During my walk in Carlsbad today, I stumbled upon a friendly gentleman painting a swath of the new Alley Art Wall!
The Alley Art Wall features a large composite mural featuring the permanent work of 17 artists. You can find it on the side of Village Kabob, at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Tyler Street.
The Alley Art Wall debuted early this year. It is a project of Carlsbad artist Bryan Snyder. (Years ago he started a different Carlsbad Art Wall with rotating artists at nearby Señor Grubby’s.)
A rectangular area within this new Alley Art Wall is called the Recreation Mural Space. It’s an ever-changing designated creative space where any inspired muralist can paint as they please!
The gentleman I ran across today, painting the rectangular Recreation Mural Space in my photos, is Lee. He envisions kids from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Carlsbad adding their own artwork to the space!
Very cool!
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The huge, detailed train layouts are amazing by themselves, but during the Holiday Season, additional surprises await around the museum!
There are beautiful Christmas trees, a talking, animatronic Santa to excite kids, and tiny holiday scenes placed in several of the scale train layouts.
But by far the most magic can be experienced in the Toy Train Gallery!
In the Toy Train Gallery, young and old gaze wide-eyed at a lively city filled with holiday figures and bright decorations. Trains illuminated with colored Christmas lights pass through happy winter scenes. Snowmen and Christmas trees perch on rooftops. It like a dream world one might see in a snow globe–filled with life and activity!
In addition, the Toy Train Gallery’s walls are filled with holiday artwork that will make old-timers nostalgic for years gone by.
A few photos provide a small taste…
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Inspired people continue to bring positive change to National City!
I saw another example of this positive change during my last South Bay walk. A beautiful mural depicting a loving mother and child now appears on one side of Cozine’s Liquor and Deli.
I discovered the mural was created by the young artists of A Reason To Survive (ARTS). The artwork is part of their Market Makeover program!
With the help of various organizations, certain liquor stores around National City now offer fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables, plus positive artwork that encourages healthy living!
Early this year I blogged about another liquor store transformation in National City. I also provided more information about this community initiative. Read more by clicking here!
And here’s another corner store in National City that was brightened by the youth of A Reason to Survive!
Look what I also discovered while walking along…
Welcome to National City is painted boldly across the parking lot from the Cozine’s Liquor and Deli mural.
Enter National City via Civic Center Drive and you’ll see it!
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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!
It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag. There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
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!
Santa Claus made the journey from the North Pole to San Diego today. He arrived at Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ Pavilion at noon and immediately commenced spreading joy.
He greeted young and old in front of Balboa Park’s traditional holiday Gingerbread House, then at two o’clock took to the pavilion stage. Accompanied by smiling San Diego Civic Organist Raul Prieto Ramírez on the majestic Spreckels Organ, Santa sang the opening verse and chorus of Up on the Housetop.
Up on the Housetop, written by Benjamin Hanby in 1864, was the very first Christmas song that mentions Santa Claus!
Santa’s heartwarming performance was followed by a jolly Ho, Ho, Ho.
He then wished everyone in the audience a Merry Christmas.
Thank you, Santa, for being who you are.
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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!
It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag. There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
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!
Creativity is always welcome at December Nights in Balboa Park! I could clearly see this, as I periodically checked out some tables hosted by San Diego’s very cool Comic-Con Museum.
Everybody and anybody was invited to grab some paint and help color in a community mural. Actually, there appeared to be multiple murals, as you can see in my photographs.
I walked around the big December Nights event both Friday and today, and watched as the murals took form.
Check it out!
UPDATE!
I saw a completed mural at a later visit to the museum…
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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!
It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag. There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
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!
The other day, as I walked around to the north side of the 17th Street Lifeguard Tower in Del Mar, I discovered many tiles that had been painted by kids!
The tiles are dated 2008, 2009 and 2010. (Looking closer, I see a 2012, too.)
