Tag: parks

Views of future Sweetwater Park in Chula Vista!

Sweetwater Park is a large recreational park now being developed in Chula Vista, next to San Diego Bay. It extends between G Street and E Street. When completed, the 21-acre park will feature trails, picnic areas, nature and adventure play areas, and scenic overlooks to the bay.

Yesterday I discovered that one wide dirt trail is already open. It parallels the paved Bayshore Bikeway, with which it sometimes coincides. The trail begins at the north end of Chula Vista’s Bayside Park next to Marine Group Boat Works, and extends up to Sweetwater Park’s future entrance and parking lot, which is located across E Street from the Sun Outdoors RV Resort.

Walking north up the trail, I peered over construction fences to view Sweetwater Park’s progress. In upcoming photos you’ll see connecting trails that aren’t yet completed.

As I got started, I turned south for a moment. That huge structure in the next photo is the parking garage for the big Gaylord Pacific Resort and Conference Center now under construction.

Okay, now I’m heading north. I saw this sign concerning native coastal and salt marsh plants here near San Diego Bay.

Come along on my sunny Sunday walk…

A sign on the fence includes images of how the finished Sweetwater Park will appear.

Looking at the overall site plan, my walk north proceeded from right to left. I’m now at the park entrance and parking lot.

Embedded in the trail at its north end is a circular plaque:

Funding for this path provided by the Urban Greening Grant awarded in 2017 by the California Natural Resources Agency. Port of San Diego Waterfront of Opportunity.

Learn more about future Sweetwater Park by visiting the Port of San Diego website here. You’ll also see a plan for Chula Vista’s Bayside Park to nearly double in size and become Harbor Park!

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The giant Resort and Convention Center in Chula Vista!

Look how gigantic the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center in Chula Vista has become! I walked around it on Sunday and the main hotel building is positively immense! Because I took photographs from a good distance, it might be hard to visualize exactly how large it is.

The resort and convention center, when completed next Spring, will feature 1,600 guest rooms and suites, plus a 4.25-acre water park on the property’s bay side. You can see two big blue water slides in the following photos.

To visualize the progress of this project’s construction, check out photos from almost two years ago, when there was practically nothing on the huge lot but dirt. See those here. Then I took photos about a year ago, which you can see here.

After walking around the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center, I headed from nearby Bayside Park around Marine Group Boat Works, and discovered a beautiful new path along the edge of Chula Vista’s upcoming Sweetwater Park–a huge park that is now in development!

I’ll post photos of that walk coming up!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 pile of rubble near the USS Midway Museum!

Lately, if you’ve walked along San Diego’s Embarcadero past the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum, you’ve probably noticed heavy machinery and a pile of rubble near Navy Pier!

The old Naval Supply Depot headhouse is being torn down, to make way for the future Freedom Park!

I took these photographs on Sunday after jumping off the Coronado ferry. Having walked past the old headhouse hundreds of times over many, many years, seeing its destruction in progress is a trifle jarring.

Early this summer I shared photos when the demolition had barely begun. If you want to see those previous photos and find more information about the landmark Freedom Park project, click here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Photographs at San Diego British Car Day!

San Diego British Car Day was held today at Tidelands Park in Coronado. A whole bunch of amazing cars showed up, and the public was invited to stroll among them.

The San Diego British Car Club Council puts on this big annual event. It welcomes participants from each British Car Club in San Diego. It isn’t your typical car show with an assortment of special prizes, but people were invited to vote for their favorite car.

As I strolled about gazing at all the sporty and elegant beauties, I half expected to see a tuxedo-wearing James Bond in a driver’s seat. Every sort of British make was on display, from Lotuses to Aston Martins to Bentleys to Minis to Triumphs to MGBs to Jaguars to . . . you name it!

If you’re an auto enthusiast, San Diego British Car Day is one day you definitely don’t want to miss! Watch for its return next year.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 new park and public art in San Diego!

A new park is coming to downtown San Diego! It’s called Progress Park, and it’s located at the corner of Broadway and Harbor Drive, at one end of the new Research and Development District complex (RaDD).

Check out that new public art near the center of Progress Park! It’s titled Shhh Pavilion: The Hopekeeper.

According to a plaque that I photographed from a distance through a construction fence: Shhh Pavilion: The Hopekeeper is a sculptural landmark pavilion that symbolically and functionally integrates with RaDD Life, fusing art and science. Inspired by childhood memories, the natural world, and its relationship with mathematics, the creators have fashioned a geometric structure utilizing Voronoi tessellation. The piece resembles a shell covered with barnacles and recalls memories of childhood games at the beach, where hope seemed infinite.

What is Voronoi tessellation? Learn all about it here.

The creator of the pavilion is gt2P (Great things to People), a Santiago de Chile based collaborative studio collective.

