Over the years I’ve taken photos “behind the scenes” at various interesting and historic places in San Diego. I thought it would be fun to revisit some of those blog posts, in case you’ve missed them.
Here are ten guided tours and curious walks that provided fascinating views of San Diego that many do not see.
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!
The Old Town San Diego Foundation is raising funds so that Fourth Grade students across San Diego County can continue taking educational field trips to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. The San Diego History Program helps kids learn about San Diego’s unique, culturally diverse early history. But financial assistance is urgently needed!
I found out about this program today while walking about Old Town’s Founders Day event. I learned thousands of students have been fortunate to enjoy these field trips in past years. Fourth graders visit Old Town’s interactive museums and enjoy special docent led tours.
The nice folks of the Old Town San Diego Foundation explained that without this program, many young people would probably never visit the birthplace of San Diego and California.
Often kids who participate are so amazed by what they discover, they bring their families back to Old Town! How cool is that?
But funds are now needed to continue this program.
Please visit the Old Town San Diego Foundation website here to learn more.
And please visit the “4th Graders Need Your Help” GoFundMe page here to make your contribution! Donations are 100% tax deductible.
(I know that some educators follow this blog. Spread the word!)
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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 small group on a free walking tour learns about the history of Old Town San Diego.
A free walking tour of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is available every day at 11 am and 2 pm. The tours meet in front of the Robinson-Rose House Visitor Center, at the northwest end of Old Town’s large grassy plaza. (UPDATE! In late 2022, post-COVID, the tours were being offered Thursday and Friday at 11 am. Times are subject to change!)
When I visit Old Town San Diego, I’ll sometimes join the walking tour while it’s in progress. Last weekend I happened to be in front of the Robinson-Rose House right at eleven o’clock, so I decided to enjoy the full one hour tour!
During this easy walk a guide in period costume provides fascinating information about San Diego’s early history. Several different periods are covered, from the Spanish mission period, to the Mexican rancho period, to the early American period. The main interpretive period is 1821 to 1872.
Among the following photos are a few interesting bits of history…
Free walking tours begin daily at 11 and 2 in front of the Robinson-Rose House Visitor Center at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.Inside the Robinson-Rose House visitors can view a large model behind glass. It shows what Old Town San Diego looked like in 1872.The tour guide leads our group out into Old Town’s historic Plaza de las Armas.We learn that the Native American Kumeyaay village of Cosoy was located right here, long before Old Town was established.
The Native American Kumeyaay village of Cosoy was located where Old Town San Diego’s plaza was established. Before the San Diego River was diverted in 1877, its water ran very close to Old Town and was an integral part of the life of early people in our desert-like Southern California coastal region.
Our tour now heads toward restored buildings that stand on the southwest side of the plaza.We enter Casa de Machado y Silvas, where today visitors can view the small Commercial Restaurant museum.Our tour guide talks about tiny San Diego during the Mexican rancho period. Trade goods were acquired from merchant ships in exchange for cattle hides, which were called California Banknotes.
When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, the Spanish soldiers of the nearby San Diego Presidio switched their allegiance to Mexico, which couldn’t afford to pay them. For their service, they were given land at the foot of Presidio Hill, where many soldiers and their families built houses. That is how Old Town started.
You can learn more about La Casa de Machado y Silvas and the fascinating Commercial Restaurant museum here.
We head back outside into the plaza.We learn more about the history of Old Town by the unusual, tall flagpole.Old Town’s flagpole resembles a ship’s mast!
You might notice the flagpole at the center of Old Town’s Plaza looks a lot like a ship’s mast. Because originally it was!
When an American force under Captain Samuel F. DuPont sailed into San Diego Bay in 1846 to take control of Old Town unopposed, the plaza had no flagpole, because most of the independent-minded Californios who lived here didn’t feel a strong attachment to Mexico. So a ship’s mast was used to raise the flag of the United States.
You can see a bronze plaque commemorating the event here.
You can learn more about the old Spanish cannon that sits in the middle of Old Town’s plaza near the flagpole here.
We head toward a tree that stands near the Colorado House.This is where the Franklin House hotel once stood.
