Today I enjoyed a long walk from downtown San Diego to Liberty Station then back again. It felt so good to be near the water that I even took a short detour to visit Harbor Island.
Given the current coronavirus pandemic, I noticed an unusual number of people out on San Diego Bay, on paddle boards, in kayaks, breathing in the healthy fresh air. There’s a new local regulation that recently went into effect during the COVID-19 crisis. People are now allowed to recreate on the water. And those engaged in safe social distancing aren’t required to wear face coverings. They can fully enjoy San Diego’s watery paradise.
As I arrived at Liberty Station, I noticed many stand up paddleboarders embarking on a journey from the boat channel. They headed under the Nimitz and Harbor Drive bridges and into the sunlit marina behind Harbor Island.
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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!
Well, May is here already. Hard to believe. The coronavirus pandemic continues, as do the government mandated lockdowns, which makes it difficult for a photo blogger who explores the city to find fresh material. Nearly all events are cancelled, many places are closed.
So what is one to do? I thought now would be a good time to once again go back five years!
What was happening on Cool San Diego Sights back in May 2015? Lot’s of amazing stuff! One thing you might notice is that Balboa Park’s big year-long Centennial Celebration was underway!
Click the following links to enjoy lots of photos…
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This afternoon I saw some street art that seems appropriate for the time we now live in. It was painted at the corner of Market Street and 2nd Avenue in downtown San Diego.
During the coronavirus pandemic, strangers, friends and neighbors are careful to stay physically separated from each other to minimize the spread of the deadly virus. But strangely, in spiritual ways, the crisis has brought many closer together. Like one human family.
I believe this simple but powerful street art was created last summer by @sarahstieber and @arielletonkin before the coronavirus made it’s first appearance. Two people are separated, but reach around a terrible hard corner toward one another.
We are apart but still together.
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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!
Have you ever wondered about those Victorian houses that stand together behind a fence near the corner of 2nd Avenue and Ash Street in downtown San Diego?
I walk by these colorful old houses frequently, but apart from seeing “Victoria Square” on a sign in front of one, for years I’ve known absolutely nothing about them. So I finally did a little research on the internet.
Victoria Square Vacation Homes is what they’re called now, but originally the houses together were known as Kiessig Corner. The handsome blue corner house, in the Italian Renaissance style, was built by Charles Keissig in 1894. Keissig was a Gold Rush-era immigrant from Germany who supposedly buried $20 gold pieces under the house in glass jars. The house directly adjacent to it on Ash Street was built in 1904-1906. A third, one-story house on Second Avenue (the yellow one you can see on the left in the next photo) was moved to the site from another location at about the same time. A fourth smaller building, which is difficult to see from the street, was originally a carriage house.
In 1976, the site was declared an historic property by the San Diego Historic Site Board, and the run-down romantic turn-of-the-century buildings were purchased by real estate development attorney Sandor Shapery. The houses were rehabilitated by Del Mar architect Paul Thoryk to be used commercially. Apparently years ago there was a restaurant in addition to offices, but my poor old brain cannot remember it. After 2008 the buildings were converted back to residential use.
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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!
As an amateur photographer, I’m always looking for interesting photo opportunities as I walk about.
In downtown San Diego some fantastic images can be captured simply by turning my little camera skyward.
Bright reflection, shadow, and the grid-like windows of tall buildings produce strangely appealing patterns. The photographs that result can make what is familiar mysterious.
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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 very cool mural, painted by artist Jonny Pucci, decorates the exterior of GFit in South Park.
I don’t know if many Romans work out in this fitness gym, but I’m sure there’s quite a lot of Viribus Civitas Salutem! Which according to Google Translate means: Strength City Safety. (Sorry, I don’t know Latin.)
If you want to learn more about muralist Jonny Pucci, whose elaborate artwork can be seen in several cities, you might check out his website here.
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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!
A familiar sign as drivers enter Old Town from Interstate 5. Welcome to Old Town. Birthplace of California.
I have more photos to post from my long walk yesterday. But first I’m going to share pics that I took during today’s walk from downtown San Diego to Old Town!
I didn’t pull out my camera until I was well past the airport, heading up Hancock Street. I passed very few people. My mind was far away. As you can see, I did capture a few amusing images!
After a brief detour to explore Witherby Street and the semi-decayed old bridges and underpasses leading to an entrance of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, I passed over Interstate 5 and entered Old Town.
