Tag: southern california

Flying pigs and other cool Oceanside murals!

I spotted a bunch of street art during a recent walk down South Coast Highway, from Mission Avenue to Wisconsin Avenue. I already shared photos of the Cafe 101 mural in my previous blog post. The following photos are of the other cool murals I encountered.

I did my best to capture as much of the artwork near the roof of Skoolyard Records as possible. The long Oceanside mural is on the side of Flying Pig Pub and Kitchen.

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

The cool Cruisin’ carhop mural at 101 Cafe!

If you love cool cars and nostalgia you’ll like this mural. It’s painted on the south side of 101 Cafe in Oceanside. The mural depicts a carhop outside wearing roller skates. She’s serving food to customers in a woodie, hot rod and several other classic cars.

101 Cafe dates back to 1928. The original twenty seat diner was built on US Highway 101, the main road back then from Los Angeles to San Diego.

The small restaurant has gone through many changes over the years. At one time it was a drive-in. It’s now a diner specializing in breakfast, and features 1950’s decor–including this great mural!

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Amazing mosaic wall at the Del Mar Library!

Walk down the sidewalk to the front of the Del Mar Library and you’ll suddenly stop in your tracks. That’s because your eyes will be captivated by the amazing Del Mar Mosaic Wall!

The mixed media mural, created by artists Betsy Schulz and Pat Welsh with the help of community volunteers, was finished in 2003. Found objects, brick and stone were combined with clay forms to produce beautiful images of coastal wildlife, including sea birds and fish. The low walls beside steps climbing to the public library’s front entrance depict dozens of Garibaldi fish, each with the name of a donor to the project.

If the artist Betsy Schulz sounds familiar, that’s because she has created some of the most amazing mosaics around San Diego. If you want to see more of her work, click here or here or here or here or here!

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Cool photo memories from July 2015.

San Diego had an “ordinary” summer five years ago. There was no coronavirus pandemic to shut public events down. So, you might ask, what was going on in San Diego back in July 2015?

Well, for one thing, Comic-Con. And I took loads of photos!

But there were other unique San Diego events, too. By clicking the following links, you’ll notice I brought my camera to the Sun and Sea Festival in Imperial Beach, the Festival of the Bells at the historic Mission San Diego de Alcalá, and the Supergirl Pro surfing competition at the Oceanside Pier. I also by pure luck met a world-renowned artist while walking along the Embarcadero!

To revisit a few memories from five years ago, click the following links:

Some cool photos from Comic-Con Preview Night.

Cool cosplay and fun outside San Diego Comic-Con.

Super cool awesome cosplay at San Diego Comic-Con!

Insane Comic-Con: crowds, hype, fun and firemen!

Photos of cool sand sculptures at Sun and Sea Festival!

Celebrating San Diego history at Festival of the Bells.

Rivelino’s Our Silences sculptures head to San Francisco.

Fun, sun and extreme sports action at Supergirl Pro!

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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!

Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts.  If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!

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You can help restore murals around San Diego!

Do you love art? Do you love San Diego’s unique history and culture? Do you want to beautify our city?

Your help is needed!

As you might have read in my previous blog post, local artists have formed a team that intends to restore many of San Diego’s neighborhood murals. Over time street murals can become faded, peeled, dirty or defaced, and need a little love to restore them to their full glory.

The growing Southeast Art Team, led by a super optimistic, smiling Kim Phillips-Pea, has plans to restore various murals in different San Diego communities. But, of course, buying paint and other supplies requires funds. That is where you come in!

You can help to restore beautiful murals around San Diego by visiting the Mural Restoration Project San Diego’s special GoFundMe page here.

Perhaps, like me, you don’t have much skill with a paintbrush, but you can provide a helping hand to mural-restoring artists who do!

Click here!

A fun idea for Fourth of July weekend!

Looking for something fun to do this Fourth of July weekend? Are you disappointed that most public events have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic? I’ve got a great idea!

Head downtown to the Embarcadero and enjoy an hour or two at the Maritime Museum of San Diego! You know, that cool attraction on the bay with the tall-masted ships, including world-famous Star of India. They’re going to be open all weekend long!

I visited the museum this afternoon (I’m a member) and learned they reopened yesterday. Given the changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, they and other local museums might be ordered to close again as soon as next week if cases continue to rise in San Diego. So now might be your best chance to visit this year.

