Tag: solana beach

Rio welcomes beachgoers in Solana Beach!

Rio stands near the corner of Solana Vista Drive and Pacific Avenue in Solana Beach. The girl in a bikini welcomes beachgoers heading to the stairs that descend to Tide Park Beach.

Rio is a bronze sculpture by artist Richard Harmetz. The statue is part of Solana Beach’s permanent Public Art Collection. Learn more about it on the artist’s website here.

The sculpture is based on actual beachgoer Paola, a free spirit on the beach in San Diego, a native of Brazil who modeled for the artwork but departed and never saw it finished.

I almost didn’t see this public art as I walked around Solana Beach the other day. It stands a short distance from the beach access pathway.

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A monument to Ed Fletcher in Solana Beach.

A historical monument to Solana Beach’s original developer Ed Fletcher stands by a pathway that leads through Fletcher Cove Park down to the beach. I’ve often wondered about the granite marker.

It reads:

THIS PLAZA PARK AND MILE OF OCEAN SHORE DONATED TO THE PUBLIC BY ED FLETCHER, THE DEVELOPER OF SOLANA BEACH – ERECTED BY ADMIRING FRIENDS

I’ve tried to learn something about the small monument, but to no avail. Perhaps a reader of this blog can contribute a knowledgeable comment.

When was this monument installed? Who were the admiring friends?

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Solana Beach street art along Lomas Santa Fe.

Enjoy street art that I discovered during a recent walk in Solana Beach down Lomas Santa Fe Drive.

These photos begin near Rios Avenue and proceed east to Solana Hills Drive, a block before Interstate 5.

The Solana Beach mural you see above is on the north side of Minute Shop Liquor. I believe it’s fairly new.

The other street art decorates electrical boxes. To bring out more color, I increased the contrast when I prepared the following images…

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Murals at Solana Beach Gateway Business Center.

You’ve possibly seen these large murals while driving along Interstate 5 at Lomas Santa Fe Drive. The beautiful artwork decorates several walls of the Solana Beach Gateway Business Center.

I took a very long walk through Solana Beach several days ago and made it a point to check these out!

The murals were painted by Encinitas resident Kevin Anderson. They are obviously inspired by local coastal scenes. Looking at the artist signatures, I see they were completed individually over the course of years.

Here’s the artist’s website. You’ve enjoyed photographs of Kevin Anderson’s art previously on Cool San Diego Sights. Here and here and here.

As you approach the Solana Beach Gateway Business Center building via its main driveway, you see this:

The next mural was completed on 9-25-20:

It appears that the next one, with the mermaid, was completed in 2021:

The next one showing a family walking down to the beach was painted in 2022. Is that Fletcher Cove?

I found no date for the last one. It’s my favorite. I see a Coaster train passing under the bridge at Torrey Pines State Beach!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

More art on South Cedros in Solana Beach!

South Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach is a place where creativity thrives. Walk down the sidewalk through the Cedros Avenue Design District and your eyes will discover surprising art wherever they turn.

I walked this way three years ago and found a bunch of cool stuff. See it here. I also stepped into the fun Art Alley on Cedros. See that here.

Yesterday I took a similar walk and found new sights that I hadn’t previously seen! In addition to a very colorful tile mosaic bench south of the Belly Up Tavern, I photographed the following…

The planet I live on is the planet you live on.

You turn graves into gardens – You turn bones into armies – You turn seas into highways – You’re the only one who can

Out of the Blue

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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.

Mosaic bench near the Belly Up Tavern.

This bench decorated with tile mosaics adds beauty to the edge of a parking lot south of the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

I saw the artwork yesterday during a leisurely walk down South Cedros Avenue. It was one of many new discoveries that I made in the very colorful Cedros Avenue Design District!

I believe I see a starfish, garibaldi, seahorse and crab. The curving bench appears to show an underwater ocean scene. What do you see?

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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.

The beautiful Birdwing Open Air Classroom.

