Tag: public art

Frogman statue installed in downtown San Diego!

A lifelike bronze statue of a Navy SEAL frogman was installed this morning in downtown San Diego!

The frogman sculpture arrived by box truck, which parked on Kettner Boulevard near One America Plaza, just outside the future Navy SEAL Museum San Diego. (The museum opens very soon–on October 4, 2025.)

With extreme care, slowly, methodically, the new public art was removed from its crate and elevated to its black marble pedestal, which had been installed outside the museum a few days ago.

I and some bystanders were wondering how exactly the operation would proceed. We watched with great interest, and I snapped a bunch of photos.

Words engraved on the pedestal explain:

This statue is adapted from the original at the Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida. It depicts a SEAL placing a limpet mine, an underwater explosive device.

It was designed by master bronze portrait sculptor Lena Toritch, and honors the U.S. Navy SEAL combat diver: a symbol of unwavering courage, stealth, and precision, standing as a testament to their dedication, rigorous training, and selfless service to our nation.

Cleaning the top of the pedestal…

Injecting epoxy into four holes atop the supporting pedestal…

Aha! They’re going to use straps.

Tilting the diving frogman sculpture upright.

Up it goes!

So far, so good!

Centering it…

Workers screw in four rods, which will descend into the epoxy-filled holes on top of the pedestal.

Success!

As I understood it, the statue would remain this way for a while as the epoxy hardened. So I left.

I returned several hours later and found…

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Navy SEAL Museum San Diego gets ready to open!

The new Navy SEAL Museum San Diego is almost ready to open! Opening day is Saturday, October 4, 2025. That’s less than three weeks away!

This afternoon, walking past downtown’s One America Plaza building, I noticed the black marble pedestal that will support a Navy SEAL frogman statue has been installed outside. You can see it in my first two photographs. The nearby America Plaza trolley station is in the background.

I also observed new graphics have appeared near the museum’s front entrance!

Abandon Self – Embrace Team… The Deed is All – Not the Glory… Be Someone Special… The Only Easy Day was Yesterday

Responsibility – Service – Commitment – Discipline

Join the Team.

Here’s the museum’s website if you’d like to learn more.

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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.

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Beautiful mural in Hillcrest at Crest Cafe!

For many years, a fantastic elephant mural has decorated the side of the Crest Cafe in Hillcrest. Last year, another mural was painted at the restaurant. The beautiful artwork can be seen at the front entrance.

San Diego based artist Austin Gosswiller painted the colorful flowers, birds and butterfly last year.

I took photos the other day…

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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.

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Painting the Merrill Madness mural downtown!

San Diego artist Christopher Konecki was working on painting the new Merrill Madness mural in downtown this morning. The artwork will depict Padres baseball star Jackson Merrill, and will greet fans coming west down Market Street at Eighth Avenue.

The grassroots, fan-funded mural is a collaboration that includes the Merrill Madness Foundation and artist team Christopher Konecki (@konecki_art) and Carly Ealey (@carlyealey). Amazing murals by these artists appear throughout the city. You might recall how they painted two cool Padres murals in North Park. See those photos here and here.

Chris told me this is the fourth day of working on the Merrill Madness mural. It’s huge: four stories high! The mural should be done in a couple of weeks or so.

I’ll provide an update when the artwork is completed.

Looks like it’s gonna be awesome!

UPDATE!

Three days later, much progress has been made!

ANOTHER UPDATE!

And in another three days…

AND FOUR DAYS AFTER THAT…

ONE MORE UPDATE!

It was finally completed!

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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.

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Flowers at Jack in the Box in Point Loma.

No, these gigantic flowers can’t be delivered. Their beauty can, however, be picked up . . . by a driver’s eyes at this Jack in the Box drive-thru!

Hungry customers must simply look right at a nearby wall as they await their fast food order. (Tacos, anyone?)

This beautiful mural was painted in Point Loma last May on the building at 1310 Rosecrans Street. The larger-than-life floral bouquet awaits directly across from a Jack in the Box pick-up window.

