Tag: southern california

Walking around Webb Lake in Rancho Bernardo.

Have you driven up Interstate 15 through Rancho Bernardo and glimpsed a small lake below the freeway to the east, tucked among several buildings? That’s Webb Lake.

The beautiful little lake is located in Webb Park. The private park, owned and managed by the Bernardo Town Center Property Owners Association, welcomes the public from sunrise to sunset.

The last time I was in Rancho Bernardo, I strolled around Webb Lake to see what I might discover. I found the Rancho Bernardo Veterans’ Memorial (which I’ll blog about soon) and green grass and benches and many birds in a place of tranquil beauty. I saw ducks, pigeons, egrets and more. I was surprised to see so many red-winged blackbirds.

Yes, going around the small lake is a very easy walk.

These photographs trace a clockwise walk. I started at the walkway that approaches Webb Park from the east side of the Courtyard Marriott hotel.

An old plaque under a tree refers to Schurr Lake, In Memory of William C. Schurr. Was that a past name for this lake? Please leave a comment if you know some of the history.

On a park bench… In Memory of Boyd H. Graeber

On a park bench… In Loving Memory Of Tyne Long, President, Rancho Bernardo Historical Society, 1989-1999

Looking back…

Webb Lake 2000. Thank you to the friends of Webb Lake for their generous contributions which have made it possible for all of us to share the joys of Webb Lake for years to come.

Pathway of Pride – Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation

One last look back…

Dedicated June 29, 2013 – Bob Wells – for establishing this Pathway of Pride which has helped and will continue to help fund hundreds of community projects that have been of enormous benefit to the community of Rancho Bernardo.

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History of El Hispano Americano newspaper in San Diego.

A fascinating exhibit on the 9th Floor of San Diego’s Central Library concerns the history of the old El Hispano Americano newspaper, founded in San Diego by Hernando Limón Hernández, who had been a general in the Mexican Army.

Display cases in the library’s Marilyn & Gene Marx Special Collections Center contain photographs, printed art, old newspapers and documents, detailing the life of General Hernando Limón Hernández and his groundbreaking newspaper in San Diego.

While living in Mexico, the General had been tasked with designing and building lighthouses across Mexico’s main ports. He and his family would settle in San Diego by 1916, where the retired General became a Spanish teacher at the military compound in Coronado.

He soon purchased the new El Hispano Americano newspaper, and began to operate its print shop in downtown San Diego.

El Hispano Americano was the first modern Spanish language newspaper published in California. It would become the first binational newspaper that circulated simultaneously in Southern California and Northern Baja California. At its peak, in 1932, El Hispano American averaged 25,000 daily readers.

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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!

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Famous architect Irving Gill’s final design.

Irving Gill was an American architect who did most of his work in Southern California, especially in San Diego and Los Angeles. He is considered a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture.

I’ve posted many photos of Irving Gill buildings, including Granger Hall in National City, the Old Spaghetti Factory’s home in the Gaslamp Quarter, the original Fire Station, City Hall and Library in Oceanside, the First Church of Christ, Scientist building in Bankers Hill, the George Marston House in Balboa Park, the Old Scripps Building in La Jolla, and others. You might recall he also designed San Diego’s famous 1910 Broadway Fountain.

When I visited Oceanside a little over a month ago, I photographed Irving Gill’s final project: the 1936 Blade Tribune building. Let me share those photos now!

If you’d like to read a great article concerning the history of the now defunct Oceanside Blade-Tribune newspaper, click here.

The 1936 Irving Gill building you see in these photos, at 401 Seagaze Drive, was built to accommodate a newly created Oceanside Daily Blade Tribune and News. The unique building with an Art Deco façade was restored in 2019 and today is home to the Blade 1936 Italian restaurant!

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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.

Photographs at San Diego British Car Day!

San Diego British Car Day was held today at Tidelands Park in Coronado. A whole bunch of amazing cars showed up, and the public was invited to stroll among them.

The San Diego British Car Club Council puts on this big annual event. It welcomes participants from each British Car Club in San Diego. It isn’t your typical car show with an assortment of special prizes, but people were invited to vote for their favorite car.

As I strolled about gazing at all the sporty and elegant beauties, I half expected to see a tuxedo-wearing James Bond in a driver’s seat. Every sort of British make was on display, from Lotuses to Aston Martins to Bentleys to Minis to Triumphs to MGBs to Jaguars to . . . you name it!

If you’re an auto enthusiast, San Diego British Car Day is one day you definitely don’t want to miss! Watch for its return next year.

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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.

Legends at the old Lemon Grove rodeo!

Did you know that a very famous rodeo used to be held in Lemon Grove? And that it attracted legendary celebrities like Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Jack Haley who played the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz?

