Scooter with fringed canopy zooms past as I swing my camera to capture a sudden morning photo.
Here are a few interesting photos from another meandering walk downtown. I took these yesterday morning as I headed down from Cortez Hill to catch the trolley at the Santa Fe Depot. I know, there are closer trolley stations, but I was itching to venture outside into the world and got an early start…
Wednesday is trash pick up day in front of the House of Blues in downtown San Diego.Cool mural on a downtown building’s upper patio which, according to a security guard, is inaccessible to the general public.
From a distance that mural looks really awesome. The security guard said perhaps he’d let me onto the patio if I were swing by in the middle of a work day. According to some research on the internet, it was painted fairly recently by Maxx Moses, the same artist who created that super fantastic Ancestors street mural in Barrio Logan.
Mysterious elevated box on the sidewalk is colorfully painted with leaves.Vertically moving words on Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego don’t seem to make sense.Seward Johnson’s ‘That A Way’ sculpture at entrance of The Sofia Hotel.
Yep, that’s the same Seward Johnson who created the huge Unconditional Surrender sculpture by the USS Midway Museum. He’s best known for making life-size pieces like this one, which stands by a doorway on Broadway.
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Several whiskered Western characters pose in a mural on Harney Street in Old Town.
There’s a fairly new street mural in Old Town that I really like. Every time I see it, my imagination travels back in time. Back to the first half of the 19th century.
San Diego for many decades was a tiny town seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Whether it belonged to Spain, or Mexico, or the United States, Old Town San Diego was a place of dusty roads and modest, sun-baked adobe houses, horses and wagons, rugged settlers and ranchers. Characters from that era seem to live again in this mural.
Artist Frank Mando painted this artwork in 2013. I couldn’t capture the entire piece in one shot. Enlivening a building at the corner of San Diego Avenue and Harney Street, the mural is divided in two by a door of the Old Town Saloon. Standing inside that door, as you’ll see, there seems to be a well-known movie star!
Freight wagon hauls a load of barrels in fun art that recalls early San Diego history.John Wayne seems to be coming through a door of the Old Town Saloon.Elegant lady and girl from long ago stroll past Ye Old Curiosity Shoppe.Old Town mural on building wall was painted in 2013 by artist Frank Mando.Kids standing along sidewalk seem to have materialized from San Diego’s past.People walk past nostalgic street mural near side entrance to Old Town Saloon.
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Mind-blowing street art uses a whole spectrum of finely painted colors.
Wow! Check out this mind-blowing street mural, which caught my eye just across Dewey Street from Chicano Park. Titled Ancestors, it was spray-painted on a Barrio Logan building in 2013 by artists Maxx Moses and Isaias Crow.
A little online research reveals that Ancestors replaced another damaged mural on the same wall, which was titled Synergy. Maxx Moses likes to use spontaneity in his creative productions, and calls his unique art movement Concrete Alchemy. Isaias Crow’s artwork, which I believe is on the right side of the mural, is similarly awesome!
This dazzling urban art is directly across the street from world-famous Chicano Park.Such amazing detail. You could just stand and lose yourself in this cool artwork.Closer look at one portion of the Ancestors mural in Barrio Logan.Ancestors street mural celebrates the lives of those who built community.Small tree on the wall is enfolded by softly curved rich colors.The intricate image is alive with astounding vibrancy.This astonishing face is composed of many slivers of beaming light.
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Super cool artwork depicts local community, history and sea life themes.
I don’t know much about this mural, apart from the fact that it’s huge, colorful and super cool. For years, it seems, scaffolding has stood against the long portion along Harbor Drive. Just recently the scaffolding vanished, and the brilliant, dynamic street art is fully visible in all its glory!
You can find this urban art at the intersection of Cesar Chavez Parkway and Harbor Drive, just south of downtown in Barrio Logan. It decorates the high wall that encloses the parking lot at Restaurant Depot.
I took these photos as I walked south to north along Harbor Drive, then turned west at the intersection for a little more fun artwork.