I took a look around the quiet streets as I headed up Jefferson Street and Congress Street. Making sure there were no signs posted saying I couldn’t enter, I quickly passed through Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, which was almost deserted. Then I headed back south down San Diego Avenue.
Most of the shops and restaurants in Old Town were closed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A few restaurants were offering take-out, but very few potential customers were anywhere to be seen…
I’m heading up Hancock Street. If that’s not a NOT, can one legally park here?This might be the coolest little free library I’ve come across!A superhero who resembles Superman flies from what might be San Diego’s last phone booth.These pigeons regarded me as I walked along a gritty walkway under the Witherby Street train bridge.Now I’ve entered Old Town. Check out this cool sculpture in someone’s front yard!Flowers through a white fence.The African Latin Museum was closed. It’s on my list of things to do.This was part of the 1890 Ballast Point Light Station on Point Loma!
To learn more about the history of this lighthouse, and why part of it is now sitting on a sidewalk in Old Town, click here!
Mural in front of some small businesses on Congress Street depicts the early days of San Diego.Right part of the mural.Signs by the parking lot of Rockin’ Baja point to different distant destinations.On the small island beneath the signs I spotted this plaque.In Memory of Joe Flynn. 1902 – 1963. Joe loved Old Town and helped re-create Casa de Lopez. Old Town Chamber of Commerce.Mexican themed outdoor decor, but no customers at this eatery during the coronavirus pandemic.Voted best pizza in America! I gotta try a slice one day.The plaza in the middle of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is deserted. But the grass is long and green!The many Old Town museums and attractions are all closed due to COVID-19.On an ordinary Sunday, this photo would be filled with people.Now I’m heading down San Diego Avenue. Another popular restaurant is temporarily closed.But Cafe Coyote is open for take out! And I got two yummy handmade fresh tortillas to munch on as I walked!
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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!
Funny comic panels featuring Star Trek characters, standing near Captain Kirk’s Coffee in South Park.
It was hot today as I walked through South Park, so I stopped at Captain Kirk’s Coffee to get an ice cold green tea. And look what I saw and learned!
All sorts of humorous Star Trek imagery can be found on and around this popular sidewalk coffee shack!
The super nice people who served up my green tea explained they’ve been there for many years now. Then they told me something amazing that I didn’t know. Whoopi Goldberg, before she became a superstar, worked at The Big Kitchen just a block south of Captain Kirk’s Coffee! They said she signed her name on a wall of The Big Kitchen, and while the interior has been repainted many times over the years, her signature remains untouched.
Among her many big Hollywood roles, you might recall that Whoopi Goldberg played Guinan in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in the films Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: Nemesis.
Captain Kirk’s Coffee by the Fern Street sidewalk in South Park.Various spaceships have landed or crashed atop the roof of Captain Kirk’s Coffee.At the front counter. Bean me up Scotty!Big Kitchen Café in South Park, where Whoopi Goldberg worked before becoming a Hollywood superstar.Star Trek meets Star Wars in these silly panels near Captain Kirk’s Coffee.Whoopi Goldberg as Star Trek character Guinan says: I miss Judy’s delicious coffee cake at The Big Kitchen.
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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!
An amazing bronze sculpture can be found in downtown San Diego, on Ash Street beside the new Carte Hotel. It’s titled Global Proportion.
Created by artist Beverly Penn in 2019, the bronze “topiary sphere” is described as “a journey and destination created from individual bronze leaves cast from live flora at Balboa Park.”
The diverse leaves seem to represent many beautiful lives, joined together in one organic Earth-like object.
Below the amazing bronze topiary sphere, inlaid plaza tiles represent fallen leaves, scattered by the wind.
Whenever I walk by this very unique sculpture I like to pause for a moment and look up. It’s like a small, perfectly beautiful planet that hovers almost within reach.
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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!
During my afternoon walk through East Village I had to do a double take. Had I stepped into a galaxy far, far away?
Across the wide Space 4 Art parking lot I spotted Yoda!
I took the above photo from a distant sidewalk, then greatly enlarged the image and sharpened it. Hopefully you can see how cool this mural appears in person!
Yoda is spray painted on a nondescript building whose other sides are home to a variety of murals. Check out an awesome Mechanical Shark here, and other works of super creative street art here.
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 