A big parade for Veterans Day this morning in San Diego.
Many different faces, young and old, moving forward together down Harbor Drive. Each face telling a story.
The story of a life filled with pride, courage, honor, sacrifice and friendship.
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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!
Stand at the corner of India Street and A Street in downtown San Diego, turn north, and you’ll probably notice an old brick wall on the other side of a parking lot. Approach the wall and you’ll see a complex mosaic of paint and mortar. Like the brushstrokes of a painting, they tell a unique story.
I’m under the impression this building was once a soda bottling plant. I posted a couple photographs of the Hires Root Beer graphics five years ago 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!
As I stood at the edge of San Diego Bay late Sunday afternoon, Californian returned across the water to its home at the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
Californian, official tall ship of the State of California, floated into a world of magical light.
Yesterday I had a chance to go aboard Polynesian canoe Hikianalia, which was offering tours to the public over the weekend. The traditional voyaging canoe will conclude its environmentally themed ocean journey and return to Hawaii later this month.
I added lots of cool photos with an update to my original post here!
It’s hard to believe this silly blog has now surpassed 3000 followers. Thank you for coming along on my walks!
Where to next?
Who knows?
The human world is complex. I suppose that’s due in large part to the contradictory impulses and plasticity of the human mind.
A big city like San Diego is filled with this often disconcerting complexity.
My walk around downtown today was a little more interesting than usual. Cowboys, symbols of rugged individualism and freedom, had gathered in the Gaslamp Quarter for the annual Fall Back Festival, an event that celebrates the Old West and early history of San Diego. Meanwhile, 6000 neuroscientists attending the big Society for Neuroscience conference at the convention center were sharing sidewalks with San Diego’s large homeless population.
Seeing that particular combination all together–cowboys, neuroscientists and homeless people–fired up a few billion neurons in my own mysterious brain. And stirred emotions.
So many human values, often in conflict.
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Every so often a small work of fiction bubbles out of my brain.
If you enjoy reading, you might click Short Stories by Richard.
During my walk around East Village yesterday I swung by the Quartyard, a cool container park where neighbors can gather to eat, drink, talk and enjoy live events.
About half a year ago the unique container park moved a couple blocks east from its old location, to the corner of Market Street and 13th Street. While the new space is a bit smaller, it’s a friendly, cozy nook just perfect for neighborhood gatherings.
A bit of colorful artwork can be seen inside Quartyard. I learned more art is planned for some of the surrounding containers.
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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!
I enjoyed an aimless walk around East Village on Saturday. My camera found a variety of cool sights! Some old and some new!
As you can see, there are all sorts of new high-rises under construction in this dynamic part of downtown San Diego.
I walked past the Quartyard at its new corner on Market Street. It’s a couple blocks east of where it used to be. I’ll be posting those fun photos shortly!
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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!
The sunset this evening was absolutely glorious.
I was walking along the long train platform of San Diego’s downtown Santa Fe Depot when the clouds began to really blaze. Fantastic light reflected from the windows of nearby high-rise condos and several hotels to the west. As night fell, dramatic color crowned dark palm trees.
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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 mural titled Cosmic Train of Wisdom, painted in 1989 by local Chicano artist Mario Torero and students from O’Farrell High School of Performing Arts and Roosevelt Junior High School, decorates the back side of a building located on the northwest corner of Park and El Cajon Boulevard.
Today very few people venture around the building to enjoy the faded 100-foot-long, 40-foot-high mural, which depicts a colorful train driven by young people. Optimistic symbolism fills the mural. On the south end of the building, astute passersby will see the historic, animated neon Frank the Trainman sign at the top of a flight of stairs, which form the mural’s triangular cowcatcher.
This was the original location of the Frank the Trainman model railroad store, which Frank Cox opened in the 1940s. He eventually retired and passed his business on to fellow model train buff Jim Cooley, who sold the property to Mission Federal Credit Union in 1987. To honor the history of Frank the Trainman, the architectural firm of Bradshaw and Bundy altered the building’s exterior into the outline of a locomotive, and the Cosmic Train of Wisdom was subsequently painted.
(Jim moved the original train store to today’s location just down Park Boulevard and added to it his own unique collectibles museum, which includes some extremely rare antique automobiles. I blogged about that here.)
I walked behind the building yesterday and took the following photographs of the large, nearly 30 year old mural, to help preserve a little bit of San Diego history…
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
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Today I checked out the Day of the Dead festival in North Park!
The annual festival, which is only in its second year, was held on two blocks of Ray Street just south of University Avenue. I couldn’t believe the size of the crowd enjoying this relatively modest event celebrating Día de los Muertos!
All of the cherished Day of the Dead traditions could be found, including a large, beautiful altar and lots of face painting, and, of course, some elegantly dressed Catrinas strolling about. There was also abundant Mexican music, themed artwork and yummy food!
This is definitely a festival that should grow in popularity!
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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!
Early this morning an unusually heavy fog rolled into San Diego.
I love the dreamy quality of fog, so I took a long, quiet stroll around downtown before catching a trolley for work.
I floated around the County Administration Building, turned south when I reached the foggy bay, then steered east when I reached Broadway. Finally I ended up at Santa Fe Depot.
Please enjoy these photos of several San Diego landmarks engulfed by the gray, mysterious fog!
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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! 