Tag: murals

Many amazing murals at Balderrama Park in Oceanside!

If you enjoy viewing beautiful outdoor murals, you’ll be astounded by those in Oceanside at Joe Balderrama Park. Over 45 murals decorate structures throughout the public park, including the Balderrama Recreation Center and Chavez Community Resource Center!

The murals, completed late last year, primarily celebrate the Hispanic and Indigenous heritages of many who live in the neighborhood. Diverse other backgrounds and ethnicities are included, too. Bold cultural imagery is intermingled with messages of hope.

The lead artist was renowned muralist Joanne Tawfilis. A couple dozen local artists and many local school children contributed to the massive project!

Here’s a good article about the Balderrama Park murals’ origin and dedication.

I walked around the park last weekend and was totally wowed. Take a look at these photographs! The collection of bold murals might not be on the immense scale of San Diego’s world-famous Chicano Park, but the experience is similar in many respects.

I proceeded with my camera in a counter-clockwise direction. I’m afraid I missed one mural on the tennis courts fence because someone was seated directly in front of it and I didn’t want to intrude.

Here we go…

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Murals in Oceanside at Civic Center and Horne.

My long walk in Oceanside last weekend resulted in many cool photographs. First, enjoy two murals at the corner of Civic Center Drive and Horne Street.

The first mural was painted on the west side of the Northern Pine Brewing Company building. It’s by artists Gloria Muriel and Matthew Perdoni.

On the north side of the building is a long, very colorful mural. Cars parked on the street close to the artwork caused me to take photographs in sections.

The artist is Isabel “Chavela” Figueroa. The mural’s title is The Sacred Offering (La Sagrada Ofrenda).

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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 X.

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Painting wildlife at Oceanside Transit Center!

Wow! WOW!!!

Look what I discovered today!

Amazing wildlife murals are now being painted at the Oceanside Transit Center! Passengers walking under the tracks to catch a train are in for a big, wonderful surprise!

These photos were taken from the steps descending to either side of the train tracks, and inside the tunnel that connects platforms.

I see the artists are JustJon Art (@just_jon1), Ground Floor Murals (@groundfloormurals), Victor Rodriguez (@tone_dog), Maxx Moses (@maxxmoses777), and Signe Montefalcon Ditona (@signeditona).

Unfortunately, none of the artists were working on the mural when I happened by.

It appears as if this fantastic project is approaching completion. One guy who works at the Oceanside Transit Center told me the artists have been at it for a couple months.

Feast your eyes on this!

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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.

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Two new murals in El Cajon’s Arts Alley!

I found two new murals in El Cajon’s very cool Arts Alley!

The Arts Alley is located in downtown El Cajon north of Main Street, between Magnolia Avenue and Sulzfeld Way. I visited the colorful alley in 2020 and 2022. See those photographs here and here.

Look what I discovered during yesterday’s walk!

ART HEALS

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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.

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Today’s Children Rise mural in El Cajon!

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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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.

Feel free to share!

New murals installed in Civic Center Plaza!

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.

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Aerial Races mural at Air and Space Museum!

Several very cool murals adorn a curved interior wall at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. I particularly like this one. It was painted beneath the older and much larger March of Transportation mural.

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.

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The new MTS mural on Beyer in San Ysidro!

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.

In any event, check out this great mural!

Día de los Muertos mural in San Ysidro.

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.

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Ideas needed for new Civic Center mural design!

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.

Feel free to share!