Tag: museums

A new Navy SEAL exhibit inside America Plaza!

The new Navy SEAL Museum will be opening in downtown San Diego later this year. Meanwhile, I’ve noticed they’re in the process of installing an exhibit on the ground floor of the One America Plaza office building, near the lobby, in a hallway that leads to the trolley station. (The same hallway where the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego used to have exhibits.)

Two of six large display cases now contain U. S. Navy SEAL artifacts. The other four have signs that indicate EXHIBIT COMING SOON.

If you want to check out this developing exhibit, One America Plaza is located at 600 West Broadway. (It’s that tall bluish building with a top that looks like a phillips-head screwdriver!)

Early this year I posted a blog about a large bronze frogman statue that will be placed outdoors near the coming museum. Once installed, you’ll see it beside the America Plaza trolley station across from Santa Fe Depot.

Read that blog post here.

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Museum of Illusions prepares to dazzle San Diego!

Was that a strange mirage in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter this morning? I don’t think so!

The Museum of Illusions San Diego had its front door open and construction workers streaming in and out. Their building has a brand new paint job and a big Museum of Illusions sign above the entrance. It appears they’re getting ready to open soon!

That’s what their website says, too. Check it out here.

Mind-boggling holograms, optical illusions, rooms that puzzle human perception and play tricks on your mind…

Sounds cool!

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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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Dutch artist promotes healing in San Diego.

The first solo exhibition in the United States by Dutch artist Afra Eisma opened recently in San Diego. The Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego in Balboa Park is overflowing with her imaginative works that promote healing. The title of the exhibition is Hush.

As a sign at the gallery’s entrance explains: Dutch artist afra eisma transforms ICA San Diego into an immersive environment were healing becomes a collective experience. Through vibrantly colored tapestries, soft sculpture, and interactive installation, eisma creates dreamlike sanctuaries for mythological beings, animals, and otherworldly creatures to support and nurture each other…

Afra Eisma has created artwork to help process her own personal trauma. Hush not only encourages pause and thoughtfulness, but focuses specifically on the healing properties of breathing.

Much life, color and creativity permeates the exhibition. When I visited, I felt as if I were wandering through a strange, living fantasy world where all are welcome.

If you enjoy contemporary art, certainly head down to Balboa Park and step into the free Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego. Hush will be on display through June 1, 2025.

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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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New banners and cool events in Balboa Park!

Two new banners have recently appeared in San Diego’s Balboa Park, announcing two super cool events.

The above Da Vinci’s First Flight banner was just hung above the front entrance of the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

I spoke to the Air and Space Museum’s social media photographer today as she captured images of the new banner. She told me the Da Vinci exhibit is awesome. One of her favorite things about it is the mind-blowing 36-foot replica of Da Vinci’s hang glider! Okay, that does sound really incredible!

You can learn all about the special exhibition by clicking here.

I was excited to see the above Cherry Blossom Festival banner today near the entrance of the Japanese Friendship Garden.

The very popular annual festival takes place March 13 – 16, 2025. Read details at the Japanese Friendship Garden event webpage here.

To get an idea of how amazing the Cherry Blossom Festival is, check out photographs I took of it in 2017 and 2018.

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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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Bringing a Survival Piece to life in La Jolla!

Why are there 12 hexagonal planters containing citrus trees in front of the La Jolla Historical Society‘s Wisteria Cottage? That’s what I wondered when I paid a visit to the society’s museum yesterday, to view their new exhibition about the history of surfing in La Jolla. (I’ll be blogging about that shortly.)

It turns out the dozen redwood planters with citrus trees is a 2024 project titled Exterior Orchard, A Conversation with Survival Piece V. The uniquely designed orchard examines the necessity of ecologically focused and sustainable food systems in a future where farming practices may become obsolete.

The installation was inspired by the La Jolla Historical Society’s recent exhibition Helen and Newton Harrison: California Work. The Harrisons, founding members of the Visual Arts Department at UC San Diego, were visionary thinkers and designers who developed fascinating Ecological Art. They created plans for a Portable Orchard such as this in 1972.

The hexagonal redwood planters were built by students from High Tech High Mesa. The trees and planters, I was told, can be adopted. Funds raised will help support the La Jolla Historical Society’s work.

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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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Remnants of the old San Diego Sheriff’s Museum.

The San Diego Sheriff’s Museum once made its home in Old Town. Sadly, COVID-19 adversely affected its operation, and the museum closed its doors in 2020. Several times I had walked past the museum when it was still open, intending to pay a visit one day. I missed my opportunity.

