My walking adventure in South Bay on Saturday included a stretch through National City. I was excited to discover an abundance of art along 8th Street, between National City Boulevard and D Avenue.
I paused for a moment to admire public art on the pedestrian bridge that connects the Integrity Charter School building to the Bayview Tower Condominiums. As I continued my walk, I spied colorful street art on several electrical boxes, super vibrant murals on one fantastic building, and some unusual symbol-like sculptures jutting from the sidewalk.
Very cool!
UPDATE!
I took a photo of the west side of the pedestrian bridge in late 2020!
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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!
By far, the best part of my day in Balboa Park was the two o’clock Sunday concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez introduced four amazing kids, who each proceeded to play complex musical pieces!
These amazing local students range from 9 years old to 11th grade. The audience listened attentively as Aska Enomoto, Blake Bundschuh, Declan Bohley and Stephen Priest made the king of instruments come alive. Each young person explained why they loved playing organ. All received trophies for their outstanding achievements!
Only the most talented musicians are allowed to play the historic Spreckels Organ, the world’s largest outdoor musical instrument!
My blog doesn’t feature sound, unfortunately, so these photos will have to suffice. A picture might not be worth a thousand notes, but perhaps you can hear a majestic note or two coming through your eyes.
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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!
Young members of the De La Motte Strings have a bright musical future.
Please enjoy these photographs of life in Balboa Park. I took them today.
Is Balboa Park in your future?
Manifest Your Future in Balboa Park!Beautiful music beckons.Art students from Canyon Crest Academy show their art in Spanish Village. Each student has an amazing future.Savera Soin’s future will be filled with color.Moving ahead to find new wonders.Perhaps a cactus from a San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society show and sale is in your future.A couple moves forward down a winding path through the Japanese Friendship Garden.For the foreseeable future (until July 21, 2019) visitors to the Japanese Friendship Garden can enjoy an exhibition of art by Kathleen Kane-Murrell.Magic might suddenly appear in your future.Yummy samples of Cheez-It Snap’d treats were in my future. I couldn’t avoid them! At present they are in my stomach.These mysterious eyes peer from the future of a few. It all depends where feet turn.Enjoy every day. That future is now.
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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!
Photo from 4th Avenue beside the Chula Vista Public Library Civic Center Branch.
Yesterday I walked around the Chula Vista Library’s big Civic Center Branch. I took a look at a beautiful sculpture outside, saw an El Camino Real bell and bronze bust in nearby Friendship Park, then entered the building’s front entrance to check out more art and local history. I particularly enjoyed looking about the library’s unique Chula Vista Heritage Museum.
Come along with me and please read these photo captions…
Pleasant Tree, 2003, by artist Jorge Blanco. An abstract sculpture stands near the Chula Vista Library.Art should always be available to us, to surround us and uplift us.Pleasant Tree from another angle, with eucalyptus and palm trees behind.North of the library, at the west edge of Friendship Park stands an El Camino Real bell, donated by the City of Chula Vista, County of San Diego, and California Federation of Women’s Clubs.Green grass and shady trees fill the Will T. Hyde Friendship Park, north of the Chula Vista Library.A bronze bust near the center of Chula Vista Friendship Park.The bronze likeness of Will T. Hyde, who helped create Friendship Park. By sculptors T.J. Dixon and James Nelson.Plaque shows that Will T. Hyde was Mayor of Chula Vista from 1977 to 1981.Will T. Hyde seems to gaze across the beautiful park.The front of the Chula Vista Public Library, seen from the parking lot entrance.A large wall inside the front entrance of the Chula Vista Library contains many historical photos of the community.A photo mosaic on the library’s entrance wall shows Chula Vista Heritage.In one corner of the quiet library the public can freely visit the Chula Vista Heritage Museum.A photographic timeline wall around the perimeter of the museum’s space shows notable events from Chula Vista history.Chula Vista history in the 2000s includes Park View Little League becoming World Champions in 2009.Historical artifacts fill display cases. This plastic replica was cast from a Chula Vista walrus – Valenictus chulavistensis. The fossil was found in 1989 at Otay Ranch Village.The San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge includes 1068 acres of diked salt evaporation ponds. Migratory birds are carefully protected.Historical 1919 letter from Hercules Powder Company, which produced potash and acetone from harvested ocean kelp at Gunpowder Point. They helped to supply the British with munitions during World War I.Photos of an osprey and feeding white pelicans in the museum’s current exhibition: Natural History and the Indigenous People of the South Bay.Large sculpted medallion in a wall near the entrance to the Chula Vista Public Library. Scenes depicted include the original Rohr Aircraft Company, and the San Diego Country Club, home of golf legend Billy Casper.
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This morning neighbors who live in San Diego’s downtown Cortez Hill community came together to beautify the Tweet Street linear park!
