Okay, what’s this all about? A coffee bean smuggler mural in Carlsbad?
Yes! It’s painted on the side of Baba Coffee. As their website explains: Our name was inspired by the 16th-century mystic Baba Budan who heroically introduced the coffee plant to India by smuggling seven raw beans in his beard from Yemen.
The word US is capitalized for a reason. On this 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, US can stand for both us and the U.S. Unique moments in history help to explain our present-day life.
The exhibition concerns a variety of past events in the United States and Coronado. They are often tied together.
History tends to be created through turbulence. A new country’s revolution and its founding documents, the Mexican-American War, gold rushes, voting rights with the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments, World War II…
Moments That Made US also includes history of the Hotel del Coronado, North Island as the birthplace of naval aviation, the ferry, notable residents…
All of these pieces of history–large and small–have helped make us what we are today.
My favorite part of the exhibition is a silent video loop showing footage of Coronado’s traditional Independence Day parades in the mid 1950s to early 1970s.
There are marching bands, patriotic floats–everything you’d expect on the Fourth of July. Every year: enthusiasm and an appreciation of liberty, but evolving uniquely over the years.
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The patriotic mural, depicting a U.S. flag and bald eagle, is composed of tiles hand-painted by Coronado residents. It’s a colorful part of the exhibit titled Moments That Made US. A variety of displays in the museum celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding.
Images painted on the tiles include American presidents, historic figures, and symbols that represent our nation’s ideals and culture. Other images simply show an appreciation for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, particularly in beautiful Coronado.
Just look at it. The extraordinary mural deserves a permanent home. I presented the thought to a museum docent and she agreed.
Why not install it at Coronado’s civic center?
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When I visited Liberty Station about a week ago, I checked out this newly painted mural. It’s located in the arched breezeway that connects The Lot movie theater with the Dorothea Laub Dance Place.
The colorful mural is composed of bold designs that one might select at a tattoo parlor!
Estación Libertad is the mural’s title and Mexican American artist Enrique “Chikle” Lugo is the creator. The art was commissioned by Liberty Station. It’s the latest work of public art you can enjoy at the former home of Naval Training Center San Diego.
Dragon, butterflies, hummingbird, the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, a Navy anchor, skull, cacti, eagle, dolphin, a zebra-like Tijuana zonkey, a baseball and soccer ball… Many of the images are associated with San Diego or the unique culture of our border region.
I see a flying saucer, too!
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La Mesa has completed their landmark archway sign and it’s amazing!
Last May I noted how the La Mesa Downtown District sign was under construction. When I walked past the completed project a few days ago, I was absolutely wowed. Look at the hundreds of tiles painted by members of the La Mesa community!
I had to walk around both supporting columns to enjoy the many colorful tiles. Some had inspirational messages. All were painted by resident families, kids, local organizations and businesses…
I just snapped photos at random as I perused the fun, artistic tiles…
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Changing Terrain: Regional Artists Interpret Our Landscape opened a week ago at the San Diego History Center. The diverse works of art on display are one half of a larger regional group exhibition. The Oceanside Museum of Art is hosting the other half.
Landscapes shown to be undergoing change range from urban to rural. The artists render vastly different landscapes: from the coast to the foothills to the mountains to the desert. Some of the pieces reflect transformations made by human activity, others effected by nature. They provoke deeper thought about our environment. They can inspire a whole range of feelings.
The varied landscapes include everything from a beach boardwalk, to a 150-year old Live Oak at the Marston House, to a streetscape in Logan Heights, to a modern cell tower with ravens and crows, to a merging of ancient rock art with an abstracted landscape, to views of Anza-Borrego from a car’s mirror…
I recognized many of the local artist names–all of them distinguished. They have successfully captured the beauty, complexity, and resilience of a border region where natural and human histories continually intersect.
My photos show the extent of the exhibition. Pay a visit to the free San Diego History Center in beautiful Balboa Park and see this great art with your own eyes!
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A new exhibition has opened this month at downtown San Diego’s outdoor Courthouse Gallery!
The theme this time is Artist’s Choice. Entries were accepted from around Southern California.
