Would you like to sit in the captain’s chair of the Federation starship Enterprise?
You can during Comic-Con 2026 in San Diego! Simply make your way over to the Marriott Marquis hotel to enjoy the free photo op while the Star Trek activation is open, Thursday to Saturday 9:30 am to 7 pm, and Sunday 9:40 to 5.
You can check out a cool LEGO model of the Enterprise and see an example of a Star Trek card from Magic: The Gathering, too!
…
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
It’s Wednesday, the day of Comic-Con 2026 Preview Night, and I continue to walk all over the place!
The first two photos were taken inside the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel. I then worked my way over to San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter where Comic-Con preparations are in earnest…
The Doomsday arch now has simulated flames at either end. Doctor Doom must be on the way!
But can he cope with Sauron?
Hot Wheels will be here…
Nickelodeon…
Splatoon…
The Gaslamp has been invaded by people and products seeking attention!
…
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Are those trees being forklifted into San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter enchanted?
Yes!
LAIKA is setting up a tiny magical forest at the entrance to the Hard Rock Hotel to promote their upcoming movie Wildwood. It’s another cool activation for Comic-Con 2026!
I thought enchanted trees had the ability to move around by themselves. Not these ones, apparently…
…
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Now six days to go before Comic-Con 2026. During my final walk of the day around downtown San Diego, I spied two new building wraps and two new offsites that are just beginning to rise!
First, behind the San Diego Convention Center, the big stage for Adult Swim on the Green was being tilted up into place!
I then noticed the Hilton Bayfront’s big building wrap was being applied. What will it be? FX show American Horror Story?
Turning around, I saw a new wrap being applied to the Marriott Marquis, next to the ESRI wrap, which will be coming down very soon. Looks like Star Trek…
After crossing over to the Gaslamp trolley station, look what I found. They’re getting ready to put up this year’s Percy Jackson offsite!
I then noticed the Rings of Power wrap on Fifth Avenue is done and features Sauron. (Those balloons are from a street party for the ESRI convention, which concludes today.)
Finally, I observed the Yaga wrap on the Hilton Gaslamp is about done! There are The Vampire Lestat graphics, too.
…
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Just a week until the official start of Comic-Con 2026 in San Diego. I walked around downtown and the Gaslamp Quarter late this morning to see how everything is progressing outside the convention center.
Most of the preparation right now concerns putting up huge building wraps. Regular San Diego Comic-Con goers will see similarities with past years.
Workers were putting the finishing touches on the Pendry hotel wrap promoting The Vampire Lestat…
One of the hotel’s ground floor windows is wrapped, too.
The Lodge wrap is up for Paramount+ at Happy Does…
Wraps are starting to go up on the Fifth Avenue side of the Hilton Gaslamp. Words indicate that Prime Video’s Rings of Power is being promoted…
AMC shows are represented on the hotel side facing the San Diego Convention Center.
The Walking Dead: Dead City…
Also, what I believe is Yaga…
Turning toward the Omni hotel, I noticed the Marvel’s Wolverine wrap is done…
The hotel’s Funko POPs wrap is nearly done…
Meanwhile, The Rookie’s big wrap on Petco Park is finished, but not quite the smaller one…
Abbott Elementary’s big wrap on Petco Park is looking good…
I can’t wait to see what develops next!
UPDATE!
Look who I spied after lunch…Alvin!!!
UPDATE!
By late afternoon, the Funko POPs wrap had added Star Wars characters, the Rings of Power wrap was making headway, and the Yaga wrap was more than halfway on…
…
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
During San Diego Comic-Con, for many years, Anne Rice’s vampires would gather at the Hilton Gaslamp hotel. For Comic-Con 2026, it’s zombies!
Cool building wraps are now going up on the hotel’s exterior. I see the prominent tagline “Run This Town.” That’s associated with AMC’s upcoming season of The Walking Dead: Dead City.
The city of San Diego will be very much alive in about a week! Pop culture fans will fill the streets during a con that promises to be epic this year!
On another part of the Hilton Gaslamp, a face materializes…
…
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
The vampire creations of Anne Rice have returned for another San Diego Comic-Con!
In past years, these bloodthirsty creatures of the night have shown up at the Hilton Gaslamp. For 2026, I see they’ve begun to materialize over at the Pendry hotel–at least their images on a building wrap have! The wrap no doubt will promote AMC’s gothic horror series The Vampire Lestat.
Today’s the first day I noticed building wraps going up around downtown San Diego for Comic-Con 2026.
Getting excited!
UPDATE!
24 hours later, the two wraps look way cooler…
…
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
You never know what cool sight you’ll find by just walking around randomly. This morning I spotted a bit of the Hotel del Coronado in Solana Beach!
Several old Douglas fir wood beams from the 1800s have been incorporated into the entrance of Rustic Root in Solana Beach. The old wood is from a construction project at the historic Hotel del Coronado. The salvaged wood was repurposed by Old Fashioned Lumber.
I once visited Old Fashioned Lumber in Barrio Logan. See those cool photos here!
Last weekend, while walking around the new Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center in Chula Vista, I stumbled upon these three very beautiful murals. They’re located near the water park at the southwest corner of the resort, next to the roundabout at the end of H Street. They decorate a small plaza.
The artist of all three murals is Lauren Elyse S. According to information beside each mural, she’s a San Diego interdisciplinary artist who loves the medium of paint and how brushstrokes communicate mood and energy. You can see her love for nature in the images she created!
I’ve noticed the Gaylord Resort has also placed informative signs about our natural environment in various spots near outdoor walkways. Very cool!
Lilac, Pine, Cypress, Sage by artist Lauren Elyse S., 2025. A painted landscape, inspired by the radiant light in Chula Vista.Spilled Honey by artist Lauren Elyse S., 2025. Inspired by spring plant life in the mountains of Chula Vista.Coral Hour by artist Lauren Elyse S., 2025. Depicting the trees of Chula Vista Bayfront Park, with the Coronado Bay Bridge in the background.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
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.
…
To follow my blog, find the “Follow” box in this website’s sidebar. Or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
(If you’re viewing this on a phone, open my website’s sidebar by tapping those three parallel lines at the top of the page.)