Lots of smiling folks were toiling along Tenth Avenue digging holes, planting new greenery, raking up leaves and spreading mulch . . . and having fun, too!
This special event was organized by the Friends of Tweet Street Park and Downtown San Diego Partnership’s Clean and Safe program. I was amazed at how quickly a lot of work got done when many volunteers pitch in 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!
This morning I went to a Memorial Day ceremony at the San Diego Vietnam Peace Memorial, next to Balboa Park’s Veterans Museum. Representatives from San Diego’s Vietnamese community attended. They presented a wreath in remembrance. A beautiful new POW/MIA monument was revealed. (See my previous blog post.)
I and others then boarded an Old Town Trolley Tours bus. We were driven by our amazing Vietnam veteran driver Sam to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. There we attended the 119th Memorial Service and Day of Remembrance.
We heard deeply felt tributes to those who have served and sacrificed. Many wreaths were presented. Hearts poured out.
Thousand of tiny flags fluttered in the sea breeze.
Come along with me…
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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 beautiful new POW/MIA monument was unveiled today at the San Diego Vietnam Peace Memorial, outside the Veterans Museum in Balboa Park.
During a moving Memorial Day ceremony, a black cloth concealing the monument was removed, revealing a gorgeous mosaic showing the American flag, a soaring eagle, and at the center the POW/MIA emblem. The artists who created the mosaics at the Vietnam War Memorial in La Mesa were also responsible for this stunning work.
In a stirring speech we learned that the remains of 67 missing in action were identified and brought home in the last year. Those who lost their lives on our nation’s behalf will not be left behind.
And they will never be forgotten.
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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!
People keep asking me if I’m on Instagram. Until now I’ve replied no.
For over five years I’ve posted tens of thousands of unique photographs here on Cool San Diego Sights, and to my other blog, Beautiful Balboa Park. So I figured it’s time to get in gear and start posting photos to Instagram, too!
This morning I added several dozen photographs that I took in the past month to my Instagram page. From this point forward, I’ll post select photos as I continue to walk about San Diego!
I’ve also added an Instagram icon to my website’s sidebar. Do you see it under the word FOLLOW? Click it if you’d like! (Those other icons help you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr.)
Cool San Diego Sights will continue to be my main blog and center of activity. It’s where all of my photographs appear, and where readers can enjoy descriptions of random walks and discoveries.
If you do choose to follow my Instagram, thank you!
As I arrived at the Festival of the Sea, the 27th Annual San Diego Sea Chantey Festival was already underway.
There’s a great festival going on this Memorial Day weekend at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. The new, family-friendly waterfront event, sponsored by the Port of San Diego, is called Festival of the Sea!
I headed to the Maritime Museum late this morning to see what was going on!
On the deck of the Star of India, I listened to the 27th Annual San Diego Sea Chantey Festival sponsored by San Diego Folk Heritage. Inside the steam ferry Berkeley, I got to see lots of art by local artists, then peruse books, prints and other used items that are being sold in a kind of nautical rummage sale. From the museum’s barge behind the Berkeley, I viewed a cannon battle out on San Diego Bay, then enjoyed free samples of Tillamook Ice Cream!
The Festival of the Sea also includes kids’ educational activities, costumes galore, and the opportunity to enjoy adult beverages while taking in amazing views of San Diego Bay.
Here come a few photos!
A smiling guy with a wooden leg welcomes me aboard Star of India for the new waterfront event, Festival of the Sea!Gazing out at San Diego Bay from the back of the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s barge.You just knew there would be a pirate!The free samples of Tillamook Ice Cream were super yummy. (Yes, that tray you get holds four different flavors!)Lots of artists had their work on display inside the elegant passenger deck of the Berkeley.Friendly author Joseph O’Loughlin has written an action-packed historical novel that takes place in the Age of Sail. Gallagher’s Prize is the first book of a series!Photographer David J. Shuler has spent many years capturing beautiful images. You can check out his fine work at NauticalVisions.comA large selection of art was being displayed aboard the Berkeley. I was surprised to see so much variety!Norm Daniels was getting started on a new piece. He does a lot of plein air painting. His website is NormHere.comExamples of Norm Daniel’s surf and island themed work.The Maritime Museum of San Diego’s unique Model Shop is also active during the festival.All sorts of used museum items are for sale during the Festival of the Sea. Not shown are numerous unique books about maritime history.Beyond the museum’s Soviet submarine, tall ships sail on San Diego Bay.Californian and Bill of Rights exchange a broadside!The Maritime Museum’s beautiful Californian is the official tall ship of California.A picturesque scene out on the nearby water.Looking beyond HMS Surprise, which starred with Russell Crowe in the great movie Master and Commander.Back on the Star of India, more people are gathering to enjoy live entertainment.A kid explores the workings of the world’s oldest active sailing ship!The Jackstraws sing lively, often humorous nautical tunes during the Festival of the Sea!
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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!
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