Should you walk past the old location today (just south of the El Campo Santo cemetery on San Diego Avenue) you’ll find a few remnants of the San Diego Sheriff’s Museum still visible. I took these photographs from the sidewalk a couple weekends ago.

Fortunately, the San Diego Sheriff’s Museum maintains on online presence! Check out a virtual exhibit and more information on their website by clicking here.

The museum is working to find a new physical location. Their search for a new home is described here. If you’d like to help them out, you can provide a donation.

By the way, did you know there’s a San Diego Police Museum full of amazing exhibits? I visited it a couple years ago and posted photographs and descriptions here!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Hand-painted piano at Oceanside Museum of Art!

Do you play piano? Head over to the Oceanside Museum of Art, sit down at this very cool hand-painted instrument, and tickle the ivories!

I saw this piano during my last visit to the museum. It has a name: Henri. I believe it’s named after French pianist Henri Herbert.

Henri was painted by local artist Rene Cosby. It’s the result of the Oceanside Art Piano Project and a sponsorship by the Oceanside Cultural Arts Foundation.

There’s a great detailed article concerning this first public piano in Oceanside. To read it, click here!

(Back in 2016, the San Diego Symphony placed ten uniquely decorated pianos around San Diego for the public to play. Most of those pianos have disappeared, but you can see the photographs that I took by clicking here.)

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Marshall Toomey enlivens Oceanside Museum of Art!

There’s an excellent chance you’ve already enjoyed the art of Marshall Toomey. He has worked as a Disney animator, contributing to classic films like The Lion King, Aladdin, Hercules and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Visitors to the Oceanside Museum of Art are in for a real treat. In one of the museum’s upstairs galleries, extraordinary paintings by Marshall Toomey (@marshalltoomey) fill the walls with energy and color.

The artist paints from his own life experience. Perhaps that’s why his works are so engaging, so recognizably human. There are dynamic scenes from a barber shop, a church, a family barbeque, a game of dominoes…

As he explains: “My paintings represent moments in time. I aim for realism with incredible vitality–they feel almost alive. I like to paint portraits, animals and food…”

When I look at his paintings, I feel that life, after all, is good. There’s family, play, worship, being together, a bit of craziness, good humor, and a sense of joy.

In a strange way, his images feel timeless. Timeless–in that magical way certain animated movies remain loved by both young and old for many generations. You can see how his style has been, as he explains: “inspired by the masters and by my history as a Disney animator.”

Marshall Toomey: Black Americana is the name of this great exhibition. It continues at the Oceanside Museum of Art through April 13, 2025.

Uncle Junebug’s Bar B Q, Marshall Toomey, 2024. Oil on canvas. (Painting based on an Auguste Renoir painting, Luncheon of the Boating Party.)
A Soothing Game of Dominoes, Marshall Toomey, 2024.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Presidents of the United States visit Balboa Park.

What do Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt have in common? These eight former, future and sitting presidents visited Balboa Park in San Diego!

A timely exhibit at the San Diego History Center celebrates the fact that our city’s crown jewel, Balboa Park, since its development for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, has acted as a magnet for United States Presidents.

The exhibit recalls how Woodrow Wilson’s speech at Balboa Stadium was the first time a president’s voice had been electronically amplified, and how FDR was the first person to ride in a car across Cabrillo Bridge.

While these different presidents might have disagreed on politics, it seems they agreed that Balboa Park was a special and very beautiful place.

Yesterday the 47th President of the United States was inaugurated. In the 21st century, how many more presidents will enjoy a visit to amazing Balboa Park?

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Exhibit details history of the Coronado ferries!

If you are fascinated by local history, love riding the Coronado ferry, or have memories of the old ferries that crossed San Diego Bay many, many years ago, you’ll want to visit the latest exhibit at the Coronado Historical Association‘s museum.

Ode to the Ferry; The History of Coronado’s Ferries 1885-2024 concerns an important aspect of life in San Diego for well over a century.

The exhibit recalls the old-time ferries, which were required to reach the island long before the San Diego-Coronado Bridge opened in 1969. It describes every ship of the Coronado Ferry Company and the Star & Crescent Boat Company, that transported people and vehicles across the bay. Of course, the ferries today serve mostly tourists exploring on foot and recreational bicyclists–and people like me who love a short ride from downtown San Diego across our beautiful bay!

Photographs, historical documents, ferry tickets, memorabilia, related art and stories fill the small but always amazing Coronado Historical Association museum. It’s very cool that visitors are encouraged to write down their personal memories, too!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!