Enjoy!
Long wall along Harbor Drive is the canvas for this very large street mural.Proximity to San Diego Bay inspires painted marine animals.This big fish seems to be watching for pedestrians on the Barrio Logan sidewalk.A scuba diver seems unaware a large hungry shark looms just behind!Mother with young child gazes out at the blue Pacific Ocean.People from all walks of life populate this very human work of art.San Diego Trolley travels through a scene similar to those found in nearby Chicano Park.Painted passengers on a trolley seem visible through a window.Aztec warrior in elaborate costume blows on a ceremonial conch.Nearby Chicano Park’s pavilion is shown with lots of folks dancing.Young man and lady dance on the festive outdoor mural.Musicians play instruments adding flavor to the celebration.History of Our Community includes the once vital tuna fishing industry.The lives of past and present residents provide generations of stories.Fish caught in local waters just off San Diego.The end of Harbor Drive section, and now we’ll turn west for a bit more…Walking around the mural on the high wall at Restaurant Depot.This north-facing wall contains lots of bright aquatic life!Beautifully painted fish, a seahorse, jellyfish and starfish.An orange Garibaldi just above the sparkling ocean bottom.Kelp frames the end of this long, amazing mural in Barrio Logan.This super fun street art is a landmark that is very hard to miss!
UPDATE!
I learned years later (shame on me) that this 1993 mural is titled The Kelco Historical Community Mural, by artist Salvador Roberto Torres and his wife Gloria Rebolledo Torres. It was restored by Salvador Torres in 2012, which explains the scaffolding I had previously seen.
Salvador Roberto Torres is one of the founders of nearby Chicano Park, the largest collection of outdoor murals in the United States. He saw the great freeway pillars supporting the ramps to the San Diego–Coronado Bridge as potential concrete canvases, and so created the Chicano Park Monumental Public Mural Program in 1969. He was also one of the founders of the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.
During that later walk I took additional photos of the mural!
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Elaborate figure’s arm embraces a building window in San Diego. Art by Zio Ziegler.
There’s one little old building in a corner of downtown San Diego that’s very difficult to miss. That’s because it’s loaded with ultra-awesome street art!
These murals are painted on an otherwise unremarkable structure in the East Village neighborhood. The building is occupied by Undisputed Fitness, an establishment where locals train themselves as boxers and MMA fighters. All this artwork is visible near the corner of 16th Street and K Street.
My last blog post concerned a mechanical shark mural. You can see the rear portion of that mural in the final photograph.
Smiling face painted on building wall on 16th Street in East Village.Fantastic composite creature with wings and pink hammerhead cradles a shark.Previous pic’s shark art was created for PangeaSeed by Rah Akaishi.Closet full of clothes opens onto a city sidewalk.Mr. Padre mural on rooftop honors baseball legend Tony Gwynn. Art by Wildstyle Technicians.I Love San Diego cool graffiti design is visually complex. Art by Ezra Pirk.Bold, colorful street art on walls of parking lot behind Undisputed Fitness.
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Cool mechanical shark on parking lot wall behind Undisputed Fitness Center in East Village.
A super cool street mural was recently painted in downtown San Diego’s East Village. I checked it out this morning!
Located on a parking lot wall behind Undisputed Fitness, at the corner of 16th Street and K Street, this large work of art really catches your attention and draws you in for a closer examination!
The image of a mechanical shark, operated from the inside by some sinister-looking people, was painted by Sheffield-based muralist Phlegm. I’ve never seen his work before, but apparently he often depicts similarly weird scenes, described as half-childlike, half-menacing. This particular mural was created as an act of “artivism” for PangeaSeed, an international environmental organization whose mission is to help preserve sharks and other marine species, through art and education. Sharks are being maimed and killed in large numbers for their fins, which are cut off the still-living animals and used to make shark fin soup and traditional medical cures in China.
Street artist Phlegm painted this unusual shark for PangeaSeed’s Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans.Shadowy, mysterious people secretly operate the black and white mechanical shark.Phlegm often paints masked figures controlling odd contraptions in this illustrative style.
