Volunteers in downtown San Diego add a coat of paint to a metal post. A wonderful community project put together by the Downtown San Diego Partnership.
A busy morning! I’ve got lots of fun photos coming! First, check out something really fantastic. The Downtown San Diego Partnership arranged for a bunch of generous volunteers to help beautify the city! The resident volunteers converged this morning at Eighth Avenue and B Street, were given paint and brushes, and were then shown lampposts in the area that need a coat of paint!
Thank you Downtown San Diego Partnership for working to keep the heart of our city in tip top shape! I was told this sort of event might occur in the future on a regular basis. Hopefully this blog post helps to raise awareness a bit!
Around 150 volunteers had signed up to paint lamp posts. Many had gathered at Eighth Avenue and B Street just after nine o’clock when I walked through the area.Getting the paint ready at the center of the parking lot where all the volunteers gathered in downtown’s Core district.The base of a downtown lamppost has been primed and is ready to be painted by volunteers. Hundreds of posts would be painted today!A worker for the Clean and Safe program beautifies downtown San Diego. As a resident, I thank you all.These nice volunteers were painting their third lamppost as I walked back through the area later in the day!
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A funny spotted creature of some kind decorates an electrical box on Fourth Avenue near the Quince Street Bridge.
I got off work early and wanted to enjoy the remaining daylight. So I took the 120 bus to Hillcrest and walked down Fourth Avenue from University Avenue to Elm Street.
I found some fun street art on electrical boxes in both Hillcrest and Bankers Hill!
A spray painted face lit by sunshine early one morning in Hillcrest, near Fourth Avenue and Robinson Avenue.
Okay, you caught me! The above photo was taken one morning a couple months ago. It was sitting in my computer. All the others are from late this afternoon.
A guitar and stars decorate a utility box.Colorful art shows a street scene! Copies, bread, coffee and outdoor diners come together under a blue sky near Fourth Avenue and Laurel Street.Ice cream, barber, eyes, dentist. A happy stick figure walks down an imaginary Bankers Hill sidewalk.A contented face on a utility box near the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Laurel Street.Lots of stars and some hearts.According to some writing on this transformer, these are space plants and moon flowers!
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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!
It was drizzling very lightly this morning when I stepped out my door. I walked from Cortez Hill down to Broadway, then over to Santa Fe Depot. My camera was under my umbrella.
The light was dim and uncertain, causing many photographs to come out unfocused. A few strange photographs seem to contain mysterious phantoms from some half-remembered dream. Haunting visions on a wet, drizzly morning.
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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!
A lady with flowers in her long flowing purple hair.
Late this morning I went to the San Diego Tet Festival at Mira Mesa Community Park. (I’ll blog about that shortly.) Hoping to avoid crowds, I parked a distance from the park before the festival opened, then spent a half hour or so walking around the area.
I was happy to spy a whole bunch of cool street art in the vicinity of Mira Mesa Boulevard and Camino Ruiz! Naturally, I had to take some photos!
Lovely street art painted on a transformer box in Mira Mesa.A tree behind a white fence seems to bear pencils.Are mushrooms sprouting from the nearby grass?A seeming dream takes the form of mazy images. This street art is on a utility box near the intersection of Mira Mesa Boulevard and Camino Ruiz.Just a big heart and simple blocks of bright color.Looks like a Chargers bolt. Unfortunately, San Diego’s NFL football team bolted.One Love and many symbols atop a utility box in Mira Mesa.A painted Asian landscape. Mountains rise from turbulent water.Another side of the same dramatic box.A happy mug of coffee gives a wink near muffins, beneath musical notes.Happy food and drink!A happy face on a blue teacup!Kid with phonograph sits at base of a pagoda in this unique street art.A bunch of colored circles.A red, geometric, minimalist bit of street art.Colors pieced together like stained glass, and a rising koi on this utility box.Koi, water, sun and clouds.I can’t quite make out the beginning of what is written. I can read: Mira Mesa remain Strong, Brave and Proud!Two colorful electrical boxes along Mira Mesa Boulevard.Looks like a hip hop kid with a big funky cap.An old school phonograph!Looks like one of those trick squirting flowers.Two beautiful flowers.This puzzle-like street art looks both ancient and alien.A touching image of a young girl. She seems to sit alone on the sidewalk.Abstract hills, trees and blue beams of sunshine.More cool street art in Mira Mesa.A flying saucer cat and an orange tabby that doesn’t appear amused.A smiling girl astronaut among happy colorful stars.A dog in a space helmet joyfully rockets above a ringed planet.
