The public is invited to tour a working farm in Mission Valley. I did that today!
MAKE Farm at SDSU Mission Valley is located a short distance from Snapdragon Stadium. Perhaps you’ve seen the farm from the elevated Stadium trolley station, or the parking lot east of the stadium.
I first noticed the new half-acre urban farm early this year and posted this blog. Today, as I walked through the SDSU Mission Valley river park, I saw a sign indicating there was a tour today. It turned out today was the farm’s very first “trial” tour–the official tours will begin next January on Saturday mornings.
The MAKE farm is flourishing! Adam and a farming trainee (a friendly refugee) showed me rows upon rows of organically grown vegetables. They pointed out beets, radishes, peas, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, bok choy, kale, parsley, carrots, strawberries, onions . . . and more! During the summer they also grew corn, beans and other warm weather crops.
After taking a look at the growing food, I learned how the farm has a special CSA Program. For a monthly subscription, you can receive a weekly bag full of farm-fresh healthy vegetables! You also receive an invitation to a fun seasonal gathering on the farm! Cool! Learn about the program by clicking here!
Students from San Diego State University are also visiting the farm to learn about sustainability. Once SDSU Mission Valley is fully developed, the farm will be ideally located!
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A bronze statue of basketball legend Bill Walton with his beloved bicycle stands just outside the entrance of the Mission Valley YMCA in San Diego!
I heard the San Diego Blood Bank was having a blood drive in honor of Bill Walton at this YMCA today, so I figured I’d come on down. Of course, I had to take photographs of Bill Walton’s joyful sculpture!
Here’s a 2016 article about the sculpture’s creation. It explains: Bill Walton led the UCLA Bruins to national championships in the early 1970s before playing for San Diego Clippers, the Portland Trail Blazers, and Boston Celtics and joining the NBA. Walton won two NBA championships and was named the NBA valuable player. He was also a very dedicated Grateful Dead Deadhead!
The artist who created the life-size, carefully detailed sculpture is Alison Brown. She really captured his energy and love of life. Bill frequently visited the Mission Valley YMCA, and he would greet everyone with his big smile.
Bill Walton grew up in La Mesa near Lake Murray and played high school basketball at Helix High School. He spent his later years living in San Diego, where he was an active public figure and loved by many. Check out his Wikipedia page to learn of his many accomplishments.
The statue’s plaque recalls how Bill Walton spent many hours at the Mission Valley YMCA. Because the indoor pool soothed his chronic pain, he said the Y saved his life.
Finally, here’s the web page concerning today’s inaugural Bill Walton Memorial Blood Drive. There’s a button you can click if you’d like to donate blood in the future. You can schedule a visit to the San Diego Blood Bank or learn of upcoming blood drives!
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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.
San Diego firefighters fought a blaze all this morning in Mission Valley. The fire was at the long-vacant In Cahoots Dance Hall & Saloon.
I work nearby. I noticed the flashing lights of fire engines on the scene well before sunrise. Late in the morning I walked with my camera around the building at a safe distance. Flames were still visible through the burnt roof and walls.
In Cahoots was a popular Country Western night club for decades. Years and years ago, I had two coworkers who’d line dance in the evening at In Cahoots. I could guess where they’d be heading after work when I saw them wearing cowboy boots!
I’m sure thousands of San Diegans have fond memories of the place.
A thank you to San Diego’s hero firefighters, who prevented the fire from spreading to nearby buildings.
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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 X.
Did you know there are beehives high up on an office building rooftop in San Diego? The beehives are atop the Pacific Center I building in Mission Valley, which rises on Frazee Road north of Friars Road.
I saw the above sign while walking near Pacific Center the other day. It explains how coexisting with bees in cities is easy and natural. This web page tells all about the beehives at Pacific Center, which were established on the roof in 2021. The bees, which collect pollen from miles around, are very gentle and thriving!
I see that many of the tenants are bee enthusiasts and have enjoyed jars of honey and created crafts with beeswax!
Very cool!
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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 X.
Rob Hutsel, President and CEO of the San Diego River Park Foundation, provided a guided walking tour this morning that I and several others thoroughly enjoyed. He explained how in the next 6 to 8 weeks the River Center will really be taking shape, with many of its features finally completed.
He explained how the center will be an active outdoor classroom for thousands of San Diego school children–particularly Title 1 schools within a 15 minute drive, serving urban, less affluent communities.
The River Center is designed to welcome city kids who might have no real experience out in nature. They will be eased into the experience from the moment school buses arrive, enjoying presentations in a 100-seat amphitheater by the entry courtyard. I learned there will be animal encounters hosted by Joan Embery!
Kids will then walk past a waterfall, separate into smaller groups, and walk down nature trails, where they will learn about the environment and the San Diego River: its geology, history, flora and fauna.
If you’d like to go on one of these preview tours, you have the chance tomorrow–Sunday, May 19–between 9:30 am and 11:30 am. Check out the San Diego River Days website for more information here!
In September there will be a big Grand Opening celebration! Stay tuned!