The artist is Hanna Daly (@hannasmurals). The public art was a project supported by the Point Loma Association.

Beautiful!

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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.

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Unexpected outdoor art gallery in Barrio Logan!

There’s a surprising outdoor art gallery in an alley in San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood. It’s located on the side of the building at 915 S. 26th Street, currently home of Hard Dresser Salon.

Quite unexpectedly, I happened upon this weather-beaten art gallery about a week ago during a long walk.

A very faded graphic to one side of the framed artworks indicates Gold Leaf Project.

According to this website: The premise behind the Gold Leaf Project is that artists currently showing also install and display artwork on the streets of San Diego / Tijuana framed by these Rococo style gold-leaf frames. The point is to literally take art out of the gallery, but still display it as such in the context of the streets.

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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.

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An artistic seed library in Barrio Logan!

A very cool seed library stands in Barrio Logan. The metal sculpture, resembling a growing plant, can be found on the sidewalk outside Libélula Books. I saw it the other day while walking around.

I spoke to someone at the bookstore. She didn’t know who placed the seed library here. Perhaps someone reading my blog knows.

This is definitely the most creative seed library I’ve ever found!

When stocked, community members can find seeds to plant in their yard or garden. It’s a great concept. Seed libraries promote food security, local biodiversity, and self-reliance.

Here’s proof they can double as a work of art, too!

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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.

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Oars row again through Chula Vista sky!

Wind Oars are rowing again through Chula Vista’s blue sky!

During previous walks through Chula Vista’s Bayside Park, I’d noticed the oars of the public art sculpture were missing from their posts. Yesterday I saw they’re back!

The wind-driven oars had been taken down temporarily to be refurbished once before, many years ago, so I assume that’s what happened again.

As I walked beside San Diego Bay yesterday afternoon, finding the oars rowing through the blue summer sky, I had to take a few photographs. The immense, newly opened Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center is visible in the background of one photo.

Wind Oars, as explained by Port of San Diego’s self-guided Chula Vista tidelands art tour, was created by George Peters and Melanie Walker in 2004. The kinetic sculpture is made of aluminum, polycarbonate and prismatic film.

You can visit the Air Works Studio website of artists George Peters and Melanie Walker 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.

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Love radiates from Barrio Market mural!

Memorializing a loved one. Love for the community. This bright mural on the side of Barrio Market radiates love. You can’t miss it at the corner of Cesar Chavez Parkway and National Avenue in Barrio Logan.

A year ago, almost exactly, I happened upon artist Andrea Border Baby with her ladder at work painting this mural. I learned she’s a high school math teacher in South Bay. It was her first ever public mural. See my photos of her actively painting here.

I walked past Barrio Market again today and aimed my camera at the beautiful, finished artwork!

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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.

Feel free to share!

Archaic Passage at the Old Town Transit Center.

Travelers at the Old Town Transit Center might find themselves walking through an underground passageway. The tunnel safely crosses beneath the San Diego Trolley and train tracks. In this shadowy place curious eyes will encounter public art titled Archaic Passage.

Not in a hurry to catch your bus or other transportation? There are plaques on either end of the passageway that you can read. They provide information about this unique art…

“ARCHAIC PASSAGE”

COMMISSIONED BY SAN DIEGO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT BOARD JUNE 1996

DESIGNED BY SAN DIEGO ARTIST PAUL HOBSON, “ARCHAIC PASSAGE” CELEBRATES THE ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF OLD TOWN, FROM NATIVE AMERICAN TO CONTEMPORARY TIMES. ART MATERIALS USED–CARRIZO CANE, WOOD, STUCCO, ADOBE, BRICK, CLAY ROOF AND DECORATIVE TILES–REPRESENT BUILDING MATERIALS USED TO BUILD OLD TOWN. EACH GEOLOGICAL STRATA-LIKE WAVE REFLECTS A SIGNIFICANT ARCHITECTURAL STYLE.

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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.

Feel free to share!