Hundreds of people came together at NTC Park in Liberty Station today to fight Alzheimer’s disease. The event was organized by the Alzheimer’s Association.
I arrived as the 2025 Walk to End Alzheimer’s was coming to an end, but I’m going to share a few photos and hope you feel inspired to make a donation to this important cause. If through medical research we could finally put an end to Alzheimer’s, that would benefit literally millions of lives.
Click here to make a donation. (If that special event webpage goes away, you can also click here for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s main page. Look for the donation button.)
Consider forming your own team and walking next time!
A lot of love in these photos…
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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.
A variety of construction projects are now being undertaken in Balboa Park. During my walk today, I took photos that show good progress.
No, I couldn’t take photographs of the work being done on the roof of the San Diego Natural History Museum. I don’t have a helicopter! See a recent blog post concerning that here.
Okay, here we go. My first photographs show how a beautiful new pergola is being added to Balboa Park at the west end of the Botanical Building.
The next photo was taken a few months ago. A tree at the corner of the San Diego Museum of Art was being carefully removed from a spot near where the pergola will be built.
The tree has been temporarily relocated to the fenced “island” behind the Botanical Building.
Today, here’s that same spot where the tree was removed:
Banners hung on the construction fence describe how the historic pergola from 1915 is being rebuilt.
And one more photo taken today of progress at the pergola construction site…
Next, the House of Czech & Slovak Republics cottage is almost completely repaired. A corner of the building was decimated by a falling eucalyptus tree during a wind storm earlier this year. I never did take photos of the serious damage.
A few weeks ago, a member of the House of Czech & Slovak Republics told me that he was grateful the work was being done expeditiously.
Today, I saw the exterior is now painted. A worker told me things are “getting there.” I did note as I walked past the cottage that one door is boarded.
Next, a nearby building, which houses both the Hall of Nations and House of Italy cottage, has had the following exterior damage for quite a while now.
The worker I spoke to said he believed these repairs are next.
Finally, I noticed the front entrance of the Municipal Gymnasium continues to be readied for its amazing new marquee and its bronze panel mural.
As more progress is made, and as this historic ornamentation is added in the near future, I hope to take additional photographs. Exciting stuff!
UPDATE!
I’ve learned the tree moved for the pergola construction is a a mature Bischofia javanica, or Toog tree. It will return to its spot once the pergola is completed! Read more 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.
The big crowd of fans gathered in Gallagher Square for today’s Padres watch party did their best. Closely watching the giant videoboard, they cheered their team, whirled rally towels, and some fans (and the Padres mascot Swinging Friar) excited the crowd as costumed characters. Alas, it wasn’t enough.
The Padres were eliminated this evening from the 2025 MLB Postseason. The Chicago Cubs took the Wild Card series, 2 games to 1. Ouch.
Our team: pitching good enough to win, but sketchy offense. Failure to make clutch hits. Like certain periods during the regular season.
It would’ve been a thousand times more fun if the Padres had won and advanced in the playoffs. The young kids running about and playing catch in Gallagher Square didn’t seem to mind, however. They were simply having a good time.
Of course, Dude Vader was present!
Two Manny Machados are better than one!
This awesome, masked lucha libre Padres fan brought his big swag chain!
I loved this Día de Muertos costumed Catrina!
Well, as they say, there’s always next year.
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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.
The crowd in Petco Park’s Gallagher Square went nuts when the San Diego Padres recorded the final out in Game 2 of the MLB Wild Card Series against the Cubs in Chicago. When Manny Machado hit his 2 run homer, imagine how excited everyone was!
What awesome fans: waving rally towels, dancing between innings, tossing balls with excited kids, focusing on every pitch and swing on the big Gallagher Square videoboard.
What a great team win! The Padres pitchers in particular were practically unhittable.
There will be another Padres Postseason Watch Party tomorrow. At the time of my writing, the start time is undetermined. Proceeds from the five dollar tickets go to the Padres Foundation. Get your tickets online.
Win or lose, the San Diego Padres organization always provides a really good time.
Enjoy some fun pics taken before and during the big game…
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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.
Today people were dancing, listening to beautiful voices sing, eating, and having a great time in sunny Balboa Park. They were participating in the lawn program of the House of Lebanon!
The House of Lebanon of the International Cottages saw a good crowd come out for their cultural event. At 2:30 the House of Lebanon San Diego Choir performed, and thereafter members of UC San Diego’s Lebanese Club taught anyone who was interested how to dance the joyful, traditional dabke!
I was interested to read the dabke descends from Phoenician dances thousands of years old.
The happiness that comes from joining hands and moving together is evidently timeless!
Chicken Shawarma Wrap, Kafta Kabob Wrap, Chicken Shawarma Fries, Fattoush Salad, Hummus with Pita, Spinach Pies, Knefe in a bun, Lebanese Coffee…
Yum!
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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.
The San Diego Bonsai Club hosted their fall show this weekend in Balboa Park. Amazing works of living, growing art filled long tables in Casa del Prado’s Room 101.
