Tag: surfing

Storm clouds, surf and light in Imperial Beach!

The views this morning from the Imperial Beach Pier were dramatic!

Stormy weather brought a procession of very dark clouds, through which bright sunshine penetrated. The waves were pretty big, too, as you can see from these photographs!

Yes, some surfers were out. I saw a KEEP OUT OF WATER sign posted on the beach by the County of San Diego. For their sake, I hope those surfers don’t become sick from the rain’s runoff and all that raw sewage coming from the Tijuana River.

Anyway, the storm clouds, light and breaking surf resulted in great photos!

When I arrived on the Imperial Beach Pier, I saw a rainbow!

A few minutes after I left the pier, a big cell arrived and there was a long-lasting downpour. My final photo was taken from the shelter of a bus stop on Seacoast Drive.

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Surfing celebrated at Oceanside Museum of Art!

A love of surfing and its lifestyle deeply influences Southern California culture. That love is often expressed in exuberant, very colorful surf art.

Surf Art: Exploring California’s Coastal Culture is an eye-popping exhibition that can now be experienced at the Oceanside Museum of Art. Works by dozens of local artists have been assembled in partnership with Oceanside’s California Surf Museum.

I paid a visit yesterday and look what I found. Stunning pieces in a variety of media created by actual surfers!

I saw bold colors inspired by curling water, warm sand and brilliant sunsets. Powerful images that convey the essence of surfing–a feeling of wild freedom, spirituality or rebellion. Images that can be splashy or surreal, often like psychedelic or pop art.

Turn a corner in the gallery and you’re dazzled once again! Check out the surfboards that have become mind-blowing works of art!

This has got to be one of my favorite exhibitions ever at the Oceanside Museum of Art. The cool thing is, once you finish here you can walk several city blocks over to the California Surf Museum and see even more surf art in an extraordinary dual exhibition!

The surf art exhibition at both museums will continue through February 1, 2026.

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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.

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Oceanside hosts U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships!

The 8th Annual U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships officially opens tomorrow in Oceanside. The public can watch and cheer on the participants!

During the next four days, September 4th to 7th, 2025, physically challenged athletes will take to the surf north of the Oceanside Pier and vie for thousands of dollars in prizes in different surfing competition categories. The event is brought to the city of Oceanside by the Stoke for Life Foundation and the U.S. Open ASC Competition Committee.

Last year 96 adaptive athletes from 18 countries from around the world competed, and this year it should be bigger than ever!

You can find more info, plus the U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships daily schedule, by clicking here.

Today during a walk I spotted tents set up on the beach. I missed a special opening parade because I didn’t know about it. Near the pier I noticed workers getting everything ready at the announcer stand.

After walking out on the pier, I observed one of the athletes catching a wave while prone on a surfboard. He was practicing for the competition.

Good luck to everyone!

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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.

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Very cool mural celebrates Oceanside!

This mural in Oceanside is one of the coolest I’ve seen!

The artwork is painted on the side of Security Public Storage on South Coast Highway. It celebrates all things Oceanside!

The mural contains images of surfers by the Oceanside Pier, local Chargers hero Junior Seau, Oceanside Harbor’s faux-lighthouse, the famous Top Gun house and nearby Camp Pendleton.

Sunset colors over a beach perfectly capture the SoCal lifestyle.

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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.

Feel free to share!

Bounty hunter Boba Fett surfs in Leucadia!

Feared throughout a galaxy far, far away, relentless bounty hunter Boba Fett has mysteriously arrived on planet Earth and has been spotted surfing in Leucadia!

Perhaps Boba came in search of another boba, because there Boba is, now bonded with his boba and board in a BOBA BY THE BEACH mural!

This cool Star Wars mural is painted at Sip-N-Sea: Coffee + Açaí. The artist signature is @JM47ART.

Thought you’d enjoy it!

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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.

Feel free to share!

Exhibit explores La Jolla surf culture, art and history.

A super cool exhibition recently opened in the La Jolla Historical Society‘s free Wisteria Cottage museum. The exhibition is titled La Jolla Surf: Culture, Art, Craft. As the name suggests, surf culture is explored in La Jolla and nearby communities, from the earliest days right up to the present.

There are all sorts of different surfboards on display. Each is cleverly designed and artistically unique. Local designers, shapers and surfers used these boards to conquer the world-famous surf found off La Jolla and other nearby Southern California beaches.

