Tag: street art

Three new murals are painted in City Heights!

More murals are being painted in City Heights!

This afternoon Carlos Quezada of Love City Heights showed me three great new murals and introduced me to one tropical fish store owner whose building is in the process of turning very colorful!

First up, we checked out a mural that was finished about a week and a half ago. It’s inspired by Lotería, and was painted by a picnic bench outside Filiberto’s Mexican Food at 3446 University Avenue. The youthful artist is Andrew Greyeyes. You can see his smiling photo and his other City Heights mural at Fruteria Disfrutalas here!

Next up, I took a photo of another new mural on the side of Sunset Kava. It’s titled Afro Garden and is by the artist Aicha Fofana. Find more of her work at @fofanaflowrs.

I love the super creative design. Very cool!

If the next mural (which is painted to the right of Afro Garden) seems familiar, I took a photo of it a while back, but it wasn’t quite finished. It’s by artist Mary Jhun. See what it looked like in early 2019 here.

Lastly, a big, super colorful mural is now being painted on two walls of the Tropical Fish Stop at 4647 University Avenue. Tropical birds and fish and a turtle greet people passing by, and entice everyone to come inside!

The artist is Imperial Beach-based Esmeralda Robles. You’ve seen some of her artwork already on Cool San Diego Sights. Click here and check out her dogs on the surfboard!

Carlos Quezada of Love City Heights told me this is the 27th mural his organization has helped bring to the community. Truly inspirational.

I was introduced to the friendly owner of Tropical Fish Stop and looked at all sorts of exotic fish and birds. The store has been open at this location for less than a year and they have plans for expansion! If you live in City Heights, or elsewhere in San Diego, drop on by and check it out!

UPDATE!

I took several photographs of the finished Tropical Fish Stop mural during a walk through City Heights in late October…

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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!

A better look at one very cool mural!

After my walk through Balboa Park today, I headed to City Heights where several new murals have been painted.

When I arrived at the corner of University Avenue and Swift Avenue, my searching eyes spied a very cool mural that I’d photographed a couple years ago. But this time a car wasn’t obscuring part of it!

I like this colorful mural so much I took advantage of the situation and got some good unobstructed photos.

The mural’s title is Journey Within Through the Sea of Soul, and it was painted by Celeste Byers and Aaron Glasson. It’s on the side of the Teros Gallery. The mural depicts the gallery owner riding a Chihuahua ship on a distant planet upstream into herself!

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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!

More murals painted in amazing Hillcrest alley!

Maxx Moses mural in a Hillcrest alley. Son, mommy LOVES YOU.
Maxx Moses mural in a Hillcrest alley. Son, mommy LOVES YOU.

More murals have been painted in an amazing alley in Hillcrest! You can find this alley directly behind The Studio Door on Fourth Avenue, where many local artists exhibit their work.

I last visited the alley a year and a half ago and found two fantastic murals by Fizix, which you can see here. (The second and third murals I photographed in that blog post–the Cigar Cave and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles eating pizza.)

Well, now there’s a huge, super cool mural by Maxx Moses, and another equally cool mural across the alley from it by Gloria Muriel. All of this creativity flowed from the hands, minds and hearts of prolific local artists whose street art can be seen all over San Diego!

Continuation of the Maxx Moses mural around the corner.
Continuation of the Maxx Moses mural around the corner.
Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.

Gloria Muriel mural in a Hillcrest alley.
Gloria Muriel mural in a Hillcrest alley.

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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!

Photos of colorful street art in Encanto!

Check out this batch of great street art! I recently walked along Imperial Avenue, starting a few blocks west of the Encanto trolley station and ending a few blocks to the east. Many of the electrical boxes along either sidewalk were painted by very creative artists.

Some of this street art is years old, but it’s still lively and fun! I did adjust my photos a little to make faded colors more vivid.

If the abstract style in the above photo looks familiar, that’s because it’s by local artist Maxx Moses (formerly named Daniel Hopkins), whose work can be seen elsewhere on my blog. A friendly guy at The World Famous Imperial Barber Shop said the front of the building was painted with this fantastic artwork a couple years ago.

The nearby Encanto trolley station also has a huge, amazing mural that Maxx Moses helped to create. See it here! You can see even more cool work by this San Diego-based graffiti artist and muralist here and here.

Now my walk continues east along Imperial Avenue…

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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!

Neighborhood restaurant mural: Better is Possible.

The East Village restaurant Neighborhood closed for renovations earlier this year. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, they have yet to reopen.

I walked past their boarded-up windows this afternoon and saw a mural had been painted on them. After a little searching on the internet, I see that artists Joshua and Ezra Andrade created the artwork last month.

Positive messages in the mural, which includes images of fighting, a knife and brass knuckles, include Ego is not Your Amigo, Better is Possible, Regulate Impulses, and Hood Must be Born Again!

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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!

Street art at San Ysidro and Cottonwood.

Follow your heart.
Follow your heart.

