This big mural in El Cajon might be a bit faded, but it’s still awesome. Today’s Children Rise is the message spray painted on the east-facing exterior of Collision Masters Auto Body Shop!
The distinctive artwork was completed years ago by graffiti artists DyseOne, Hasler, Brave and Shark. I’m not sure exactly when.
I got a glimpse of the mural today for the first time. I was walking down West Main Street. A friendly guy at the body shop guided me through the busy facility so I could get unobstructed photographs. Thanks!
By the way, I found other cool murals during my walk in El Cajon, so stay tuned for more!
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A series of new murals was recently installed in San Diego’s downtown Civic Center Plaza! A security guy told me they were put up several days ago.
The cheerful, colorful murals contain images of landmarks in different parts of San Diego. I recognized Balboa Park, Gaslamp Quarter, East Village, Downtown, Marina, Barrio Logan, and San Diego Bay.
The artistic design and illustration is the work of Maximo Escobedo and Alma Vasquez Escobedo, of Maximo Creative Communications. The new artwork refers to Civic Center Plaza as “Plaza Central.”
Bright bubbly images have also been scattered upon the plaza’s walking surface. The once dullish-grayish space now appears more alive. You can see what I mean in the next photograph…
How many San Diego landmarks can you recognize?
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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.
I’m not sure if it has an official title–it’s described as a pre-World War I scenic mural…depicting an imaginary airfield in France, about the time of the first great aerial races and daring exhibitions… It was painted in March, 1984 by New Zealand pilot and artist-designer Jon Francis Petrie.
In the mural, words painted on an observation tower indicate: ROUEN Aérodrome La Grande Exposition d’AVIATION 1910.
I’ve tried to search for biographical info on the artist, but to no avail, except that he was born in 1940. Perhaps someone who is knowledgeable can leave a comment.
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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.
I read this article about the new mural painted on Beyer Boulevard in San Ysidro, so I had to go see it.
The multi-wall mural was created by artist Mr. B Baby, whose real name is Michelle Guerrero. It’s her second collaboration with the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), which operates the San Diego Trolley. (The first mural painted late last year is also on the trolley’s Blue Line in South Bay–but just north of E Street in Chula Vista.)
This latest addition to the “MTS Color the Corridor” project contains colorful doll-like imagery you might recognize from other Mr. B Baby murals.
As motorists proceed under the trolley’s steel bridge, their attention is drawn to the two walls on either side, which represent the two sides of the San Diego/Tijuana border. The characters’ love for each other transcends the border.
Some online sites claim the mural is at the Beyer Boulevard trolley station, but that’s not true. It’s actually located here.
Unfortunately, relatively few people enjoy this amazing public art. Beyer Boulevard at this spot has very little traffic. Commuters on the trolley can’t really see the mural. Perhaps a rider could glimpse a small part of it while sitting at a right side window seat looking down. I’m not sure.
This very beautiful Día de los Muertos mural was painted in San Ysidro in 2024. I saw it for the first time last weekend during a long walk.
The mural is filled with traditional Día de los Muertos imagery. It was painted by artists Berenice Badillo (@bbadillos) and Shirish Villaseñor (@shirishtheartist) on the long wooden fence at the north end of San Ysidro’s Cultural Corridor.
Curious? The art-filled Cultural Corridor stretches for a quarter mile along Cypress Drive, from San Ysidro Boulevard to the trolley tracks near the Beyer Avenue station.
Community organization Casa Familiar has been working to make the corridor more than a mere alley. It is a vibrant place that provides residents with physical and spiritual connection.
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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 Theatres and ArtReach are partnering to create a new community-driven mural in Civic Center Plaza. And they want to hear from you!
Do you have any ideas?
I noticed the above sign in a window of San Diego’s City Administration Building.
The mural will be on three Concourse exit doors facing Civic Center Plaza. The plaza’s overall architecture is mid-century modern. (I once blogged about how sculptor and architectural designer Malcolm Leland created modernist elements of the plaza and nearby parking garage. See that here.)