A vacant area of ground beside the Colorado House (now home of the Wells Fargo Museum) is where the Franklin House hotel used to stand. It was Old Town’s only three story building, notable for its relative elegance and its baths.
The Franklin House was destroyed during the great fire of 1872 along with several adjacent buildings including Old Town’s courthouse, ensuring that San Diego’s future would be located in Alonzo Horton’s New Town, which was then called Horton’s Addition.
To learn more about San Diego’s first courthouse, click here.
To learn more about Colorado House and the Wells Fargo Museum, click here.
We head toward a beautifully restored adobe house that stands alone behind the plaza buildings.Entering the grounds of La Casa de Machado y Stewart Museum.Many artifacts are displayed in the main living room of La Casa de Machado y Stewart. An adjacent bedroom is where parents and daughters slept. The sons slept outside in San Diego’s temperate climate.
Our tour group then walked over to Casa de Machado y Stewart. We learned many things, including the fact that the fancier china seen on the dining table came by merchant ships that crossed the Pacific from Asia.
The more simple items like candlesticks were made by local blacksmiths. Because iron was rare in San Diego, harpoons from a brief period of whaling in San Diego Bay were used to make a variety of furnishings and household utensils.
You can learn more about the Casa de Machado y Stewart here.
You can learn about Old Town’s blacksmith shop here.
We also learned that the art of brick-making was introduced to Old Town by members of the Mormon Battalion, whose arrival in San Diego you can learn about here.
The outdoor oven was made of clay and adobe bricks. Cow manure provided fuel!The garden outside La Casa de Machado y Stewart not only provided vegetables for eating, but native herbs used for medicine.Our tour guide explains the uses of prickly pear. The cochineal beetle found on prickly pears is used to make red dye. That plant you see is about 150 years old!Finally, we head over to the beautiful, iconic Casa de Estudillo.The courtyard of the U-shaped Casa de Estudillo includes a simple fountain at the center.Sitting on wooden benches, learning more about San Diego’s unique early history.
The walking tour concluded inside the courtyard of La Casa de Estudillo. In many respects, this beautiful house is the centerpiece of Old Town San Diego. Two past blog posts provide a great deal of information about La Casa de Estudillo.
You can peer into the house’s restored rooms and learn about their history here.
You can learn how a wildly popular novel saved this historic building from destruction here!
The walking tour is over. Now visitors to Old Town San Diego can roam wherever they fancy, and visit numerous free museums scattered around the plaza.
Finally, to enjoy a good overview of San Diego’s early history, I recommend a visit to Old Town’s excellent McCoy House Museum. You can check out my blog post featuring its many exhibits by clicking here!
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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!
This weekend the general public has the rare opportunity to take a free tour aboard a brand new United States Coast Guard cutter! The USCGC Benjamin Bottoms, which is scheduled to be commissioned in San Diego this week, is presently docked on the Embarcadero just north of the Maritime Museum.
USCGC Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132) is a Sentinel-class or Fast Response cutter that has very advanced capabilities. The vessel will be based in San Pedro and will spend most of its time off the coast of Southern California engaging in maritime rescues, drug interdiction, and a variety of other missions.
I stepped aboard today and was greeted by smiling crew members, heroes who have saved the lives of many. I was permitted to take photos everywhere but inside the pilothouse, which contains the latest technology. I was told that almost everything on the cutter is computerized, with sensors and controls just about everywhere. This type of cutter is unique in that it is equipped with a bow thruster which allows for very nimble maneuvering.
After checking out the pilothouse, our tour headed to the rear of the cutter where a small Cutterboat – Over the Horizon inflatable boat can be quickly released into the ocean or pulled back aboard. With its jet drive, the cutterboat has the ability to pursue and overtake very fast vessels.
We then went inside the Benjamin Bottoms to see its galley, a central dining and meeting area, and some officer quarters.
When you take a tour of the vessel, a friendly crew member will also tell you how the ship got her name. To summarize, using the words of Wikipedia: “Benjamin Bottoms was a United States Coast Guard radio operator who died while attempting to rescue the crew of a USAAF bomber that had crashed-landed in Greenland in November 1942.”
Head down to the Embarcadero tomorrow between 9 am and 2 pm and enjoy a fascinating tour and say Thank You to some genuine heroes!
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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!
