Tag: san diego

Fantasy world inside Doug Snider’s studio!

Those who enjoy a visit to Balboa Park in San Diego really should wander over to Spanish Village Art Center. Every artist studio is filled with magic. It’s hard to choose, but perhaps my personal favorite studio is number 15, the home of Doug Snider.

Doug Snider is an accomplished ceramics artist whose public art can be seen around the world and could be enjoyed in your own home. His colorful creations are utterly fantastic–there are weird amphibious and reptilian creatures, and exotic masks and eyeballs and tentacles and beaks that fill the walls and shelves of his studio in every direction. A sunny outdoor working area in the rear of the studio is home to even more creativity, including a big, happy, chameleon-like bench that would be perfect in your backyard!

Have you’ve seen his public art benches in Coronado’s Tidelands Park and National City’s Pepper Park? If not, you can view photographs of those four wacky, fun benches here and here!

When I visited Studio 15 the other day, another studio artist was hard at work. I asked if I could take photos. She said yes!

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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.

San Diego Comic-Con trolley becomes Snowpiercer!

The Snowpiercer train was seen moving through San Diego today!

The second trolley wrap for Comic-Con 2024 promotes the popular drama, whose fourth season will premier in July on AMC!

As I snapped a several photos at a trolley station, I recognized new cast members, particularly Clark Gregg, whose well-known visage has appeared in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Avengers, Thor, and umpteen other MCU movies. (He’s not a robot, is he? Just kidding.)

Well, come to think of it, I doubt this was the actual Snowpiercer train, seeing how there weren’t hundreds of cars barreling along, and no snow whatsoever to be seen in sunny San Diego…

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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.

Measuring the tides in San Diego Bay.

There’s a fascinating sign at the end of Broadway Pier in downtown San Diego. It’s located near scientific equipment used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to collect meteorological and sea level data in real time.

When I read the sign recently, I was surprised that this San Diego Bay tide station was moved to its present location in 2018. It belongs to the National Water Level Observation Network, a system of over 200 stations situated around the United States. The particular tide station has the capacity to support tsunami monitoring. Sensors collect and transmit data to NOAA every six minutes via a satellite antenna. If you want to see that real time data, click here.

The station also gathers information concerning water temperature and barometric pressure, which is very helpful in forecasting the weather.

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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.

Wooden Boat Festival this Father’s Day weekend!

Looking for something great to do this coming Father’s Day weekend? The 33rd Annual Wooden Boat Festival is taking place next Saturday and Sunday on Shelter Island!

Sons, daughters and fathers will enjoy exploring dozens of beautiful wooden vessels, large and small, docked at the Koehler Kraft boat building company. There will be a wide array of incredible vintage wooden boats that have been beautifully maintained and restored.

It’s the premier event of its kind in Southern California. Visitors will be able to board many of the wooden craft and be awed by the fine craftsmanship.

I enjoyed the festival seven years ago and took these photographs.

Tickets are very affordable and kids are about half price, so you can bring the whole family. There will be artists, live music, food and raffles, and all proceeds from the event go to benefit the Sea Scouts.

Visit the Wooden Boat Festival website here to learn more!

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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.

Ghosts materialize on a Comic-Con trolley!

An odd collection of ghosts has materialized on a San Diego Trolley for Comic-Con 2024!

The first trolley wrap for San Diego Comic-Con this year features three shows that can be viewed on Paramount+. Let the fun begin!

Ghosts is a comedy that has been renewed for a fourth season. Perhaps the deceased characters became tired of haunting the same old place for so many years, and decided to startle trolley riders in San Diego!

This new wrap on a trolley car also includes promotional images for Elsbeth and Tracker.

I wonder if Justin Hartley will use some of his tracking skills acquired while wielding a bow and arrow as Oliver Queen in Smallville? Just kidding. I liked Smallville.

I’ve got my eyes open for new Comic-Con trolley wraps!

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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.

Gaslamp mural remains from 2019 Comic-Con!

Did you know a cool mural painted five years ago in downtown San Diego for Comic-Con can still be viewed today? Yes!

Back in 2019, I took these photographs of celebrated comic artist Rob Prior painting the above mural halfway up the grand staircase at the Theatre Box movie theater. Today the building at 717 Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter is home to Mr. Tempo Sports Bar.

Because of several popular movies, the characters depicted in this pop culture mural were in the limelight five years ago. Climb the stairs today and you can still find Darth Vader and a stormtrooper from Star Wars, Thanos, Black Panther and Deadpool from Marvel Comics, and Wonder Woman from DC Comics.

Comic-Con 2024 will be here before we know it! As I walk around and discover related developments, Cool San Diego Sights will gradually be entering Comic-Con mode! I haven’t seen any Comic-Con trolleys yet, but they should be appearing soon!