Construction gate at the future entrance to the River Center at Grant Park in Mission Valley. The area beyond used to be an abandoned sand mining site.Early visitors have arrived for the first tour that would preview the new River Center.The public can support the project by buying personalized pavers at the River Center’s entrance.Kids stepping off school buses will encounter wild animal tracks in a concrete walkway.Almost time to start our early Saturday morning tour!A rendering of the entry courtyard, showing The Den pavilion structure with restrooms and a sheltered sitting area that faces a stage and river trees. Famous animal educator Joan Embery is partnering with the River Center and will provide animal presentations (perhaps a hawk) for young students!This is where the 100-seat outdoor amphitheater with stage will be built.Much of the dirt area in the 17-acre River Center will soon be transformed into a beautiful park space. A gateway garden and expanse of grass (Grant Park) will be open to the public! Just beyond Rob will be an artificial waterfall!A walkway will wind toward the south side of the San Diego River. There will be lighting along the path. The environmentally friendly River Center will be powered mostly by solar.Where the walkway turns there will be a beautiful arbor–an acoustic shade structure.Just beyond the arbor, a dirt trail will lead into nature. Kids in small groups will be led by trained educators into the native river environment.Here we go! The irrigation pipes you see will eventually be removed.Kids can learn about how buckwheat seeds spread, and learn about plants and trees like prickly pear and lemonade berry, and willows and oaks.Gazing down toward the San Diego River in mid-May, when water levels are low. That’s Interstate 805 in the distance. I saw birds flitting about in the lush greenery.Now we’re back on the curving concrete walkway, looking at the visionary River Center at Grant Park project. Some big boulders were donated, adding beauty to the park space.Rendering shows families enjoying the grass of Grant Park when it’s finally completed.Master gardeners will be adding their expertise to the public park. The California Garden Clubs will also be contributing. The River Center and park will be alive with birds. As our tour concluded, a swallow flew overhead.Join the effort to open the River Center at Grant Park! Donations for this amazing (but expensive) project are appreciated!
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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 X.
The public has a special opportunity to tour the new River Center at Grant Park this Saturday. The amazing nature center beside the San Diego River in Mission Valley is currently under construction. Completion is scheduled for this summer. The goal is to have 10,000 students connecting with nature each year in the River Center’s unique outdoor classroom!
Saturday’s family tour is one activity of many during the San Diego River Park Foundation’s annual River Days event. Other activities along the river through this weekend include gardening, clean ups, wildlife hikes and bird walks.
To view a listing of all the free River Days activities in 2024, click 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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!
What was Santa Claus doing in San Diego this morning? Good question!
As I waited at the Fashion Valley Transit Center for a bus, I spied Santa on the side of a box truck in the mall parking lot. So of course I had to walk over and investigate!
Turns out I had discovered a wonderful charity.
CHiPs for Kids sponsors an annual holiday season toy drive by the California Highway Patrol. The toy drive typically begins in mid-November and runs through mid-December, just in time for Christmas.
CHP area offices around California are where the unwrapped and unused toys are collected. The donated toys are distributed to families who are in need.
Santa on the side of a truck and the promised delivery of holiday cheer!
In late April!
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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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!
The Fan Zone outside Snapdragon Stadium was alive with excitement before the start of today’s Women’s Gold Cup Final. The winner of the game would be historic first champion of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup!
Which team would prevail? USA or Brazil?
Soccer fans from around the United States and the world were arriving in droves, streaming in from parking lots and the Stadium trolley station. I saw flag capes, crazy hats, colorful scarfs, enthusiastic fans holding handmade signs, and many smiles. A lot of red, white and blue was visible. Some yellow and green, too!
Inside the Gold Cup Fan Zone, families took part in many activities. Kids dribbled soccer balls, tried to score a goal. Fans posed for pictures with the Gold Cup. San Diego’s own soccer teams–San Diego FC and San Diego Wave FC–had booths and greeted everyone.
Fans were pumped!
Who would win?
Who would win? USA!
Guess who scored the winning goal?
Lindsey Horan!
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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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!
Some very unusual art is installed in a concourse at Snapdragon Stadium. An array of 24 stadium lights has been mounted to one wall. Color changes at the center of each individual silvery floodlight. Over all are the words: San Diego.
When I attended a recent event at Snapdragon, I asked a knowledgeable employee who was working nearby about this art. I learned the old floodlights are from the demolished San Diego Stadium (aka Jack Murphy Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium, SDCCU Stadium), which stood on this same property in Mission Valley from 1967 to 2021.
Cool idea!
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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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!
Remember these two things: Play hard and have fun!
These words of wisdom were spoken by San Diego legend and hero, our beloved Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn. They are also painted in a colorful mural at Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley.
Tony Gwynn is one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He won eight Major League Baseball batting titles and was a 15-time All-Star. Perhaps just as importantly, he was honored for his character and humanitarianism with the 1995 Branch Rickey Award, the 1998 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award and the 1999 Roberto Clemente Award, which USA Today called “baseball’s Triple Crown of humanity and kindness.”
Tony liked to smile and laugh. He loved everybody. He played hard and had fun. He was an example for all of us.
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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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!
Cool San Diego Sights! 