People in Grape Day Park head toward buildings that are part of the Escondido History Center’s unique Heritage Walk.
Last weekend I enjoyed a fascinating walk around the Escondido History Center!
Several original and reconstructed buildings operated by the Escondido History Center form the Heritage Walk at the north end of Grape Day Park. Anyone who is curious can freely visit the Bandy Blacksmith & Wheelwright Shop, the Penner Barn, the Victorian House, the City’s First Library, and an excellent museum inside Escondido’s old Santa Fe Depot. A very cool Pullman railroad car parked nearby contains a large model train layout!
While I really enjoyed my visit, I still don’t know much about the history of Escondido, so please visit the Escondido History Center’s informative website here.
Come along with me as we head down the Heritage Walk. We’ll make several interesting discoveries!
(Click the photos of signs and they will enlarge for easier reading.)
The functioning Bandy Blacksmith and Wheelwright Shop beckons. (It was closed the day I visited.)The 1947 Bandy Blacksmith Shop was reconstructed in Grape Day Park in 1993. The building is used today for education and blacksmith demonstrations.As we continue down the Heritage Walk, the Penner Barn and nearby windmill come into view.The Penner Barn at Escondido’s Heritage Walk.The 1907 Penner Barn was reconstructed here in 1976 using the original exterior siding and doors. It’s now used by the Escondido History Center for special events.Looking backward through the windmill, we see a vintage Caterpillar tractor parked in front of the Penner Barn.The Victorian House is furnished as it might have been a century ago. It is open to the public for tours. (I didn’t go inside the day I visited.)The Victorian Country House is an 1890 Queen Anne style farmhouse that was moved to this location by the Escondido Historical Society.A small tour group assembles on the front porch of the transplanted farmhouse.This modest building was the very first library in Escondido.Escondido’s First Library opened in 1895. In 1971 the Escondido Historical Society saved it from demolition and moved it to Grape Day Park.Escondido’s original public library is now headquarters for the Escondido History Center.Sign details the mission and work of the Escondido History Center, formerly the Escondido Historical Society, which was founded in 1956.A time capsule buried under the Heritage Walk is to be opened in 2076.The handsome old Santa Fe Depot was moved to Grape Day Park in 1984. It houses the main museum of the Escondido History Center.The platform side of the historic train depot, complete with Western Union sign and vintage baggage cart.Exhibits inside the old train depot concern local history, from the Native American Kumeyaay who lived off the land, through Escondido’s development as a town.A black-and-white photograph on one wall shows Escondido’s Santa Fe Depot.Parked next to the depot’s passenger platform is railroad car number 92, built by the Pullman Company in the 1920s.Inside the railroad car is a huge, detailed model train layout that kids love!Sacks of mail were transported at one end of the railroad car.Visitors inside the old railroad car relax and enjoy another facet of Escondido’s fascinating history!
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Today I headed up to Old Poway Park to enjoy a very cool event. Scenes from the 19th century were being reenacted at the annual Rendezvous in Poway!
History enthusiasts had set up tents and tipis under large beautiful sycamore trees in the park’s grassy area. I learned that the rendezvous participants had been camping in Old Poway Park for several days already, and that local school students came by during the week to learn about life in the Old West during the 1800’s.
The Rendezvous in Poway, which continues this Sunday, features people in costume representing vaqueros, mountain men, cowboys, pioneers, and even members of the cavalry during the Civil War. For a few bucks kids can pan for real gold and families can ride the park’s fun Poway-Midland Railroad loop and watch a mock train robbery! Many of the attractions are free to the public, including a realistic cannon firing demonstration and Professor Tru Lee Bogus’ Traveling Medicine Show.
I also discovered that the Heritage Museum in Old Poway Park is open on weekends. There are many fascinating exhibits inside, and visitors can learn a good deal about the early history of Poway, back when people reached the once-tiny town by stagecoach.
On a pleasant early October afternoon I walked about the Rendezvous in Poway, enjoying many unique sights–and of course I took photos!
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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!
Sculpted clay tiles form beautiful mosaics that were created by artist Betsy Schulz. This is a red-tailed hawk.
On Sunday I walked the length of Solana Beach’s Coastal Rail Trail, which runs along the east side of Highway 101.
I was delighted to observe all sorts of colorful public art, beautiful flowers and trees, and even some unexpected poetry!
My walk was from south to north: from Via de la Valle up to a spot just beyond Ocean Street, where the trail through Solana Beach ends.
The pathway is extremely easy and flat. I saw many families riding bikes along it, and walkers and joggers, too.
