Tag: pop culture

Eat pizza and help homeless youth in San Diego!

Looking for a great pizza place in downtown San Diego? Do you like to have good time? Would you like to eat tasty pizza, have fun, AND at the same time help homeless youth?

Yes, of course!

Swing by Timmy’s Place at 1404 Fifth Avenue, or check out their website here and place an order for take out or delivery!

So, how does Timmy’s Place help homeless youth?

Let me transcribe a description printed on their menu:

Timmy’s Place is the product of an incredible partnership between Urban Street Angels & UPAC & made possible through the Lucky Duck Foundation, the Rolf Benirschke Legacy Foundation, & Inspiration of Rolf and Mary Benirschke. It is a unique social enterprise that offers training, employment, mentorship, and opportunity for homeless youth towards success and self-sustanability.

So what’s on the menu at Timmy’s Place? A wide variety of signature, classic and traditional pizzas, sandwiches, salads, desserts, slushies, coffee and tea. There is free delivery with a $40 minimum in a 4 block radius.

Place your order and not only will you enjoy great food, but you’ll be helping young people’s lives in a very real and meaningful way.

They do catering, too.

I bought a very yummy and reasonably priced Italian salad chock full of good stuff at Timmy’s Place today. It was actually better than a fancy Italian restaurant I occasionally visit.

As I waited for friendly young people to prepare my order, I enjoyed looking around Timmy’s Place. As you can see from my photographs, all sorts of fun pop culture graphics have been put up to celebrate San Diego’s association with Comic-Con!

Yes, that’s Superman and Krypto flying on the front window!

Hey, I know there are hungry, good-hearted people who live or work in downtown San Diego reading this. Please check out Timmy’s Place website by clicking here.

Eat with a smile!

A picture of Timmy on one wall is accompanied by his inspirational message.

“…living in an orphanage was a tough start… In my early 20s I developed dangerous addictions, pushed my family away, ended homeless for more than five years… Because of my past bad choices…it was difficult to get a job… There are so many people out there who care, who want to help, and who are willing to give us the second chance we need.”

Timmy’s Place provides that second chance. And good eats and fun, too!

…

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.

Feel free to share!

Creating the beloved Luanniverse!

When I was a kid, one of the best things about Sunday morning was opening up the newspaper to find the funny pages. Lying there on the carpet, going through the comic strips, was like falling through two-dimensional doors into so many magical universes.

I must admit that as a boy I often skipped over the comic strip Luann. But now I have a new appreciation for the Luanniverse, because yesterday I enjoyed an exhibit at San Diego’s Comic-Con Museum: Growing Up Luann.

I hadn’t realized Luann’s universe was so vast and complex. Luann herself, and the strip’s large cast of characters, experience evolving relationships, lifelike troubles and humorous situations that stimulate in the reader a range of emotions. But Luann’s essential happiness is never far away.

The award-winning strip was launched in 1985 and continues to this very day. That’s forty years of living. Fortunately, time in Luann’s universe unfolds very slowly!

What interests me most about the comic strip is its evolution–both the art and Luann’s story. By reading the displays, one can follow the creative process undertaken by Luann’s creator, writer and artist Greg Evans.

Visitors to the exhibit learn how fleshing out a beloved character and her universe took years of dreaming, experimentation and work. And how the effort has resulted in worldwide popularity and the National Cartoonist Society’s ultimate award, a Reuben.

Are you fascinated by the creative process? Do you love art? Do you love Luann?

Pay this exhibit a visit!

A bit of what you’ll discover…

…

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.

Feel free to share!

Students speed paint at Comic-Con Museum!

Super cool! These great comic book paintings at the Comic-Con Museum were created by students from Westview High School!

Students of Westview art teacher Keith Opstad produced these speed paintings during the San Diego Comic-Con Museum’s First Annual Educator’s Night in 2024.

These really are speed paintings? Made while teachers from around San Diego watched? Wow–that’s truly amazing!

Iron Man, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and Batman make a splash on a wall inside the museum’s second floor Makerspace.

I noticed that today, in the Makerspace, guests could use beads to create a starry sky and constellation, then tell a story about it! The activity is called Constellations Across the WHOniverse. Why? An epic Doctor Who exhibition is now showing at the Comic-Con Museum!

UPDATE!

During my next visit to the Comic-Con Museum, I noticed Superman had appeared, too!

…

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.

Feel free to share!

McDonaldland puppets in Balboa Park, and a mystery!

Years ago, McDonald’s gave a special treat to San Diego. The fast food restaurant donated two of their McDonaldland television commercial puppets to the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park. The two puppets are now perched up near the ceiling of the puppet theater, in shadow behind the audience seating. I happened to spy them yesterday!

I learned that over ten years ago McDonald’s donated their old McDonaldland puppets to various established puppet theaters around the country. The Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater received the famous, lovable Bernice, plus the horned pink creature in my first two photos. The theater affectionately calls the latter their “Pink Monster,” but little seems known about this particular puppet’s history.

Both of these McDonald’s puppets are quite worn after many years, so they now sit quietly, themselves watching puppet performances on the Marie Hitchcock stage.

Okay, here’s the mystery! Do you recognize the big “Pink Monster” puppet with horns? Was it in fact ever used in McDonald’s commercials? What was it called? If you do know anything about it, please leave a comment!

And now, meet Bernice! You quite possibly recognize her!

Here’s the photograph that I took yesterday…

Wikipedia’s McDonaldland page includes:

Bernice (performed by Tim Blaney and Tony Urbano) – A strange creature that was introduced in 1992 and that ate inedible things like the script in the three-part “Ronald McDonald Makin’ Movies” commercial.

You can find a great photograph of Bernice with Ronald McDonald on the RestaurantClicks website by clicking here!

