Half a dozen lowriders exhibited at the San Diego Automotive Museum have begun their departure. The exhibition was called Low and Slow: A Celebration of Lowriders. But now room on the museum’s floor is being made for fast, shiny Ferraris!
The new exhibit, opening on August 30th, 2025, will concern the evolution of Ferraris–from street to track. I learned sports cars to be displayed include a Ferrari 360, 550, 430, 308 and more!
I love how the San Diego Automotive Museum frequently changes vehicles in their 17,000 square foot exhibit space. Every time I visit, I find something new!
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An important exhibition of historical photographs is now on display at Liberty Station in Point Loma.
A new exhibit space, inside Liberty Station’s old Quarters D building, features photographs by famed World War II era photographer Edward Steichen and his colleagues. The free exhibition is titled Memories of the Greatest Generation.
The newly opened exhibit space operates as a satellite for the Maritime Museum of San Diego. The photographs are in the Maritime Museum’s collection.
Historical photographs portray military ships, airplanes and personnel operating at sea in the Pacific Theatre during World War II.
Renowned artist Edward Steichen and his team of eight photographers were commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1942 to document the war. They were called the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit. Over the next four years, most of their work would be aboard aircraft carriers. They created about 15,000 photographs.
Many of these excellent photographs are emotionally powerful. In my opinion, the best images include sailors, submariners and aviators, ordinary people doing their best in difficult wartime circumstances.
Should you look for the old Quarters D building (location of the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s new exhibit space)–it’s at the corner of Rosecrans Street and Dewey Road. Watch for Maritime Museum signs. You can find parking down the hill a short distance away.
Also, watch for friendly museum volunteers! They are pleased to tell you all about this great historical 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.
Residents of La Mesa and history buffs who live in and around San Diego should experience the McKinney House Museum, headquarters of the La Mesa History Center.
Last weekend I paid a visit.
The historical museum occupies a modest house that was built by Henry Albert McKinney in 1908. He was a Methodist minister, librarian and operator of a furniture store.
The McKinney family lived on two floors that appeared much as they do today. The McKinney House Museum’s seven rooms have been furnished to reflect the period between 1908 and 1920, and many of the objects visitors encounter were actually owned by the family.
The kitchen, dining room, living room, a room used by boarders, and the upstairs bedrooms are all open to the public. Numerous signs provide information concerning the history of the place.
In 1975 the house was acquired by the La Mesa Historical Society. The year 2025 is the all-volunteer organization’s 50th anniversary!
My photographs provide just a hint of what you might see. You’ll have to imagine how the house once stood in a larger lot full of lemon trees, and had a vegetable garden, rabbits and chickens.
The free McKinney House Museum, at 8369 University Avenue, is typically open on Saturdays, from 1 pm to 4 pm. School and group tours can be arranged. Here’s the website.
When I arrived on Saturday afternoon the museum appeared to be closed, but I found several friendly individuals in a small building in a corner of the property, where the La Mesa History Center archives are kept. The McKinney House was graciously opened for me and the lights turned on.
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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.
Is it possible that more hidden treasure will be found in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park?
The adobe walls of a room inside the Casa de Machado y Silvas are undergoing restoration. Do these walls contain additional secrets?
During a past restoration of the same Machado y Silvas building, an incredible treasure was found. Important historical papers concerning early San Diego resident Allen Light were found inside the adobe walls!
As I explained in a past blog post: Historical documents discovered by archeologists hidden in the Casa de Machado y Silvas shed light on the life of San Diego resident Allen B. Light. He was also know as the “Black Steward.” Allen arrived in California during the 1830s, aboard the sailing ship Pilgrim, the same vessel that brought Richard Henry Dana Jr. who would later write Two Years Before the Mast.
One document was “a sailor’s protection,” which proclaimed Light was a “coloured man, a free man, and a citizen of the United States of America.” The second document was his commission from the Mexican Governor of Alta California to investigate illegal sea otter hunting along the coast.
If you’re curious what might be found during the present restoration, you can follow Old Town San Diego State Historic Park’s Facebook page here or their Instagram here.
Will a stash of coins be found? A skeleton? More valuable documents? Nothing at all? You can submit your best guess by clicking here!
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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.
One might expect beach blankets on the sand and picnics on the grass around San Diego’s sunny Mission Bay. But a vineyard?
Well, yes!
A small working vineyard can be found below the patio of the Mission Bay Beach Club. With its Superbloom vegan coffee shop, yoga classes, artisan market, wine tastings and view of the nearby water, the unique gathering place is a hipster’s paradise.
The other day I walked past the distinctive building that is now home of the Mission Bay Beach Club.