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Super cool mural in University Heights has colorful butterfly lady as centerpiece.
In the past I’ve glimpsed this super cool mural in University Heights, a neighborhood northeast of downtown San Diego. Finally I stopped to photograph it!
The psychedelic spray paint street art is splashed on a wall of a small, local grocery store on Park Boulevard. The images are extremely vivid and look almost brand new. After a close inspection, I noticed the mural is signed: DEXR EYEMAX PERSUE KUYA FIZSIX 2013.
A bit of research on the web uncovered an article about this awesome artwork. The grocery store owner had painted over a rather dull mural that had become very old, when the group of local street artists approached him. The artists asked if they could use his wall to give birth to a unique creation. He said yes!
And to his great delight, this awesome unplanned mural, painted in two days, is what he got!
Smiling sun or moon and other fantastic, psychedelic faces and cosmic images.This fierce two-faced tree seems ready to spring off the wall!Magical blue gnome and banjo-playing frog are fun elements in this awesome mural.Bold spray paint street art adds color to a small grocery store on Park Boulevard.
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Six dogs on a colorful mural on F Street in downtown’s East Village.
Here are some photos of outdoor art that I’ve discovered just wandering about the streets of downtown San Diego’s East Village. Enjoy!
Exotic faces, car and flowers along sidewalk in San Diego.Utility box dedicated to Tweet Street park.
The park itself is located up on Cortez Hill, just steps from where I live!
Summer swallowed us whole, written randomly on a step.More fun street art in East Village.Cool smile, horn, coffee and heart.Bold graphics on wall of Lucky’s tattoo parlor.Jumbled, eye-catching mural on a fence on F Street.
This fence borders SILO, which contains a ton of awesome street art, which I documented in this blog post.
More artwork along F Street on the fence that borders SILO.More cool street art on F Street in downtown San Diego’s East Village.
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SAN DIEGO writ large on fence around Horton Plaza Park’s construction site.
I recently noticed some new murals along Broadway in downtown San Diego, between 3rd and 4th Avenue. They decorate the fence that surrounds the Horton Plaza Park construction site, and replace a number of large historical photographs which I featured in this earlier blog post.
I took these pics at close range from the sidewalk, not wanting to step out into traffic. So I missed a few parts of the creative, colorful artwork.
Part of one new mural along Broadway in downtown San Diego.A colorful underwater scene can be glimpsed by passing motorists.Various surfboards. One contains an ode to baseball’s World Series.These murals replaced photographs which showed downtown history.A fun depiction of San Diego Bay and a red trolley.These three happy dogs are sharing a surfboard!Another interpretation of the San Diego skyline.California girl in cool sunglasses watches a sunset.A sexy green-haired mermaid and Mission San Diego!Downtown has been encroached by breakers and rocky hills!Man walks past construction fence surrounding Horton Plaza Park.
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LEGENDS mural in downtown San Diego. Don’t kill Sean Bean!
A couple blocks from downtown’s Gaslamp Quarter, a huge painted mural on the side of a building depicts actor Sean Bean holding a gun and the Twitter hashtag #DontKillSeanBean. This eye-catching public artwork was created during the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con to promote the upcoming TNT television spy thriller LEGENDS.
Poor Sean Bean never seems to survive his roles. Many of his fans are hoping he makes it through this series. He has died over twenty times onscreen.
Some of his more notable deaths?
Shot through with Uruk-hai orc arrows as Boromir in Lord of the Rings.
Falling from and then crushed by a huge antenna structure as Agent 006 in Goldeneye.
Impaled by an anchor and then blown up during a boat chase in Patriot Games.
Chased off a cliff by a rampaging herd of cows in The Field.
Shot through the neck by a grappling hook and then hung in The Island.
Beheaded as Eddard Stark in the first season of Game of Thrones.
Better luck this time around, Mr. Bean!
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Cool San Diego Sights! 