As that website explains: The lovable Bernice appeared in TV commercials with Ronald McDonald for a decade, from 1992 to 2001… The main personality characteristic of Bernice remains her ability to eat anything. In one memorable commercial, Bernice eats the script and throws everyone into chaos.

…

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.

Feel free to share!

San Diego Ghostbusters catch ghost at Balboa Theatre!

A group of San Diego Ghostbusters entered downtown’s historic Balboa Theatre this afternoon in order to capture a Class 5 Full Roaming Vapor.

Fortunately, the ghost-catching mission ended in a success. After trapping the rambunctious spirit, the ghostbusting experts departed from the Balboa Theatre’s stage so a gathered audience could watch a classic movie: the original Ghostbusters!

Those in attendance, before entering the theatre, had the opportunity to meet some of the San Diego Ghostbusters, who arrived in Ecto-1 and Ecto-RR1 ready for action with their proton packs.

Yes, this unique event was a lot of fun! The showing of 1980s comedy Ghostbusters was part of the Balboa Theatre’s Retro Rewind programming.

The Real San Diego Ghostbusters group takes part in parades, festivals and other special events around San Diego. Perhaps you’ve seen them. Visit their website here.

With their appearance, these friendly Ghostbusters were raising money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. If you’d like to help out the charitable organization via Ghostbusters Give Back, click here!

…

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.

Feel free to share!

Sunday walk around San Diego Comic-Con!

Enjoy another collection of cool photographs. I took these while walking around downtown San Diego on Sunday morning, the final day of Comic-Con 2025.

Yes, Comic-Con on a Sunday begins to wind down. I noticed this year that an offsite activation or two had already disappeared overnight. The remaining offsites close earlier on Sunday. Time for many out-of-towners to call it a Con and start heading home.

The cool thing is, local San Diego families love to come out on Sunday to enjoy the fun sights, cosplay and remaining offsites. It’s like a free visit to a sprawling amusement park. There’s still is a whole bunch of excitement!

Anyone at all can participate. That makes Comic-Con very special. It’s one big reason why so many in San Diego love Comic-Con.

You might notice from my photos I circled the San Diego Convention Center a couple times. As always, I’m reluctant to see another Comic-Con vanish. It goes by much too quickly. But there’s always next year to look forward to, right?

To everyone I met, you were awesome! Perhaps I’ll see you next year!

Now it’s time for a few days rest–then onward to more Cool San Diego Sights! Stay tuned!

…

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

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.

Feel free to share!

Surprise encounter with Killer Tomatoes movie star!

Samantha Bailey is in San Diego for Comic-Con 2025. She plays the villain in the latest Attack of the Killer Tomatoes movie.

Samantha joined a Comic-Con Saturday panel concerning Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence and signed autographs.

Today, Sunday, when I saw a smiling somebody walking down MLK Promenade with a Killer Tomatoes sign, I quickly found out I had met the movie star herself!

I had seen Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence filming in early June by the USS Midway, but Samantha informed me she hasn’t performed her role in San Diego. Her work for the movie was done in Long Beach.

Samantha is the nicest person you could ever hope to meet. For sure she’ll be a superstar!

…

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

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.

Feel free to share!

Lightsabers light the night in Balboa Park!

Hundreds of Star Wars fans gathered in Balboa Park this evening to light the night with uplifted and dueling lightsabers. It’s an annual tradition during San Diego Comic-Con, organized by the Underground Lightsaber Fighters of San Diego.

The family-friendly event was billed as the Light Saber World Championship, but the competition seemed entirely informal. As far as I could see, it was mostly parents and kids having a blast.

After dark, near the fountain by Park Boulevard, simulated lightsaber battles would begin. First it was kids against a gentle “master” lightsaber fighter. Then the masters faced each other. The roar of the crowd determined the winner!

Two rules were announced. Be safe. Have fun!

I could clearly see there was a ton of fun!

…

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

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.

Feel free to share!

San Diego becomes center of the cosplay universe!

There’s no denying that, at this moment, San Diego, California is the center of the entire cosplay universe!

Hundreds of cosplays can be seen everywhere in the city, mostly around the San Diego Convention Center. That’s because it’s the Saturday of Comic-Con 2025!

How does one convey the wild and crazy atmosphere? Take a look at some photos! Most of these were taken in the Gaslamp Quarter on Fifth Avenue. Now multiply it!

Every fandom imaginable is represented by creative cosplayers. There are traditional superheroes and a whole array of anime characters. There are colorful characters from television, movies, video games…

There are often-seen cosplays and esoteric cosplays. Some costumes are simple, others are incredibly elaborate. Young and old participate. There are even cosplaying pets!

I took these photos while navigating through the dense crowd this afternoon. Cosplayers were excited to strike poses for passersby. Much humor! Lots of smiles!

…

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

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.

Feel free to share!

Star Trek dancers beam into San Diego!

What happens when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds beams into San Diego for Comic-Con 2025? A Strange New Spectacle!

Dancers representing characters from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have appeared this Saturday on the streets of San Diego, performing in an unusual but entertaining Broadway-like production!

Who knew the 23rd century would be so much fun!

Captain Christopher Pike, Spock, Uhura, and the happy crew of the starship Enterprise danced before a large crowd in the Gaslamp Quarter, loosely reenacting scenes from the science fiction series. Boldly they went where no one has gone before: a noir murder mystery (complete with trench coats), a sudden zombie situation, a ’60s retro mission, a Vulcan wedding, and plenty of sci-fi mayhem that the crowd loved.

Yes, it was a little bit silly, but everyone loved it. Lots of kids were in the audience. A few even danced along with the futuristic acting troupe!

Wouldn’t dancing in San Diego in the 21st century violate Starfleet’s Prime Directive?

…

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

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.

Feel free to share!