Much of your museum adventure will be spent in the healthy, sunny outdoors, exploring the Maritime Museum’s beautiful, historic ships. I noticed that plenty of measures have been taken to ensure everyone’s safety. Make sure to bring your face covering–it’s required.

Sadly, you will not be allowed to enter inside the two submarines, or step aboard the HMS Surprise, because of her ongoing redecking. But there’s plenty else to see and experience!

Those of you who follow my blog know that the Maritime Museum of San Diego is one of my favorite destinations. If you like history and the sea, and standing over the bright water, gazing up at white sails while imagining you’re on a journey across the wide blue ocean, you might love it, too!

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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!

Carving stone and the Blue Granite Shift.

Fascinating public art can be found at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, in the outdoor space between the Concert Hall and the Museum. Scattered among trees and shadows are the stones of the 200-foot Blue Granite Shift, created by artist Mathieu Gregoire in 1995.

At the north end of the installation lie natural, uncarved stones. As you proceed south, the stones are subjected to human action, until they finally become sculpted and polished into smooth geometric forms.

When you walk back and forth through Blue Granite Shift, it’s like moving forward and backward through time, observing how complex natural forms that slowly evolved over eons are abruptly transformed by human ideas and cutting, reducing tools of creativity.

Every stone, touched or untouched by human hand, is part of the larger world, where all things, including the viewer, exist under one sun in a clock-like cycle of shifting shadows.

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Artist paints big, fun mural in City Heights!

Sandra Escobar paints a cool mural on the side of Super Cocina in City Heights.
Sandra Escobar paints a cool mural on the side of Super Cocina in City Heights.

This afternoon Sandra R. Escobar, a multi-award winning artist from Orange County, finished painting a large, very colorful mural in City Heights. I arrived as she was applying the final touches to her canvas–a portion of the east side of Super Cocina!

Check it out!

Her work has a unique style of its own, as you can see at the artist’s website here. Sandra Escobar is also a digital artist, and I learned this fun mural, with its crazy jumble of eyes and noses and other facial features, was designed digitally in advance.

The title of the mural is 6 Feet Apart. It’s the largest mural she’s painted yet!

The new mural appears between two others that were previously painted on the east side of Super Cocina.
The new mural appears between two others that were previously painted on the east side of Super Cocina.
Finishing another very cool mural on University Avenue in City Heights!
Finishing a very cool mural on University Avenue in City Heights!

UPDATE!

I received some photos from Love City Heights of the mural being created…

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Photo courtesy Love City Heights.
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Photo courtesy Love City Heights.

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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!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Returning to a reopened Ocean Beach Pier.

The piers and boardwalks of San Diego reopened yesterday. The coronavirus pandemic seems to be subsiding locally.

I got off work early this hot June day and decided to go to Ocean Beach. A fresh sea breeze would be so nice. I hadn’t been out on the OB Pier in a long while.

When I arrived, a good crowd was gathered on the beach. It seemed fewer people were on the pier.

Fishermen were leaning against the rail or sitting on benches hoping to catch the big one. Those strolling down the pier often paused to watch a group of surfers below.

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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!

Colorful art in Escondido celebrates nature!

Plaza del Arroyo mural near North Broadway and Escondido Creek features a wading bird.
Plaza del Arroyo mural near North Broadway and Escondido Creek features a wading bird.

Lots of colorful art that celebrates nature can be spotted in Escondido when you walk along the east side of Broadway, between the Escondido Creek Trail and the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum.

These photographs were taken during a walk that headed south.

Enjoy!

Escondido Creek Trail mural behind flowers by the popular bike and pedestrian path.
Escondido Creek Trail mural behind flowers by the popular bike and pedestrian path.
Nearby utility boxes with an elaborately painted owl and hummingbird.
Nearby utility boxes with an elaborately painted owl and hummingbird.
Another nearby electrical box reads BEE KIND.
Another nearby electrical box reads BEE KIND.
Mosaic on this post at the parking lot of the San Diego Children's Discovery Museum shows desert animal and plant life.
Mosaic on this post at the parking lot of the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum shows desert animal and plant life.
A desert tortoise, I believe.
A desert tortoise, I believe.
A beautiful, very colorful abstract butterfly mural near the entrance to the San Diego Children's Discovery Museum.
A beautiful, very colorful abstract butterfly mural near the entrance to the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum.

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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!