The delightfully unusual Beaumont Building rises in Little Italy at 434 West Cedar Street.
In my opinion, the most delightfully unusual building in San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood is the Beaumont Building. The design–especially the two cylindrical towers–is both visually distinctive and impressive. Those mysterious-looking towers make me look up with fresh surprise whenever I see them.
The Beaumont Building was built in 1988. It was designed by Rob Wellington Quigley, whose architectural work can be seen in various places around San Diego. The lattice-domed San Diego Central Library and The New Children’s Museum are two well-known examples.
I often walk past this building, and have taken many photographs over the years. But none of my photos fully capture this very unique structure’s truly amazing presence.
Looking upward near the front entrance to the unique Beaumont Building.Another photo on a different day of this very cool building in San Diego’s always interesting Little Italy neighborhood.The two high towers of the Beaumont Building almost appear like antennas, or an over-sized science experiment.An eye-catching sight during a morning walk!
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Flags, palm trees and early morning fog on Cortez Hill in San Diego.
My walk early this morning was a real treat. Magical, mysterious fog had crept during the night into the very heart of downtown San Diego, where I live. High skyscrapers disappeared into the gray. Please enjoy a few photos…
The historic El Cortez Hotel building seems to vanish into the gray morning fog.Many seagulls were enjoying the fog, and were circling over the city streets everywhere I walked.Skyscrapers aren’t scraping so much this morning. They are being softly engulfed by the elements!Looking up into the unusually thick fog past a San Diego Symphony banner downtown.An Orange Line trolley heads down a quiet C Street.Cranes and construction next to several high towers, in a San Diego fog.The magical, mysterious fog made the forms of buildings appear like abstract shapes emerging from some other world.Looking down Kettner Boulevard past Santa Fe Depot and America Plaza into the distant fog.An unusual fog made downtown San Diego appear very atmospheric and mysterious this morning. I loved walking through it!
Altered photograph of a Henry Moore sculpture, located in San Diego Museum of Art’s popular sculpture garden.
Oh, no! Here come some “artsy” photos!
Today I walked through Balboa Park’s beautiful May S. Marcy Sculpture Garden. The grassy space, which is free to the public, contains several pieces of artwork belonging to the San Diego Museum of Art’s collection.
The garden’s most recognized sculpture is probably Reclining Figure: Arch Leg, which was created in 1969 by renowned British Modernist artist Henry Moore.
As I walked around the curvaceous sculpture, it occurred to me that different interesting photos could be taken depending on the angle and perceived distance. So I engaged in a bit of experimentation!
(Fear not! I didn’t touch the sculpture or step on the flowers! But I did lean over like crazy–and minutely cropped some images– to get the “close-up” images.)
Henry Moore’s 1969 bronze sculpture Reclining Figure: Arch Leg, on the grass in the San Diego Museum of Art’s May S. Marcy Sculpture Garden.Sunlit bronze sculpture photographed from a different angle. I adjusted contrast, brightness and sharpness, and cropped according to my eye.Same sculpture, different frame, different paths of reflected light. The physical object is itself unchanged, but has become something new in the mind of the viewer.The Modernist sculpture’s fluid curves and organic quality is suggestive of human form.Raw nature interacts with human art. A camera focuses on nearby details the casual eye might miss.The form of an abstract sculpture becomes more mysterious when the defining outer edges are eliminated with photo editing.A warmly glowing bronze surface, and a pair of eyes.The sculpture’s red-tinged bronze skin reflects Southern California sunlight.A closer view reveals craters and furrows. Small glimpses of beauty within a larger whole.A strangely perfect, silvery surface.Looking up into the light. Both self-contained art and the outer world are composed of the same elements, and can evoke identical wonder.
LOVE carved into the beam of a wooden shelter on Presidio Hill.
My walk today took me along a lonely dirt trail on Presidio Hill.
The trail, among quiet trees, climbs above the location of the old Spanish presidio, the nearly 250 year old birthplace of European civilization in California. After a short distance, the trail descends toward a primitive wooden shelter overlooking a canyon.
