This beautiful mural was completed earlier this year in San Diego’s downtown East Village neighborhood. It memorializes three San Diego Zoo animals that passed away in 2025. It was painted by Ground Floor Murals.
I had a nearby errand this afternoon, so I swung by to see it. You can view the mural near the corner of Market Street and 16th Street, behind the Brikho Fuels gas station, on the south side of the Ace Uniforms building.
The zoo animals remembered are Kalluk the polar bear, Nicky the Masai giraffe, and Maka the Western lowland gorilla.
…
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.
Have you seen this very cool mural in Hillcrest? It’s painted around a corner of the California Bank & Trust building at 3737 5th Avenue, a bit away from the street. I hadn’t noticed it until my most recent walk through the neighborhood, about a week ago.
The artwork celebrates San Diego!
Images in the mural include the downtown San Diego skyline (including the El Cortez and Coronado Bay Bridge), Balboa Park’s iconic California Tower and Cabrillo Bridge, the San Diego Zoo, Mission San Diego de Alcala, and the Hillcrest landmark sign!
The art was created by @AustinGosswiller and @JackStrickerArt. Looking at the latter’s Instagram page, it appears to have been painted in 2023.
Awesome!
…
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 Granger Building in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter is undergoing a very big change. The historic downtown office building, erected in 1904, is being converted into an elegant hotel.
Those who walk past the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue can view the construction now in progress. Surprising graphics along the sidewalk advertising the soon-to-open Granger Hotel really catch one’s attention, however. Why are there old-fashioned images of a monkey, tiger and giraffe?
Because the basement of the Granger Building once held zoo animals!
Before I get to the unusual explanation, you might wonder: why is it called the Granger Building?
This web page explains how Ralph Granger made his initial fortune from the Last Chance Silver Mine in Colorado. When he came to San Diego in 1891, he settled in National City, where, in a addition to a mansion, he built the architecturally important Granger Music Hall. (Those who drive down Interstate 805 can easily see the notable but dilapidated building. I once blogged about the Granger Music Hall here.)
Granger would then hire renowned architect William Quayle to design an office building in downtown San Diego: the Granger Building. The Romanesque style structure, built for $125,000, was steel framed and constructed of pressed bricks. It is five stories high and features embossed metal ceilings, gas lights and a manually operated elevator. The first floor would be home to the Merchant’s National Bank, with the son of President U.S. Grant the initial Director. In 1924, the bank became the Bank of Italy, the forerunner of the Bank of America.
But what about those zoo animals in the building’s basement?
Well, Dr. Harry Wegeforth was a physician who happened to have his practice in the Granger Building. He was also founder of the Zoological Society of San Diego and the San Diego Zoo. You might recall how he was inspired to start the zoo when he passed animals that had been displayed during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park and heard a lion roar.
In the early days of the expanding San Diego Zoo, as Dr. Harry Wegeforth acquired new animals, he kept some of them in the basement of the Granger Building!
Guests of the new Granger Hotel will be staying in a property that is full of surprising history. Past tenants of the old office building have also included C. Arnholt Smith, owner of the Pacific Coast minor league Padres, and Joseph Jessop, our city’s most famous jeweler.
…
Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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.
Two markers in Balboa Park, not far from the entrance to the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center, remember and honor members of the San Diego Police Department who died in combat.
I knew nothing about these markers until I visited the San Diego Police Museum recently. A display on one wall included an old photograph and an explanation of the older marker and its plaque’s history.
Veterans War Museum Balboa Park
In 1953, a stone marker was dedicated to members of the San Diego Police Department who died in combat. Located at the base of a flag pole at the entrance to the San Diego Zoo, the marker eventually became overgrown and forgotten. The monument was relocated to the Balboa Park Veterans Museum. On May 14, 2014, it was rededicated. The master of ceremonies was former SDPD officer, now Brigadier General Paul K. Lebidine, USMC.
Other monuments in and around San Diego memorialize fallen law enforcement officers.
Those monuments that I’ve observed and photographed can be found here and here and here.
…
Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 Twitter!
Five years ago, back in March 2018, my camera captured hundreds of colorful photographs around San Diego. Festivals, street art, nature walks and exhibitions provided a very wide variety of subjects.
