Tag: streets

Art and history at the Boulevard Transit Plaza.

Those walking through or waiting for a bus at the Boulevard Transit Plaza in City Heights might feel inclined to pause for a moment. This landmark bus station on El Cajon Boulevard over Interstate 15 features colorful public art and a collection of historical photographs.

The large transit plaza is split in two, divided by El Cajon Boulevard. Opposite sides serve east and west bound buses. Stairs and elevators also descend to Interstate 15 below where passengers can catch Route 235 rapid buses.

Public art and photographs are found on both sides of the split plaza. On either end of each platform, a post is decorated with colorful mosaics and dedicated to an adjacent community. The four communities served by the Boulevard Transit Center are Normal Heights, Kensington, Corridor and Teralta West.

I recently got off a Route 215 rapid bus at this stop to walk around the plaza. The artwork I’ve photographed here was installed in the past year or two–if you know more about the project, please leave a comment!

(There’s additional public art on the freeway level platforms–both here and at the nearby City Heights Transit Center–that I’ll document at some future time.)

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New murals on 800 Broadway building!

This morning, during a downtown San Diego walk, I spotted two huge new murals! They’re on the north side of the 800 Broadway high-rise, which has been under construction for some time. The tall building, when completed, will offer apartments with great city views.

People strolling down the sidewalk will have great views, too–of these big, super colorful murals!

I presently know nothing about the artwork. Should I find out more, I’ll provide an update. If you know something, feel free to leave a comment below!

On the Eighth Avenue side:

And on the Ninth Avenue side:

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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.

Painting beautiful street art in Hillcrest!

Many electrical boxes in Hillcrest are being painted this summer with beautiful new street art. I happened upon three artists today working on a box on University Avenue!

I’ve learned this latest explosion of Hillcrest street art is another project of the Hillcrest Business Association. Volunteer artists are adding more life and color to this already dynamic San Diego community!

Upon speaking to the three artists, I learned they’ll be covering this entire box with their beautiful work. And I learned they are helping to restore historic murals in Chicano Park!

Awesome!

Ni La Muerte Nos Separa. Not even death separates us.

A beautiful sun and moon rise together on the side of an electrical box in Hillcrest!

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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.

Student art brightens San Diego bus stops!

Bus stop shelters around the city now feature art created by students from throughout the San Diego Unified School District. I’ve noticed a few of these displays in the past couple weeks, and I discovered another fun example today at the SDSU Transit Center.

The digital doodles in these photographs were created by students from Encanto Elementary and Hardy Elementary. The kids were given two themes: What makes San Diego your home? and How do you connect with San Diego?

According to the shelter poster, over 12 schools and hundreds of students participated in the “I am San Diego” project. The project was launched by Far South Border North, a City of San Diego-led regional collaborative that supports artists and cultural practitioners working in service of the health and well-being of communities in San Diego and Imperial counties.

Next time you find yourself walking down the sidewalk near an MTS public bus shelter, take a closer look!

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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.

Three new murals on Garnet in Pacific Beach!

Check out three colorful murals that I discovered last weekend during a walk down Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach. All three were painted in the past year or so.

The bird mural at Pacific Beach Tattoo, above, is titled The California Least Tern Mural. It was created by artist Todd Murphy. According to a tiny sign that I spied while preparing these photographs, the beautiful mural is dedicated to the community of Pacific Beach on August 12, 2023 with the purpose of promoting conservation and awareness of this local endangered species.

The next photograph shows the latest Guru Tattoo mural. It’s by Bowen Bramwell (@illustrationbybo). Other spray painted Guru Tattoo murals have decorated this same wall in the past. You can see two of them (and other examples of street art in PB) here and here.

Finally, check out this beach scene mural beside the Broken Yolk parking lot. (Is that sandy Coronado Beach with the Old Point Loma Lighthouse in the distance?)

The mural was created by artist Emily Fallon in 2024, in collaboration with San Diego Paint and Stain.

If you’d like to see even more cool street art in Pacific Beach, I’ve photographed a lot of it over the years. Additional examples can be found here and here and 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.

More murals in San Ysidro’s Cultural Corridor!

During my walk in San Ysidro last weekend, I discovered two relatively new murals painted in the Cultural Corridor. It had been a little over a year since I walked this way.

