San Diego’s crown jewel, Balboa Park, is about to become even more amazing!
How?
A big new waterfall is under construction in the Lower Garden of the Japanese Friendship Garden!
I hadn’t walked down into the Lower Garden recently, so today when I saw the new waterfall being readied, I had to take photos!
As I understand it, from a conversation I had months ago, a small structure will be built beside this new water feature. Those walking down the nearby path will have the opportunity to grab a tea and possibly other refreshments.
A new footbridge will span this new stream. The water will continue on down to the existing waterfall by the Inamori Pavilion.
I can’t wait to see it all done!
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
San Diego’s newest museum opened yesterday in Balboa Park. Today I walked through the door and enjoyed my very first visit to the amazing Comic-Con Museum!
The Comic-Con Museum is going to be another major attraction in San Diego. Even during this “soft opening” there are remarkable exhibits that include original, one-of-kind artifacts–artwork, costumes, props, rare documents and more–from the history of popular culture.
I walked about the three-level museum and and tried to take it all in. A variety of extraordinary exhibits are featured during this Grand Opening weekend, which coincides with Comic-Con Special Edition at the downtown San Diego Convention Center.
Please enjoy my photos and read the captions to learn a little more about the museum and its current exhibits.
And make sure to check out the Comic-Con Museum website here! Become a member like me and gain all sorts of exclusive benefits!
Almost 10 am when the doors open! The Comic-Con Museum occupies the historic Federal Building in Balboa Park, which years ago was home to the Hall of Champions. The building was created for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition.This is just the beginning! The Comic-Con Museum will continue to develop their space in the coming few years. The new museum promises to become ever more incredible.Many generous donors and benefactors have helped to make the Comic-Con Museum a reality, including the David C. Copley Foundation and the Conrad Prebys Foundation.The first exhibit I saw on the ground floor is called Art of the Comic-Con Masquerade. It celebrates the Comic-Con tradition of cosplay. These elaborate superhero costumes were made by fans!My favorite exhibit is titled Gene Roddenberry: Sci-Fi Visionary. Original costumes, art and props are displayed from Star Trek. The life and creative genius of Roddenberry is remembered with his personal letters and more. This exhibit is so fantastic I’ll be blogging about it separately coming up!Another substantial exhibit, Eight Decades of Archie, celebrates the cultural heritage of Archie Comics. I had no idea that Sabrina the Teenage Witch, before television, was a comic book series published by Archie ComicsCardboard Superheroes were created by two local youth. Their cool creations debuted in the nascent Comic-Con Museum a couple years ago during Balboa Park’s December Nights.Looking up at the second floor galleries. When the Federal Building was home of the Hall of Champions, the Breitbard Hall of Fame plaques decorated those upper walls.Admiring original works of famed artist Charles Samuel Addams, who is probably best known for creating the Addams Family characters.Looking down from the second level toward the museum entrance.An inspirational exhibit is titled Out of the Darkness: Comic Art in the Times of COVID. Youth art created during the COVID-19 lockdown is featured. It is presented by A Reason To Survive (ARTS), an organization in National City that works to uplift young people.Some really great art from San Diego’s South Bay community.In one of the Comic-Con Museum’s classrooms is a creative work area. During the opening weekend, an exhibit here demonstrates the Cosplay Creator’s Lab.If you’d like to support San Diego dreamers, fans and artists, here’s one way!Sewing machine and dress.Check out this incredible, wearable Grommash Hellscream costume! It was created by Mike Biasi.In the lower level of the museum, near the auditorium, you’ll find another Art of the Comic-Con Masquerade display. These costumes were all part of past Comic-Con Masquerades.And check this out! In one corner of the Comic-Con Museum, where the old Hall of Champions café used to be, there’s the PAC-MAN Arcade, complete with playable games and historical exhibits!Designs, drawings and documents from back when Pac-Man was created, in 1980. A cultural icon (and Comic-Con Museum Character Hall of Fame inductee) was born!Is this cool, or what?
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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 Twitter!
Comic-Con Special Edition is happening this weekend in San Diego, and I walked around San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter and convention center today with my camera.
By the early afternoon I was surprised to see a good crowd forming, and there was more cosplay than I expected. The La Brea and Peacemaker offsites were pretty busy, too!
The Freak Brothers bus behind the convention center near the Hilton Bayfront seemed a bit lonely, but that made it easier to snag three cool posters and some collectible mints!
Enjoy these photos of cosplay and fun during Comic-Con Special Edition on a sunny Saturday!
