Last year locally and internationally renowned artist Mario Torero painted four murals for the San Ysidro Health building in National City, at the intersection of 8th Street and D Avenue.
The colorful faces depicted in these outdoor murals belong to labor and civil rights leaders: Cesar Chavez, Larry Itliong, Dolores Huerta, and Martin Luther King Jr. The faces of these cultural icons are rendered in Torero’s distinctive style.
Torero, co-founder of Chicano Park, is famous for his socially conscious artwork. You’ve likely seen his work elsewhere around San Diego.
I photographed the four postage stamp-like murals during a walk through National City.
Cesar Chavez mural by Mario Torero.Larry Itliong mural by Mario Torero.Dolores Huerta mural by Mario Torero.Martin Luther King Jr. mural by Mario Torero.
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A bold new mural recently debuted in Escondido. The colorful artwork, painted by local artist and teacher Charlie Mejia, depicts six ancient Aztec symbols: Malinalli, Atl, Ehecatl, Ollin, Xochitl and Quiahuitl.
You can find this public art on the north side of Tortilleria Santacruz, beside the Escondido Creek Trail bike path where it intersects with Rose Street, south of Washington Park.
When I was told about this new mural, I also learned internationally renowned muralist Mario Torero, one of the founders of Chicano Park, will soon be decorating a nearby wall!
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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!
Driving through San Diego’s Skyline neighborhood, have you noticed an enormous, fantastic fish?
I’ve seen this amazing fish mural the past few years while riding the Orange Line trolley. I finally walked over to the corner of Imperial Avenue and 69th Street to have a closer look and take photos.
The abstract fish is by San Diego artist Maxx Moses. You’ve probably seen his wildly creative murals around the city and at several trolley stations. Often cultural, technological, and organic imagery are fused together to create eye-popping art.
You can see other examples of distinctive Maxx Moses work 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!
Walking along El Cajon Boulevard after my visit to the Rolando Street Fair last weekend, I noticed a very cool mural painted on the side of a tattoo parlor. I had discovered The Chrome Lady!
The silvery female robot indicated I’d arrived at The Chrome Lady Tattoo.
I asked one of the tattoo artists if he knew who painted the robot, but he wasn’t sure. I didn’t see a signature on the mural.
If you’re ever near the intersection of El Cajon Boulevard and 62nd Street, look for 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!
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!
Venture into Carlsbad’s art alley and you’ll find several woodies parked along one wall!
These cool classic vehicles with wood side panels are lined up opposite the Alley Art Wall, which you can learn about here. The woodies are pictured with surfboards at the beach.
You can find the alley near Village Kabob, at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Tyler Street.
The art panels are signed C. Serna, 2016.
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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 couple of incredible projects are now underway that will improve and beautify the Palisades area of Balboa Park.
One project I wrote about yesterday. Two life-size grizzly bear sculptures and two flagpoles will be added to the roof of the San Diego Automotive Museum. You can read that blog post here.
The second project concerns the historical building directly across Pan American Plaza: today’s Municipal Gymnasium. This building was originally built for the 1935-1936 California Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park and was called the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries.
Back in 1935, a large themed mural greeted visitors above the entrance to the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries. It was a bas-relief designed by Arturo Eneim, carved out of layers of wallboard. It’s long gone.
But that mural is coming back! And it will be made of cold cast bronze!
In late 2021 I visited the San Diego studio of Bellagio Precast where the 12′ x 20′ cold cast bronze fiber glass reinforced concrete mural is being created. You can see interesting photos from that visit, plus renderings and more description, by clicking here. And here.
I visited the same studio again a couple days ago and observed how the enormous mural is coming together, piece by piece!
Architectural plans for the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries mural are spread near a small model at Bellagio Precast in San Diego.A small model of the cast bronze mural, which includes industrial imagery, an electrical generator, and three human figures.Here’s the mold used for the small model’s creation. You can see how the images are reversed.The design for the electrical generator element that will be included in the large, finished mural.And here is the generator! Just one element of many that will be pieced together to create a mold for the massive cast bronze mural.More elements to be incorporated into the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries mural include huge gears!
A large colorful mural greets people walking into Civic Center Plaza from A Street in downtown San Diego. The mural is titled What Do You Want to Remember About Our City?
This public art, commissioned in 2020 by the City of San Diego, was created by local artist MR (Melinda) Barnadas with input from members of the community. Near the center of the mural is a list of unique San Diego Memories contributed by many.
I saw the mural for the first time today. I hadn’t walked this way in a while…
What do you want to remember about San Diego…Someone walks down the outdoor passageway that leads south from A Street into Civic Center Plaza. They pass by a large list of San Diego memories.People dancing here in the Civic Center… a city bus… the sea… seeing a play as a little girl… fishing off the docks… surfing… Horton Plaza……submarines… Hillcrest… the trolley… Chicano Park… becoming a citizen… getting ice cream with a friend… lowriders in National City……Barrio Logan… Balboa Park… an outpouring of solidarity… Charles Lewis III Memorial Park… seeing John Lewis at Oak Park Library… the San Diego Zoo… OB Pier……watching planes in Point Loma… dancing in North Park… Old Town… trips to Tijuana… the world’s best tacos… seeing whales and dolphins… palm trees… the lighthouse at Cabrillo…What Do You Want to Remember About Our City? By artist MR (Melinda) Barnadas.
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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!
Here’s one last blog post from my long walk in Chula Vista yesterday.
As I wandered down the alley directly west of Third Avenue, I discovered two very cool murals.
The first is north of Davidson Street. There’s a signature, but I’m not sure who the artist is. Leave a comment if you know…
The second mural is south of Davidson Street and is by artist Michelle Ruby, aka Mr. B Baby. You might recognize her artwork. It contains fun, colorful characters that often populate her murals…
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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!
Check out all the fun art on a wall at Algo Bueno in Chula Vista! The artwork was painted by local kids!
I was walking around yesterday when I saw this colorful wall at 354 Church Avenue where Algo Bueno (Something Good), an outdoor eatery, is located. The area was fenced off, so I took zoom photos and sharpened them.
This great art was designed and created by students from Chula Vista Learning Community Charter Middle School.
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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! 