My walk through downtown this morning yielded several cool discoveries, including a fantastic mural that I hadn’t noticed before!
After stepping out into the chilly air and zipping up my jacket, I headed south from the top of Cortez Hill. The clouds were still fringed with gleaming gold.
I walked straight down Ninth Avenue and ended up near Petco Park. I then walked around the ballpark to catch a trolley for work.
Enjoy some photos!
Birds over “head”.I spotted some sort of artwork high up near the roof of the building at the corner of Ninth and Broadway.It’s a cool mural! It appears to have been painted in 2015 by Christopher Konecki.This cool face on a window is by artist Almighty Savo.Light above, shadow below. It’s early morning in East Village.A city bus on the move.I spotted a new graphic at Petco Park! It celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the San Diego Padres!Green leaves and shining windows in new sunshine.The sun will soon appear above the MTS building at 12th and Imperial. It’s already peeking through up near the roof.Gleaming morning light on pedestrian bridge and freight train.
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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 drove to Mount Soledad. A new winter storm is on the way, and the clouds are more dramatic than usual.
Breathtaking vistas open up at the summit of Mount Soledad. Standing beside the cross of Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial, I turned slowly about and took it all in.
To the north: La Jolla, Del Mar and the Pacific Ocean. To the northeast: University City. To the east and southeast: the distant foothills and mountains of East County. To the hazy south: tiny downtown, Mission Bay and Point Loma.
In every direction: amazing beauty!
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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!
I’ve always loved Spanish Village in Balboa Park. I still remember going there as a young adult and immediately feeling a sort of spiritual connection. One feels free and alive in this magical place.
Today I was walking through Spanish Village when I paused outside Studio 13. My feet are often drawn to this particular studio. I’m not sure why.
Sylvia Mejia, the ceramics artist who works in Studio 13, and I spoke a few friendly words. She invited me inside.
I found myself surrounded by many faces.
Happy faces.
Soulful faces.
Expressive, deeply human faces.
Have a look with me:
Sylvia Mejia, in Spanish Village Art Center’s fantastic Studio 13, surrounded by her ceramic creations.
May you live all the days of your life.
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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!
Dan Plante of KUSI News gives the surfing hang loose sign!
I was heading to the Hazard Center trolley station after work when I noticed traffic had been diverted due to the flooding of Mission Center Road by the rain-swollen San Diego River.
I headed down to check things out . . . and here comes smiling KUSI News television reporter, Dan Plante.
During my walk around downtown yesterday morning, I wandered past The New Children’s Museum. My camera immediately took aim at the 1950s Dodge pickup Flower Truck out on the Paint Patio. Kids have applied so many coats of paint to the museum’s current Painted Object that the vintage truck appears to be covered with dripped candle wax!
I also enjoyed looking at the long, rainbow-like SMILE mural on the museum’s entrance bridge, painted by street artist Paola Villaseñor, who signs her work PANCA. Her urban artwork, which is usually more “adult” and grotesque, can be found in both Tijuana and San Diego.
Those words on a low wall bordering the museum’s playground and The Garden Project are part of FOLLOWING THE WORDS, poetry by Quincy Troupe, professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego.
In late 2014 I posted photos of the small garden and other lines of the linguistically lip-lively poem here.
Perhaps one day I’ll photograph the entire long poem!
Section of SMILE, by artist PANCA. The fun 48-foot-long mural decorates the bridge leading to the entrance of The New Children’s Museum.YOU ARE YOUR OWN SONGHIP AS FLIP-FLOPS KIDS HAVE ON
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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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I went on a long walk through downtown this morning. My plan was to take some blog-worthy photographs before the rain begins in earnest tomorrow.
As I randomly wandered from block to block, my eyes found a variety of strange and delightful sights!
A clock wedged between a sidewalk and fence.A wall of roses welcomes guests to Coffee ‘N’ Talk.I must be a mermaid.PARKING is disappearing, and soon there will be none.A boy plays a flute up on someone’s balcony.A frog plays a violin by someone’s front door!
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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!