There are abstracts, portraits and landscapes, but I gravitated toward painted scenes of places in and around San Diego.
If you’d like to experience some great art, walk down Broadway beside the Edward J. Schwartz Courthouse and peer through the windows from the sidewalk.
Ode to Mission Trails, Elizabeth Washburn.Sunny Day in North Park, San Diego, Olga Freedman.California Tower, Norma Herrera.Torrey Pines Del Mar, Terry Orletsky.Ramona Road, Katie Karosich.
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Who in and around San Diego hasn’t heard of the artist James Hubbell? Between his architecturally fantastic Ilan-Lael residence and studios in Santa Ysabel, to his many works of public art around the city (many of which I’ve photographed), the beloved artist has earned a special place in the heart of San Diegans.
Did you know James had a brother named Bert who was also an artist?
During my recent visit to the museum, I noticed the art of these brothers is similar in certain ways. The construction of pieces is very organic, elemental. The works seem to have been extracted from or designed by the living Earth itself. While James lived and worked in Southern California, for over fifty years Bert lived in Kokubunji, Japan near sacred Mt. Fuji.
Their art’s earthy quality seems natural and familiar–perhaps that’s why it feels so spiritual.
According to the exhibition webpage, Bert…was profoundly shaped by Japanese culture, Shinto, Animism, and Native American art. Self-described as a “primitive artist,” he worked across mediums but most prolifically in ceramic sculpture. His fantastical creatures—reminiscent of yōkai—externalize inner fears and anxieties as a means of transformation and healing… Bert, who never sold his art, left behind an estimated 28,000 individual ceramic figures as well as paintings, drawings and found object assemblages.
The exhibition, which continues through September 6, 2026, provides an interesting contrast between the work of the two brothers. In places their pieces are placed side by side. In one gallery room a wall contains the work of James, and the opposite wall contains pieces created by Bert.
One gets the impression Bert could have reached the level of renown achieved by his brother. It seems, however, that he created art just for the personal joy and satisfaction of creating art.
Like any art, you need to experience it in person. A few photographs to entice you into visiting the Oceanside Museum of Art:
The art on the left and the bottom are by artist Bert Hubbell. The pieces are displayed in contract to the watercolor on the right, by brother James Hubbell.More work by artist Bert Hubbell, including Forks and Spoon and Sunburst, circa 1963. Ceramic.Photograph of Bert Hubbell, date unknown.Ceramic by Bert Hubbell atop Wood Pedestal by James Hubbell.Bert’s Mountain of Sculpture, Bert Hubbell, 1961-1963. Various ceramics.
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So far I can find nothing about this mysterious, corroded plaque marking an old bike lane in Del Mar.
The marker is easy to miss. I happened to see it earlier this summer while walking from the Solana Beach train station to the San Diego County Fair. The almost half-century-old plaque, mounted on a boulder, stands in some shrubbery near the intersection of Via de la Valle and Camino del Mar, north of the Brigantine restaurant parking lot. Considering its position, my impression is the bike lane in question ran east down Via de la Valle.
The plaque reads:
THE RITA DAVÉ MEMORIAL BIKE LANE
MAY 6, 1955 – MAY 9, 1979
Who was Rita Davé?
The plaque was placed here well before the advent of the internet and isn’t readily observed. I can’t find anything about it.
Does anyone out there know the history of The Rita Davé Memorial Bike Lane?
If you do, please leave a comment!
In the next photo, I’m beginning east down the Via de la Valle sidewalk. The marked bike lane on the street is clearly more recent.
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It’s been well over a year since I visited the Artist Alley in downtown Oceanside. I walked through it again today!
Look what my camera found!
Most of this art must be fairly new, because it was painted in places where earlier murals existed.
(The two murals just inside the entrance of the multi-suite building that opens into the alley might have been there a long time–I don’t know. My first four photos are of those.)
I love how the artwork changes in the alley over time. Every time I walk through it I discover new creations!
Oceanside’s very cool, very magical Artist Alley can be entered directly south of the city library and civic center. Simply cross Pier View Way and you’ll find it!
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