Sign at downtown’s Omni Hotel, across Tony Gwynn Drive from Petco Park, proclaims San Diego is America’s All-Star City.
Winter is a week away. Time to start dreaming of next summer!
To help you dream, here are some photos I snapped in the past few months. During my walks around Petco Park, I’ve noticed a variety of signs which anticipate the 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. It will be held right here in San Diego!
Digital display on Western Metal Supply Co. building at Petco Park, the downtown stadium of the San Diego Padres, counts down the days and hours until the 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.One cool “window” of the Omni Hotel seems to offer a view into the future, as the 2016 All-Star Game is being played in San Diego.Baseball’s All-Star Game is coming next summer! A few signs have popped up around Petco Park many months in advance. It’s going to be fun!
UPDATE!
Look what I saw in mid-December 2015…
Just before Christmas, All-Star Santa has been painted on the window of the San Diego Padres Store in the Western Metal Supply Co. Building!
Signs of the holiday season have sprung up around San Diego a week or two before Thanksgiving.
The holidays are almost upon us! Four days until Thanksgiving!
While walking around San Diego this weekend, I noticed some signs of the coming holiday season. So I took pictures!
Ushers file past the fun Dr. Seuss Grinch Christmas Tree in front of the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park.Holiday lights are up in the courtyard of Balboa Park’s House of Hospitality.Poster in Balboa Park advertises New Direction at the North Pole! Joyful music will fill San Diego during the holiday season.The Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park is almost ready for December Nights, which will be held December 4 and 5 this year.Frosty the Snowman painted on a store window in San Diego’s sunny East County.The Salvation Army will be serving Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless in Golden Hall at the Civic Center.White Christmas opens Friday at the Spreckels Theatre.Kansas City Barbeque is offering active military a free Thanksgiving dinner.The San Diego Run For the Hungry takes place Thanksgiving morning.Traditional holiday garland and colorful ornaments festoon the Donut Bar in downtown San Diego.One of many beautiful wreaths hung all around Horton Plaza in San Diego. Christmas shopping is about to really get started on Black Friday!Surfing Santa poster in a window of the Seaport Cookie Company.Some shiny Christmas tree ornaments and festive entertainment near the Seaport Village carousel.Jolly old Saint Nick is being hung with care near stockings and candy cane pillars at the front door of a Seaport Village shop.
Caution sign warns of flying pigs. It hangs outside the rear wall of Kansas City Barbeque.
Here’s some funny stuff I’ve photographed while walking about downtown San Diego. You might or might not laugh!
Downtown tattoo parlor window contains sign indicating Walkens Are Welcome.This wonderfully tasteless shirt in a restaurant window reads Dick’s Last Resort…Helping Stupid People Breed Since 1985.I’ve seen small cars, but none this tiny! A NO PARKING FIRE LANE traffic sign stands next to a narrow pedestrian path.A very silly–and possibly true–assertion at Simon Says Coffee in the Gaslamp Quarter. Coffee Is The Most Important Meal Of The Day.
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Cool neon sign in shop window of Centre City Sports Collectibles.
Over time I’ve collected these photos. They’re just of colorful neon words that brighten downtown San Diego. I spot all sorts of neon signs during my walks, sometimes in daylight, sometimes at night. Glowing advertisements in windows, on building walls and marquees add life and character to the streets of any city. San Diego is no exception.