The San Ysidro Cultural Corridor extends north along Cypress Drive from San Ysidro Boulevard to the trolley tracks near the Beyer Avenue station. The alley-like corridor contains many colorful murals that change from time to time. Community development organization Casa Familiar is the driving engine behind this ongoing project.

Past blog posts that include photographs of additional murals in the Cultural Corridor can be found here and here and here and here.

My first images today show a happy mural on a wooden fence at the north end of the corridor. It was painted in 2023. The artist is Ivan Arevalo.

The second mural celebrates San Ysidro. It was painted by Ground Floor Murals. Sadly, you can see how the image of a proud bird of prey has been defaced by a tagger.

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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.

A very colorful, unique mural on Bankers Hill!

I spied this very colorful mural in Bankers Hill on the north side of West Hair Salon on Fifth Avenue. It appears to uniquely combine elements of Día de los Muertos calavera face painting and Pride rainbow imagery!

The artist signature is that of Genaro Garcia (@artegennaro).

I took this photograph over a parked car the other day, but you can see most of the artwork.

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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.

Photos of 12th Annual East Village Block Party!

The 12th Annual East Village Block Party is being held today along several blocks of J Street, just north of Petco Park. The event, usually held on the San Diego Padres opening weekend, was originally scheduled for March 20, but rainy weather that day caused a postponement. In 2024 it’s a summer block party!

I walked along J Street late this morning to absorb some of the festive atmosphere. Many of San Diego’s other sports teams were present. There was music and art and lots of smiling Padres fans. And there was a ton of food, too!

If you read this in time, you might head down to the East Village Block Party before it ends at 4:30 pm. It takes place on J Street between 7th and 10th Avenue.

A sunny day in San Diego’s East Village.

Kid has fun at San Diego Legion rugby challenge.

Special shout out to the San Diego Mojo professional volleyball team. I won a cool t-shirt!

One of many smiles! That Topo Chico sparkling mineral water was great!

Peter Seidler in an awesome Padres baseball spray paint mural created by @dyseoneclothing, @hasler.88 and @bigchill8825.

A blessed smile at the East Village Block Party in San Diego!

Providing block party music!

Lots of Padres merchandise could be found.

Larry Turner, candidate for San Diego Mayor, smiles for a photo!

More smiles!

A fine Saturday in downtown San Diego.

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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.

More art on South Cedros in Solana Beach!

South Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach is a place where creativity thrives. Walk down the sidewalk through the Cedros Avenue Design District and your eyes will discover surprising art wherever they turn.

I walked this way three years ago and found a bunch of cool stuff. See it here. I also stepped into the fun Art Alley on Cedros. See that here.

Yesterday I took a similar walk and found new sights that I hadn’t previously seen! In addition to a very colorful tile mosaic bench south of the Belly Up Tavern, I photographed the following…

The planet I live on is the planet you live on.

You turn graves into gardens – You turn bones into armies – You turn seas into highways – You’re the only one who can

Out of the Blue

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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.

Chinese lantern street lamps replaced downtown!

In the last couple weeks, several street lamps in the form of traditional Chinese lanterns have been replaced along Third Avenue in downtown San Diego. Third Avenue, between Market Street and J Street, is the heart of the Asian Pacific Thematic Historic District.

The original Chinese lanterns were installed in the 1980s, back when the historic district was first designated. Those lamps, however, had deteriorated over time and were badly in need of replacement.

With the help of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, several of the old lamps were refurbished and provided with LED lighting. They’ve been reinstalled on Third Avenue in the vicinity of the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum.

Sadly, these beautiful Chinese lantern street lamps no longer run the entire distance to Market Street. I was told the City of San Diego disposed of several of the old lanterns that might have been given to the museum and also refurbished.

The San Diego Chinese Historical Museum has retained one of the newly refurbished lanterns for safe keeping as you can see from my next photograph. It will be used as a model for future lanterns, if money can be raised to produce them. Recreating them from scratch will be, unfortunately, fairly expensive for the nonprofit museum. (Would you like to help?)

The museum would also love to create an Asian Pacific Thematic Historic District gateway on Market Street. Chinatowns in other cities feature such gateways.

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!