Dancers entertain visitors to Balboa Park as the House of China celebrates Chinese New Year at the International Cottages.
It’s February already, and beginning to feel a tiny bit like spring!
Visitors to Balboa Park today could enjoy many wonderful experiences: the Chinese New Year Festival . . . the International Dance Festival . . . and even a few early cherry blossoms!
As I walked in sunshine and scattered sprinkles, I took many photos.
Colorful young dancers on stage celebrate the Chinese New Year in San Diego.Food, culture and sunshine (and scattered, sprinkling clouds) at the Chinese New Year Festival in Balboa Park.A glimpse of the El Cid statue in Balboa Park on a springlike Sunday in February.Sunshine on bubbles.There’s plenty of bright green down in the Balboa Park Rube Powell Archery Range.A beautiful photo between the House of Hospitality and Casa de Balboa.Prado Perk’s chalkboard indicates it’s almost Valentine’s Day!Athletes in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association gather during a time out during the Third Annual Brad Rich Invitational at Balboa Municipal Gymnasium.The ornamental pear trees are blooming near the Plaza de Balboa.Members of the San Diego Bonsai Club work on small olive trees in the Casa del Prado.I spotted Captain America in the cafe of the Federal Building, future home of the Comic-Con Museum! (He’s actually a member of San Diego’s Science Fiction Coalition.)A beautiful springlike day on El Prado.I was welcomed to the International Dance Festival in the Balboa Park Club.Flags of many nations follow a bagpiper through Balboa Park as the annual International Dance Festival is about to begin.Colorful banners approach the Balboa Park Club.Folk dancing is ready to begin!A banner of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.Meanwhile, folks walk through the always beautiful Japanese Friendship Garden.Looks to me like spring is coming fast!A few early cherry blossoms are blooming in February at the Japanese Friendship Garden.Yes! Spring is around the corner!
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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!
I walked slowly along the Embarcadero this morning. As I started along San Diego Bay, the February sky was gray and occasionally drizzly.
For a Saturday relatively few people were about. The popular Tuna Harbor Dockside Market was busy, of course, but the first part of my walk was rather quiet. A couple firefighters were jogging on the grass near their fire engine at Seaport Village. I saw some birds, including a beautiful snowy egret. A few fisherman were trying their luck on the pier at Embarcadero Marina Park South.
I said hello to some familiar people.
As I turned back north, I noted a bit more activity. Guys in scuba gear were at work cleaning the hulls of boats in the Marriott Marina. Workers were getting tables ready at various waterside restaurants. Vendors were setting up booths at Ruocco Park’s new Saturday farmers market. Tourists were gathering at the foot of the Embracing Peace statue (originally called Unconditional Surrender) and atop the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum.
And, best of all, the street performers were out and smiling.
As usual the sun came out.
San Diego is magical.
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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 spent a few minutes in Balboa Park’s Desert Garden, enjoying a beautiful sunrise.
I had hoped to take photos of new snow on the mountains east of San Diego, but they were too distant for my small camera. What I did discover as I walked down one path was completely unexpected, and indescribably powerful…
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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!
If you’ve driven up Interstate 5 through La Jolla and University City, you’ve probably seen some impressive construction right next to the freeway. The extension of the San Diego Trolley’s Blue Line is now being built, and much of what is called the Mid-Coast Trolley will be elevated.
The new trolley line will turn from the freeway down Genesee Avenue and finally end at an elevated station at the recently renovated University Towne Centre shopping mall (now called Westfield UTC), adjacent to bus stops at the UTC Transit Center.
On Sunday, as I waited for a bus at the UTC Transit Center, I walked up Genesee Avenue to check out a short stretch of the trolley extension. My photos show what will be the north terminus of the Mid-Coast Trolley.
The project is impressive. Simulations of the UTC Transit Center station and other Mid-Coast Corridor stations can be found here. The trolley extension is scheduled to be completed in 2021.
As I took photos, I was fascinated by the strangely beautiful complexity. Layers of geometric shapes can be observed in the wood, concrete and steel supporting construction of the elevated tracks and station.
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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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