This afternoon the youth singing group performed at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. They were accompanied by Adam Ferrara, a fine guest organist. A sizable crowd sat listening in the benches.
What did we hear? Songs about hopes, dreams, love and acceptance. The inspirational performance was titled Hopes and Dreams.
The young people sang their hearts out and received great applause.
There were some patriotic songs to celebrate this Memorial Day weekend. Gratitude was expressed that we all live in a free country, where we are free to be who we want to be.
Looking at the Long Beach Youth Chorus website, I see they have a very positive mission statement. Why not check it out and support them!
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An inspirational event is coming up this Sunday, May 21st!
TEAM Survivor San Diego is a dynamic, positive group of women who are cancer survivors. They have a dragon boat team called the Sea Dragons. In the past I’ve seen the team racing out on Mission Bay.
I’ve learned the TEAM Survivor San Diego Sea Dragons will be celebrating their 15th anniversary by paddling a marathon circumnavigation of the entire Mission Bay! People are invited to come on out Sunday to cheer them on!
The epic paddle will begin and finish at the youth aquatic facility on Fiesta Island with seven stops along the way. The event starts at 8:00 a.m. and finishes around 4:00 p.m.
If you’re curious to learn more about this great event or would like to support women cancer survivors, check out the Sea Dragons’ Facebook page by clicking here!
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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!
For many years, Teralta Park in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood was a place you might want to avoid. Drugs, gang activity and fights were too common.
Yesterday, when I visited Teralta Park to watch the Fern Street Circus, I saw lots of kids at play in the sunshine. I observed families at picnic tables, friendly games at basketball courts and a happy, active playground. What happened?
I learned from community leader Edwin Lohr that what happened is many people became passionately engaged. Community meetings and concerns turned to action.
New lighting has been installed. New benches now invite a stroll through the park. The playground is newly painted with bright colors. An incredibly positive community mural has been painted along one long wall.
Workers in the San Diego’s Parks and Recreation Department saw how the community had a new passion for their neighborhood park, and became passionate, too. During my visit I saw no weeds, no trash, just green grass, flowers and smiles all around.
It was great to see how this spacious public park–the only such park built over a major freeway–is now a welcoming retreat where people want to relax and recreate. I guess the not-so-secret formula for Teralta Park’s reclamation is people caring, and doing.
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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 Twitter!
I met the above super cool people today. They had a table at Fangaea Con 2023 in San Diego. They are four creators of a budding animated web series: Buck Bastard.
These makers of Official Monkey Business were among the friendliest, most outgoing, most enthusiastic people I’ve met at any pop culture convention. We talked for a bit and I learned about a new character they are bringing to life: the would-be hero Buck Bastard!
We talked about the characteristics of Buck Bastard. From what I could gather, he wants to become a larger-than-life intergalactic hero in order to gain a desperately needed sense of self worth. And in so doing he actually becomes a hero.
You can get the gist of the character by watching the first produced episode of Buck Bastard here.
I love complex, character-driven stories and this particular concept. I’m positive Buck Bastard will develop into something special!
Check out Buck Bastard’s first short adventure “Hammer Time” by clicking here! And consider providing these passionate creators with a little support!
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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!
I’m always amazed by the local talent that appears every two years at the museum’s longest running art program–almost a century now! Students from regional schools around San Diego and Tijuana have selected work displayed in SDMA’s Galleries 14 and 15.
This year the theme is Comfort and Calm. In an age of COVID-19, barbaric war, political hatred, talk of the world’s end, and addictive, omnipresent social media that provides a deluge of shallowness, nastiness, confusion and absurdity, I can definitely understand why young people would seek comfort and calm, and how artistic expression can provide that refuge.
The artworks you’ll see are not only very well done but inspiring. Thank goodness, the human spirit is resilient.
You can freely access Galleries 14 and 15 from a corner of the May S. Marcy Sculpture Court and its Panama 66 restaurant. Look for the following sign and head through the nearby doors that lead to museum restrooms.
Enjoy a few examples of this great youth art…
Sunset, Thrace Hollmann. Torrey Pines Elementary School, Grade 4.Along the Border, Katelyn Wang. The Bishop’s School, Grade 12.Spring Rain, Joana Jiang. Francis Parker School, Grade 11.Look Around, Carley Chen. The Bishop’s School, Grade 10.Sunset Fields, Ivory Rose Foley. Gillispie School, Grade 4.My Nature, Olivia Dooda. Johnson Elementary, Grade 2.Hilltop Home, Hadley Lischke. Gillispie School, Grade 1.Warmth, Ava O’Connor. Westview High School, Grade 12.Sleepy, Gabriella Hernandez. Chula Vista High and School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Grade 12.