Many cool sights await visitors who come aboard Peruvian Navy training ship BAP Unión.
This morning I stepped aboard an amazing ship. The enormous Peruvian tall ship BAP Unión visited San Diego for the weekend!
The BAP Unión is a beautiful sailing vessel that is used to train cadets in the Peruvian Navy. The 378 foot, four-masted barque also operates as a floating goodwill ambassador, uniquely representing the nation of Peru.
San Diego is the first stop of BAP Unión’s first ever tour of the West Coast!
Please read the photo captions for more interesting information. Click the signs and they will enlarge for easy reading.
Four-masted barque BAP Unión docked at Broadway Pier in San Diego, during its 2019 tour of the West Coast.People explore the impressive tall ship during its visit to San Diego’s Embarcadero.Sign explains the BAP Unión’s figurehead, which represents emperor Túpac Inca Yupanqui, who led a fleet of rafts on a voyage of exploration across the Pacific Ocean.The bronze figurehead was sculpted by Peruvian artist Pilar Martínez.A gangway welcomes curious visitors during a sunny San Diego weekend.Bienvenidos a bordo al B.A.P. “Unión”On the main deck of BAP Unión, near the aft mainmast and its many working ropes.The ship’s shining bell.Tilting my head upward to gaze at the tall ship’s masts, yards and rigging.I’ve turned about to face the ship’s stern. I see plaques, the ship’s wheel and the bridge.Sign explains Peru’s coat of arms, a national symbol used by the country’s armed forces.Plaque commemorates the launching of BAP Unión on December 22, 2014. The ship was commissioned on January 27, 2016. At the time of her commissioning, she was the largest sailing ship in Latin America.Artistic metalwork can be found all over the perfectly maintained tall ship, including these medallion-like designs.Shining plaques in the wooden deck at the foot of some steps.Climbing up the steps that lead to an area near the ship’s bridge.Engraved at the edge of each step is BUQUE ESCUELA UNION.Looking back down at the wooden deck around the aft mainmast.A visitor aboard the BAP Unión checks out the impressive ship’s wheel.The words BUQUE ESCUELA A VELA UNION.A sign provides a description of the ship’s wheel.Looking forward across the amazing ship. Many downtown San Diego buildings rise in the background.Mounted above the ship’s bridge is Peru’s coat of arms.Walking past the bridge toward the stern of BAP Unión.Visitors pose for a photo at a second wheel at the rear of the large tall ship.Looking straight up into the San Diego sky at the billowing flag of Peru.Starting forward, about to pass the ship’s bridge.Sign explains the bridge, where modern navigation and steering controls are located, and where naval cadets train. The ship’s watch is constant under the command of an officer.About to descend steps, as I continue forward along the port side of the ship.A crew member on deck tends to some ropes.Another look upward before heading into an internal part of the ship.Inside a spacious cabin, visitors enjoy looking at many cultural displays that concern Peru, including exquisite crafts and textiles.A fantastic work of art represents Peruvian culture.A colorful Peruvian folk art figurine.An officer’s cap with books and more artwork on a shelf.As the self-guided tour proceeded, I took a photo through a window into the ship’s kitchen. This is where Peruvian dishes are prepared for the crew and foreign guests.Sign describes the kitchen of BAP Unión.I see some food being prepared!Back outside in sunlight on a more forward part of the main deck. Souvenirs from Peru could be purchased by visitors.Another flight of steps leads toward the ship’s bow.I couldn’t stop looking up.Visitors learn a bit about the tall ship’s operation, including how an anchor is lowered.An anchor chain, winch and other equipment operated by naval cadets near BAP Unión’s bow.Looking back across the upper deck of the picturesque Peruvian tall ship.One last sets of steps to descend before the self-guided tour ends.The incredible Peruvian tall ship BAP Unión visits San Diego.
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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!
In the one room Mason Street School in Old Town San Diego, younger and older children sat together before the teacher and learned their letters.
A cool theme developed during my walk through Old Town San Diego State Historic Park yesterday. First I wandered into the 1868 San Diego Union Building and observed ladies in 19th century dress practicing calligraphy. A short time later, as my eyes scanned the walls of the one room 1865 Mason Street Schoolhouse, I noticed a sheet on the wall titled First Lessons in Penmanship.
