Archie Moore will forever be a boxing legend. He is considered one of the top boxers of all time. After his retirement he helped to train Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and James Tillis. Perhaps more importantly, he helped youth in San Diego overcome difficult circumstances and lead positive lives. He showed young people how to become champions in life.
In his adopted hometown of San Diego, Archie Moore established the ABC (Any Body Can) Youth Foundation. He used boxing to “instill discipline, respect and other positive values into the lives of youth to prevent them from falling into dangerous lifestyles.”
The ABC Youth Foundation today is led by his son, Billy Moore. It’s located in San Diego’s Stockton neighborhood, at 3131 Market Street. Peer through the front door and you’ll see young people training, preparing for life.
I noticed a brand new mural during my walk early this morning!
Pandr Design is in the process of painting this artwork near the windows of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, which is located on the ground floor of the Wells Fargo building.
Looks to me as if this colorful “San Diego” mural will be completed soon!
UPDATE!
The next day I saw this…
UPDATE!
And a few days later…
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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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Monumental public art is now being created for the Palisades area of Balboa Park!
Once completed, a pair of life-size grizzly bear sculptures will be placed on the roof of the 1935 California State Building, home of the San Diego Automotive Museum. In addition, a large 12′ x 20′ cold cast bronze panel is destined to greet visitors approaching the front entrance of the 1935 Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries, which today serves as the Municipal Gymnasium.
The two buildings were constructed for the 1935-1936 California Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park.
In 2021, almost a century later, both building exteriors, with the help of local architect Robert Thiele, are undergoing a historic restoration.
Today I was privileged to have an amazing preview!
Take a look at these photographs of a model grizzly bear standing in an indoor work area at Bellagio Precast. The bear, symbol of California, was created by San Diego sculptor Michael Matson and his son Kevin.
As you can see, the huge golden grizzly is ready to be completely cast.
A rendering shows how completed bear sculptures will be positioned atop the two front corners of the San Diego Automotive Museum, overlooking Pan American Plaza, with its proposed Singing Color Fountains.
The large bronze panel to be placed above the front entrance of the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries building will soon be created out in the yard of Bellagio Precast. Some blocks of ornamentation meant to surround the panel are already finished.
The panel’s design is based on the original 1935 bas-relief designed by Arturo Eneim that was carved out of layers of fragile wallboard.
Imagery in the panel includes an electrical power plant and the gears of industrial machinery. During the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition, crowds marveled at the latest technological inventions. Inside the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries was the House of Magic, which showcased a “talking kitchen” and television!
The following images show how the building and its panel will appear when all is completed.
A wood framework for working on the very large cold cast bronze panel is ready outside.
I took a photograph of finished blocks of ornamentation that will be installed beneath the panel, along the edge of the building’s marquee.
It will be interesting to follow the progress of these projects, which are made possible by the Balboa Park Committee of 100. It will be really exciting to see the final result!
Is it possible for beautiful Balboa Park to become even more amazing?
Yes!
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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!
A mural was recently completed in San Ysidro to raise awareness for the 4th Annual California Clean Air Day, which took place last Wednesday.
Today I headed down to Casa Familiar’s new Environmental Justice office at 161 San Ysidro Boulevard to see the mural, which was painted by Amanda Kachadoorian and other artists along a low wall nearby.
My photos show just how gorgeous the artwork is!
According to information I received concerning it, the “mural represents the fight for clean air by elevating conservation and restoration of natural habitats. The mural focuses on the Tijuana River Valley depicting a natural landscape with native plants…”
San Ysidro is home to the world’s busiest land border crossing. This San Diego South Bay community experiences a disproportionate amount of air pollution. The high level of pollution comes from 60,000 idling cars every day as motorists wait at the border.
The beautiful mural was commissioned by the community organization Casa Familiar in collaboration with Coalition for Clean Air.
You can learn more about a past Air Pollution Study in San Ysidro 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!
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!
Four large, very colorful murals are presently being painted on the rear of Hotel Z in downtown San Diego. The art comes from the hands of Ladies Who Paint (@ladieswhopaint)!
I was walking down Seventh Avenue this morning when I spied the new artwork. I then met artist Sarah Tate. You can see her smiling on a lift in an upcoming photograph.
Over the years, the Ladies Who Paint have produced numerous amazing murals all over San Diego, particularly in East Village. You can see some of their past work here and here and here and here!
UPDATE!
I swung by a couple days later to see how the murals are progressing…
Painted by @lindsaysocharMural in progress by Thao French (@thaofrenchart)Live in the sunshine Swim in the sea Drink in the wild air — @heysarahtate
UPDATE!
And several days later, the murals appear to be finished!
Mural painted behind Hotel Z by @enchi.art.
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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!
You can see this bold new artwork on University Avenue, just east of Interstate 15, in an outdoor space where a variety of community events are held. It’s a fierce new mural on a shipping container painted by artist GMONIK!
If you’ve driven through City Heights, it’s likely you’ve seen other colorful art by GMONIK. Check out past photographs here and here.
I spied this brand new mural during a visit to the Car and Bike Show held at this location today. I’ll be sharing pics of that cool event 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!
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!
San Diego graffiti artist Sake was busy painting life into the new multicultural mural at the south end of Teralta Neighborhood Park today. He and a helper were adding bold brushstrokes of color among the many faces that will fill the 263-foot City Heights mural, which is titled Unity in the Community.
I spoke to Sake briefly and enjoyed another look at the monumental work in progress. Once completed, Unity in the Community will be one of the most awesome murals in all of San Diego!
Learn more about the multiple EMMY award winning artist at his website here!
My feet took me through Teralta Neighborhood Park as I walked to an historic event in City Heights, which I’ll blog about 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!
Dozens of sea creatures make their home on the side of a building in Ocean Beach!
Should you walk down Cable Street a little north of Niagara Avenue, you might think you’re passing small specimens of sea life in a big aquarium!
Swimming in blue and white watery tiles you’ll find schools of fish, seahorses, octopi, eels, rays, sea turtles, whales, sharks and even sand dollars and nudibranchs!
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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 Cedros Avenue Design District in Solana Beach is home to many galleries, design studios, boutiques, specialty shops and outdoor cafes. Walk along Cedros Avenue and your eyes will discover art everywhere they turn!
During my recent walk along Cedros Avenue I took the following photographs of street art, murals and fun sculptures.
I haven’t included photos of the numerous crazy wind sculptures outside the Exclusive Collections Gallery. I posted those pics separately here.
The Wonder Woman sculpture you’ll see coming up stands by the entrance to the Art Alley on Cedros, which I explored in my last blog post here.
Much of the art I found has a bicycle theme. Bicycling is popular in the coastal part of Solana Beach. Cedros Avenue is just a block from scenic Highway 101.
Ready to see some cool stuff? And cross a couple of “fishy” crosswalks?
Let’s go for our walk!
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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!
In Solana Beach, at 320 Cedros Avenue, there’s a surprising art museum . . . outdoors! I just happened to discover the Art Alley on Cedros during my recent walk through the very hip Cedros Avenue Design District.
Anybody can freely wander off the street and into the alley to experience a motley collection of colorful (and groovy) artwork!
I walked the length of the alley and discovered a variety of painted “canvases” including car hoods, skateboards and surfboards, beautiful photographs, unique objects and sculptures, a watery blue mosaic along one alley wall, and many fun, nostalgic pieces that celebrate popular music from the past.
It looks like the Art Alley on Cedros has a Facebook page.
This is some of what I observed…
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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! 