There’s a very cool holiday tradition at the Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach. Every year, a Christmas tree and wreaths appear at the pier’s end!
This year the festive scene, hovering magically over the blue Pacific Ocean, is just as wonderful as ever. The big Christmas tree lights up at night, and creatively made wreaths hanging along the pier’s white wooden railing celebrate the season, courtesy of Pacific Beach businesses and community organizations.
I walked down Garnet Avenue today and couldn’t resist a stroll out over the water. Starting from the Crystal Pier Bait Shack, this is what I found…
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A big haul of albacore tuna was being unloaded today in San Diego’s Tuna Harbor. Huge boxes were being filled with albacore from the fishing vessel Piky, to be promptly shipped to Oregon for canning.
As their website states: This is small-batch seafood in its purest form. Every fish is sustainably caught by pole and line, one at a time, by people who know the sea and respect its rhythms. No factory fleets. No shortcuts. Just honest fish, responsibly harvested by our own hands.
Also: Our albacore is wild-caught exclusively in U.S. waters by a U.S.-flagged vessel using pole-and-line fishing, a highly selective and sustainable method that eliminates bycatch.
Very cool!
Considering all those huge boxes, that was a whole lot of fishing!
I see you can purchase the canned, high-quality albacore tuna on their website. Click 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.
Hard to believe it’s almost October. Major League Baseball Postseason 2025 begins tomorrow!
The San Diego Padres will be playing in Chicago against the Cubs in their MLB Wild Card Series matchup. Our hometown team ended up with another 90 win season. Let’s go Pads!
I walked around the Gaslamp Quarter, Petco Park and East Village this afternoon, and found indications that small businesses, restaurants and many others in downtown are rooting for the Padres!
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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.
An organization is turning an inspired idea into reality in Chula Vista. Why can’t vacant storefront windows become art galleries?
“Art Through the Glass” is an initiative of the San Diego Art Society. See their webpage concerning this project, and an example of a storefront gallery at the Chula Vista Mall, by clicking here.
Turning vacant storefront windows into galleries can benefit so many people: local artists who receive valuable public exposure, and the greater community, which receives enjoyment and a surprising cultural experience!
Look at those smiling people in my first photo! They’re the force behind this very cool initiative! I met them yesterday at the Chula Vista ArtFest.
I was told efforts are being concentrated on storefront windows in Chula Vista along Broadway. Seems to me this great idea could be applied everywhere! Why not?
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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.
Many members of the City Heights community came together today for a special event. After arriving at Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park, the volunteers would spread out along University Avenue to clean and beautify their neighborhood. The event was called Beautify the Block!
A large number of people showed up! Some would pick up litter; others would paint sidewalk trashcans, planters or storefronts; and artists would paint utility boxes. Many of the volunteers represented SDG&E.
This was the first ever Beautify the Block event, and it’s hoped that it will grow and become an annual undertaking!
After reminding the volunteers to do their work safely, all were were given important encouragement. They would be showing the community that they care, and that the community matters.
This inspiring, super positive event was created by the City Heights Business Improvement District and the Maintenance Assessment District in partnership with local businesses and community members.
Every volunteer is a hero.
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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.
Did one of the Planet of the Apes movies have a Santa Claus? He seems to have turned up in Oceanside, California!
It’s the holiday season! Have fun checking out some photographs that I took during a walk around downtown Oceanside today!
The above Santa gone ape was in a window at Goblin Shark Emporium.
Next, a couple festive photos taken on the Amtrak train platform at the Oceanside Transit Center…
A fun Happy Holidays street banner I noticed while walking up Coast Highway…
Shelves full of Season’s Greetings, gnomes and lighthouses inside Jane & Evie’s Used Book Store…
Merry Christmas decorations by a street corner…
Now I’ve entered the Oceanside Civic Center Library, where, as you’ll see, dinosaurs and the holidays seem to go very well together…
Window graphics include ornaments at the entrance to the Oceanside Museum of Art…
Need some artsy presents for Christmas? You definitely should check out the gift shop at the Oceanside Museum of Art. They’ve got lots of beautiful handmade gifts for sale…
Back outside, in the nearby Artist Alley, local Oceanside businesses were selling holiday crafts and wares. Today is Small Business Saturday! Santa would arrive later in the afternoon…
Do you plan to spend some time in Oceanside this holiday season? Read the following sign for special events. Or visit this website!
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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.
Would you like to help people in your community who are hungry this holiday season? It’s easy for you, your organization or business to start a holiday food drive! The San Diego Food Bank makes it super simple!