Turns out it was a great day to relearn the alphabet!
A super nice gentleman in the old print shop provided all sorts of tidbits of information concerning printing, publishing and life in early San Diego. I learned the original Washington hand press that was used by the San Diego Union newspaper is now in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. And that setting up the tiny type for a single page of the newspaper took a keen-eyed person about 12 hours!
I posted photos of the old print shop and editor’s office four years ago. I also wrote a little about the San Diego Union’s history. You can revisit that blog post by clicking here.
You can see much more inside the old Mason Street School building and learn more about San Diego’s first school teacher, Mary Chase Walker, by clicking here!
Additional information that I learned yesterday is in my photo captions!
A sheet on the schoolhouse wall contains First Lessons in Penmanship. THE ALPHABET.I’m given a small tour of the print shop inside the historic San Diego Union Building.Like wet laundry, hundreds of newspaper sheets would be strung up all around the print shop so that the freshly impressed ink would dry!A demonstration of assembled type and a finished impression.Part of a large plate in the massive Washington hand press. Today school students often visit the historic print shop to learn about publishing long before the digital age.Those students can rearrange these letters to spell words like SUPER.To proof newspaper sheets as type was assembled, this huge heavy roll would be used to make a quick impression.In the entrance of the San Diego Union Building, ladies sat at a desk practicing their penmanship.A sample of elegant Copperplate Calligraphy.This beautifully penned text is from Lewis Carroll’s humorous Lobster Quadrille in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.Showing how to write fancy letters with an old-fashioned pen and inkwell.
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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!
Visitors to Cabrillo National Monument enter the restored Base End Station and Battery Commander’s bunker, north of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse. Battery Ashburn can be seen in the distance.
The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 caused many to fear that the Imperial Japanese Navy might attack the mainland United States.
Coastal defenses were rapidly built up at strategic points along the West Coast, including Point Loma, the peninsula that overlooks the narrow entrance to San Diego Bay. Many of the United States Navy’s remaining ships were homeported in San Diego and had to be protected at all costs.
During World War II, Point Loma’s Fort Rosecrans was the home of the U. S. Army 19th Coast Artillery Regiment. Soldiers manned steel-reinforced concrete bunkers containing Base End Stations, and scanned the horizon for enemy vessels. Should the enemy be sighted, they relayed their information to a Battery Commander, who precisely calculated the enemy’s position, then issued orders to various gun batteries that guarded the approach to San Diego.
Today, almost a century later, the general public can enter one of those old bunkers overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
During my recent Saturday visit to Cabrillo National Monument, I was excited to see that the park’s restored bunker, designated Battery E Control Station, was open. I descended the steep steps into a small underground world, and experienced what life was like for those who stood watch over the wide ocean day and night during the war.
I then checked out a small museum near the bunker to learn a little more about San Diego’s coastal defenses during World War II.
Here are photographs that I took. Read the captions for more fascinating information. Click the signs and they will enlarge.
The Battery E Control Station can be entered on many weekend days. Tours are provided by volunteer docents who are members of the San Diego Military History Association.Walking down steps into the two-level, steel-reinforced concrete bunker is like stepping back in time. The 19th Coast Artillery Regiment manned multiple Point Loma bunkers during World War II.A docent in a World War II era uniform demonstrates the use of an azimuth scope. These spotting scopes gave accurate readings of target positions.A photograph inside the top level of the bunker, which served as the Battery Commander Station for nearby Battery Ashburn.Objects displayed include a map, helmet, canteen and pin-up girl on the wall. A WWII veteran who served at Fort Rosecrans helped to make the bunker’s interior appear historically accurate.Diagram on a wall identified Japanese Naval Vessels during World War II.Marks show the direction and distance to South and North Coronado Islands, which lie in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico.Phones on the wall beside a small Duty Roster chalkboard. The Battery Commander would calculate and communicate accurate information to nearby Battery Ashburn.Metal rungs descend into the lower level of the bunker, where visitors can see the small bunkroom and a typical Base End Station.A friendly docent shows me the bunkroom, where those who manned the bunker took turns sleeping.Objects in the bunkroom include toiletries, U. S. Army rations, cigarettes, magazines and pin-ups on the wall.Next to the bunkroom is a Base End Station, where soldiers continuously scanned the ocean horizon. It is one of five Base End Stations that were assigned to the Battery Commander Station directly above.Old photos above two phones show the operation of azimuth scopes in a Base End Station.A sign describes Fire Control Rooms. A pair of Base End Stations would track an enemy ship’s position, course and speed. Distance to an enemy vessel was determined through triangulation.Sign shows the different battery positions on Point Loma during World War II. Battery Ashburn’s two 16 inch naval guns had a range of 26 miles.Old photos include Battery Ashburn in 1943 and Battery Point Loma in 1941.A sign in the nearby museum shows the ranges of Point Loma’s many defensive gun batteries.During World War II, Fort Rosecrans on Point Loma was garrisoned by the 19th Coast Artillery Regiment. Troops assigned to Fort Rosecrans in San Diego thought it a good duty station, with pleasant weather.Binoculars at the ready. Enter a coastal defense bunker at Cabrillo National Monument to experience a bit of what it was like during World War II in San Diego.