Neon words above downtown San Diego cafe door read Pastries Espresso Cappuccino.Patterned neon adds pizzazz to marquee of Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop on Fifth Avenue.Bub’s near Petco Park has its brilliant red name in this window.Neon in the distinctive Gaslamp Quarter landmark sign, which is instantly recognized by both locals and tourists.Classic neon signage is often seen in pawn shop windows.The Golden West Hotel near Horton Plaza has a flashy neon sign above its main entrance.Glowing neon Bail Bonds advertisement at this open-all-night Inmate Information Center.Off the Wall Tattoos has an “in the window” neon sign.Lots of super colorful neon at the San Diego Bike Shop on C Street.Neon words and their reflections broken up by a security grill in front of one store.Great Wall Express located on Broadway downtown has yummy Louisiana Fried Chicken, as you can see! (Admittedly, I eat too much of it.)Lucky’s Lunch Counter has a unique sign that really stands out.Crab Hut invites hungry passersby with its neon logo.Eye-catching neon sign informs everyone that pizza, chicken wings and sandwiches are on the menu.An awesome ice cream cone creatively rendered using neon. Okay, I suppose this doesn’t count as a word.These words instantly got my attention! I hope I have room after all that fried chicken!
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Conan O’Brien Live at 2015 San Diego Comic-Con, advertised on marquee of the Spreckels Theater Building in downtown San Diego.
With this important blog post I’d like to address an astonishing rumor. It concerns popular television personality Conan O’Brien, and his impending visit to San Diego for 2015 Comic-Con. An interpretation of the strange clues and suggestive images photographed on the sign below has produced a startling rumor.
It’s rumored that Conan O’Brien, who now possesses vast powers, will once again boldly address The People of Earth from this bus stop strategically located next to the NBC building.Upon closer inspection, the orange bus stop sign appears to contain fascinating and possibly meaningful markings.Conan, it is thought, will emerge at the San Diego Comic-Con as a full fledged superhero, battling for the justice of all humankind.Fans have begun to wonder what form the nascent superhero will assume. Perhaps he’ll resemble a bat.Or perhaps Conan O’Brien will wear a Superman-style emblem that warns all troublemakers of his amazing superpowers, which include flaming hair.Odds are he’ll style himself as Conanman, as that’s generally the thing a godlike superhero will do when presented with the opportunity.All shall bow down before him. And San Diego Comic-Con, to loud and universal acclamation, will immediately be renamed Conan-Con.Hopefully the newborn superhero won’t suffer a meltdown.Or perhaps he’ll just remain plain old funny Conan. And remain happily on TBS.
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Superman has been spotted walking through the Gaslamp two weeks before San Diego Comic-Con!
Two weeks to go until 2015 San Diego Comic-Con! Signs and omens of the super popular event’s coming are popping up around downtown, especially in the Gaslamp Quarter. Here’s what I spotted in the past couple days…
MTS has Comic-Con trolley passes that can be purchased with your smartphone.Game of Thrones advertisement at a trolley station. A Conan Live at Comic-Con trolley wrap passes by.The latest Comic-Con trolley wrap promotes soon to debut The Muppets television series on ABC!Kermit drives a trolley full of Muppet fun. Naked frogs. Egotistical pigs. Welcome to Hollywood.Miss Piggy gets her own personal section, because she’s such a big star.Who attending Comic-Con wouldn’t love to have Kermit driving them on the San Diego trolley?Shops in downtown San Diego have stocked up on superhero gear for coming throngs of pop culture fans and cosplayers.Shirt in store window features Darth Vader saying: “Soy tu padre, mijo.”Here come Batman, Thor, Wonder Woman and other powerful heroes. Villains in San Diego, beware!Trust me. I’m a superhero. The San Diego Trading Company on Fifth Avenue will have lots of Comic-Con deals, so swing on by! The lady at the counter is really nice!Comic-Con Weekend at the Onyx Room is an unofficial party many will attend!The House of Blues asks whether you’re ready to rock. San Diego will be rocking big time in a couple weeks! I can’t wait!The Hulk is busting loose! He’s coming to San Diego!
Rolling Stones Zip Code tour banners hang outside the Hard Rock Hotel, a couple blocks from Petco Park.
The Rolling Stones are ready to begin their highly-anticipated new Zip Code tour. And it kicks off this weekend right here in San Diego!