Rick and Morty cosplay on Fifth Avenue in the early morning.When I returned to the Gaslamp around midday, people were lined up at NBC’s La Brea offsite activation.Flash stopped running for a moment to smile for a photo!Not nearly as busy as a normal Comic-Con, but still a fair amount of activity.Pikachu and friends!A good crowd at the Peacemaker Proving Ground.Spaceballs cosplay!Inside the Peacekeeper Proving Ground, participants had to help rescue a hostage.Another tactical group enters the dangerous obstacle course.Working my way back, going to head toward the Hilton Bayfront.The X-Men are poised for action! Is Magneto nearby? Great cosplay!It’s “Bat” Girl! Very cool!Spider-Man cosplay. I saw many kids out having fun.Uh, oh! It’s Cheetah! Is Wonder Woman going to save me?Freaking out at The Freak Brothers bus!A future Superman!A little Marvel, a little DC. Lots of fun!Even more creative cosplay in the Gaslamp!Deadly Crimson is a comic created by Melissa LeEllen. Learn more at DeadlyCrimson.com!More cosplay on Fifth Avenue. But now I’m heading home.Hogwarts cosplay!
Today I also checked out the brand new Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park. It’s amazing. Stay tuned for that!
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Today, Friday, is the first day of Comic-Con Special Edition in San Diego!
Early this morning I walked through downtown San Diego to see what’s going on. I took photos of the three Comic-Con offsites near the convention center and anything else interesting that caught my eye!
Enjoy!
A cool smile at NBC’s La Brea offsite! It’s very early–just after sunrise. No fans yet!I spotted more cool chalk art in front of Blarney Stone Pub as I walked down Fifth Avenue through the Gaslamp Quarter.Looks like a work in progress.There’s a Peacemaker van parked near the HBO Max activation that promotes their show!It looks like fans will walk through Peacemaker’s trailer before reaching the obstacle course, which is behind the fence. It opens today at noon.Take your selfie here at the Peacemaker Proving Ground!Guy with Marvel t-shirt poses on steps of Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge.The Freak Brothers bus is parked on the grass in front of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel.The show on Tubi features stoners with the munchies–and their cat.Some exhibitors are arriving! Who’s that guy taking photos?Must be an artist!
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Comic-Con Special Edition, during this Thanksgiving weekend, will be featuring a few cool offsite activations in and around San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. They are free and open to the public.
I walked along Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade this morning and saw a big new Peacemaker display and workers readying an offsite that promotes Tubi’s new show The Freak Brothers. (UPDATE—possibly The Freak Brothers! It might actually be the Peacemaker Proving Ground. We’ll have to see Friday!)
NBC will also be promoting La Brea in Gaslamp Square next to the Tin Fish, across from the San Diego Convention Center. I took updated photos of that offsite yesterday, which you can see here.
A security guard told me a homeless person tried to rip off the plastic wrapping, breaking the Peacemaker sign below.
Here’s a photo of the big Peacemaker building wrap on the Marriott Marquis. Peacemaker is a show about the DC Comics character, who appeared in the latest Suicide Squad movie. The new series will be on HBO Max.
Here come more pics from this Thanksgiving morning. It looks like (maybe) The Freak Brothers will be living in a trailer. The animated Tubi show satirizes both the drug counter-culture and the establishment. It’s based on an underground comic about stoner characters and their crazy exploits.
The Garden of Peace sign makes me wonder if this isn’t actually the Peacemaker Proving Ground, referenced here. We’ll find out!
UPDATE!
Turns out I was wrong! What I thought might be The Freak Brothers activation is actually the Peacemaker Proving Ground. That would explain the obstacle course I photographed earlier.
A bus promoting The Freak Brothers will be parked by the Hilton San Diego Bayfront!
I’ll have to check that out this weekend!
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Preparations are now underway in downtown San Diego for this Thanksgiving weekend’s big Comic-Con Special Edition!
I walked around the Gaslamp Quarter this morning and spotted a building wrap on the Marriott Marquis. In the evening, after dark, I saw workers setting up a couple of Comic-Con offsites!
One offsite, by the Tin Fish, promotes NBC’s television show La Brea. The premise, I learned, is a sinkhole opens up in Los Angeles, swallowing modern people and depositing them in a mysterious subterranean world–where their smartphones don’t work! What will they do when they encounter dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures? The La Brea offsite will be giving away premium swag to all visitors!
The other offsite I spotted is on some grass by Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade, where Deadquarters has been located the last couple Comic-Cons. Workers were setting up an obstacle course. One person I spoke to thinks this offsite promotes a show on Tubi. Possibly The Freak Brothers. I’ll be providing updates with more photos and info. Stay tuned!