Members of the club presented their bonsai for public viewing, and everyone was invited to learn about the unique art form from experts and make purchases of plants.
When I visit these shows, the beauty and wisdom makes an enduring impression.
What did I learn? Working with bonsai takes patience. Make a mistake–clip where you shouldn’t have–and your error isn’t fatal. Simply put your bonsai aside for a time and let it grow.
Then revisit it. You’ll find a newly grown living thing, ready again to be sculpted into a wild-seeming, aesthetically pleasing object of beauty.
That would seem to be good advice for other types of artistic creation.
Seriously frustrated with a painting or written manuscript? Put it aside, let it live for a time in your subconscious.
New perspectives and ideas will grow in your mind. Then train and prune your creation again.
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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.
I can’t believe how many great artists came out this afternoon to the 2025 Chula Vista ArtFest! The annual event, which celebrates local artists from South Bay, was held in the outdoor courtyard of Chula Vista City Hall.
A big crowd gathered to meet artists and view some live painting. Most of the creators I saw had a table overflowing with completed works for sale.
The festival also featured representatives from the City of Chula Vista, community organizations, art-related vendors, live music on a stage and plenty of food.
I met many of the artists, and was wowed by their amazing creativity. As you’ll see, one of the artists was winner of a super prestigious Eisner Award!
Consider supporting these artists by clicking links to their websites or social media.
First, let’s meet some smiling people working for the City of Chula Vista. They were providing information that helps residents care for the environment.
On Saturday, October 18, you can join others in your community to Beautify Chula Vista!
Learn more about this great volunteer activity by clicking here.
Now a few fun photos before we meet some artists…
First artist is Tanisha McCullough, aka Nini, a super talented youth who loves to create portraits in oil paint!
The next creator, Tony Washington, won a 2024 Eisner Award at Comic-Con! He’s also a New York Times best selling artist!
His professional accomplishments, which include work in comic books, animated movies and video games, will blow your mind. See them here!
Next artist I met was Ed Roeder. Check out some of his awesome pop culture stuff!
He and his wife, both artists, operate the website Castle by Design.
Next is cool self-taught artist T. Jay Santa Ana. He’s fascinated by Time, Space, and Line… an expressionist and a surrealist experimenting in a framework of abstractions.
@GRASSHOPPERCV.OFFICIAL was airbrushing shirts and stuff at Chula Vista ArtFest.
Last, but certainly not least, is Chicana artist Isabel Garcia (@artbyisbl) from Southeast San Diego. She was just as nice as the first time I met her, years ago! Still going strong!
Special tours were enjoyed by the public today of San Diego’s newly renovated Civic Theatre.
The tours were part of the Civic Theatre’s 60th Anniversary Open House Event, which also featured live music, food and more good stuff outside the building in Civic Center Plaza.
I enjoyed a tour and took photos as our group went along.
The renovation concentrated on the theater’s front of house areas. I was told no substantial changes were made in the auditorium.
The work was accomplished during two 4-week periods, and has filled the gleaming Civic Theatre with new tile, new carpeting, new concession areas, new furniture, even new trashcans! The old very red interior is now brighter with sunny, beachy colors that better reflect San Diego.
Even the vertical “bars” on the building’s exterior have been painted in a way that makes its appearance more distinctive.
You can see photos of the Civic Theatre taken five years ago during an architectural tour here.
The old interior, with its lavish reds, made the place seem like a satiny European palace, or that last room in Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. Yes, this is an improvement!
We’ve entered the remodeled lobby. The island that used to be the ticket booth is now an inviting place where theatre-goers can order food and drink. (Tickets are now purchased at the outdoor box office in Civic Center Plaza.)
Now we’re heading upstairs toward the Mezzanine level. Those white onyx columns were wrapped with beautiful gold-colored metalwork during the renovation.
This handsome concession nook has brand new tiles, inside and out.
That’s the amazing Grand Salon with its enormous chandelier ahead. The display on the left (also in my very first photo) shows how things appeared before the renovation. Yes, it was very red!
Beautiful new tables and chairs match the new carpeting. The place even smells new!
Looking down into the Grand Salon. Grand is the appropriate word!
Now we’ve headed up to the Balcony level.
You can learn more about this absolutely amazing chandelier here.
Fashionable new “sconce” lights are evident, too, as we head down stairs to the Dress Circle level.
And here we are at the Dress Circle level, entering the Grand Salon. Beadwork above that smaller chandelier is new, created by a local artist. All the ottomans are new, too.
Beautiful new ornamental touches above the elevator.
More amazing than ever…
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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.
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.
Remember the large, beautiful skylight above the central atrium of the San Diego Natural History Museum? It’s no more!
What you see in the above photograph is what remains of the old skylight structure. Dismantled sections of the framework now sit on the ground in a nearby parking lot.
The Natural History Museum is reconstructing its roof. No more skylight. As this NAT webpage explains, the new solid roof allows for the installation of 200 solar panels and promises better climate control to protect the museum’s valuable collections. The new roof will be easier to maintain and more environmentally friendly, too.
Visitors to Balboa Park can see the huge crane that is being utilized for the 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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 