Young dancers with the Gift of Dance, a local ballet folklórico school, performed today in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter during the annual Fall Back Festival.
These colorful photographs provide a hint of the dancers’ energy, fluid grace and poise. The dances transmitted pure joy. If you were there, you felt it.
Traditional Mexican dances included La Negra, La Raspa, La Madrugada, Tehuantepec, El Jarabe Tapatio, Los Machettes, and Las Chiapanecas.
Audience members were often clapping along with the music!
I hope you enjoy my 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.
Shortly before noon, the dancers departed their headquarters at the San Diego Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, crossed Third and Fourth Avenue, and entered the festival with traditional costumes and musical instruments.
Those watching at the Fall Back Festival would be entertained by the performers’ exciting entrance and the following lion dance.
The Lucky Lion Dancers perform at many San Diego events, and I never tire of watching them. The energy, joyfulness and magical good vibes…anyone who watches is indeed lucky!
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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.
Tomorrow, Sunday, October 26th, you and the kids have a cool opportunity to watch a Halloween magic and puppet show!
The Ghouls, Goblins and Giggles Show (a playful party of puppets and prestidigitation) can be enjoyed at the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park!
Showtimes are 11 am and 2 pm. You can buy tickets shortly before the performance at the front window box office.
Steve Taylor is back with his marionettes and magic! He’s truly awesome!
I passed the theater today as a performance concluded and families who were leaving told me the show was great!
Fun fact! That puppet he’s holding with three pumpkin heads was made by Marie Hitchcock herself 60 years ago and given to Steve. Sixty years later, the pumpkin-heads puppet is returning to the stage!
Some stage props I photographed…
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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 great free concert will be held in San Diego this coming Saturday, October 25, 2025. Just in time for Halloween, The Phantom of the Opera in Concert will be performed in Balboa Park at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion!
The 75 minute concert will begin 6:30 pm, but you might want to arrive early for the best seats. The concert will feature soprano Laynee Dell and tenor Cole Tornberg and include popular music from Phantom of the Opera and spectacular organ solos with spooky projections on the front of the Pavilion!
Audience members are encouraged to come in costume! You’ll be able to get your photos taken with the artists on stage!
This very special concert is presented by the Spreckels Organ Society.
How awesome!
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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.
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.
Then don’t miss the annual Trolley Dances, which are being performed in 2025 near three San Diego Trolley stations in Mission Valley!
The weekend event, produced by San Diego Dance Theater, is a fun outdoor adventure for mobile audiences.
I caught the first of six dances and took some photos. As you can see the Trolley Dances begin near the Fashion Valley Transit Center, in a corner of Town and Country’s resort’s riverfront park.
Mobile audiences go in groups from dance venue to venue, riding the trolley’s Green Line and walking a bit. Yes, it’s a very unique social experience!
The dancing is fluid, athletic, graceful. The performers I watched seemed to defy gravity as their dynamic movements and gestures expressed powerful emotion.
To learn more about Trolley Dances, visit this website, before all tickets sell out!
I snooped around and got these friendly dancers to smile before the noon audience arrived…
Here comes the audience now!
A lone figure approaches across the grass…
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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 brand new performance stage is being built in Balboa Park!
The stage, when finished, will occupy a corner of the San Diego Sculptors Guild outdoor courtyard, in Spanish Village Art Center!
Funny how history can repeat. Many years ago an outdoor stage occupied the same courtyard.
During a historical tour of the neighboring artist studios, I learned that today’s Studio 36 Sculptors Guild was an outdoor theatre in the early years of Spanish Village. The front was a lobby and ticket booth. Writers, actors and set designers would act out plays on the inner patio.
Today I was told performances of every type will be welcomed at this newly constructed stage. One member of the San Diego Sculptors Guild, Justin Hammond, is part of a band that will play here! The band’s name is Auva Xuln (@auvaxuln).
What a super cool venue!
Imagine wildly creative sculptures all around, like a fantastic, silent audience!
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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.
Here’s a collection of photographs for you to enjoy. I took them in Balboa Park today. Mexican Independence Day was celebrated in the Old Globe’s outdoor Copley Plaza!
I lingered for a little over an hour, listening to rousing mariachi music and watching joyful, colorful baile folklórico dancing.
A good crowd at tables around the outdoor stage enjoyed free Mexican candies and played Mexican lotería too! Many families enjoyed the festivities!
Anyone wandering about could also check out artists at their table. I recognized Maricruz Alvarado! You can see some of her beautiful work here and here!
What entertainment did I enjoy at this great Mexican Independence Day Celebration? Música Del Barrio with their pre-show music, Mariachi Continental SD, DanzArts folklórico dance, and the Radican Ensamble choir. There would be even more groups after I left to resume my Balboa Park walk.
The cultural celebration was produced by the Old Globe’s AXIS performing arts public engagement program. Learn more about AXIS 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 nonprofit Save Starlight organization has been working for years to save the historic 1935 Starlight Bowl amphitheater in Balboa Park. Perhaps you’ve been following the news concerning their heroic efforts.
An email blast that I received today reads:
Dear Friends of Starlight,
The moment we’ve been working toward for years has arrived. The City of San Diego has officially opened a 30-day window for Save Starlight to submit our Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) — the critical first step toward securing a long-term lease of the historic Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park.
This is our opportunity to finally bring Starlight back to life. But we cannot do it without you.
A key component of our submission is demonstrating strong fiscal support from our community. That means two things:
Donations now – Every contribution, large or small, shows the City that San Diego is ready to invest in the future of Starlight.
Letters of intent – Written commitments from individuals and organizations who pledge to donate once the lease is secured will help prove the depth of support behind this project.
We have just 30 days to make our case. The more momentum we show now, the greater our chance of success.
Together, we can ensure that the Starlight Bowl is not just preserved, but revitalized as a thriving cultural landmark for generations to come.
If you love the historic Starlight Bowl as much as I do, and want to help restore it to life, now’s your opportunity!
Did you know that many music legends have performed in the Starlight Bowl? They include Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Diana Ross, The Doobie Brothers, The Rolling Stones, Jewel, Cheap Trick, Beastie Boys and more!
Also, did you know that Wayne Nelson from the Little River Band has recently joined the Board of Directors of Save Starlight?
Click here to help save a true San Diego treasure!
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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.
This weekend, August 16th and 17th, 2025, the Zoro Garden Theater Festival will be held in San Diego. The unique venue is the “sunken stone grotto” Zoro Garden in Balboa Park!
I thought I’d bring attention to this free, family-friendly festival. It’s certain to be a lot of fun!
As the above sign explains, the Zoro Garden Theater Festival will be a celebration of drama, comedy and creativity. The performances will be between 2 and 5 pm, and will include singing, dancing, music and buskers!
If you’d like to be involved, enlarge my photo and find an email address and phone number.
Will I see you there?
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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.