The big event in late March was the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s 2018 OPEN HOUSE. The public was invited to tour and learn about notable buildings all around the city. I took full advantage of the opportunity!
Oh, and Rex the Lion debuted during an exciting ceremony at the San Diego Zoo, too!
If you’d like to revisit some of those past blog posts, lots of links are coming up!
Click the following links for many colorful memories!
An important reforestation effort is underway at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.
In recent years the critically endangered Torrey pine population has been reduced significantly by bark beetles, particularly in the park’s North Grove. So over 450 Torrey pine seedlings and 581 native shrubs grown in the nursery at the San Diego Safari Park are being planted in different locations around the Reserve.
You can read more about the project, an effort of California State Parks, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and the U.S. Forest Service, by clicking here.
I walked the loop of the Guy Fleming Trail yesterday, where visitors can see many of the dead Torrey pines. Among dead trees, clustered close to the ground, stand strange blue tubes. These plastic protectors shield growing trees and other plants from animals and drying winds.
Native shrubs that have also been planted, mostly above the west-facing bluffs facing the Pacific Ocean, include sea dahlia, jojoba, lanceleaf liveforever, fingertips (San Diego dudleya), lemonade berry, coast lilac, and San Diego mountain mahogany.
As I walked along, observing all those blue tubes, I paused to read signs that explain how bark beetles kill the rare and beautiful Torrey pine. This tree’s natural protection against beetle infestation is sap. During drought trees produce less sap than usual and become especially vulnerable.
Without sufficient water, trees cannot produce enough oleoresin, an oozy sap-substance, and one type of chemical defense that can flush beetles from trees…
Bark Beetle Trapping and Observation in Progress.
The Five-Spined Engraver Beetle is a native insect that survives by burrowing in the Torrey pine tree. During normal conditions, the pines will excrete sap to prevent beetles from laying eggs within the tree. The sap simultaneously protects the damaged bark from fungus and disease…
…The stacked black funnels that are seen on a dead Torrey pine contain a specialized chemical pheromone to attract and trap beetles…
…
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!
Malcolm Leland was an influential modernist sculptor and architectural designer whose work can be seen in important structures around Southern California. He lived in San Diego for much of his life, and the city is home to several fine examples of his work.
I became aware of Malcoln Leland recently while watching a very informative San Diego Museum of Art video here. When I visited the artist’s website, I soon realized I’ve seen many examples of his work during my walks around the city!
In the past few weeks I’ve revisited places where his often iconic mid-century modern designs can be found. In many instances his elegant designs were used to create stylish decorative elements. Most of his work is in pre-cast aluminum and concrete. I took photographs in Balboa Park, Fashion Valley, and San Diego’s downtown Civic Center, which I’ll now share!
First up are his organically intertwining aluminum gates, and his gracefully shaped concrete columns and the archlike fascia above them at the San Diego Museum of Art’s outdoor May S. Marcy Sculpture Garden and Court…
Next, check out his beautifully ornate fascia along the rooftop of the Elmer C. Otto Center at the San Diego Zoo…
Next are his façades on several sides of the JC Penney building in the Fashion Valley shopping mall. They were made using panels molded out of copper sheets.
Originally water tricked down the sculptural panels, which were meant to oxidize and turn turquoise. But maintenance problems shut the unique fountains, and the panels were painted over. You can still see a little bit of copper orange in my photos…
Next is Malcoln Leland’s “Bow Wave” bronze sculpture fountain, in downtown’s Civic Center Plaza near the Community Concourse building.
In my photos the water feature is off. When on, the sculpture appears to be a ship’s bow moving forward through a spray of water. Leland’s once controversial sculpture is now much loved, and is listed in the Smithsonian’s inventory of art.
The previous photo was taken from the Civic Center’s multi-level Evan V. Jones Parkade parking garage, which features more instances of Malcolm Leland’s work.
Decorative panels around the perimeter of the parking garage and forming arches inside the garage were designed by Leland and made from pre-cast concrete.
…
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 little known monument stands in a remote corner of San Diego’s Presidio Park. It remembers a white deer that once lived there.
From an article in the PRESIDIO PARK RANGER REPORT, QUARTERLY: SEPTEMBER 2006-NOVEMBER 2006…
WHITE DEER
This female white fallow deer roamed the hills of Mission Valley, Mission Hills, and Presidio Park. This doe escaped from the San Diego Zoo around 1965 and wandered free in Presidio Park for the next ten years.