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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!
Some happy street art in National City. A high five, pink rabbit and heart.
I found even more cool street art while walking around National City! Check out these photos! Colorful utility boxes and transformers seemed to pop up wherever I turned!
Transinfinite Gems. Love Your Soul. Blessings and Love.A creatively painted utility box near a National City street corner. Is that a can of soda?Someone just let loose with many strokes of color on this transformer box!This cool street art definitely attracts the attention of people walking down the sidewalk!An abstract human figure that drips ink into a river. This fantastic image appears to be full of symbolism.More cool designs on a series of electrical boxes. National City, in San Diego’s South Bay, has lots of great street art!A contrast of real leaves and painted leaves.Barren trees in a purple-blue sky.Another side of the same box.Branches from sky and ground, like grasping, skeletal fingers.
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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!
A crane and huge pipes on Friars Road near the site of the San Diego River Double Track (SDRDT) project.
Here are some interesting photos! A new railroad bridge is being installed across the San Diego River just north of the Old Town Transit Station, allowing the Coaster and Pacific Surfliner trains to run faster and more reliably. This work is called the San Diego River Double Track (SDRDT) project. I’ve watched the progress for several months during my daily trolley commute. This construction is being done ahead of another project to install trolley tracks across the river for the Mid-Coast Trolley Project, which will extend Blue Line service up to UCSD and University Towne Center (UTC) in La Jolla.
I took these photos last Saturday during my walk along Friars Road approaching the San Diego River Estuary. I’m no expert on this construction–I’m just an ordinary citizen who was fascinated by what I saw!
A series of three big storms is beginning in San Diego as I post this. Hopefully the flooding in Mission Valley where I work doesn’t get completely out of hand! I might post photos!
I noticed these huge green tanks along Friars Road.I also saw these huge coils of steel cable.A big pile of dirt by the railroad bridge over the San Diego River where the double track work is taking place.I believe new train tracks will be on the other side of the existing bridge you see in this photo.Passing under the train tracks as I walk along a raised area beside Friars Road.Now I’m looking east at all sorts of construction equipment, gravel and other material.This thing looks like a huge drill! Perhaps its used for boring through the ground, but I’m not sure. If you know anything, leave a comment!
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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!
Cool female face on one side of a utility box on 30th Street in North Park.
In the past I’ve posted dozens of street art photos from San Diego’s hip North Park neighborhood. But here come even more!
I spotted these cool street art faces (mostly human faces, that is) along 30th Street, between University Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard!
Enjoy!
(To see lots more North Park street art, look for the “Related” links at the bottom of this blog post. Or simply click the “street art” tag in my website’s sidebar to see hundreds of examples from all around San Diego! And, as always, feel free to use the share buttons! Have fun!)
Another face, same box.A third red face looks down the North Park sidewalk.A blue face with a faint smile. Minimalist street art by Alex Avila.A funny pink stretchy blob face covers its eyes and yells!Another side and another funny face.Street lamp banners along 30th Street in North Park feature imaginative faces. Explore Art.There is certainly a lot of urban art to explore throughout North Park!Funny graffiti faces on an electrical box.More multi-colored faces on the other side of the box. And some fun figures, too!Not a face here. Just a hand.A bare pink face on a painted mannequin. Abstract street art in North Park.The regal face of a tiger. Grand Prestoz.Yes, even flying pigs have faces.Jumbled eyes, lips and faces in this cool street art at the Thrift Trader in North Park.Two funky faces watch people walking down the sidewalk from a window above a bin of CD’s.The face of a Belching Beaver isn’t something you often see. Unless, perhaps, you drink lots of their beer!Not street art, but an artful face in a window on 30th Street. This is VIP Paints – San Diego, a special studio where the public can go to learn and create art!The head of a pink flamingo painted on a utility box!Artistic collage on a public telephone includes the printed word, and various stencil faces and figures.Creativity can be found up and down the streets of North Park!
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I’d like to bring two talented artists to everyone’s attention. I met them during my walk around San Diego yesterday. They show their colorful works of art on the sidewalk. I had spoken to Carlos several times in the past; I spoke to Juli for the first time and learned a little of her story.
