Early this morning I saw on the news that many parts of San Diego were experiencing fog. So I thought it would be interesting to head to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park for some mysterious fog photos.
Well, one end of nearby Lindbergh Field was lost in a bank of fog–but not Old Town!
I got some wonderful morning photos anyway. It was quiet, just after sunrise, nothing open, very few people around…
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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!
Gazing down at San Diego Bay from Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma.
Here is a modest gift for my readers, and for the city I love.
This small taste of San Diego has been assembled from a variety of photos. A few are recent; others are from the past couple years.
Walk around San Diego and you will never go hungry. Every day presents a new feast for the eyes!
A couple rides bicycles along the Mission Beach boardwalk on a perfect day.Someone reads daily information posted on Mission Beach’s lifeguard station.A big peace sign atop the roof of USA Hostels Ocean Beach.Walking slowly near the surf along Torrey Pines State Beach.A bicycle, a fine way to travel through a sunny city.Diners sit outside the West Coast Tavern in North Park. The building is a former movie theater.Fun street art in North Park, one of many cool neighborhoods in San Diego.Visitors on a tour in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park learn about our city’s unique origin and early years.Colorful, festive Mexican-themed artwork adorns a gift shop in Old Town.A small memorial among fallen blooms on Presidio Hill above Old Town.Guns once used to train Navy sailors. Relics from military history at Liberty Station, site of the former Naval Training Center San Diego.Visitors to Balboa Park enjoy a walk along El Prado, near the Casa de Balboa and House of Hospitality.People play Jenga on the grass near Sefton Plaza in Balboa Park.The iconic El Cortez rises in the blue San Diego sky. I feel very fortunate to live on Cortez Hill, a beautiful corner of downtown.A small produce business in East Village.The historic Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Little Italy.A fountain on the east side of the County Administration Building.Volunteers work on the Star of India, world-famous tall ship of the Maritime Museum of San Diego.A busker and bicycle near the USS Midway Museum and Greatest Generation Walk.Sunset and sailboats on San Diego Bay.People have fun boating out on the water.Feet dangle over the water at Embarcadero Marina Park North.The classic Broadway Fountain and nearby downtown buildings. Photo taken one morning in Horton Plaza Park.The moon in the sky above a historic building in the Gaslamp Quarter.Life and color at Lane Field Park on San Diego’s Embarcadero.Riding recreational watercraft past the beautiful downtown San Diego skyline.
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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!
The Dickens Carolers sing during the annual Las Posadas event in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
This afternoon I headed to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park to experience the annual Las Posadas Celebration. There were many families in the park enjoying all sorts of holiday activities, gazing at beautiful decorations, and preparing to witness the reenactment of Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter before the birth of Jesus.
Las Posadas is a Christmas tradition cherished by many Latinos and Spaniards. A candlelight procession after nightfall by members of the community symbolizes the Nativity. Angels and shepherds join along the way. Mary rides a live donkey. There is much joyful singing.
My camera is inadequate after dark. To see (and hear) tonight’s procession in Old Town, you’ll have to use your imagination.
The 67th Annual Las Posadas Celebration in Old Town celebrated a rich holiday tradition. A candlelight procession after dark reenacted the journey of Mary and Joseph in search of shelter before the birth of Jesus.As evening approaches, paper bag luminaries containing candles are placed around the central Plaza de las Armas.A big festive Christmas tree stands near the plaza’s center, beside the tall flagpole.Looking out the front door of the Casa de Estudillo at Old Town San Diego’s big Christmas tree.A shiny star-like pinata hangs in front of the Colorado House. This is where the holiday celebration would reach its joyful climax.Santa wishes everyone a Merry little Christmas inside Toby’s Candle and Soap Shop.A colorful holiday wagon containing red poinsettias is parked outside Toby’s Candle and Soap Shop.Kids activities during Las Posadas included making Christmas tree ornaments.This holiday wreath is decorated with spools of thread! It hangs on a door at Threads of the Past.A big wreath adds holiday cheer to the sunlit Seeley Stable Museum barn.As daylight wanes, families congregate around a campfire and roast marshmallows for s’mores.A special display inside the Robinson-Rose Visitor Center describes the life of Louis Rose, the first Jewish person to settle in San Diego.Reenacting a Hanukkah Candle Lighting Blessing inside the historic Robinson-Rose Visitor Center.