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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!
Photo of traditional voyaging canoe Hikianalia docked at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, with the County Administration Building in the background.
Visitors to the Maritime Museum of San Diego are in for a special treat this weekend!
I noticed during my evening walk along the Embarcadero that the traditional voyaging canoe Hikianalia is visiting from Hawaii. And the public is invited to come aboard for tours!
The Hikianalia, of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, has sailed over 2800 miles across the Pacific Ocean and down the California coast. Crew members are engaging in cultural exchanges and spreading a positive environmental message at every port they visit. The amazing Hikianalia uses sustainable, Earth-friendly technology, including electric motors that are powered by onboard photovoltaic panels.
I hadn’t realized the Hikianalia had arrived a couple days ago, and that Mayor Kevin Faulconer declared October 30, “Hikianalia Day” in San Diego! The canoe’s crew members were greeted by representatives of the Kumeyaay Nation and welcome chants and hula from San Diego’s Hawaiian community.
To see photos of the Hikianalia’s arrival in San Diego and the colorful welcoming ceremony, click here.
After public canoe tours this weekend at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, the Hikianalia will prepare to return to Hawaii in mid-November.
Hikianalia is welcomed to San Diego during its California Voyage. The public can enjoy weekend tours of the technologically advanced Polynesian canoe at the Maritime Museum.Hikianalia docked on San Diego Bay near several historic vessels of the Maritime Museum.
UPDATE!
I stepped aboard the canoe on Sunday!
I learned from a crew member that the canoe primarily uses sail power, but will employ its solar-powered engines when coming into port.
Their ocean voyage has included some research and data collection, including analysis of the fish they catch. DNA is collected and each fish is checked to see whether it has eaten any plastic garbage.
The crew of Hikianalia has also transmitted their positive environmental message to students around the world, working with many schools.
Visitors check out the Hikianalia during its visit to San Diego.This cool dude up on the passenger deck of the Berkeley was playing mellow island music.
As we waited in line, a crew member told us about their current voyage down the California coast, and explained this map of an earlier ocean journey. Their next voyage will be around the Pacific Rim, including a visit to Alaska.Almost to the front of the line!Getting ready to board the Hikianalia.Lots of curious visitors were walking about the wooden deck of the Polynesian voyaging canoe.Everyone had to check out the huge oar-like rudder.Garlands of tropical flowers decorate the bow of Hikianalia.These friendly crew members selling t-shirts smiled for my camera!
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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!
Visitors to the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park prepare to enjoy a short virtual reality tour around San Diego.
During my random walk through Balboa Park today, I stumbled upon something that is unique and really fun! I wandered into the San Diego History Center and was immediately drawn to a sign at the entrance to one gallery that read: Experience San Diego, The Virtual Reality Adventure.
I wasn’t looking to blog anything after my walk today, but this short VR tour around San Diego is so cool, I definitely want to share it!
After having my VR headset strapped on, I suddenly found myself transported to a wide variety of places and events around San Diego. I was standing atop the California Tower in Balboa Park, turning my head to gaze in every direction . . .