Come along with me and read the photo captions.
Two arches by artist Betsy Schulz welcome walkers and riders to Solana Beach’s Coastal Rail Trail at Highway 101 and Via de la Valle.Wild nature on one amazing arch.Local history depicted on both arches includes the native Kumeyaay, who have lived in the region for thousands of years.The arrival of Spanish missionaries is depicted.The history of Solana Beach includes great upheavals and transformations, including the coming of the railroad.Scenes of Solana Beach in the early 20th century.More scenes of Solana Beach in the early 20th century.The City of Solana Beach was incorporated in 1986.Surfing on the timeless Pacific Ocean.
You can see more public art by Betsy Schulz by clicking here and here.
As I continued north on the Coastal Rail Trail, I noticed what appeared to be a crescent moon on the pathway, with a moon poem by Walter de la Mare.A bit farther on I found another glistening moon. This one includes a poem by Emily Dickinson.I then came upon this colorful stained glass sunburst, standing between the pathway and nearby Highway 101!Sunburst of Color, by artist Amber Irwin, 2005. Amber Irwin is a founding member of the Solana Beach Art Association.A small garden beside the Coastal Rail Trail was bright on a late summer day with flowers.An electrical box with painted artwork.Looking over a fence, I saw a Coaster rumbling up the train tracks that run parallel to the trail.Then I stumbled upon a third crescent moon, and a mysterious hat! This poem is also by Emily Dickinson.A water fountain near steps to the Dahlia Drive pedestrian bridge that spans the train tracks. The fountain stands above colorful mosaics.This mosaic is a love gift from the Solana Beach Presbyterian Church.A local youth group made these many cheerful ceramic leaves and flowers.Across the train track I spotted the huge, eye-catching mural by artist Lindu Prasekti. It’s titled Myths at Play.
You can learn more about this very cool mural by clicking here.
I’m passed by bicyclists who are also heading north.Sea life mosaics decorate concrete benches at the bus stop across from the Solana Beach train station. By artist Michelle Griffoul.
You can learn more about these eleven benches and see up close images of the sea life tiles by clicking here.
I’ve come to some steps leading down to the Solana Beach train station platform. Lots of passengers are waiting below.The visually interesting Solana Beach train station was designed by architect Rob Wellington Quigley, and was built in 1994.Another photo of people on a train platform below the Coastal Rail Trail in Solana Beach.Some more colorful art on another electrical box beside the pathway.Red bougainvillea and the Cliff Street bridge over train tracks.A City of Solana Beach plaque on the CLIFF STREET BICYCLE/PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE.As I approached the northern end of Solana Beach, I saw a sign that reads RAIL TRAIL ENDS 500 FT. (At this time the trail doesn’t continue into Cardiff-by-the-Sea.)In addition to the distant ocean, I see something interesting ahead.A monument with a plaque stands near an observation platform beside a small grove of Torrey Pine trees.Some sculptural Torrey Pine artwork on the side of the monument.The plaque explains the history of these few transplanted Torrey Pine trees. Figuring in that complicated history are billboards along the highway and the installation of train tracks.More beautiful artwork, at the north end of Solana Beach’s Coastal Rail Trail.
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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!
Forgive me for posting the following photos. I have a boyish love for trains.
This morning and afternoon I walked along C Street to and from the City College trolley station. I simply had to pause to watch as workers tore up a section of old asphalt and rails running down the center of the street, then later as the workers carefully dumped and leveled new track ballast. I asked one friendly guy who seemed to be supervising if the rails were old and he replied that was the case!
According to some signs, work on this section of trolley tracks will be completed this weekend.
As you can see in the final photo, I wasn’t the only one intrigued by all the activity!
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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!
As I came to the pedestrian bridge over Harbor Drive, the late sunlight produced magic. The space through which I walked and the train tracks below appeared dreamlike.
My eyes were fascinated by light and shadow.
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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!
Travelling by a train is like moving through a dream. The window beside your seat produces ever-changing visions. Glimpses of the world blink past, one after another. Your eyes are subject to a series of momentary impressions.
It can be hard to capture good photographs when riding the train up the coast from San Diego. You’re moving, there’s a dusty window and reflections to deal with, and of course there’s the critical matter of timing. When I snapped photos yesterday during my Coaster train ride from San Diego to Encinitas, most of the images turned out badly blurred and poorly framed.
So I decided to use the Oilify filter of GIMP’s graphics software to transform the photos of my journey into a series of dreamlike oil paintings!