As I walked past the landmark structure, which was built in 1969 by architect Richard Lareau, I recalled how decades ago it housed the Mission Bay Visitors Information Center. Travelers arriving in San Diego on Interstate 5 could exit at Clairemont Drive and learn all about our city’s attractions.
Before it eventually became the Mission Bay Beach Club, the building sat vacant for years.
In the 1980s, I used to shoot hoops at the nearby basketball courts with ordinary guys from the neighborhood. Those courts have been neglected, dismantled.
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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.
A new exhibit opened yesterday at the House of Mexico cottage in San Diego’s Balboa Park. The history and culture of the Mexican state of Hidalgo is celebrated with displays of art, crafts, dolls, fashion, photographs and more!
Hidalgo is a small state in central Mexico, located directly north of Mexico City. It is known for its mining history. Hidalgo has its own unique attractions, including local traditions, picturesque towns and architecture, thermal springs, and beautiful natural landscapes. The objects on display inside the House of Mexico’s cottage help to show why Hidalgo is a popular tourist destination.
Friendly members of the House of Mexico welcomed me to their cottage and happily explained what I was seeing. But you must see all the color yourself! Just head over to Balboa Park’s always fascinating International Cottages.
I was told the House of Mexico welcomes new members. Anyone can join. Even I was invited! You can visit their website here.
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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.
A major project to modernize and beautify Lemon Grove’s Parsonage Museum was recently completed. The home of the Lemon Grove Historical Society has a brand new paint job! And new interior lighting!
You might recall how the exterior of the historic structure used to be almost entirely the same yellow. The new paint job tastefully adds a bit of texture and Victorian personality, with the addition of different yellows (including one that seemed to me slightly lime green), and small green highlights. (Appropriately for historically agricultural Lemon Grove, the colors of citrus fruit!) You can see for yourself in my photographs, which were taken today.
LED lighting has also been installed in the ceiling of both floors of the museum, providing much more light (particularly upstairs) with, importantly, no damaging ultraviolet output.
If you’ve never visited the Parsonage Museum, you really should. The old house’s history in Lemon Grove (it began in 1897 as the community’s first church) is on display, as well as exhibits concerning notable people, places and events in Lemon Grove.
Soon, I was told, a new exhibit will be installed concerning the 2012 Lemon Grove Little League Senior Division’s amazing run all the way to the Senior League World Series, where they won the West Region Tournament!
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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.
I discovered a colorful “I Am San Diego” lifeguard tower in Mission Bay Park today! It overlooks the water a bit north of the San Diego Mission Bay Resort.
The lifeguard tower is decorated with images that represent the vibrancy of life in our city. It’s part of the “I Am San Diego” citywide project that was launched last year. San Diegans are encouraged to share their San Diego stories and experiences on social media using the hashtag #IAmSanDiego. Learn more about it here.
Lifeguard towers are an iconic sight in sunny San Diego. This one definitely attracts beachgoers for a closer look.
I really love how lively this lifeguard tower has become!
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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.
Few people visit the northeast corner of vast Balboa Park, a quiet area bordering 28th Street in North Park. This is the home of Bird Park with its picnic benches, playgrounds, and expanses of green grass. It is also the home of a lush Monarch Waystation.
West of 28th Street, south of Thorn Street, the beautiful Monarch Waystation includes winding paths through milkweeds and nectar sources that shelter and sustain monarch butterflies as they migrate through San Diego.
When I walked the paths about a week ago, I noticed many monarch butterflies flitting here and there, and I attempted to capture them with my camera–but to no avail. I did take these photographs, however. They show what a fine, tranquil garden this is. No wonder. It has been adopted by the California Native Plant Society.
If you’d like to learn more about the Monarch Waystation Program, or would like information on how you can support butterfly populations, click this link.
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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.
San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park is undergoing a transformation. Gardens are being created around the newly renovated Botanical Building and the Lily Pond.
Phase 2 of the Botanical Building and Gardens revitalization project includes the creation of a new Entry Garden along either side of the long Lily Pond. New plants will be introduced where thin strips of grass now stretch along the water’s edge.
Today I observed workers digging up the grass on the west side of the Lily Pond.
This article explains that the Entry Garden will greet visitors along the Lily Pond with bold, high-contrast plantings in pink and lime green, including Agave Blue Flame.
One effect of this change, I suppose, is the pond will be more protected from human encroachment. The ducks might appreciate this. So, too, might parents with young children teetering at the water’s edge.
I look forward to seeing the result of this transformation. More gardens around the Botanical Building will likely mean more beauty!
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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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 