Carlos often hangs out on the Embarcadero, right next to the Star of India. His fantastic Eagle Warrior appears to me to belong in an art gallery. (Click this image to enlarge it!)
Carlos hangs out next to the Star of India, right near the ship’s figurehead. He usually has a whole array of stone and wire creature creations on display. Many of them are antlike. They’re all a lot of fun.
Yesterday he had something absolutely amazing on the sidewalk. You can see it in my first two photographs. He has made several such figures using resin, acrylic, and in this case some some quartz crystals. I looked very closely at his Eagle Warrior and was completely blown away. To me, this piece appeared to belong in an art gallery!
Carlos is very friendly and interesting, with many wise things to say about life and the world. He has lived in San Diego for a long, long time. If you happen to walk along the Embarcadero, and you see some art on the sidewalk that matches what I have described, you’ve probably found him! Say hello!
Close look at jaguar and serpent at foot of Aztec warrior, an amazing work of resin, acrylic and quartz by San Diego artist Carlos.
And now, a small colorful work of art by Juli:
A small but beautiful work of art, painted by friendly Juli. You can find her sometimes on the Embarcadero, sometimes on Broadway by the Santa Fe Depot.
At times I have seen Juli along the Embarcadero, painstakingly using a small brush to paint her fantastic crystal-like watercolor creations. But yesterday I spoke to her for the first time. She was hanging out on the sidewalk just south of the Santa Fe Depot. Take a look at her work!
Juli is quite knowledgeable about the art scene and has travelled all around the country. Many of her friends and acquaintances know her as Tree. She recently came down to San Diego from San Francisco, and is working to recover from a difficult situation. Her attitude is of unbounded optimism!
If you’re ever walking about San Diego and you spy her small but very distinctive works of art, take a close look! They’re pretty amazing!
These wonderful small pieces of watercolor art were created by Juli, who also goes by the street name Tree. She recently came to San Diego from San Francisco. (Click this image to enlarge it!)
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A simple, homemade lending library box next to somebody’s front yard in Crown Point, a neighborhood on Mission Bay. Leave a book or take one!
Here’s a cool idea that almost anyone can bring to life!
Once in a while, as I walk about, I notice cabinet-like wooden boxes on neighborhood streets that are filled with books. They’re usually placed near a sidewalk–a spot that anybody passing by can easily reach. These community “lending library” boxes are filled with used books, magazines and other reading material that neighbors can freely borrow and return when they please. Anybody can add to the small library. Now that’s very cool!
Here are photos of several boxes I’ve come across. Their designs appear to be rather simple. They can be built however one likes, as long as the shelves are visible and sheltered from the elements. And they can be painted creatively!
Does your neighborhood have a “lending library” book box? Looks like a fun, inspirational project! It enriches the life of your community and promotes literacy!
A lending library book box built like a two-door cabinet along a sidewalk in San Diego. The contents are always changing. Today the shelves were almost empty!This fancy book box has a sliding glass door and sloped roof. You can find this tiny library at the east end of the Quince Street Trestle pedestrian bridge in Bankers Hill!If you’re feeling really creative, you could make an imaginative “Little Free Library” like this!A lending box created by Boy Scouts and the Friends of the Coronado Public Library.
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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!
To read a few short works of fiction that I’ve written, visit my special writing blog Short Stories by Richard!
Sunflowers appear next to a Barrio Logan sidewalk.
Sometimes flowers appear in unexpected places. In San Diego, as in any big city, they seem to sprout like small miracles. Here are a few glimpses…
A flower blooms in the window of a downtown San Diego tattoo parlor.A beautiful bouquet of flowers at an outdoor Little Italy cafe.Bronze statue of Kate Sessions in Balboa Park’s Sefton Plaza holds a few white flowers. Kate planted many seeds a century ago.Red bougainvillea poke through a white lath fence in North Park.Beautiful flowers in planters at Lou and Mickey’s in the Gaslamp Quarter.Chalk flowers on a playground’s concrete wall, near The New Children’s Museum in San Diego.A San Diego trolley runs along the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade near The New Children’s Museum’s Garden Project.As I sat at the Seaport Village trolley station this morning, a homeless person with a bouquet of flowers passed between fences in the distance.Flowers and elegance near front door of the Tim Cantor gallery.
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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!
Have you ever witnessed a small miracle? You might enjoy reading my story An Unexpected Sunflower.
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