I’ve just been contacted by Santa Claus. He has an important message for all of San Diego!
Merry Christmas, San Diego.
I hope you have a safe and dry Christmas Day with family and loved ones. Omicron is worse than getting coal in your stocking. Get vaccinated and wear a mask.
Santa hopes the pandemic will end and we all can return to “December Nights in the Park” next year.
Santa held his COVID-19 Vaccination Card during 2021 “Taste of December Nights.” (Photo courtesy Bill Swank.)After “Taste of December Nights,” Santa went to visit the Nativity scenes at the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. (Photo courtesy Bill Swank.)A week later, a well-dressed Chihuahua sporting a stylish Mohawk posed with Santa at Harry’s Coffee Shop in La Jolla. (Photo courtesy Bill Swank.)This cute little girl came to visit Santa while he was eating breakfast at Harry’s. (Photo courtesy Bill Swank.)… and this little guy was impressed with Santa’s baseball card. We want the Padres to win the World Series in 2022. (Photo courtesy Bill Swank.)
Be good to one another. Have fun. Laugh and be joyous, but also remember the meaning of the season.
Travel down Palm Avenue in Imperial Beach with perceptive eyes and you might discover My Wish For You. The long mural on an alley wall is located just west of Florida Street. It was created by Imperial Beach artist Michelle Lubin and installed in 2018.
According to a sign at the mural, My Wish For You was inspired by the love of the artist’s daughter for all things, including butterflies, ladybugs, dandelions, flowers, sticks, leaves and rocks. Do you see and love these things, too?
These simple things, so easily taken for granted, are among the infinite wonders all around us.
The beautiful mural is a project of the Imperial Beach Arts Bureau.
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A couple months ago a beautiful new mural was painted on a large wall in Imperial Beach. The artist is Carly Ealey. Her brilliant art can be found all over San Diego.
The title of this amazing mural is Grounding Frequency. It appears to me its message concerns an “electrical” connection between people–the connection of love and kindness. The artwork is part of the nationwide City of Kindness movement.
If you’d like to see it for yourself, this spray painted mural with heart is near the corner of Palm Avenue and Florence Street. You can’t miss it!
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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!
I spotted this uplifting, encouraging mural early this morning as I walked down J Street in San Diego’s East Village. The artwork is located on a wall between 16th Street and 17th Street.
I believe the mural was painted about a year ago. I don’t know by whom.
The three positive messages are: She is loved! She is free! She is strong!
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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!
Readers who are new to Cool San Diego Sights probably don’t know that, when I’m not walking around the city taking photographs, I love to write fiction.
Well, I’ve completed another very short story. This one is about a school teacher and a very peculiar lesson taught to her students.
The lesson isn’t merely strange–it might be one of the most important lessons any person, young or old, could learn.
This morning I walked down to the San Diego County Administration Building to view their Day of the Dead altar. Like the one last year, this new altar on some outdoor steps remembers those who’ve died from COVID-19.
When I arrived a gentleman was setting up additional luminarias and flowers.
Baltazar Hernandez, who is also Vice President of the City Heights Día de los Muertos, was busy making the altar more beautiful and meaningful.
He informed me there would be a special ceremony in the evening, so I returned to the County Administration Building after work.
The ceremony began with a blessing of the altar by Baltazar, who wore Danza Azteca garb. A few short speeches followed.
The most powerful words were spoken by someone who had tragically lost a loved one. She told everyone: “That empty place that you have in your heart–fill it with love.”
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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!
Today many are celebrating Día de los Muertos–Mexico’s traditional Day of the Dead. It is a time when departed loved ones are remembered and honored.
Early this evening I took a short walk around Old Town San Diego to see what I might see.
Many are still cautious because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so there wasn’t the usual crowd and activities. But I did find music and colorful Catrinas at Fiesta de Reyes, and sugar skull face painting at a few spots in the State Park and along San Diego Avenue. I also came across a couple of Día de los Muertos altars.
These are my photos…
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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!
Seven years ago I published 20 Ways To Help the Homeless in San Diego. This special page lists twenty organizations and initiatives that can use your help, to reach and assist homeless people all around San Diego.
This morning I revised the page. I’ve removed links to charitable operations and websites that no longer exist, added others.
If you find it in your heart, please visit this page again. There are many opportunities to volunteer, mentor, donate, provide hope.
Perhaps you’ll feel inspired to help out in your own way.
Just after sunrise this morning, I began a walk from Cortez Hill in downtown San Diego up through Bankers Hill.
As I came to the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Spruce Street, I suddenly noticed street art that I hadn’t seen before.
A wall of the 7-Eleven has been painted colorfully by Eva Struble of the Ladies Who Paint! According to her Instagram page, the mural was finished last week!
I also observed that an electrical box next to Jimmy Carter’s Mexican Café, on the south side of Spruce Street, is covered with love!
It appears the love was painted by Tali(?) in 2020.
If you want to see even more street art that was painted years ago next to the 7-Eleven parking lot, 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!
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