Comic-Con Special Edition banner at one end of the San Diego Convention Center.These workers confided they’re getting stuff ready for the big pop culture event!More banners on the convention center along Harbor Drive.Comic-Con International banners on posts by the convention center. Celebrating the popular arts.A Peacemaker building wrap on the Marriott Marquis. The television series concerning a DC Comics character will be on streaming service HBO Max.Setting up an offsite in the dark. The workers didn’t know what it was–except it’s for Comic-Con.Part of the same offsite, which includes an obstacle course. Someone surmised it promotes a show on Tubi.The NBC La Brea offsite by the Tin Fish.Looks like mammoth tusks! Visitors will walk through here to an ambulance where cool swag will be obtained!Looks like Syfy will also be represented outside Comic-Con Special Edition!La Brea ads are all over the place.Stay tuned for more pics later this week!
UPDATE!
I walked all around the Gaslamp and convention center early Wednesday morning. This is what I saw…
First, some large banners have been on the Hilton San Diego Bayfront’s parking structure for a few weeks now. They promote local rapidly growing tech company ClickUp, which is headquartered in the Gaslamp!
Next, I took a pic of exhibitors lined up behind the convention center, waiting to unload trucks.
I took some pics of construction of what I think might be The Freak Brothers offsite near the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter. (UPDATE! Now I’m thinking this might be the Peacemaker Proving Ground–we’ll see on Friday!)
And finally some daylight pics of the La Brea activation.
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Today was the big day! San Diego’s new Mid-Coast Trolley extension opened for regular service! And there were free rides and a big public celebration at the main UCSD campus station!
The greatly lengthened Blue Line now serves nine brand new trolley stations between Old Town and the UTC shopping mall. Much of the new line runs along Interstate 5 and is elevated. So imagine the great views!
I had to take photos, of course! And check out each new station!
A huge crowd turned out, and in some of the cars passengers were packed like sardines. But everyone was having a fun, memorable experience. Families with kids were everywhere, and the kids were especially excited!
I took loads of photos–so many, in fact, that I’ve left them somewhat unedited. But they provide a sense of what the day was about.
Here we go! Starting at the Old Town Transit Center, heading north…
Another trolley heads north from Old Town. Beyond that distant Interstate 8 overpass, the Mid-Coast Trolley extension passes over the San Diego River and Friars Road, then heads along Morena Boulevard into Bay Park.Peering through the driver’s compartment. What lies ahead?Passing over the San Diego River. Those other trolley tracks veer eastward into Mission Valley–the Green Line which I often take to work.Passing over Friars Road. Some environmental work still underway, left over from creating new railway bridges.I step off at the Tecolote Road station and take a photo of the trolley continuing on north. While I waited for the next trolley, I asked MTS ambassador Pat about possible new public art along the Mid-Coast Trolley extension, and she thought it would be cool to have owl art at this station. Tecolote is Spanish for owl!I got on the next UC San Diego Blue Line train and have already arrived at the Clairemont Drive station.There it goes!Here comes the next trolley!Heading north past Mission Bay we could see water and palm trees in the distance.It’s getting noticeably busier at the Balboa Avenue station! A sizeable parking lot here was used by many passengers on this free ride day.The trolley continues north toward Rose Canyon. You can see Mount Soledad in the distance on the left.A path for pedestrians and bicyclists heads toward Balboa Avenue.Bicyclists descend to Balboa Avenue.Lots of passengers on this special day!Heading north past industrial buildings by Rose Creek. Climb those hills to the east and you’d find yourself in Clairemont.Autumn scenery is a bit blurred as we move rapidly along.The Amtrak and Coaster train tracks, which we’ve been traveling beside, now veer northeast toward Miramar. We soon veer a bit west to pass over Interstate 5 and commence an elevated journey beside the freeway.Our first glimpse of Golden Triangle office high-rises and the exotic temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Pulling into the Nobel Drive station, which is across the freeway from the distinctive Mormon temple.Folks walk along the station platform.Looking back south. Some construction is still going on.Look both ways!Looking north. You can see the big VA Medical Center building in the distance, to left of center.Continuing on the trolley north.Approaching the VA Medical Center station. The best photo I managed to get at this moment. (The trolley car was jam-packed!)We’ve arrived!Flags and plaques honor the five branches of the Armed Services at the VA Medical Center station. I’ll be posting more photos that I took here shortly.One last look down at the freeway before we curve our way into the large campus of UC San Diego. I took photos of Mid-Coast Trolley extension construction some time ago from this same bridge.There’s a good deal of construction activity around the new UC San Diego Central Campus trolley station.Here we are!The trolley cars emptied here as people flooded down toward a big Mid-Coast Trolley extension opening day celebration and festival!Somebody already