Beside the San Dieguito Lagoon wetland, near the west end of the San Dieguito River Park, you’ll find a beautiful outdoor space where one can learn about nature and soak in its goodness.

The shady, airy Birdwing Open Air Classroom was dedicated in 2014. It does indeed look a bit like a bird’s wing in flight!

Birdwing may be used as a trailside classroom by teachers, scientists and park rangers. It is also a place for walkers and hikers to relax and gaze out the nearby lagoon.

A short looping path and bridge near the structure passes through yellow bush sunflowers and other native plants. From that path I observed an osprey flying high in the sky–too small for a sharp photograph with my little camera.

The Birdwing Open Air Classroom can be accessed from the Coast to Crest Trail perhaps a quarter mile east of San Andres Drive and the ranger station.

You can learn more about the Birdwing Open Air Classroom here.

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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 Twitter!

Site of first house built in Solana Beach.

The very first house built in Solana Beach was located on today’s Highway 101. That’s what a sign that I saw during a recent walk attests.

Perhaps driving along you’ve seen the above Plaza 101 sign, about a block south of Lomas Santa Fe Drive. It features the following plaque:

When I do some quick research, however, I find the first house in the area might have actually sat on Pepper Tree Lane, now called Del Mar Downs Road. Built in 1887, the Stevens House was moved to La Colonia Park and now houses the museum of the Solana Beach Civic and Historical Society. (It’s a museum that I have not yet visited.)

I believe the plaque refers to the Estes Home at 155 S. Highway 101. The Solana Beach Civic And Historical Society website explains: When Colonel Ed Fletcher bought Solana Beach in 1922, there were only two houses, George Jones’s house on Barbara Street (later occupied by Herschell Larrick Sr. and his family) and this Highway 101 house of Jones’s sister, Lucy Estes and her husband, N. H. Estes, and their son, Herb. The Estes family was originally from San Francisco. They built this first home in Solana Beach on the narrow dirt road highway 101 and put in a well.

You can see photos of the Estes home here.

During walks on and around old Highway 101, Solana Beach’s first commercial center, I’ve discovered a number of historical buildings. You can see those photographs here and here and here!

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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 Twitter!

Drugs, snacks, and a Solana Beach garage!

There’s a small building in Solana Beach’s historical downtown that appears very unusual. The wood structure seems quaintly out of place, as if it belongs in a rural setting. I stumbled upon this building while walking down Acacia Avenue, about a block south of Plaza Street.

According to a plaque, the building that today houses Sindi’s Snack Shack began in 1931 as a detached garage for the Witmer family’s residence and drug store.

I found this page on the Solana Beach Civic and Historical Society’s website with an old photo of the Witmer drug store’s storefront on Highway 101.

Witmer’s Sandwiches, Fountain and Sundries sold patent medicines and odds and ends, plus featured a soda fountain.

There’s also a description of their garage’s history. From the early 1980s up until the COVID-19 pandemic, it was home to a breakfast spot called Hideaway Cafe.

Here’s the original Witmer garage as it is today:

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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 Twitter!

Images and Expressions of a better world.

Three signs at San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve contain the wisdom of local school kids. I noticed the signs during a walk up the Pole Trail. They are a bit distant from the trail, but easily spotted.

On one sign you’ll see Images of a better world; on another, Expressions of a better world. More words from young people who care about the world they live in can be read on the third sign.

Images of a better world. Skyline Elementary School, Grade 5, Fall 2007.

A world with no endangered animals.

Expressions of a better world. Cardiff Elementary School, MAC Kids, Fall 2007.

…With help from humans, mixed with the right amount of respect, the lagoon becomes a big, beautiful habitat for animals and plants, and a place for people to enjoy too…

Field notes and quotes. Rancho Santa Fe Elementary School, Grades 5 and 6, Fall 2007.

It’s best for people to know that our wetlands are very important. The wetlands are home to many creatures and it would be sad for them to go away because of habitat loss…

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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 Twitter!