Distinctive dome of the restored Balboa Theatre seen from Broadway.
It’s going to be chilly and drizzly today, so I might not be going out for my customary walk. Instead, I thought I’d share a few photos of downtown’s beautiful Balboa Theatre that I took at various times last summer.
The Balboa Theatre has a long and interesting history. Built in 1924 as a vaudeville and movie palace, the large multi-story building containing offices overlooking Fourth Avenue has undergone a complex series of transformations. During World War II, it was used to house sailors waiting to ship out from San Diego. At one point the aging building was saved from demolition; finally it was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, the Balboa Theatre reopened after a thorough remodel, and it is now considered one of the foremost performance venues in the world. It was recently named by CNN Travel as one of the world’s 15 most spectacular theatres! Not bad!
Here are a few more pics of the exterior. I often steer my feet so that I walk past this beautiful building!
Balboa Theatre sign is a landmark in San Diego’s Gaslamp.People walk past box office of the historic Balboa Theatre.Close look at artwork on Balboa Theatre’s cool marquee.The Balboa Theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places.The Balboa Theatre stands next to downtown’s equally cool Horton Plaza.
One more pic I added on a later date:
Window display of old photograph and letter B from Balboa Theatre sign. These can be seen a short distance down the sidewalk.
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San Diego Dance Theater performs Trolley Dances at City College.
The Trolley Dances, a unique event put on by the San Diego Dance Theater, is being held this year at downtown’s City College. I live a short walk away, so I figured I’d head that way this morning before it became too hot. (We’re experiencing mild but very toasty Santa Ana weather here in Southern California.) I thought that perhaps I could snap a few pics as a casual bystander.
The Trolley Dances involves a mobile audience, which walks from venue to venue. The dances are staged in some of the most unexpected public places. Every year the locations change.
I was successful! These photos are of the third “stage” of the 2014 Trolley Dances…
One unusual venue, at bottom of steps on the campus of San Diego City College.Here come people who are enjoying a variety of surprising performances.Audience gets ready to watch the third dance of the 2014 Trolley Dances.Dancers in flowing blue appear at the top of the broad steps!Graceful dancers descend the high stairs in a grand entrance!The free form dance twirls and floats before the eyes of onlookers.Rhythmic energy fills the unusual stage on a sunny, quite warm day.Dancers perform many athletic, amazing moves.Beautiful dance delights a host of San Diegans.This performance was a carefree, joyful, very cool sight to behold!The dancers return to the stairs for a final few moments.The dancers retreat to prepare for the next group in a few minutes.This Trolley Dances group heads off to the next surprising location!The Trolley Dances is a cool, very unique tradition in San Diego!
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The Spreckels Theater Building was erected in downtown San Diego in 1912.
I must confess I’ve never seen a show at the historic Spreckels Theatre. I do occasionally sit at a table in the building’s Grand Lobby. On a quiet Saturday I’ll eat lunch and write while watching pedestrians pass down the Broadway sidewalk, just outside the glass doors.
The mixed-use Spreckels Theater Building was built in 1912 and has been a cool sight in downtown San Diego for over a hundred years. While the upper stories are occupied by numerous small offices, the theatre itself was built as a 1,915-seat auditorium with an ornate Baroque interior. Over the decades, the theatre has also served as a vaudeville house and movie palace. Famous performers at the theatre have included Enrico Caruso, John Barrymore, Al Jolson, Will Rogers, and Abbott and Costello. In 1978, when Balboa Park’s famous Old Globe Theatre was destroyed by fire, the Spreckels was used as a temporary stage for the Globe. Today, as a live presentation venue, the Spreckels Theatre attracts many diverse attractions, including concerts, comedy shows, and dance and theatrical productions.
The six-story building, designed by Harrison Albright with influences from the Chicago School style of architecture, was built by philanthropist John D. Spreckels, a name you might have noted elsewhere on my blog. Spreckels was a wealthy sugar heir and leading San Diego entrepreneur. He wanted the building to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal, much like the Panama-California Exposition, that would be held in Balboa Park in 1915.
Plaque on The Spreckels Building indicates it’s an historical site of the City of San Diego.The Spreckels marquee is a cool fixture on Broadway in San Diego.Classic theatrical figures above and beside the marquee.Looking up at the Spreckels sign.The shining, polished onyx Grand Lobby of the Spreckels Theater Building.Close look at the ornate old ceiling in the Grand Lobby. The building has undergone several restorations over the years, most recently in 2012.A Tiffany window depicting Nine Dancing Muses was originally above the theatre’s entry. While stored during World War II due to blackout regulations in the city, the window was stolen. It was replaced in 1985 by this colorful window designed by Yaakov Agam.Gazing west down Broadway on another sunny day.
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Starlight Bowl sign and the season that never came.
On the south side of Balboa Park, at the edge of a canyon next to the San Diego Air and Space Museum, you’ll find this rusting sign. It remains hopeful above the shuttered ticket windows of the Starlight Bowl, once home to the San Diego Civic Light Opera. The sign announces a 65th season that never came.
A couple years ago the San Diego Civic Light Opera went bankrupt. Which is a shame. For a long happy time during the warm summer months the outdoor theatre featured musicals and other popular productions. I remember watching the Pirates of Penzance and the Taming of the Shrew here when I was very young. The coolest thing I remember was how the actors would all freeze and shows would be suspended for several seconds when noisy, low-flying airplanes approaching Lindbergh field passed directly overhead.
Display glass near entrance which used to show upcoming productions is vacant.The outdoor Starlight Bowl has an audience of weeds.
I walked around to one side for a view of the beloved Starlight Bowl and held my camera above a chain link fence for the above photo. The outdoor stage now has an audience of weeds.
Side view of the Starlight Bowl, which has been sadly abandoned for years now.