I can find nothing online concerning this project, so leave what you know in a comment. I’m guessing the artwork was created by families that reside in Del Mar.
In any event, enjoy these colorful bits of art. The painted tiles are bright with sunshine and beachy happiness!
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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!
It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag. There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
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 love these murals! I saw them during my recent walk in National City.
These very fun murals, showing happy active kids, can be seen outside the Manuel Portillo Casa de Salud Youth Center. How great are these?
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post fresh blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag. There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
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!
Today, Veterans Day, a Celebration of Service was held at the Veterans Museum at Balboa Park.
Several local organizations from around San Diego came together during the event to engage in service projects that help the community.
When I arrived at the museum in the early afternoon, I noticed that hard-working Young Marines were helping Feeding San Diego to assemble Thanksgiving boxes.
Every box makes a complete Thanksgiving dinner, minus a turkey. Those who are hungry during the holiday season will greatly appreciate the kindness of others.
Do you know any kids who love trains? If you do, there are many opportunities for fun coming up in both La Mesa and Campo!
Yesterday I was passing the La Mesa Depot Museum when I noticed it was open and someone was working inside.
That someone was Station Master Timothy. He was building a new HO scale train layout in the old depot’s baggage room!
After showing me a few nearby historical exhibits, he explained this new layout will eventually be a fun, free activity for visiting kids. There will be a dynamic little town named Kerville (the tracks curve), and a module that can be added that includes both desert and mountainous terrain!
Meanwhile, the La Mesa Depot Museum has a curvy, twisty toy train layout in the adjoining ticket and passenger room that small kids can play with by hand.
Cooler yet, there are those real life train cars outside that one can explore up close and personal! If you’ve ever driven down Spring Street at La Mesa Boulevard, you’ve no doubt seen them.
You can see more photographs in and around the La Mesa museum here.
The La Mesa Depot Museum is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00 to 3:00 pm and Saturdays 1-4 pm.
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The old La Mesa depot is a satellite of the much larger Pacific Southwest Railway Museum, located out in Campo. There kids can ride historic trains through San Diego’s scenic backcountry. And big kids (adults) can even take the controls of a big, honest-to-goodness diesel-electric locomotive and run it for a short distance!
Need something fun for the family to do next weekend before Halloween? Reserve a ticket for a unique Campo train ride out to a pumpkin patch. It’s called the Pumpkin Express.
Then, before Christmas, kids will enjoy meeting Santa during an incredible train ride on the North Pole Limited!
If you’d like an idea of how awesome this all would be, check out two of my past blog posts. This one has photographs from the train ride out in Campo. And this one shows the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum during its the big 100th Anniversary of the San Diego and Arizona Railway event!
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Thank you for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often, so you might want to bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and check back from time to time.
You can explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
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!
Huge crowds converged today in downtown Chula Vista for the big 25th Annual Lemon Festival!
Families were walking along Third Avenue enjoying the lemony sights and tasty smells.
Musicians performed on the Zesty Stage. Kids played and made crafts in the Lil’ Lemons zone. Vendors had all sorts of lemon-themed goodies on display, and it seemed that fresh lemonade could be found every few steps! Many neighbors were wearing bright yellow!
Why a big Lemon Festival in Chula Vista?
Once upon a time, before asphalt streets crisscrossed the sunny landscape, agriculture in San Diego’s South Bay was famous for its abundant lemon production. Our climate is perfect to grow citrus.
In the early 20th century there were almost two thousand acres of lemon groves around Chula Vista, which called itself the Lemon Capital of the World.
Enjoy the following fun photos! I walked up and down Third Avenue a couple times, taking in the festive scene, before I headed off to another cool Chula Vista location, as you will see in an upcoming blog post!
This super nice lady handed me some literature concerning the Arts in the Park festival, which is coming up in Chula Vista on August 27th from 10-5 in Memorial Park.
Mark it on your calendar!
If you’d like to see a few more photographs these great chalk art murals, 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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 