Subjects explored include the iconic Windansea Shack, which dates back to 1947 and has been featured in dozens of movies. Legendary surfboard makers and surfers, like Bob Simmons, are also celebrated. One of the notable board shapers honored is Rusty Preisendorfer, who, at the age of 16, began a factory in a garage a short distance from La Jolla Shores.

I was surprised to learn pop art icon Andy Warhol filmed the movie ‘San Diego Surf’ in 1968 in La Jolla.

As you might expect, the exhibit includes dozens of excellent surfing photographs, and examples of cool artwork, too.

I really enjoyed viewing a short film. It featured a variety of important personalities. Their words about surfing were often poetic or philosophical.

One interviewee called surfing spiritual. Another called it a beautiful dance. Another explained that surfing brings you to close to yourself. It’s peaceful and calming, said another. The experience is deep and powerful, another voice affirmed. Skip Frye, world-famous surfer, surfboard designer, shaper and environmental advocate, likened surfing to being in close touch with God’s creation.

La Jolla Surf: Culture, Art, Craft will be open to the public through May 25, 2025. Learn more about it here!

A small taste of this awesome exhibit…

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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.

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Cool boardsports murals in North County!

Check out these two cool boardsports murals in San Diego’s North County!

(What are boardsports? Outdoor activities–such as surfing and skateboarding–that use a board as the primary equipment.)

My first few photos show the large mural painted on the front of Status Skateshop in Carlsbad. The artwork was created by Nicholas Danger (@nicholasdanger) in 2022. Yes, skateboarding culture can be a bit wild and crazy!

If you’d like to see a little more of Nicholas Danger, you might enjoy this blog post from almost five years ago.

Next, in Oceanside there’s a collage-like mural that includes both surfing and skateboarding imagery. View it on the side of a building at South Coast Highway and Washington Avenue.

Businesses that make this building home include The James Brand and Insight Tattoo.

I don’t know who created this very colorful mural. If you have any info, please leave a comment…

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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.

Feel free to share this!

Greetings from Oceanside surfer girl mural.

A beach scene mural that shows the Oceanside Pier, a woodie and three girls with a surfboard on the sand has appeared in downtown Oceanside. You can view it on the parking lot side of Finney’s Crafthouse restaurant. Postcard-like words read: Greetings From OCEANSIDE.

The artist is Jerry Ragg. The mural was painted in 2024 in memory of JT Ragg.

I spotted the cool artwork during my weekend walk in Oceanside and took these photographs into the sun. Consequently, I had to increase the contrast of each image quite a bit.

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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.

The golden age of surf culture in Oceanside!

Are you old enough to remember the golden age of surf culture? You know–those years when the radio was filled with pop music by The Ventures, Jan and Dean, and The Beach Boys. Back when surfing movies were on the marquee of your local theater, and Gidget was a popular show on television.

If you love nostalgia, the California Surf Museum has a really great exhibit that might tickle your fancy. It might also bring back memories. Star, Cars and Guitars – The Birth of the Modern Surf Era: 1958 to 1965 features photographs, posters, rare artifacts and memorabilia from those days when the surfing subculture sprang forth and quickly took center stage in the popular culture.

I visited the California Surf Museum last Saturday and enjoyed looking at the extensive display.

This era came right before I was born, but in my youth echoes of it still lingered on the radio and on television. I remember I had the incredible Endless Summer album by The Beach Boys which I loved to hear on my scratchy record player. Yes, that was a long time ago!

(How many San Diego area locations are mentioned in The Beach Boys hit song Surfin’ U.S.A.? Well, let’s see: Del Mar, Trestles, Swami’s, San Onofre, and La Jolla!)

The museum exhibit covers those golden days when surfing’s popularity exploded across California, the U.S.A. and the world, including the era’s trailblazers and athletes, surfboards, fashion, cars, popular surf spots and early surfing competitions.

Honestly, all of the exhibits in this one-of-a-kind museum are cool. If you live in Southern California and you’re at all into surfing or the lifestyle, and you haven’t visited the California Surf Museum, you’re really missing out!

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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 more fun murals in Encinitas!

Enjoy photographs of three fun murals I discovered last weekend while walking in Encinitas. I was winding my way from Coast Highway 101 to the parking lot above Moonlight Beach and back.

Yes, our Southern California surf culture is alive and well in coastal Encinitas!

I hadn’t seen this street art during previous walks, so my camera got busy!

Surfer on side of building at 2nd Street and C Street in Encinitas.

Surfing Madonna and dolphins appear outside Moonlight Beach Apartments.

A fun mural on the side of Raul’s Shack in Encinitas.

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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.