Tag: linda vista

Students shine at USD Arts and Culture Festival!

The public was invited to enjoy a wonderful free event at the University of San Diego this afternoon: the 4th Annual Arts and Culture Festival!

The University of San Diego College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Music presented sixteen excellent outdoor performances on campus. Students took to three outdoor stages, singing, dancing and more. I stayed for a bit over an hour and enjoyed every second!

The event is an outreach to intrigued students or potential students, the Linda Vista community, and anyone in San Diego who loves and supports the arts. I’m in the latter category.

After gazing at a number of sculptures created by students around the Camino/Founders Patio, I took a seat for the initial performance by the school’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble.

Next was an energetic combat demo, cleverly (and very humorously) staged by actors from the Old Globe. The Old Globe and University of San Diego offers a top ranked Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. (Jim Parsons, star of The Big Bang Theory, is a graduate!)

Then came several musical numbers by young members of Song/Story/Stage, then a shining performance by the very fine Concert Choir, then mariachi music and ballet folklorico dancing, then more dance, then more music…

USD’s Music Department appreciates the public’s support. Check out their website here. Follow their Instagram posts here. They even offer private music lessons!

A handout at the event included a quote from a student, Lauren, which explains: “Music is something that we all resonate with and encounter in our everyday lives and USD’s music department embodies that by being a home base for music majors and non-majors, no matter what your experience is, to come together and create something beautiful…”

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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 X.

Hear Your Heart Stop on a Comic-Con trolley!

Hear your heart stop? It might happen when you listen to Impact Winter on Audible, or if terror grips you as you step onto this spooky Comic-Con 2023 trolley!

I caught this trolley wrap today at the Linda Vista Station.

You might recall Audible had those three awesome sand sculptures along MLK Promenade outside Comic-Con last year. One sculpture promoted this same Impact Winter audio series: it’s a world-gone-dark post-comet-impact vampire apocalypse!

I posted photographs of those great Audible sand sculptures here!

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I’ll be covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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 My Park Day coming this Saturday!

I Love My Park Day is coming up this Saturday, May 13, 2023!

The City of San Diego Parks & Recreation Department invites one and all to enjoy entertainment, inflatables, crafts, games, music, community resources, food, and lots of other fun stuff! The free event is organized by the San Diego Parks Foundation.

I Love My Park Day can be enjoyed at these four locations in San Diego, between 3 pm and 6 pm:

City Heights at the City Heights Recreation Center, 4380 Landis Street.

Linda Vista at the Linda Vista Recreation Center, 7064 Levant Street.

Logan Heights at the Dolores Magdaleno Memorial Recreation Center, 2902 Marcy Avenue.

Skyline at the Skyline Hills Recreation Center, 8285 Skyline Drive.

Also, this same coming Saturday, May 13th, bring the entire family out to Teralta Park in City Heights between 2 pm and 3:30 pm and experience San Diego’s favorite Fern Street Circus!

It’s all free!

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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!

Architecture delights eyes at Linda Vista library.

I took these photographs of the Linda Vista Library earlier this year. It’s about time I shared them!

Look at the fascinating architecture of this very unique building. Like many projects that were designed by local architect Rob Wellington Quigley, the geometry one encounters is unexpected and complex.

Eyes wandering over the varied exterior make delightful discoveries. Then you walk through the door into the light filled interior with its many angled beams and become even more amazed!

San Diego’s current Linda Vista Branch Library opened in 1987. When I took these photos, the green trees at the front entrance obscured some of the building. But the essential beauty of the design comes through.

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Linda Vista Messenger of Love and Light!

If you’ve ever driven past the Buggy Bath Car Wash in Linda Vista, you might’ve seen this cool abstract mural that looks like a bird in flight. It’s titled Linda Vista Messenger of Love and Light.

The complex, spiritual artwork was painted in 2014 by San Diego artist Gibran Isaias Lopez, aka Isaias Crow. Over the years, I’ve photographed a variety of his murals. Click here if you’d like to see them again.

