Without a doubt, these two murals delight the eyes of people driving down Third Avenue in south Chula Vista. Very beautiful artwork is painted on two sides of the Flowers Tino flower shop!
Both murals were created years ago by San Diego artist David Mena (@menamurals).
The bright, colorful images are bursting with many different types of flowers. It’s like a vertical garden with a bit of added Toltec imagery!
Here’s the amazing mural on the north side:
And here’s the south side:
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A time capsule was created during the Cabrillo National Monument centennial in Point Loma. It’s buried beneath a plaque in a brick planter near the entrance to the Visitor Center.
The plaque reads:
Beneath this sign lies a time capsule preserved in commemoration and celebration of the Cabrillo National Monument centennial, October 14, 1913-2013.
The contents inside this capsule are a collection of our first 100 years as San Diego’s only National Park unit. Its contents shall remain sealed for the next 100 years, not to be opened before October 14, 2113.
A message from the 2013 centennial employees: All that stand here before this plaque reading the words like so many who came before you; you are the future stewards of the National Park Service and we hope you continue to honor the tradition of protecting and preserving our most precious national treasures during this 2nd century of stewardship in our National Parks.
If you’d like to view an online “time capsule” of sorts, you can see photographs I took during the Cabrillo National Park centennial celebration back in 2013.
People walking around Memorial Park in Chula Vista could easily miss this wonderful public art. It’s located on the other side of a fence at the north end of the park. The bronze sculpture depicting a loving mother and two children stands in front of the One Park Apartments.
Jugando is the name of the sculpture. That’s Spanish for the word “playing.” Jugando was created in 1986 by artist Miriam Newman. The graceful figures are very plain, almost featureless. Diverse people who regard these figures might personally relate.
The Smithsonian Institution Art Inventories Catalog describes the work: A woman stands holding a nude baby above her head with both hands. A young girl embraces the woman from the front. Both the woman and the young girl are wearing long, pleated skirts. All three figures are faceless.
I took these photos a couple weeks ago…
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That’s San Diego artist James Watts (@jewattso) in the above photo. He was painting an image of Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods (or Shichifukujin) on the downtown sidewalk outside his studio yesterday. It’s number 93 of the 100 paintings he’s presently working on.
I had to look up those lucky gods to understand what he was painting. He also showed me a painting of his own family, which got me to thinking.
Mythology, literature, and every creative work uses symbolism. We use symbols in order to better understand and engage with an infinitely larger reality.
Now, what do we understand best? Our own lives.
So it isn’t surprising the symbols we create reflect our human experience. The deities of mythology explain the mysteries of this world, but tend to be very human. The illuminating words of great literature rely upon human experience and interaction. In a strange way, created symbols and reality combine in our own minds. Symbols inform our living.
James Watts loves mythology, literature and life, and his symbolic art connects it all. Or so it seems to me.
His next painting is of the characters in Voltaire’s novel Candide…
The next photograph shows James Watts’ family years ago, when he was a youth. That’s him in a white t-shirt…
And here’s a painting he recently created, based on the old photo…
Symbols we create can be extremely powerful.
Might we all strive to understand, remember, live fully.
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Artist and architectural designer Millard Owen Sheets earned international fame for his work around Southern California. Perhaps you’ve seen his gorgeous mosaic murals on the exteriors of buildings that were originally Home Savings Bank branches.
One of those mosaics still exists in La Mesa. People heading down Jackson Drive might notice it above the front entrance of JCS Manzanita Elementary school, on a building that began as Home Savings.
The colorful artwork depicts friars and vaqueros. It was created back in 1976. According to this website, the mosaic was worked on by Millard Sheets and assisting artists Denis O’Connor and Susan Lautmann Hertel.
Have you seen the tokidoki exhibition at San Diego’s amazing Comic-Con Museum? If your answer is no, you have several weeks until the exhibition closes. TOKIDOKI: Twenty Years of Kawaii & Chaos goes away at the end of January.
Meanwhile, people who love tokidoki collectibles have the opportunity to attend a free trading event at the museum! The “kid-organized meetup” will be held on Saturday, January 24th, 2026 inside the Comic-Con Museum’s café! Everyone is welcome. Bring any tokidoki figures or merch you’d like to possibly trade!
I visited the museum today and saw the event announcement. As I wandered about the tokidoki exhibition, I “collected” a handful of cool photos…
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A KPBS film crew was in Balboa Park this afternoon. Why? Up on the stage of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, three San Diego musicians were performing for a series now in development by KPBS!
The local musicians were Divina Jasso, James Spaite and Shua. I listened to the first two. They had amazing voices. These photographs show Divina Jasso.
I was told that the music series, whose official name is not yet determined, will be available on the podcast The Finest. Here’s the link to The Finest. Videos of these performances will also be available on YouTube and elsewhere in the future.
Right now, the nascent music series is operating a bit like a pop-up. Today’s performance was unannounced. The audience in Balboa Park simply walked up–like me!
Very cool!
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Very few people see this beautiful mural. It was painted in an extremely narrow space next to Scoops Ice Cream on Avenida de la Playa in La Jolla.
Someone eating ice cream at an outdoor table feet from the mural didn’t notice it until they saw me taking photographs!
The nice lady serving ice cream at Scoops thinks the artwork was painted years ago. The artist is Charlene Mosley (@cm__art).
Painted on the wall across from a scene of undersea life is an image of two kids eating ice cream. The employee I spoke to believes they were painted by the same artist.
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Paragliders that launch from the Torrey Pines Gliderport can often be seen soaring above the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla!
I photographed several serenely gliding paragliders during my latest walk through the Scripps campus. It was a beautiful sight.
The paragliders are often observed from an ocean overlook near the Ted and Jean Scripps Marine Conservation and Technology Facility. That’s the building in the above photograph.
You can also watch paragliders from the upper portion of the Scripps Coastal Meander trail, whose trailhead is near the same building. To see what I’m talking about, check out this past blog post.
Enjoy a few photographs and imagine yourself looking up toward clouds and blue sky. In the next photo we can see Scripps Pier and the area of La Jolla Cove across the water beyond it…
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The UC San Diego Brian & Nancy Malk Sunset Overlook opened last summer. Situated high above Scripps Institution of Oceanography, an elevated platform offers wide views of the Pacific Ocean and parts of coastal La Jolla.
If you’d like to enjoy amazing panoramic views, head down La Jolla Shores Drive to Midpac Lane and look for the small parking lot.
The new overlook includes picnic tables and a bench where you can sit, relax and gaze out over the ocean. Native plants flourish around the platform and pathway.
Nearby, an informative sign tells how the Kumeyaay people lived in La Jolla (Matlahual) for thousands of years and have acted as stewards of the land. This area was part of a lagoon. It was an important natural resource that provided useful materials–for basket making, medicines, fishing, hunting, gathering and more. The sign at the overlook was developed in partnership with Jamul Indian Village and Mary Munk.
I visited recently on a sunny day…
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Cool San Diego Sights! 