Many electrical boxes have been painted with street art on San Ysidro Boulevard, just northwest of Cottonwood Road. It appeared during my Saturday walk that some of the boxes were painted long ago, and others this year.

I took photos. The art speaks for itself.

Mental health matters.
I am loved. Grow strong.
Aztec skull imagery.
Aztec skull imagery.
A people's spirit lives on.
A people’s spirit lives on.
Two doves.
Two doves.
You are better than unicorns and sparkles.
You are better than unicorns and sparkles.
Quédate en casa con un rico pan dulce y cafecito. (Stay home with a delicious sweet bread and coffee.)
Quédate en casa con un rico pan dulce y cafecito. (Stay home with a delicious sweet bread and coffee.)
Lady Liberty in a serape.
Lady Liberty in a serape.
Kindness matters, and fireworks or stars.
Kindness matters, and fireworks or stars.
Por tu salud. (For your health.) We love our community. Street art painted in San Ysidro during the coronavirus pandemic.
Por tu salud. (For your health.) We love our community. Street art painted in San Ysidro during the coronavirus pandemic.
Firefighters of Fire Station 29 in San Ysidro.
Firefighters of Fire Station 29 in San Ysidro.
A local firefighter at work.
A local firefighter at work.
Purple and lavender flowers.
Purple and lavender flowers.
Butterfly rises near a hot air balloon.
Butterfly rises near a hot air balloon.
Bicycle by a fruit tree, and a trolley in the background.
Bicycle by a fruit tree, and a trolley in the background.
Trolley windows full of passengers.
Trolley windows full of passengers.
Trolley driver emerges from a painted electrical box.
Trolley driver emerges from a painted electrical box.
A little land and a living. Un poco tierra y una vida.
A little land and a living. Un poco tierra y una vida.
Working the land.
Working the land.
A family on a sweeping, colorful landscape.
A family on a sweeping, colorful landscape.
Handfuls of good earth.
Handfuls of good earth.

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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!

More street art on San Ysidro Boulevard!

Street art in San Ysidro by Gerardo Meza.
Street art in San Ysidro by Gerardo Meza.

I’ve photographed more great street art!

Last year in December I walked around San Ysidro and took photos of street art near the Mexican border. See those images by clicking here.

During a walk in the same area this morning I headed farther up San Ysidro Boulevard and found even more colorful art. All of the following photos were taken between Willow Road and Cottonwood Road.

Except for the very first photo above! That fun artwork was painted some time after my earlier walk. It’s beside the Burger King near the intersection of San Ysidro Boulevard and Camino de la Plaza.

These images capture the life and spirit of San Diego’s bustling border community!

Colorful artwork in San Ysidro by renowned muralist Victor Ochoa depicts the artist's family.
Colorful artwork in San Ysidro by renowned muralist Victor Ochoa, known for his work in Chicano Park. I’ve been told this small mural depicts the artist’s family.

Mural in San Ysidro by Los Angeles artist Sand One.
Mural in San Ysidro by Los Angeles artist Sand One.

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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!

Point Loma Garden Club floral street art.

At the corner of Cañon Street and Anchorage Lane in Point Loma, less than a block from the San Diego Yacht Club, you’ll find four large electrical boxes in a row painted with floral street art. The artwork is sponsored by the Point Loma Garden Club.

I’ve added a good deal of contrast to these photos to enhance the beautiful flowers–bring out more detail and color.

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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!

Santee street art shows kids by the river.

This afternoon I went for a walk by the beautiful San Diego River in Santee.

As I headed up Cuyamaca Street approaching the river and a sign indicating Mission Creek Trail, I noticed a large electrical box painted with faded street art. Its sides depict kids by the river playing, fishing or skipping stones.

Part of the image on the box’s street side is blotted out; another side was jammed against some bushes, making photography without scratched arms problematic.

I hope you enjoy these two photos that I was able to capture!

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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!

Tony Gwynn street art in East Village!

San Diego Padres hero Tony Gwynn, painted as street art not far from Petco Park.
San Diego Padres hero Tony Gwynn. This fantastic street art is not far from Petco Park.

San Diego loves Tony Gwynn. Look at his face as depicted in this recently painted street art and you can sense why. It’s all in his smile. He was a friend to everybody. He was simply a great human being.

And, of course, Mr. Padre was one of the best Major League Baseball hitters of all time!

I spotted this amazing electrical box today while walking near the intersection of Park Boulevard and Market Street in East Village. It stands near another box painted with legendary musicians. I shared those photographs in my previous blog post.

The artist’s signature is identical on both boxes, but I’m not a hundred percent sure who it might be. If you know, leave a comment!

Remember these two things--play hard and have fun. Tony Gwynn.
Remember these two things–play hard and have fun. Tony Gwynn.
If you work hard, good things will happen. Tony Gwynn.
If you work hard, good things will happen. Tony Gwynn.
The smiling face of Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Fame baseball legend.
The smiling face of Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Fame baseball legend.

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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!