This very colorful street art was painted on two electrical boxes on University Avenue in Hillcrest. It’s signed by artist Liz Lancaster (@lizmurals) and dated 2024.
Different heads appear to be growing atop multi-colored stalks. On the street-facing side of one box there are flowers and the words: Let Love Grow.
You can find this street art a bit west of Park Boulevard. It is so very unique that it’s hard to miss!
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This morning I noticed somebody freshening one of the hanging planters in downtown San Diego’s Cortez Hill neighborhood. On a ladder above the sidewalk, he was adding geraniums and other flowering plants!
It was a friendly worker from Downtown San Diego Partnership’s Clean & Safe program!
At either end of the 3800 block of Grim Avenue in North Park you might see a street sign. Honorary Lucky Lane.
A couple days ago I photographed the sign while walking down University Avenue. And I wondered: What makes this lane so lucky?
Well, this article provides an explanation. The block was renamed Lucky Lane last year after “Lucky” Wong, who opened Lucky’s Golden Phenix Restaurant on the corner of North Park Way and Grim Avenue in 1975.
Lucky was known and beloved by many in the community. He ran his restaurant for an incredible fifty years, kindly greeting and serving everyone, never changing his prices. Lucky died in December at 90 years old, in the restaurant where he lived.
A petition to change the block’s name to Lucky Lane quickly gathered signatures. Within weeks, more than 4,200 people signed.
North Park residents who traveled down this lane for half a century were indeed lucky. They were fortunate to have Lucky call the place home.
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A football player has run through the shelter at a City Heights bus stop for a touchdown! Now he simply must leap over a trashcan!
This unexpected sculpture stands at the eastbound bus stop on University Avenue near 45th Street.
I asked someone who works on the same block about the strange sight. He indicated the football player statue was placed here by the nearby taco stand. A few weeks ago there was a moose on the sidewalk!
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The construction of Pride Promenade in Hillcrest is making great progress. I spoke to a worker and he indicated the pedestrian promenade and its new bikeways should be completed this summer.
Yesterday I took several photographs over a construction fence, north of University Avenue. The finished promenade will stretch from this location, near the base of the Pride flag, up to Washington Street.
According to this webpage of the Hillcrest Business Association: The northern anchor of the Promenade will be a restored streetcar. In recognition of the streetcars that once traveled on Normal Street, this facility will serve as a concession stand, gathering point, and information booth. There will also be a playground north of the streetcar. Check out the above webpage to see a map and learn more.
You can also purchase a custom paver to be installed in the Pride Promenade. Funds will help create the Friends of the Promenade nonprofit. Learn more about this program here.
If you’re curious about the new Eastern Hillcrest Bikeways that are being created in and around the Pride Promenade, check out this descriptive SANDAG webpage.
In the above photo you can glimpse a colorful mural that faces the promenade. I’ll be blogging about that next!
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Look at this beautiful, smiling face. It was painted on a wall beside University Avenue in City Heights. Back in 2019 I photographed another long mural along this wall, but little of that faded, vandalized mural remains visible.
You can find this colorful street art near 50th Street. I didn’t see a signature when I walked past it this afternoon.
When old street art passes away, inspired artists leap into action. New life springs up!
I enjoyed a big adventure today. My long walk along University Avenue included Hillcrest, North Park, City Heights . . . and continued all the way to College Avenue!
I took oodles of photographs, so lots of fun blog posts are coming up!
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Driving west down Valley Parkway toward Escondido’s downtown, the road splits into a pair of one-way streets: Valley Boulevard and Valley Parkway. Several roadside sculptures can be found in the vicinity of the split, including this shining one that I have previously shared.
I discovered two others during that same long Escondido walk. Both are very unique!
The first sculpture rises northeast of the split, at Hickory Street. It depicts a leaf, moon and star, and what appears to be a clock and the telescope atop Palomar Mountain.
I love this unusual public art!
The second sculpture rises on the southwest side of the split. The long metal arms of joined human figures seem to rise skyward as the leafy branches of a tree.
If you know more about this unique public art in Escondido, please leave a comment!
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The La Mesa Downtown District sign is rising on La Mesa Boulevard near Palm Avenue! The landmark arch, similar to many others in neighborhoods around San Diego, will welcome those entering the heart of La Mesa’s historic downtown.
Construction officially commenced in February. Yesterday I noticed the two supporting posts now stand on the opposing sidewalks, and several banners on fences announce the Future Home of the Downtown District Sign.
The La Mesa Park & Recreation Foundation website contains more details concerning the project, which has been spearheaded by the La Mesa Village Association.
The archway will feature two support columns adorned with a “Community Quilt” of 1,512 hand-painted tiles created by residents and local businesses.
As I walked up La Mesa Boulevard, I took several photos…
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I need your help. As yet I haven’t figured out something. This appears to be new public art in downtown San Diego.
Tree sections that double as seats have been placed near circles on a sidewalk. The circles, of various sizes, each seem to indicate the past location of tree. The approximate age of each tree is written inside each ring.
The sidewalk in question is west of the new The Torrey high-rise, the same building where huge new murals were very recently painted. Walk along Union Street between B and A Streets and you’ll no doubt spot the art.
Were trees removed from these spots? My memory is foggy. Should you happen to know anything, please leave a comment. If I get more information, I’ll post an update!
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