I can’t wait for the fence to come down. Progress Park is full of greenery and outdoor space–a fine addition, it would appear, to San Diego’s world-class waterfront!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Restoring the Tony Gwynn sculpture at Waterfront Park!

Did you know there’s a sculpture of Tony Gwynn in Waterfront Park, just south of San Diego’s County Administration Building?

The sculpture, created by world-famous artist Niki de Saint Phalle, is titled #19 Baseball Player. The mosaic sculpture debuted nine years ago, and I was there for the ceremony. You can see those photographs by clicking here.

When I walked through Waterfront Park early this morning, I noticed the fun sculpture depicting Mr. Padre holding a baseball bat was being restored.

According to a sign, the work is being done by Lech Juretko. He operates Art Mosaic Inc. in Santee. For eight years he was an assistant to Niki de Saint Phalle, helping to produce 100 of her works!

Lech now works with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation, and has done restoration work on Niki’s fun Nikigator (in front of the Mingei International Museum) and her epic, mind-blowing Queen Califia’s Magical Circle (at Kit Carson Park in Escondido).

To read a great article about Lech meeting Niki and his subsequent experiences, click here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Five new murals to be painted in La Mesa!

Five colorful new murals will soon be painted in downtown La Mesa. Old murals along The Walkway of the Stars, a pocket park that celebrates local volunteers, have been painted over, and a sign indicates new artwork will be created on the same walls this summer.

I was a bit shocked today when I saw how the beautiful old murals had disappeared. But the new mural designs appear pretty awesome. You can see the five new mural designs on the City of La Mesa’s Instagram page by clicking here.

If you’d like to see the vanished murals, I took photographs back in 2017 and posted them here.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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’s new recreation area at Waterfront Park!

If you live in downtown San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood, or anywhere near the County Administration Center, you’re in luck! The new outdoor recreation area in Waterfront Park opened last week!

This community resource had been a work in progress for a very long time, and now it can welcome those who like to play sports, exercise, or walk their dog in the San Diego sunshine. You can see photographs of the area under construction here and here.

The recreation area occupies the northeast corner of Waterfront Park. It includes one basketball and two pickleball courts, five exercise stations, a ping pong table, plus a fenced off-leash dog area with agility equipment. Pickleball paddles and balls, table tennis paddles and balls, basketballs, and TRX suspension equipment can be freely checked out from a nearby information booth, which is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the summer, and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. from fall to spring. A sign on the booth’s window indicates there’s also a bocce ball set and chess set available for loan.

I’m happy to see that the 1.25 acre area spared some of the old garden where it was built. And there are benches to sit in the shade of newly planted trees, and even a Little Free Library box near the information booth with books that young or old might enjoy reading.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Plaque in La Jolla honors Kate Sessions.

Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Park, originally named La Jolla Park, was established in 1887. The scenic coastal park has seen almost a century and a half of history, so it’s not surprising a variety of historical plaques can be found by visitors wandering around its 5.6 acres. I once photographed a couple of these plaques and shared them here.

An old plaque that honors San Diego’s beloved horticulturist Kate Sessions can also be discovered at Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Park. The plaque is located near a New Zealand Christmas tree (metrosideros tomentosa) that was planted by the La Jolla Garden Club in 1939 on Kate Sessions’ 82nd birthday. She would pass away in 1940.

Katherine Olivia Sessions is widely known as the Mother of Balboa Park, but she planted hundreds of trees all over San Diego. She even has a park named after her in La Jolla. Her legacy will continue far into the future. Many majestic trees throughout our beautiful city were planted by her own hand.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Blanket Sounds in the San Diego sunshine!

Music lovers gathered at Waterfront Park on San Diego’s Embarcadero this afternoon for a special event. They had come to listen to the second concert of San Diego’s newest arts and music series, Blanket Sounds!

As concert time neared, blankets, beach chairs and umbrellas multiplied by the stage, and the growing audience anticipated performances by DJ Mr. Hek and San Diego’s World Punk Band QUEL BORDEL!

Everyone was welcome at this multicultural and multigenerational community gathering. Kids ran and played on the grass. Families enjoyed picnics.

I lingered for a bit, enjoyed the mellow Sunday afternoon atmosphere, and took these photos. There are two more free Blanket Sounds concerts to go this summer. Find out more here!

The County Administration Building rises under a blue San Diego sky.

Members of QUEL BORDEL! warm up before the concert begins.

Tall ship Star of India on San Diego Bay makes a scenic background.

Rock-like sculpture is an art installation by artist Trevor Amery.

The other side of Trevor Amery’s fascinating sculpture.

Jake Skolnick of local San Diego band QUEL BORDEL! gives a thumbs up!

Kids could color at an activity table.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.