A box or tub placed where people congregate can be filled with items like canned foods, peanut butter, pasta, rice, cereal and oatmeal. It’s easy to print out a poster like the one you see above, downloadable from the San Diego Food Bank website here.
Once filled, the container can be picked up for free by the food bank. Or you can drop it off anytime Monday through Friday, 8 am – 12 pm or 1 pm – 4 pm at the San Diego Food Bank address, which is 9850 Distribution Ave., Dock 0, San Diego, CA 92121
If you anticipate a large amount of donated food, the food bank will happily lend you a big collection barrel. Barrel delivery and pickup by the food bank is free! Can you fill multiple barrels? That would be awesome!
Don’t have a good place for a container or barrel? You can also host a virtual food drive!
Find detailed information about hosting your own special food drive by visiting the San Diego Food Bank website here.
Why not make this holiday season extra meaningful? It’s so easy!
Look! We started a food drive today where I work!
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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.
San Diego artist Hugo Fernando Fierro (@hoyote) was spray painting a wall in City Heights today. He’s finishing off a huge, super cool mural on the side of Inscriptu: Custom Printing and Laser Engraving Services, at the corner of University Boulevard the 42nd Street.
I learned about this project from Carlos Quezada of Love City Heights, who told me that hopefully more great murals will be appearing in this east San Diego community’s future.
When I arrived to check out the artwork this afternoon, Hugo was taking a break and we struck up a conversation. Not only is he a great muralist (see other City Heights murals painted by Hugo here and here), but he’s an illustrator, video producer and animator.
Check out the artwork’s neon colors, crazy characters and complex, dynamic composition! When I asked for the title of this mural, he said he hadn’t decided yet.
Hugo then stepped onto the lift and began adding black spray paint to the mural, to resemble dripping printer’s ink. The touches of black make the colorful graphics pop even more.
If you look closely at the mural, you’ll see elements that pertain to Inscriptu, a print shop that specializes in large format.
One day local firefighters driving down the street paused to admire the developing artwork. They suggested that a reference to San Diego Fire Station 17 be added. Do you see it?
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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.
Several detailed scale models at the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum show what life was like for the Chinese inhabitants of early San Diego. Visitors can peer at these meticulously constructed scenes and imagine walking through the city over a century ago. San Diego’s Chinatown is historically bounded by Second and Fourth Avenues.
After entering the museum, the first model I noticed was of a Chinese fishing village that once existed where today’s San Diego Convention Center stands. The fishing village included small shanties, drying racks and salting tanks. Here it is:
The next two photos show a model of San Diego’s old Chinatown along Third Avenue, between Island Avenue and J Street. This amazing model, which represents the years 1910 to 1920, is based on photos, documents and former residents’ descriptions.
A sign in the museum explains: Notice the red batik wall… That building was an opium den according to the 1890 city directory. The large building with an awning a few doors down were the Woo Chee Chong and Gim Wing stores. The two story building on the other side of the street was Chinatown patriarch Ah Quin’s house, where he and his wife raised 12 children.
Next is a model depicting the back of the Woo Chee Chong Company at 450 Third Avenue. Like other Chinese stores in early San Diego, groceries and various goods were sold downstairs, and the upstairs rooms were available for let.
Finally, visitors can peer down into a very detailed model of a Chinese laundry in San Diego.
Between 1886 and 1970, there were over 100 Chinese laundries in San Diego… Opening a laundry was the quickest way for Chinese immigrants to become their own boss without needing to speak much English or having much money. All it took was a little soap, water, and hard work.
Apart from the model, this exhibit includes artifacts like old irons. There is also a map of the known laundry locations and various historical descriptions.
Anyone interested in the important role the Chinese played in our city’s history, including aspects of their life, work and culture, really should visit the small but excellent San Diego Chinese Historical Museum!
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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.
Old Town San Diego became even more beautiful today because of the work of about 60 volunteers during the 2024 Community Clean Up!
As I walked today, I noticed dozens of orange trash bags near a parking lot in Old Town. The bags were filled with litter, weeds and trimmed tree branches. I had stumbled upon an annual clean up organized by the Old Town San Diego Chamber of Commerce. Volunteers from Caltrans District 11 and the Mormon Battalion were pitching in, too!
A huge area was beautified–the entire Old Town community–from the entrance of Presidio Park, through the State Park, and all through the business district.
Thank you to everyone!
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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Cool San Diego Sights! 