The shelter was empty. A wreath of beautiful fresh flowers lay upset on the ground. A small floral display of some kind was broken in a corner. Torn flowers lay scattered about.
It’s a very strange mystery. But so is love.
Walking along a lonely trail covered with pine needles. Few people visit this part of Presidio Hill.A simple wooden structure among the trees comes into view. It is empty.Flowers are scattered on the ground.An upset wreath of fresh flowers. A broken display, left behind. Why?A beautiful mystery. Perhaps it contains sorrow.
Looking north at steps that lead down from the quiet, stately Balboa Park Administrative Courtyard.
A few weeks ago I meandered about Inspiration Point in Balboa Park. Walking slowly, pausing often, going nowhere in particular. Just seeing what I might see.
At the south edge of the Balboa Park Administrative Courtyard, I stood and gazed down the hill toward a corner of downtown San Diego. You might remember my blog about the courtyard. It’s a place that very few people know about. It’s peaceful, green, a bit of heaven. A place of solitude.
As I stood, I glanced down some steps leading toward a seemingly unremarkable patch of trees. A dusty lot next to the trees contained dozens of parked city Park and Recreation trucks. I wondered to myself if the public was permitted to walk down those steps, into what appeared to be a city work area.
This mysterious path seems to lead to a jumble of trees and a dusty parking lot full of city Park and Recreation trucks.
Then I saw the blue among the trees. Was that water?
No sign indicated I couldn’t investigate. So I did.
And what I found took my breath away.
Beautiful Bird of Paradise in a section of Balboa Park where the public almost never goes.Entering a magical hollow in the trees, where a shining blue pool and small fountain await.
The trees seemed a forgotten oasis. At their center shined a lonely pool and a small fountain in the form of a child. The cherub seemed to be holding open the mouth of a carp, or perhaps reading a book–I don’t know.
The strange fountain appeared to occupy a magical place, entirely removed from the surrounding world.
What was it?
An email to the Friends of Balboa Park, an organization whose office is in the nearby Balboa Park Administration Building, provided a bit of information.
The person who replied parks her car in the lot not far from the pool and fountain, and she was completely amazed. She’d didn’t know of its existence.
Ranger Kim, who also works in the building, and who knows volumes about the history of Balboa Park, indicated that the fountain was left over from the 1920’s when the U.S. Navy built a large hospital campus in the immediate area.
In the 1980’s, the land was given to the city in exchange for acreage in Florida Canyon, where the new Naval Medical Center San Diego was built. The buildings from the 1920’s were eventually demolished, except for a Navy chapel, the administration building and its stately courtyard, and a nearby medical library and auditorium building. Today the chapel contains the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center; the administration building contains Balboa Park’s headquarters.
And, of course, magic remains where very few people go: a small fountain that healed spirits at the old Navy complex. A beautiful, hidden fountain forgotten by time.
The lonely fountain is in the form of a child. A few empty benches surround the tiled pool.This fountain is left over from the Navy hospital campus built in this area in the 1920’s.The figure seems to be holding open the jaws of a fish, or perhaps reading a book.A beautiful, hidden fountain forgotten by time.
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Orange and yellow logo of visiting Norwegian Sun cruise ship reflected on rippled water in San Diego Bay.
A big rush this morning. But I had enough time to walk down to the Broadway Pier. Slowing myself for a few moments, breathing in fresh air, I was enchanted by the surrounding quiet, the growing morning light, and mysterious reflections.
Bow and bridge of the Norwegian Sun, docked at the San Diego Cruise Ship Terminal. The image is reflected in the orange and clear windows of a nearby gift shop.Early morning light at San Diego’s Broadway Pier. The Coronado ferry has begun another trip across the quiet, glassy water.Reflection of downtown San Diego’s nearby skyline in the windows of the Port Pavilion. Photo taken as the sun climbs above building rooftops, from the Broadway Pier.
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It’s a beautiful day by the ocean in La Jolla. Some kayakers have noticed the entrance to a sea cave in the sandstone. Curious eyes spot them from above and watch the unfolding drama.
Please forgive me for this imaginative little story. It’s hot today and perhaps my brain overheated.