Lemon Grove’s Mission Rancho Horse Show (Rodeo and Fiesta) was held every July from 1941 to 1957. The event was the brainchild of Monsignor Daniel O’Donaghue, the Pastor who founded Saint John of the Cross Catholic Church in 1939. Rodeo week was held near the church, and featured, according to this great article, English dressage events, children’s competitions, bull-dogging and other Western events, Roman riding by the 11th U.S. Cavalry…

Monsignor O’Donoghue raised money from the rodeo to build a parish school, and eventually to build a larger church.

Until yesterday I didn’t know this Lemon Grove history. I learned about the famous old rodeo during my visit to Lemon Fest, an annual festival at Saint John of the Cross Catholic Church. Many framed historical photographs in the church’s hall show Western celebrities and rodeo action.

The above photo is of Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger. The photo below is of Buffalo Bill Cody shaking hands with Monsignor O’Donoghue…

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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.

Stargazer at SDSU celebrates Kumeyaay culture.

Stargazer is the title of a sculpture located in San Diego State University’s Campanile Mall, not far from the Koester Memorial Sundial. Which seems appropriate. Our sun is the nearest star.

The sculpture was created by artist Johnny Bear Contreras, who is a tribal member of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians in northeastern San Diego County. Through his award-winning art he is dedicated to keeping the Kumeyaay heritage alive and thriving. The Kumeyaay people have lived throughout the San Diego region for many thousands of years.

On the Stargazer plaque, Johnny Bear Contreras speaks the words: “Come listen with us, there are stories to be heard. Come and gaze at the stars with me, they are always there.” The word Stargazer, in the Kumeyaay language, is Uwiiu kwellyap kurr.

The public art is part of the SDSU Kumeyaay Living Land Acknowledgment project, which seeks to instill a deeper appreciation and celebration of Kumeyaay history, art and culture.

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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.

Visit San Diego’s great outdoors for FREE!

A library card is more valuable than you might realize! You can use your San Diego Public Library card to check out a free vehicle day-use pass for over 200 California State Parks!

I noticed this valuable information last weekend during my visit to the Rancho Bernardo Library. To receive a free pass, head over to your nearest San Diego Public Library branch and speak to the library staff.

The free pass will admit you into so many amazing State Parks, including beautiful Torrey Pines State Nature Preserve, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, Silver Strand State Beach…

You don’t have a library card? Get one at your local library! Then grab a free State Parks pass!

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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.

Indigenous rock art in Rancho Bernardo!

Surprising as it might be, Rancho Bernardo has some of the most unique and extraordinary rock art in North America!

Five hundred to one thousand years ago, indigenous people created both pictographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (rock carvings) in present-day Rancho Bernardo. I didn’t know this until I observed an interesting Rancho Bernardo Historical Society poster at last weekend’s RB Alive! street festival.

If you’d like to learn more about this topic, there’s an informative YouTube video you should watch. A history presentation from 2018 features analysis of Rancho Bernardo’s rock art. Photographs of the badly faded art were enhanced using special software previously used by NASA.

You can view the YouTube video by clicking 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 X.

Art gallery at the Rancho Bernardo Library!

If you love art and have a chance to visit the Rancho Bernardo Library, make sure to head up the stairs or elevator. A long hallway on the second floor doubles as an art gallery!

On view in this gallery through the end of September are colorful works by award-winning San Diego artists Terry Anderson and Marlene Levitt. The two artists paint acrylic abstracts on the same canvas at the same time!

According to the artists’ website, their Temáre abstract paintings evoke an emotion of color and contrast...

As my photographs demonstrate, their bold, dynamic art really grabs your attention! Need some home decor? I noticed these pieces at the library are also for sale.

Are you a local or regional artist with work you’d like to exhibit in a branch of the San Diego Public Library? Check out SDPL’s Visual Arts Program and fill out an application by clicking 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 X.

Cool photo memories from September 2019.

Cool San Diego Sights now features tens of thousands of photographs from walks all over San Diego. We’ve started a new month, so it’s time to revisit a few blog posts from five years ago. What was going on in September 2019?

Looking back, I see there were several great experiences in North County, including a hike along a beautiful trail at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve’s lesser-known Northeastern Extension. Makes me want to go on another hike this Labor Day weekend!

To learn about some interesting places and past events, and to see all sorts of colorful photos, check out the following collection of links…

Click the following links for a dozen fun adventures!

Folk dance and smiles at House of Ukraine!

Balboa Park’s fantastic Toy Train Gallery!

Historic Highway 80 mural on El Cajon Boulevard.

Black life and civil rights in Southern California.

Colorful photos of Founders Day in Old Town.

Torrey Pines Extension hike to the DAR plaque.

Late summer beauty in my favorite garden.

The Art of Shag at the Comic-Con Museum!

Amazing walk from Swami’s to the Cardiff Kook.

A walk down Solana Beach’s Coastal Rail Trail.

Art inside the Balboa Park Activity Center.

Cool murals at Priority Public House!

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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.