Then suddenly I was floating over Oceanside in a hot air balloon . . . standing among hockey players during a San Diego Gulls game . . . riding a helicopter along our beautiful coast . . . right up close among the dolphins at SeaWorld . . . riding the Giant Dipper Roller Coaster at Belmont Park in Mission Beach . . . flying above the desert in Anza Borrego State Park . . . floating on a boat among sea lions on San Diego Bay . . . and much more–all in virtual reality!
The whole experience is made possible by 4DSCI. A ticket costs just five dollars and the virtual reality tour lasts for perhaps ten minutes. If you want to experience San Diego in a whole new way, head down to the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park and check it out!
Experience San Diego, The Virtual Reality Adventure. You will see many cool sights as if you were there in person!Around the corner is the VR Theater…The fun, kid-friendly room where the experience is enjoyed. Chairs swivel so visitors can easily turn and experience the virtual reality in every direction.Cabrillo National Monument is one of the beautiful places that will surround you–as if you are there!
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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 large, welcoming Love City Heights mural greets people along University Avenue near Interstate 15.
There’s a surprising, rapidly expanding outdoor art gallery in San Diego that anybody can freely enjoy. The huge canvases of this unique gallery are the walls of buildings in City Heights, on the stretch of University Avenue between I-805 and I-15.
Eye-catching works of art by noted San Diego and Southern California muralists have recently been painted all along this “drive-through” gallery. And many more will be appearing soon!
I recently enjoyed a walking tour of the colorful murals, led by Carlos Quezada and Edwin Lohr, two members of Love City Heights, an association affiliated with the City Heights Town Council. Carlos and Edwin are both visionaries who are working with local residents, community leaders and businesses to bring new life to this extraordinarily diverse San Diego neighborhood.
An important part of their effort is #theavenuemuralproject. The Avenue Mural Project is using the magic of art to transform University Avenue, which contains City Heights’ Business District, into a vibrant place full of culture, creativity and community pride.
I learned that Carlos has a definite goal. He’d like to have one new street mural painted every month. His hope is that eventually three works of public art will be easily seen from any random spot along “The Avenue”.
I also learned that Love City Heights is collaborating with the City Heights Development Corporation and Mid-City CAN (Community Advocacy Network) to create even more murals east of I-15 through their youth program.
In addition to filling the streets with cool art, Love City Heights is working with business and property owners to transform their historic San Diego neighborhood into a dynamic place where people from all over will come to dine, shop and enjoy themselves. City Heights is the most diverse community in all of San Diego, and is centrally located, with many unique ethnic restaurants that can be found nowhere else. City Heights is uniquely qualified to be an authentic cultural attraction in San Diego.
Would you like to learn more about San Diego’s colorful, rapidly growing “drive-through” art gallery?
Are you an artist, resident or local business owner who’d like to participate in the revitalization of City Heights?
Do you live in San Diego and want something fun to do? Hop in your car or put on your walking shoes, then embark on a voyage of discovery along University Avenue between I-805 and I-15, where you will enjoy an ever-growing gallery of murals!
Here are a few . . .
The first mural painted by The Avenue Mural Project in City Heights contains joyful swirls of many colors! Endless Summer was designed by artist Erin Bowman.The warm San Diego sun shines above stylized waves.The Endless Summer mural was painted by local school children, whose names appear in one corner, along with many positive messages.Earlier this year I posted a photo of this mural on my blog. I hadn’t realized it’s part of a cool outdoor drive-through art gallery in City Heights!Compassion in a City Heights alley. I was told this Amor mural, by @inkpaint and @fabianafoca, is a work in progress.The beautiful tile mosaic “A” is not quite completed.VISUAL painted the wall of a MetroPCS store with a cool image of kids communicating with tin cans and a string.One business along University Avenue had their building painted with a pleasing mural containing elements of nature.Another local store now has happy, inviting murals painted on a side of their building.This fun image depicts kids breaking open a piñata.A mural titled The Garden Party by artists Althea Rose Neff, Gilbert Cota and Alex Malone.A closer photo of The Garden Party mural, on the wall of popular Mexican restaurant Super Cocina.Los Angeles muralist Ruben Rojas, co-founder of Beautify Earth, painted LOVE on the side of 7-Eleven in City Heights.
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 