Here’s a great local article concerning the Linda Vista Messenger of Love and Light!

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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!

Fun at Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade!

What an outstanding community event! Today I experienced the 37th Annual Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade, and I gathered lots of photos!

I’d never before attended this annual event, and was blown away by the diversity, colorful entertainment, and all the smiles!

Numerous community organizations had set up canopies along on Linda Vista Road, and were greeting neighbors walking past. I was interested to learn there are plans to create a community garden. I saw many friendly people working to improve the lives of Linda Vista residents.

As I walked around, I smelled lots of yummy food. I saw kids super excited to go on rides in a fun zone. For several minutes I paused to watch and photograph a variety of cultural dances at the two festival stages.

Just before the parade began at 11 o’clock, I headed a bit north up Linda Vista Road to view the spectacle away from most of the crowd.

Personally, I liked the many roller skaters and their fun, musical routine. Linda Vista is home to Skateworld San Diego, and roller skating is a unique part of the community’s identity!

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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!

Linda Vista students create Mexican coconut masks!

Check out this awesome art made by 5th grade students! It appears that some very creative kids attend San Diego Cooperative Charter School in Linda Vista! I noticed this display while visiting today’s 37th Annual Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade.

These colorful masks were actually made using cleverly wrapped balloons, instead of coconut shells, to simulate the fun, imaginative Mascaras de Coco faces that are popular in parts of Mexico.

I love the various personalities!

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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!

Street art and a little history in Linda Vista.

I walked through Linda Vista yesterday, up Linda Vista Road from Comstock Street to Genesee Avenue. I discovered great examples of street art and some fascinating local history!

Linda Vista is an old San Diego neighborhood whose origin is tied to World War II. According to Wikipedia: “Many of the homes in Linda Vista were built in 1940-41 as part of a government project to house aircraft workers for the war effort. A construction project that was assisted by Reuben H. Fleet beginning in October 1941 resulted in 3,001 houses built within 200 days.”

One of the first shopping malls ever built in the United States was built in this community. As I walked up Linda Vista Road past the Sieu Thi Thuan Phat Supermarket, I came upon a bronze plaque that describes that history.

Today, as you can see from my photographs, many who live in Linda Vista have an Asian heritage.

The plaque reads:

THIS SITE WAS THE LOCATION OF ONE OF
THE FIRST PLANNED SHOPPING CENTERS
IN THE UNITED STATES

The Linda Vista area was developed as a government
housing project for aircraft and shipyard defense
workers during World War II. The original shopping
center was built to serve the residents and was
dedicated in 1942 by Eleanor Roosevelt. Demolition of
the original shopping center occurred in 1972.

LINDA VISTA COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, 2009

Above is the photo of a beautiful mural by local artist Gloria Muriel, spray painted on the wall of Hot Wash Coin Laundry. Love and Respect.

There’s a tragic phenomenon in the large cities of California that I rarely photograph. In Linda Vista, as in most of San Diego, drugs and homelessness are now encountered everywhere one walks.

A heartbreaking photo.

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Books fly in a children’s reading mural!

Favorite fairy tale and storybook characters come to life in a faded mural by the Linda Vista Library.
Favorite fairy tale and storybook characters live in a mural by the Linda Vista Library.

A mural painted on a building wall next to the Linda Vista Branch of the San Diego Public Library promotes children’s reading. Books take wing and fly!

Small scenes from fairy tales and fables appear in a colorful landscape surrounding a castle. The mural is home to The Tortoise and the Hare, Humpty Dumpty, Puss in Boots, the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, Mother Goose, the Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and other classic storybook characters.

Murals fade, but worlds painted by human imagination do not.

Flights of imagination. Books take wing.
Flights of imagination. Timeless stories take wing.

Once upon a time there were magic books that could fly. Their goal was to teach children.
Once upon a time there were magic books that could fly. Their goal was to teach children.

Soar to new heights. Read.
Soar to new heights. Read.

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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!

I also write fiction. Like fairy tales, my short stories concern life. You can read them at my website Short Stories by Richard.