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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.

Denise Cerro’s art: My Colors of Home.

I met a super cool artist today in Balboa Park!

Denise Cerro was working on a mixed media piece in Gallery 21, at the Spanish Village Art Center. With a great big smile she was greeting visitors to her solo exhibition My Colors of Home.

I looked at her artwork and immediately loved it. Denise tends to use the same color palette in her works–earthy colors that appeared to me like water, leafy green and the soil beneath our feet. She embraces the same palette in her house, dress and life. They are her colors of home.

To create art she utilizes all sorts of materials–from bits of wallpaper to newspaper and magazine clippings to other interesting found objects. She can find all sorts of odd little treasures at estate sales. The junkiest stuff is often best!

Denise loves to create art filled with flowers. She confided to me that after she produces an abstract piece, she feels compelled to return to flowers.

I learned Denise has her studio at Liberty Station in one of the old barracks. If you like what you see in my blog, you might want to pay a visit. Her website is here.

The exhibition My Colors of Home in Gallery 21 is about to conclude–it runs through tomorrow, June 3. I caught it just in time!

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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.

Young students perform on Spreckels Organ!

Wow! Did you hear the three young organ students in Balboa Park today?

American Guild of Organists Scholarship students from local San Diego schools received loud applause after playing difficult pieces on the Spreckels Organ.

Each young person strode onto the stage with poise, sat down at the imposing console and immediately dived into the music. They made playing a very complicated instrument look effortless. Each student has been training on organ for years.

The first young man was Yuhan Jackson, 11 years old, in 5th grade at Hawthorne Elementary School. He triumphantly played pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach and Gordon Young.

Next up came Elijah Prada, who brilliantly played complicated pieces by the same two composers. He’s 13 years old, a seventh grade student currently studying at the San Diego Piano Academy.

Then 17 year old Jonah Molina took the Spreckels Organ Pavilion stage. A student who attends Mission Bay High School, he also played pieces by Gordon Young and Johann Sebastian Bach. He was really great, too!

All three received gleaming trophies as the special Sunday organ concert concluded!

The concert was both excellent and inspirational. Organ students in San Diego are fortunate to have many outstanding local organists as mentors and teachers, including world-famous San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez!

Three more AGO Scholarship students will be performing next Sunday, June 9, 2024, at 2 pm. They’ll also play the majestic Spreckels Organ.

Do you love fine music? Do you want to cheer on very talented youth? Be there!

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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.

Beauty at the Cactus and Succulent Show.

The amazing beauty intrinsic to nature was highlighted this weekend at the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale in Balboa Park.

I moseyed down the aisles in Room 101 of the Casa del Prado, gazing at prize-winning specimens of very different cacti and succulents.

Some of the entries had flowers. Some were tiny, like gems. Many of the plants tickled the eye with perfect symmetry or an interesting geometric shape. Others appeared oddly misshapen.

If you missed this year’s summer show, make sure to check it out next year. Until then, enjoy a few photographs…

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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.

Cool photo memories from June 2019.

Do you have a curious mind? Five years ago, during the month of June, Cool San Diego Sights featured a whole universe of photographs. Perhaps you might enjoy viewing colorful moments from the past!

From Escondido to La Jolla, from North Park to City Heights, from Barrio Logan to National City to Chula Vista, my camera recorded many places and events. I took so many photos, in fact, that I’ve had a hard time choosing which posts to share!

The upcoming links will take you back to June 2019. It was a fine time to take a walk. Summer events were underway. San Diego Comic-Con was on the way. Human creativity, activity and possibilities could be discovered everywhere!

To see many photographs, click the following links!

Neighbors gather to beautify a city park!

Exhibit shows Kumeyaay history in the South Bay.

Art and history around the Chula Vista Library.

Art by Canyon Crest Academy seniors in Balboa Park!

More cool art seen during a National City walk!

Lots of street art on Logan east of Chicano Park!

Here come the 2019 Comic-Con trolleys!

Dance, food and fun at the Greek Festival!

Cool new bird mural at Red Crow tattoo studio!

Wearable art at San Diego Pin and Patch Con!

Learning to dance on a ferry.

Good times at City Heights’ colorful Fair @ 44.

Walking up the Snake Path at UCSD.

Beautiful complexity at La Jolla’s Athenaeum.

Amazing walk at Scripps Institution of Oceanography!

The gigantic bronze leaves of Kit Carson Park.

Photos of Queen Califia’s Magical Circle!

Naoko creates a flower.

Creativity at a museum helps to mend lives.

A summer whale watching trip in San Diego!

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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.