The summer heat is why I went down to La Jolla this morning. By the water it was thankfully a few degrees cooler. While I walked along the Pacific Ocean near La Jolla Cove, I watched some kayaks enter the nearby sea cave.
Upon studying my photographs, this short story emerged. For the exciting conclusion, please read the captions, beginning with the above first photo…
The kayakers can’t resist a strong impulse to enter the cave. They turn carefully to peer into the darkness deep within the earth. There seems to be a strange blue light shimmering inside.The mysterious glow lures them into vast blackness and possible danger. As their kayaks start to fade, the weird light intensifies…Drawn forward into the unknown, the courageous kayakers paddle along the dancing beam of light. They are explorers. Life is a great adventure.Beyond darkness lies the magical source of shining blue. They soon vanish–passing from one amazing world into another.
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At the Little Italy trolley station, a very strange shadow climbs up the wall.
Early this morning, shortly after sunrise, as I waited for the San Diego Trolley at the Little Italy station, I was confronted by a momentary mystery. A very odd spidery shadow was climbing up the wall on the other side of the tracks.
I walked toward the shadow and turned about. A few photos show the mystery solved!
Construction crew is building a new parking garage next to busy trolley station.
The rising parking garage, at the corner of Cedar Street and Kettner Boulevard, will provide 645 spaces for those who work at the nearby County Administration Center, in addition to paid public parking for visitors to Little Italy. The project is supposed to be finished this summer.
The ten-level parking structure will serve county employees who work nearby.Silhouette of worker as morning sun lights the downtown San Diego sky.
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Two adults in historical costumes at Seaport Village. I don’t know why!
Here are pics of folks simply living life in downtown San Diego. Strangers working, playing, or doing random odd stuff make fascinating subjects. I’ll glance at a photograph downloaded to my computer, and I’ll wonder for a brief moment about the story unfolding in front of me. Is the story happy? Sad? A complicated mixture? Then a curious thought strikes: someone might have taken a secret photograph of me, and they could be wondering the same thing!
Reluctant child, dressed dogs, and unheard words on the Embarcadero.People staring downward, and a street musician near USS Midway.Man cleans sidewalk in early morning at downtown NBC building.A huge iguana takes a curious ride on someone’s shoulders!Tour group on Segways stops in Petco’s Park at the Park to gaze at empty field.I believe those are choir members outside Our Lady of the Rosary in Little Italy.Adults seem preoccupied as balloon twister guy creates colorful fun for kids!Couple takes a selfie on a beautiful day as sailboats glide past USS Ronald Reagan.Man doing a few public push-ups on grass in Embarcadero Marina Park North.Amish tourists taking an odd stroll through a very strange, big city!
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Birds take flight above palm trees in downtown San Diego.
This is my 500th post. I can’t believe it.
When I started writing this blog on a lark about a year and a half ago, it was a puny little creation, and I hadn’t a clue where it would take me. Alas, after many hours pounding away at the old keyboard, I haven’t earned one thin dime. But that’s perfectly fine. The riches I’ve received are immaterial, and far greater.
Writing a blog–one that involves photography in particular–opens your eyes, enhances your appreciation of all that is around you. To chronicle a walk through this world, one must carefully experience each step and turn curious eyes everywhere. One must note light, depth, and the color of things. One must listen to others. If I hadn’t begun to meander about San Diego purposefully, searching for “cool” material, I might never have seen some hidden rainbows. Or a small bit of street art. Or dogs surf.
Writing a blog encourages creativity. It’s casual and conversational. There’s no need to fret too much about editing. Readers are just friends. So you can yap freely and let the mind flow. I’ve always been a fan of science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. His great book Zen in the Art of Writing talks about the power of just letting thoughts flow, uninhibited, like gushing water from a wildly whipping dangerously uncontrolled hose. That water will irrigate one’s life, and the lives of others who are splashed.
Writing a blog leads the author to be more honest. More understanding. More compassionate. More vulnerable. Writing a blog, giving birth to a few silly words, expands the soul.
Thanks for coming along on my walks!
Where will I go today? I have a bit of an idea, but I’m not certain. Time propels us forward into the unknown. If you’d like, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Tumblr!
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