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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!
The annual Mormon Battalion Commemoration Day is coming to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park on January 27, 2018.
Anyone interested in the long march of the Mormon Battalion from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego and their important contributions to our city’s early history should put the event on their calendar!
I’ve been informed by the commemoration day organizer that entertainment will include a Native American dance group featuring drums and singers, some colorful ballet folklorico dancers, and an old time fiddler’s group!
To get a taste of the many interesting things you might see, view photos of past Mormon Battalion Commemoration Days here and here!
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I recently finished writing a short story about generosity and the true spirit of Christmas. To read it, click here!
The names of loved ones. Spiritual bonds link the living with the dead during Dia de los Muertos.
Many generations came together in Old Town this evening during Dia de los Muertos.
Love and memory were written on so many smiling faces as people celebrated their departed loved ones. Chalk memorials and scattered marigolds lined San Diego Avenue. And the evening ended with a candlelight procession from Old Town San Diego State Historic Park to the small El Campo Santo cemetery. A walk of several blocks in the growing darkness . . . a short walk down a road brightly lit by love.
My poor camera failed to capture the candlelight procession as night descended. But your heart and mind might imagine it.
An abundance of music, humor and life on stage during the Dia de los Muertos celebration in Old Town San Diego!People could pose for photos with two giant skeleton puppets!An artist paints two large skulls–calaveras–in Old Town’s Plaza de las Armas during Dia de los Muertos.Children decorate traditional sugar skulls.Some around the park wore fancy dresses and hats for the day, recreating the iconic Mexican image of La Calavera Catrina. I saw many faces painted like fantastic skulls.Some of the shops in Old Town had a mix of decorations for both Halloween and Dia de los Muertos.A large, colorful calavera above a restaurant inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.Face painting and a youthful smile.Hundreds of tributes and sentiments for departed loved ones were written in chalk on a long stretch of San Diego Avenue, inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.Lanterns among the many Dia de los Muertos chalk memorials.Te amo–I love you–and a marigold.Love and memory connect many generations as the years roll on.
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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!
A covered wagon in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is decorated with autumn colors.
After walking a bit downtown, I took the trolley up to Old Town to enjoy the colorful Fall Festival!
I never tire of the wonderful events that can be found almost every weekend at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park!
Kids at the Old Town Fall Festival learn to make art with colored beans!Later in the day folks at this table would demonstrate how to make applesauce.Making environmentally friendly bird feeders using corn cobs, peanut butter and seeds.Folks young and old were trying their hand at making corn husk dolls.Lady with old-fashioned parasol walks through Old Town San Diego State Historic Park’s central Plaza de las Armas.Colorful leaves and a bountiful harvest frame the Welcome in an Old Town shop window.A smiling señorita walks near some pumpkins.An elaborate Día de los Muertos decoration standing beside the Fiesta de Reyes stage is bright with fall colors.A flower-filled wheelbarrow in front of Seeley Stable.Ceramic pumpkins line shelves at an outdoor Old Town marketplace.Ladies work on a quilt inside the Threads of the Past Living History Activity Center.Kid learns how to plant seeds in front of the Wells Fargo History Museum.A Wells Fargo chest full of golden treasure!
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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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Fred Grand, President of the Old Town Chamber of Commerce, reads a proclamation during a special Constitution Day ceremony.
Bells rang in San Diego at exactly one o’clock this Sunday afternoon to celebrate Constitution Day. A special ceremony took place on the steps of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Old Town, where a gathering of people rang bells they had brought for the occasion.
The patriotic ceremony was organized by the San Diego Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and featured a proclamation by Fred Grand, President of the Old Town Chamber of Commerce. Attendees also sang the Star-Spangled Banner, America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee), America the Beautiful, and God Bless America.
To celebrate the United States Constitution and the freedoms the document guarantees all citizens, many bells rang today simultaneously all across America. Bells pealed in Pennsylvania, where the United States Constitution was signed by delegates to the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787.
The Daughters of the American Revolution supports Old Town and have for almost 100 years. You can see their historical markers on the big rock in the southeast corner of the grassy Plaza de las Armas, at the Casa de Estudillo, the Cosmopolitan Hotel, the San Diego Union print shop, the Rockin Baja restaurant (over their front doorway), and another on Taylor Street near Presidio Drive. The DAR will soon be placing another marker at the site of the First San Diego Courthouse.