The deer was spotted attempting to cross the I-8 freeway, and some locals reported seeing the deer get hit by a vehicle. Tragically, in the effort to catch the deer, Animal Control used a tranquilizer dart, which ultimately led to the deer’s death in December, 1975.
This treasured deer had been something of a community mascot. This incident led to an outpouring of community grief.
As a result, a citizen’s committee was formed to promote a suitable memorial for the gravesite. In 1976, a monument was placed at the top of the hill at Inspiration Point for the most cherished White deer named “Lucy”. A free standing monument of three native stones designed by San Diego Artist Charles Faust, sits on the hill top for all to remember the White Deer.
Margaret Price (1911-) a local artist involved in converting Spanish Village in Balboa Park to an artists enclave, truly worked diligently to establish the monument for the White deer. Many community members wrote to Price, hoping to have their poem or saying put onto the monument.
A bronze plaque beside the three standing stones reads: Bliss in solitude beneath this tree, formless, silent, spirit free. A Friend
About to head up the hill from the small Inspiration Point parking lot.
Heading up under shady trees.
Approaching a park bench, and three vertical stones near it.
Public art in Presidio Park remembers a White Deer named Lucy that escaped from the San Diego Zoo.
A monument atop a green hill honors natural things.
Deer tracks approach the sculpted water hole, among the tracks of other wild animals.
A plaque is nearby.
The white deer of Mission Hills. Bliss in solitude beneath this tree, formless, silent, spirit free. A friend
Monument to a White Deer in San Diego’s Presidio Park.
To see this simple but very beautiful monument, turn up the steep driveway off Taylor Street, just east of Presidio Park’s main entrance. The driveway leads to the Inspiration Point parking lot.
Then walk up the nearby hill.
This monument is very close to some homes in Mission Hills, so be quiet and respectful.
UPDATE!
During a visit to the San Diego History Center in early 2024, I learned that an exhibit concerning Lucy the White Deer has been created at the Junipero Serra Museum in Presidio Park. I’ll have to go check it out!
Alex of the history center searched their archives to create the new exhibit. Here’s one web page that provides more info. It includes this additional information: The zoo was overpopulated with deer at the time, so she was sold along with a buck to an individual in Mission Hills. The deer soon escaped their confines. The buck was never seen again, but Lucy became a local celebrity for the next 10 years.
…
This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Zoos and aquariums rely on visitors for most of their revenue. The coronavirus pandemic has closed their doors, but the animals still need care. They need to eat!
I just learned that someone is now walking from the LA Zoo to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to raise funds to help out zoos and aquariums!
Dr. Monica Metzdorf, who loves animals, is approaching the Safari Park as I write this blog!
Help her raise funds for the animals! Proceeds will go to the LA Zoo, the Aquarium of the Pacific, and the San Diego Zoo, to purchase food for the fish and animals.
Go to her website and look for the PayPal link! Spread the word!
The Sanford Children’s Zoo will contain two acres of new animal habitats and kid friendly experiences.
Yes, I spent another Sunday in Balboa Park. It’s close to where I live, and I love it.
Look what I discovered while walking around today!
For a while I’ve been wondering about a very large crane rising above the southeast corner of the San Diego Zoo. You can see it just west of the Spanish Village Art Center, behind a construction fence that runs along the walkway connecting the zoo to the center of Balboa Park.
I noticed banners have been hung on the fence!
A new Children’s Zoo is under construction! It will be called the Sanford Children’s Zoo and will feature two acres of new habitats and fun things for kids to do. It appears the new Children’s Zoo will open in 2021.
Check out these banners to see come cool renderings and description!
The world-famous San Diego Zoo’s new Sanford Children’s Zoo is now under construction. It’s due to open in 2021.
There will be a gentle stream for kids to play in and a rope bridge to a fun treehouse.
There will be a waterfall and cave behind it.
Visitors will be able to view a complex network of underground tunnels and burrows used by naked mole-rats!
There will be some sort of big water globe near the new Children’s Zoo’s entrance. (I wonder how kids will interact with it. Will there be fish in it?)
A new walk-through aviary will include beautiful hummingbirds!
…
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! 