got a cool new shirt!Down some stairs we go.Lots of stuff going on beneath the elevated station!A sign indicates the Grand Opening Celebration event is this way!That’s the big celebration in the distance. Meanwhile I spotted these dancers.It’s the San Diego Dance Theater! They perform the annual Trolley Dances! You’ve seen them many times before on Cool San Diego Sights!Oh, man! Look at that line! I’m afraid I didn’t have the patience to wait. More places to go today…I did take a photo from outside the big Grand Opening Celebration event. They had a huge stage for speeches and entertainment. And kettle corn, of course!Heading back under the UC San Diego Central Campus trolley station I noticed this cool public art. Words and phrases fill the plaza! I’ll blog more about this later.Heading up stairs on the station’s other side.A view of UCSD campus construction near the new trolley station. UC San Diego has been expanding like crazy the past few years.More construction photographed from the same stairs.The top of the elevators to the station platform.Well, here we are a short time later at the UC San Diego Health La Jolla station. That’s quite a mouthful!The longest station name ever.Not much action at this station. A MTS worker is keeping things clean.Looking around.We’re now on our way to the Executive Drive station.I’ve arrived at the Executive Drive trolley station near the heart of University City. Gleaming office buildings are all around. That pedestrian bridge provides easy passage to one nearby building.From here the Blue Line heads south above Genesee Avenue for a short distance.I see the UTC shopping mall a short distance to the south.I watch a trolley head toward its final destination–the UTC Transit Center.I’m riding there now!Look at all the passengers disembarking!At the UTC Transit Center trolley platform, on the west side.Stairs head down to a nearby parking lot.MTS buses at the UTC Transit Center below, on the east side of the trolley platform.People head into the popular UTC shopping mall.One last look north up Genesee Avenue.
That is a little of what many experienced on this day, November 21, 2021.
History was made in San Diego!
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
A new mural was being painted today near Morena Boulevard!
I noticed the artist at work when I drove through the intersection of Linda Vista Road and Napa Street. The mural is on the side of a 7-Eleven.
After dark, I had the opportunity to return and take a good look at the colorful mural and get these photographs. At night the wall is brightly illuminated.
A signature indicates the artist is Hanna of Hanna’s Murals. You’ve seen her work elsewhere on Cool San Diego Sights, particularly here.
This awesome new mural depicts two tigers and the word FIERCE. I’m not sure if the artwork is entirely finished.
Check it out!
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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 Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
This morning I walked down to the San Diego County Administration Building to view their Day of the Dead altar. Like the one last year, this new altar on some outdoor steps remembers those who’ve died from COVID-19.
When I arrived a gentleman was setting up additional luminarias and flowers.
Baltazar Hernandez, who is also Vice President of the City Heights Día de los Muertos, was busy making the altar more beautiful and meaningful.
He informed me there would be a special ceremony in the evening, so I returned to the County Administration Building after work.
The ceremony began with a blessing of the altar by Baltazar, who wore Danza Azteca garb. A few short speeches followed.
The most powerful words were spoken by someone who had tragically lost a loved one. She told everyone: “That empty place that you have in your heart–fill it with love.”
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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 Twitter!
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, legendary author and creator of Sherlock Holmes, is in San Diego this Halloween weekend attempting to solve an ages old mystery.
Today I saw him at the Maritime Museum of San Diego examining clues concerning the mysterious disappearance of the ship Mary Celeste. Nobody knows what happened to the Mary Celeste back in 1872, when it was discovered adrift in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores Islands without a soul aboard. And with nothing touched. Not even its cargo of alcohol in barrels.
Did evaporated alcohol create a flash explosion that left no discernable trace, but caused the captain and crew to desert ship? Did their lifeboat somehow end up lost at sea?
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was examining charts and considering a strange variety of clues as I and some other Maritime Museum visitors looked on with bewilderment. I suggested a kidnapping by denizens of Atlantis. No better explanation seems to exist.
The celebrated author and novelist affirmed that he will be at the Maritime Museum of San Diego tomorrow–Halloween Sunday. Perhaps you can help him solve this intractable mystery!
Learn how the actual Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is connected with this mystery here!
Kids who are 12 and under are invited to write down their own theories. Winner of this contest gets four free tickets to an adventure aboard the historic tall ship Californian!
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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 Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 