Priest of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Old Town talks to people in front of the historic church after Sunday Mass.At one o’clock, people of many backgrounds and beliefs gather on the church steps to celebrate the United States Constitution, which enshrines individual human liberty.This old bell of the Daughters of the American Revolution features an inscription from the United States Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.One historical plaque, which marks the end of the Kearney Trail in Old Town San Diego, was placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1920.Another historical marker placed by the DAR can be found inside Old Town’s Casa de Estudillo.Kathleen Winchester, historian of the San Diego Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is presented with an official proclamation on Constitution Day.The patriotic gathering sings The Star-Spangled Banner.
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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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
Every year, Fiestas Patrias, which celebrates Mexican independence from Spain in 1821, includes traditional entertainment for the entire family.
This morning I missed a bus to Ocean Beach at the Old Town Transit Center, so to pass the time I walked the short distance over to the State Park to see if anything was going on. And I discovered that Fiestas Patrias was being celebrated today!
I lingered for a few minutes and took some photos, headed over to OB (as you will see), then returned to Old Town a couple hours later to really soak in the event. Fiestas Patrias is a yearly celebration of Mexican independence from Spain in 1821. San Diego, a small town founded near a Spanish presidio in Alta California, thereafter became a part of Mexico until 1848.
Many diverse traditions have intermingled during San Diego’s history to make our city what it is today. The rich and colorful culture of Mexico has remained an essential part of life in San Diego!
A mariachi welcomes visitors to the historic Casa de Estudillo in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.A friendly horse came for a visit as I took some photos outside the Casa de Estudillo during Fiestas Patrias.Traditional dances were being performed on the central plaza’s main stage. Las damas y los caballeros took turns being el toro and el matador!The annual event features authentic costumes from a time when San Diego was a small Mexican town in Alta California.Kids were decorating traditional cascarones eggshells.A demonstration inside the Casa de Estudillo of yarn being spun. During the Spanish period, sheep were first introduced along with cattle and horses at the Mission San Diego de Alcalá.Nearby, ladies were demonstrating Colcha Spanish Colonial embroidery, which was typical in San Diego in the early 1800s.At the same table, another lady was cutting out festive Mexican papel picado.The historically authentic musical group Los Californios wait for their turn on the stage at Fiestas Patrias in Old Town 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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
View of the Serra Museum through trees atop Presidio Hill, near the spot where European civilization first took root in California in 1769.
A few years ago I walked from Old Town San Diego up to the top of Presidio Hill and wrote a simple blog about what I saw. You can revisit that post here.
What I failed to do at the time was photograph many of the historically important plaques that can be found around various sites and monuments, so I thought it would be proper to finally correct that omission.
I’ve included one informative sign which stands near the ruins of the old Spanish presidio’s chapel, and a variety of plaques. One of the plaques is at the base of the Padre Cross; two are near The Padre sculpture; one is on an observation structure near the Junipero Serra Museum parking lot; and several others are found at Fort Stockton, where the Mormon Battalion camped after their 2000-mile march from Iowa to San Diego.
Click the photos and they will enlarge for easier reading.
Sign marks the Old Presidio Historic Trail. Grassy mounds on the hill below the Serra Museum are the ruins of the old presidio chapel. It was built for the garrison’s soldiers after the original Spanish mission was relocated up the valley.The large Padre Cross, made in 1913 of tiles from the Presidio ruins, marks the location of the first Spanish mission in Alta California, established in 1769 by Junipero Serra.Plaque at base of the Padre Cross remembers the Indian village of Cosoy, named San Miguel by Cabrillo in 1542, then San Diego de Alcala by Vizcaino in 1602.Between the Padre Cross and The Padre sculpture, a plaque covers a time capsule that was created two centuries after the establishment of Mission San Diego de Alcala. It is to be opened on July 16, 2069.A plaque in the ground behind The Padre sculpture, placed on December 29, 1981 by the Presidio Hill Society Children of the American Revolution.Photo taken behind The Padre on Presidio Hill. The 1908 bronze sculpture is by Arthur Putnam.A plaque can be seen on the observation structure near one corner of the Serra Museum parking lot.The plaque begins: Sylvester Pattie, pathfinder, leader of the first party of Americans into Alta California over Southern trails. Arrived at San Diego Presidio March 27, 1828.Mural at Fort Stockton depicts the long march of the Mormon Battalion.California Historical Landmark plaque at Fort Stockton. The top of Presidio Hill was first fortified by Carlos Carrillo in 1838. From July to November 1846 the site was called Fort Dupont when American forces temporarily held Old Town.