Have you noticed electrical boxes around downtown San Diego that appear like special works of art? Many of these boxes were painted in 2021 for the San Diego Museum of Art’s previous Youth Art exhibition.
You can find those photographs by clicking here and scrolling down.
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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!
Would you like to sing happy songs with new friends in San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park? There’s a Saturday sing-along Meet-Up that you should check out!
I stumbled upon the group today as I walked past the Starlight Bowl. Bill Protzmann was leading the group in song and even dancing a little. Bill had a huge smile and came to speak to me when he saw me listening. I informed him that if I sang, some nearby windows would need repair.
I see that Bill also works to lift people in difficult life situations with song. With song and inspiration he encourages personal empowerment. Check out his Music Care website here.
So, does singing make you happy? This fun Saturday in the Park Sing-Along Meetup Group can be freely joined by clicking here!
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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!
In Carlsbad, there’s a special place where a spirit soars forever. That place is known as Dave’s Beach.
Hobbyists who fly radio-controlled gliders, or sailplanes, love to launch their small model aircraft from atop the bluffs at Dave’s Beach. Their gliders dance in the blue sky.
The upsloping ocean wind carries these surprisingly fast RC gliders aloft for sustained, acrobatic flights above the beach. Today, as I took these photographs, I saw as many as four zipping through the air at the same time.
I learned some of the hobbyists using Dave’s Beach as an RC glider port also launch their gliders at the Torrey Pines Gliderport in La Jolla, where similar wind conditions prevail.
In Loving Memory of Our Friend
DAVE KELLOGG
Whose spirit will soar on here forever
April 5, 1948 – October 18, 2006
The above memorial plaque explains why this spot is now called Dave’s Beach. Dave Kellogg loved to fly gliders from atop the bluffs here many years ago.
If you’d like to visit Dave’s Beach, you can find it right next to the intersection of Carlsbad Boulevard and Solamar Drive.
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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!
Something extraordinary happened today. Members of the City Heights community came together to celebrate the completion of monumental public art. A ceremonial ribbon cutting was performed for one of San Diego’s most amazing murals!
Unity in the Community is a 270 foot long mural painted along a wall at the south end of Teralta Neighborhood Park. The mural has been six years in the making. I’ve posted several past blogs as I’ve observed the artwork’s creation.
Have you driven on I-15 where it passes underground in east San Diego? If so, you’ve driven under Teralta Park and this fantastic mural.
Today’s celebration not only brought together members of the City Heights community, but many organizations and city leaders who’ve played an important role in the planning, approval, funding and making of this mural. I couldn’t possibly name everybody, and I haven’t closely followed the complicated process, but you can learn all about the mural’s history at this dedicated website.
Three local artists have played big roles in creating Unity in the Community. I once blogged about Sake, who produced the initial rendering and the first stage of the painted art. (I met him here.)
More recently, the mural was completed by artist Karl Gindelberger aka GMONIK, and Melody De Los Cobos, artistic director of Love City Heights. Both were present for today’s ceremony and ribbon cutting.
Several speeches told of how, with the work of many, a once neglected and crime-ridden park has been reclaimed and revitalized. We all celebrated how this mural, with its many positive images, will build pride and a sense of ownership in the community. How this mural conveys diversity, harmony and acceptance. How this mural will become a backdrop for future community events, such as a proposed Taste of City Heights!
Everyone in attendance today could plainly see how, in the coming years, this wonderful mural will positively impact many lives.
If you want to see the entire Unity in the Community mural, I took lots of photographs last month and posted them here.
Walking along one section of the long, amazing community mural.GMONIK, one of the mural artists, posed for a photo!People talked and enjoyed the moment before the ceremony would begin.A fun photo with a skateboarding dog!Thanks is given to the many community leaders and parties responsible for the completion of the inspiring mural.Gratitude to those who boldly forge ahead and make our world better.Cutting the ribbon. Finally passing the finish line!A bright vision realized.
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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 beautiful work of metal art now stands in the City Heights Tierra Central sculpture garden. It was created by local artist Spenser Little (@spenserlittleart). The sculpture honors Jim Bliesner, Visionary Community Advocate.
Jim Bliesner was a driving force behind the creation of Tierra Central, an outdoor event space on University Avenue, just east of Interstate 15. For 40 years he’s worked for the betterment of his community, from planting trees to starting a local newspaper. He’s a founding member of the City Heights Community Development Corporation.
Jim is both activist and artist. His works of public art can be seen around City Heights and our Southern California region. You might recall some past blog posts featuring his work. Here and here and here!
I was so surprised and gratified to see this amazing new sculpture honoring such a wonderful person and inspiration to many!
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 