Many beautiful flowers are now gathered near the base of the Tunaman’s Memorial on San Diego’s Shelter Island.
Last weekend, the annual Tunaman’s Memorial Mass and Celebration began at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Point Loma. A procession was then made through Roseville to the Shelter Island memorial where a service was held.
The many flowers remember tuna fishermen, particularly of Portuguese descent, who were lost at sea.
Even yesterday, almost a week later, the flowers were still bright and colorful.
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The Japanese cherry trees are in bloom on San Diego’s Shelter Island around the Japanese Friendship Bell!
Beautiful pink cherry blossoms now surround the traditional bronze bell, forged in Japan and given to San Diego in 1958 by its Sister City Yokohama.
The Sakura Grove (sakura in Japanese means a flowering cherry tree) was planted during the Japan-U.S. Nationwide Centennial Cherry Blossom Tree Planting in 2012. A nearby plaque explains the grove is a living symbol of friendship between the people of Japan and San Diego.
In 2022, I experienced the sublime ringing of the almost two and a half ton Japanese Friendship Bell. That doesn’t happen very often. If you’d like to read about the bell ringing and see those photographs, click 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 Point Loma Association’s volunteer Mean Green Team must have been busy lately. Because look at all the beautiful, bright spring flowers planted along Shelter Island’s long Shoreline Park pathway!
I took this series of photographs today as I walked along the edge of Shelter Island beside San Diego Bay…
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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.
It’s the first morning of Spring. As the sun rose over the mountains east of San Diego, the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden in Balboa Park awakened.
The few rose blooms that have already opened caught the early light and became even more beautiful.
I was there to take capture a bit of the transformation.
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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 2025 Major League Baseball season is about to begin. And look who has appeared on San Diego’s Embarcadero along Harbor Drive. Players representing the San Diego Padres!
Before the start of every season, new Padres player banners appear on downtown lamp posts. You can find the banners around Petco Park and elsewhere. Some of the banners inevitably feature new faces.
I took these photographs today.
Last year the Padres were arguably the second best team in baseball. They were a game away from beating mighty Los Angeles and going to the National League Championship Series. How will the team do in 2025?
Jackson Merrill 3Nick Pivetta 27Xander Bogaerts 2Manny Machado 13Yu Darvish 11Fernando Tatis Jr. 23
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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.
For many years–as long as I can remember–the north side of the Reliable Pipe Supply lot on San Diego’s Commercial Street has been decorated with street art. Most of the images reference pop culture characters–in particular, comic book superheroes and villains.
When I walked along Commercial Street between National Avenue and 15th Street recently, I noticed much of the artwork changed in 2024. After doing a little research, I see that a variety of San Diego artists came together during San Diego’s Comic-Con to create this street art.
I took these photographs as I walked along.
(This string of pop culture street art is similar to a stretch that was painted a short distance down the road to the east, near the intersection of Commercial Street and 31st Street. You can see those photos, taken in 2018, by clicking 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.
Why does a person enter a library? To read, write, think and dream.
That’s certainly what students do after walking through the doors of the Geisel Library at UC San Diego in La Jolla!
Indeed, the front entrance of the Geisel Library celebrates human thought and creativity with its four word proclamation: READ WRITE THINK DREAM.
I was surprised to learn that these words, together with the colorful glass doors and images of students at the library’s entrance, were the creation of an internationally important artist: John Baldessari!
Born locally in National City, John Baldessari would go on to become one of the world’s most recognized conceptual artists. His work would be featured in over 200 solo shows and 1,000 group shows in his six-decade career. His awards and the museums that have collected his pieces are numerous.
READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM debuted in 2001 and is included in UCSD’s Stuart Collection of public art. Visit the webpage that provides a detailed description by clicking here.
Baldessari liked to provoke thought with his art. His works are described as open-ended puzzles.
With outside sunlight shining through, the primary colors of the transparent doors create new colors when they slide open and overlap. Combining basic elements into something that is different and new–that’s the essence of dreaming, creativity and discovery–isn’t it?
Perhaps you’ve seen another work of John Baldessari in La Jolla. I photographed his Brain/Cloud outdoor mural a few years ago and posted the images 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.
If you drive up La Jolla Boulevard, just north of Bird Rock, you might see the impressive building in these photographs.
When I visited the La Jolla Historical Society a while back, I learned something very surprising. This ornate building–the main chapel for the La Jolla United Methodist Church–was once a railroad station and power substation for San Diego Electric Railway, the San Diego streetcar line established by John D. Spreckels!
I’ve found several great articles concerning this history. Here and here and here.
The 1924 Spanish Colonial architectural style San Carlos Train Station served streetcar Route 16, which ran from San Diego to La Jolla. Route 16 was the San Diego Electric Railway’s last major rail line expansion. In addition to downtown San Diego and La Jolla, the route included stops in Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. The streetcars ran through 1940.
The San Carlos terminal building would then be used for several years as an art school. In 1954, the La Jolla United Methodist Church bought the building.
Check out the first and third links above for a few old photographs. You’ll see how the train station and substation stood alone in undeveloped land a century ago.
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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.
Members of the House of Pakistan in San Diego’s Balboa Park were showcasing their Pakistani heritage, culture and history today. Displays of traditional clothing, baskets, jewelry and crafts could be viewed in the Hall of Nations.
I was amazed by the high level of workmanship required to make these beautiful objects.
I spoke to one of the gracious members. She showed me the very colorful, handcrafted works of art that you see in these photographs. She told me a bit about them, but I failed to write anything down. I did learn the House of Pakistan is hoping to have their own cottage in Balboa Park one day.
If you ever happen to walk through Balboa Park’s International Cottages on a weekend, make sure to peek inside the Hall of Nations. Nation members that don’t have their own cottage yet showcase their culture in this building on a rotating basis.
If you’re interested, the Pakistan American Association Of San Diego website can be visited by clicking 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.
Daylight Savings began last night, causing everyone in San Diego to spring forward one hour. Can you believe it? In less than two weeks Spring will have sprung!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Spring in Balboa Park!
Today was a warm sunny Sunday, with thousands of visitors enjoying the park’s museums, gardens, the weekly organ concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, and picnics on the grass.
I wandered about…
Cherry blossoms have added color to the Lower Garden at the Japanese Friendship Garden. Their big Cherry Blossom Festival is next weekend!The sun has been rising higher and higher, so rented umbrellas are a welcome thing during another free Sunday afternoon concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.You can always find lots of bright color in the House of Mexico cottage.I noticed more and more flowers. These were blooming near the Balboa Park Club building.Kid runs down a bright green hill at Inspiration Point.What’s all this activity in front of Balboa Park’s Activity Center?It’s the epic annual Thursday Club Rummage Sale! That means it must be almost spring!Across Park Boulevard, a banner promotes the 33rd Annual Multi-Cultural Earth Day, coming Sunday, April 20th, at the WorldBeat Cultural Center.A perfect sunny day for car enthusiasts to show off their wheels in the park!It’s even greener than usual between the House of Hospitality and the Casa de Balboa.A fine Spring-like day in San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park.Nature’s beauty in the Zoro Garden.Flowers are growing in the large beds in the Alcazar Garden!Enjoying life on the warm grass on Balboa Park’s West Mesa.
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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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 