Plaque by mural, commemorating the heroic sacrifice and history-making achievements of the Mormon Battalion.More plaques nearby explain the history of the Mormon Battalion, which blazed the first wagon trail to the Pacific over the southern route.Members of the Mormon Battalion worked to improve San Diego by making the first kiln in California, the first pumps to draw water, and the first blacksmith shop and bakery.The two plaques described above can be found near the Mormon Battalion Monument, a bronze sculpture created by Edward J. Fraughton.Another nearby plaque explains the history of the statue. It was a gift to the City of San Diego in 1969 by the National Society of the Sons of Utah Pioneers.A plaque by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers also stands at the site of old Fort Stockton.Women of the Mormon Battalion. Almost eighty women and children accompanied the soldiers during the long march. Four wives traveled the entire distance to San Diego.Flags of the United States, Spain and Mexico fly atop Presidio Hill, birthplace of California. Here many chapters of history are remembered.
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
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Two vaqueros chat during an event in Old Town San Diego that reenacts fascinating Californio history.
I enjoyed the Trades That Shaped the West event in Old Town San Diego last Saturday so much, I decided to return today to experience another Stagecoach Days event: Days of the Vaqueros!
Days of the Vaqueros invited curious visitors to experience what life was like when San Diego was a part of Spain, then Mexico. The emphasis was on the vaqueros–the first true cowboys. During the era of the Californios, wealthy ranch owners employed vaqueros to manage their stock.
For a couple of decades–from the early 1820s to the mid-1840s–cattle hides were the primary export of Alta California. Merchant ships from the East Coast (and other places about the Pacific Ocean) would trade the plentiful hides for finished goods that were in high demand in early, geographically isolated, sparsely populated towns like San Diego.
Someone checks out Days of the Vaqueros activities. The banner hangs on the Robinson Rose House in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.Taking place during Old Town’s summer weekend Stagecoach Days, today’s event primarily celebrated life in San Diego when the small town and Alta California were part of Mexico.Ladies pass by in period dresses. One of many cool sights at the Days of the Vaqueros event in Old Town San Diego.Tables contained information about life during the era of huge Mexican land grant ranches worked by vaqueros. Vaqueros, the first true cowboys, were mostly indigenous people employed to manage cattle by the wealthy land owners.A vaquero shows a visitor to Old Town how to properly handle a rope.The visitor successfully lassoes his cow–the rear end, that is–first try!A gentleman who used to work for Buck Knives makes unique knife handles out of elk antlers. He has developed his own technique, which takes great skill and precision.A hat maker shows how beaver felt material was steamed then pushed over a hat-form block.What’s cooking on the campfire? Some tasty pozole, I was told!Pozole is a traditional Mexican soup or stew, made from hominy, meat and various vegetable seasonings.Decorating eggshell cascarones. Near the end of a fiesta, Californios flirted by cracking eggs filled with scented water or confetti over the startled head of someone they liked.A group called Los Californios played authentic early California music–tunes that were preserved over a century ago on wax cylinder sound recordings made by Charles Lummis.A couple dances to the happy, gentle music.Publications by a nonprofit project called San Diego Friends of Old Time Music. Author Vykki Mende Gray is helping to preserve the musical history of California.A display of braided ropes and rawhide, once commonly used by vaqueros as they worked on the large cattle ranches around San Diego.On this table I see more ropes, a canteen, iron brands and boot spurs.A gentleman who teaches school students visiting Old Town about history holds up an illustration of bear-baiting, which early Californians found entertaining.These guys were making adobe bricks. I learned earth and water are mixed, and straw or manure are often added for strength and cohesion.Authentic adobe bricks take weeks or months to properly dry. When hard, these bricks will possibly be used in new construction or to restore existing exhibits inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.Traditional dancing in the courtyard of Casa de Estudillo of Los Camotes (which translates the sweet potatoes), a tune from old Mexican and Spanish California.
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Cool San Diego Sights! 