If you’d like to provide your own input on the future Civic Center Plaza mural, here’s the form where you can make suggestions. The link also leads to more information about this project.
Once the design is finalized, members of the community will help paint the mural!
UPDATE!
The following day, during a San Diego Civic Theatre open house event, I met Isabel Halpern, ArtReach’s Mural Program Manager. She had a display concerning the Civic Center murals.
Included was a graphic showing early mural design concepts. The leading artists are Regan Russell and Donald Gould.
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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.
There’s a tiny parking nook on Adams Avenue in Normal Heights where new murals often appear. The nook lies between Adams Avenue Tattoo and Bosforo, a Turkish restaurant. (Bosforo’s building used to be home of El Zarape Mexican Cantina).
Over many years I’ve photographed these ever-changing murals. Most or all of the art has been painted, I believe, by graffiti artists Hasler (@hasler_88) and Sharky (@bigchill8825).
Last weekend, as I enjoyed the Adams Avenue Street Fair, I noticed two new murals in this nook. It had been about a year since I last peered into it.
I’m fairly sure the same artists created both of these. Check it out!
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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.
For many years, a fantastic elephant mural has decorated the side of the Crest Cafe in Hillcrest. Last year, another mural was painted at the restaurant. The beautiful artwork can be seen at the front entrance.
San Diego based artist Austin Gosswiller painted the colorful flowers, birds and butterfly last year.
I took photos the other day…
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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.
Visitors inside the world-famous San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park should look up. Not only will they see amazing aircraft exhibits suspended from the ceiling, but they might notice a very long mural painted along the museum’s circular inner wall.
The March of Transportation mural was created in 1936 for the California Pacific International Exposition. At over 9,300 square feet, it’s the largest mural of its kind found in North and South America.
Because so many cool aviation displays are jammed into the museum, I found it difficult to photograph large segments of the mural. But I’ve captured several glimpses, so you can get the idea of how the art appears.
A couple years ago I photographed the very end of the mural, which depicts futuristic forms of transportation (as conceived almost a hundred years ago). You can see those photos here.
Several murals decorated the Ford Building during the California Pacific Exposition in 1935. After the Exposition, the Ford Motor Company deeded the building to the City of San Diego for use as the “Great Hall of Transportation.” In preparation for the 1936 Exposition, this large mural was commissioned to express the theme–“The March of Transportation.”
The 1936 “Great Hall of Transportation” exhibits included vehicles of all ages, from reed boats, to the locomotive, to the concepts of air and space travel. The mural, 18 feet high, continues along the inner circular wall for 468 feet…
Master Artist Juan Larrinaga served as the Art Director for the 1935 and 1936 Expositions. He was assisted by New York illustrator, Charles B. Falls, and artists P.T. Blackburn, Mahlan Blane and Nicolas Reveles. Larrinaga labored long hours to produced the drawings from the artist assistants to fill in. More than 40 persons eventually contributed their talent and energy to the completion of the mural.
After years of deterioration, the building began a restoration in 1977. In 1979 the mural, too, was restored.
While this artwork depicts world history, it is also an important part of San Diego’s uniquely rich history.
San Diego artist Christopher Konecki was working on painting the new Merrill Madness mural in downtown this morning. The artwork will depict Padres baseball star Jackson Merrill, and will greet fans coming west down Market Street at Eighth Avenue.
The grassroots, fan-funded mural is a collaboration that includes the Merrill Madness Foundation and artist team Christopher Konecki (@konecki_art) and Carly Ealey (@carlyealey). Amazing murals by these artists appear throughout the city. You might recall how they painted two cool Padres murals in North Park. See those photos here and here.
Chris told me this is the fourth day of working on the Merrill Madness mural. It’s huge: four stories high! The mural should be done in a couple of weeks or so.
I’ll provide an update when the artwork is completed.
Looks like it’s gonna be awesome!
UPDATE!
Three days later, much progress has been made!
ANOTHER UPDATE!
And in another three days…
AND FOUR DAYS AFTER THAT…
ONE MORE UPDATE!
It was finally completed!
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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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 