Walking about downtown’s Gaslamp Quarter this morning, I saw that Rolling Stones banners have been hung on many street lamps. Very cool! The classic rock band’s new tour will take them to a handful of select cities in North America, and possibly South America.
The last huge concert to fill Petco Park was Sir Paul McCartney on tour last September.
Rolling Stones graphic includes a baseball-like tongue! Also visible in this photo is San Diego’s landmark Gaslamp Quarter sign.
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Several faces line the bottom of a downtown window.
Yesterday morning I walked south on Seventh Avenue through a thin slice of downtown San Diego. I began at the tippy top of Cortez Hill and ended near Petco Park. Looking about for random cool sights, just swinging my camera right or left, I took a few pics…
Classic figures in a frieze on a building at the corner of Seventh and C Street. The cool Computer Museum of America used to be here.View of the iconic America’s Finest City mural from a spot on Seventh Avenue.Happy reveler painted at the corner of Seventh and E Street.More cool street art on some boxes at Seventh and F Street.Fun utility box street art photographed during a morning walk through downtown San Diego.The images might be weathered, but the playful spirit remains strong.Gigantic eye stares out of one window at me as I continue to walk south down Seventh Avenue.The Clermont/Coast Hotel, built in 1887, is a Black Historic Site. During the days of racial segregation, is was one of the largest “colored” hotels in downtown San Diego.Seventh Avenue has turned into Tony Gwynn Drive. With the new Padres baseball season, brand new graphics have appeared on the sign behind Petco Park’s big videoboard.Poster inside Omni Hotel window looks forward to San Diego’s 2016 All-Star Game.Sweeping the front of Lucky’s Lunch Counter early one weekday morning.
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This is one of the most amazing trees you’re likely to ever see.
Have you visited Balboa Park? Perhaps you’ve seen an incredibly enormous tree standing between the San Diego Natural History Museum and Spanish Village. It’s impossible to miss! That’s the over 100 year old Moreton Bay Fig!
Sign in Balboa Park describes Ficus macrophylla, the Moreton Bay Fig.
Ficus macrophylla
“Moreton Bay Fig”
Native to East Australia
This tree was planted prior to the 1915 Panama-California International Exposition and was the focus of a Formal Garden located at this site. Because of its large size, it is listed as a co-champion with the Santa Barbara Fig in the California Dept. of Forestry Registry of Big Trees.
Age: over 100 years (now)
Height: 80 feet
Trunk Girth: 42 feet
Canopy width: 145 feet
Trunk and roots of a tree once climbed by kids, but now fenced off for its protection.Huge Moreton Bay Fig tree and the San Diego Natural History Museum.A big tree is a rare and valuable part of the ecosystem.
The Value of a Big Tree
Trees contribute to our environment by producing oxygen; reducing temperature, carbon-dioxide and stormwater runoff; improving property value and providing wildlife habitat.
Scientists have developed a value formula to determine the cost benefit of trees. The Center for Urban Forest Research states that trees over 50 feet tall contribute about $65.00/year back to the environment. Smaller trees contribute $18-36.00/year. There are about 20,000 trees in Balboa Park which contribute a value of one million dollars per year back to our environment.
Beyond dollars, Big Trees like the Moreton Bay Fig enhance the park, provide a sense of history to our community and a legacy for our children.
Someone gazes at the hundred year old leafy giant in Balboa Park.
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A friendly chef carries a huge frying pan outside on a downtown San Diego sidewalk.
Chefs have taken to the streets of downtown San Diego! They can be seen almost everywhere! Cooks on every corner–but where’s my breakfast?
Chef at restaurant window happily stirs the sauce and flings some pizza dough into the air.Culinary artist on Sixth Avenue proudly made a chalkboard menu.Chef tosses a mosaic pizza at base of the artistic Little Italy Landmark Sign.Another smiling chef has prepared a tasty slice of pizza!This Kansas City Barbeque pig is a Top Gun chef. I bet he likes to ham it up.
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Cool San Diego Sights! 