall.

Tasty artwork can be found on the food court level of downtown’s Horton Plaza mall!

This fun art was created by VISUAL, whose distinctive work you might recognize. Some of my street art blog posts include photos of utility boxes decorated by VISUAL. You can spot them throughout the city.

Walking through colorful Horton Plaza.
Walking through colorful Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego.

Sign describes VISUAL, an art supply shop and gallery in North Park. Street art created by VISUAL artists can be spotted all around San Diego.
Sign describes VISUAL, an art supply shop and gallery in North Park. Street art created by VISUAL artists can be spotted all around San Diego.

Eating spaghetti.
Eating spaghetti.

A cupcake and ice cream!
A cupcake and ice cream!

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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!

La Jolla Playhouse enlivens Horton Plaza Park!

Someone in downtown San Diego peers through a spy hole into a tiny red house in Horton Plaza Park.
Someone in downtown San Diego’s Horton Plaza Park peers through a spy hole into a tiny Model Home.

The La Jolla Playhouse has invaded Horton Plaza Park! Several red houses have been placed inside the downtown San Diego park, and inside these tiny houses professional actors and actresses perform. A public audience can freely watch through spy holes!

Model Home is the name of this improvisational performance art concept, and anyone can check it out through Sunday. It’s a part of the La Jolla Playhouse’s annual Without Walls Festival which this year takes place in venues around downtown.

The genius behind Model Home is Mimi Lien, and I believe the idea is to inspire thought about what makes a home, and about those things in a home that individuals deem to be important.

A home is like an enclosed stage where humans act out much of their lives. As one nearby sign says, houses aren’t just structures, but contain human identity, memory and experience. Peering through the various spy holes in these Model Homes is like secretly peering into the mind of another person. It’s an inner life that the observer can never truly know.

I spoke to a couple of friendly La Jolla Playhouse folks and learned the actors and actresses inside the houses perform all day long, with periodic breaks. They are aware that eyeballs are staring in at them, but as trained acting professionals they aren’t fazed at all.

I also learned that at certain times the tiny house that is dangling from a crane is swung around through the air in a Crane Ballet! Perhaps I’ll “swing” by again this weekend and “crane” my neck at what must certainly be an unusual sight!

If you’re in downtown this weekend, you really should check it out!

Inside one tiny house I see an actor in a small kitchen baking bread!
Inside one tiny house I saw an actor in a small kitchen baking bread!

Model Home, in downtown San Diego's Horton Plaza Park, is part of the La Jolla Playhouse Without Walls WOW festival!
Model Home, in downtown San Diego’s Horton Plaza Park, is part of the La Jolla Playhouse Without Walls WOW festival! (Click image to enlarge.)

Several plain red houses stand in Horton Plaza Park--and one is dangling high in the sky from a crane!
Several tiny red houses stand in Horton Plaza Park–and one is dangling high in the sky from a crane!

People pause to read a sign that describes some very unique and thought-provoking performance art that can be enjoyed freely by anyone passing by.
People pause to read a sign that describes some very unique and thought-provoking performance art that can be enjoyed freely by anyone passing by.

Peering through one of the spy holes...
Peering through one of the spy holes…

Inside this very bare Model Home someone sleeps in apparent poverty. But every small set and performance is open for the viewer's own interpretation.
Inside this very bare Model Home an actor seemed to be sleeping in poverty. But every small “stage” and improvised performance invites the viewer’s personal interpretation.

Inside another Model Home are the remains of a birthday party. I'm guessing the kids went outside to play...
Inside another Model Home were the abandoned remnants of a birthday party. I didn’t see an actor. (Perhaps the kids ran outside to play…)

And inside this Model Home an actress is studying a feather, holding it up and turning it in the light. She seems to be quietly thinking.
And inside this Model Home an actress was studying a feather, holding it up and turning it about in the soft light. She seemed to be quietly thinking.

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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!

Quick peek at the SoCal Etsy Guild Market!

The SoCal Etsy Guild Market took place today in Horton Plaza Park.
The SoCal Etsy Guild Market took place today in Horton Plaza Park.

My walk downtown today took me through Horton Plaza Park, where I came upon a very cool event.

The SoCal Etsy Guild Market had drawn a nice crowd of curious shoppers! Lots of handmade, original goodies were for sale by all sorts of crafts makers and artists…

I took a few photos as I wandered through…

Lots of cool crafts and artwork was for sale!
Lots of cool crafts and artwork was for sale!

Shoppers wore big smiles.
Shoppers wore big smiles.

Izzy's Sounds is on Etsy. He makes one-of-a-kind bluetooth speakers out of vintage radios and other interesting objects.
Izzy’s Sounds is on Etsy. He makes one-of-a-kind bluetooth speakers out of vintage radios and other interesting objects.

An artist advises us to live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air. Sounds wise to me!
An artist advises us to live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air. Sounds wise to me!

It appears a good crowd turned out for SoCal Etsy Guild Market in downtown San Diego!
It appears a good crowd turned out for SoCal Etsy Guild Market in downtown San Diego!

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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!