All aboard! We’re about to leave downtown’s Santa Fe Depot . . .
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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!
I was careful to sit on the west side of the Coaster yesterday for my trip from San Diego to Encinitas. The very best views can be enjoyed from that side when riding the train through Del Mar.
I thought it would be fun to take photographs of the natural beauty. As we quickly moved through La Jolla out over Los Peñasquitos Lagoon I had my camera ready.
I snapped photographs nonstop as we flew over the marshy lagoon and past Torrey Pines State Beach, then up along the bluff’s edge toward Seagrove Park.
We were moving so fast that the nearby vegetation was a blur. But my small camera was able to capture the distant sandstone cliffs of Torrey Pines State Reserve, the broad Pacific Ocean’s beautiful white surf, people down below on the beach, and even a line of pelicans flying through the blue sky.
I altered these photos a bit, sharpening them and increasing contrast.
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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!
Paradise Trail marker PT10 rises near the National City Depot museum.
This morning I enjoyed an easy walk down a segment of the Paradise Creek Trail in National City.
I believe this urban trail is brand new. I find almost nothing about it on the internet. Several people I spoke to who work right next to the trail never heard of it. I had never seen the Paradise Trail markers during walks in past years.
The trail, from what I can gather, roughly follows Paradise Creek. My walk started just west of Interstate 5, on Bay Marina Drive, where I spotted markers for the Paradise Trail by the National City Depot museum and the National City Historic Railcar Plaza. I saw more markers as I walked south down Marina Way, just west of Paradise Marsh.
Paradise Creek eventually empties into the Sweetwater River. I believe the sidewalk trail ends at Pepper Park, but I spotted no markers after I passed the Pier 32 Marina and the nearby entrance to the Bayshore Bikeway. Perhaps I wasn’t looking carefully enough.
Want to see more? Years ago I visited an overlook of Paradise Marsh and photographed some informative signs. I also got a little closer to nature by walking down a short dirt trail. You can revisit that old blog post by clicking here.
In the past I also blogged about the National City Depot museum and its cool old streetcars here, the National City Historic Railcar Plaza here, and the Le Bateau Ivre sculpture here.
After I crossed Bay Marina Drive, I spotted an iconic El Camino Real bell near the National City Historic Railcar Plaza.I’m now walking south down Marina Way, looking back at the National City Historic Railcar Plaza.Old railroad tracks run along the west edge of Paradise Marsh.Sunlight illuminates some natural beauty beside the sidewalk trail.Looking back north along the Paradise Creek Trail, between Paradise Marsh and the National City Cement Terminal.Here’s another marker for the Paradise Trail, which I spotted as I headed down Marina Way.A banner on a street lamp says that in National City, Together We Can!As I turned onto West 32nd Street, a big group of bicyclists rode onto the Bayshore Bikeway.Le Bateau Ivre, by artist Alber De Matteis, at the Pier 32 Marina in National City.I spotted this high osprey nesting platform as I walked down Goesno Place, approaching Pepper Park.
Immediately to the west, right on San Diego Bay, the enormous imported car parking lot at the National City Marine Terminal has many of these platforms. I learned during a Port of San Diego harbor tour that ospreys provide effective pigeon control!
A sign describes ospreys, which can often be seen flying above San Diego Bay and our coastal estuaries.Looks like an osprey has collected all sort of odd materials for its huge nest!
And now I’ve turned around, and I’m heading back north along the trail on Marina Way, just west of the marsh… Guess what I saw?
An osprey flies high above Paradise Marsh on a beautiful late December day.Looking past prickly pear at Paradise Marsh from the Paradise Creek Trail in National City.
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A mural titled Cosmic Train of Wisdom, painted in 1989 by local Chicano artist Mario Torero and students from O’Farrell High School of Performing Arts and Roosevelt Junior High School, decorates the back side of a building located on the northwest corner of Park and El Cajon Boulevard.
Today very few people venture around the building to enjoy the faded 100-foot-long, 40-foot-high mural, which depicts a colorful train driven by young people. Optimistic symbolism fills the mural. On the south end of the building, astute passersby will see the historic, animated neon Frank the Trainman sign at the top of a flight of stairs, which form the mural’s triangular cowcatcher.
This was the original location of the Frank the Trainman model railroad store, which Frank Cox opened in the 1940s. He eventually retired and passed his business on to fellow model train buff Jim Cooley, who sold the property to Mission Federal Credit Union in 1987. To honor the history of Frank the Trainman, the architectural firm of Bradshaw and Bundy altered the building’s exterior into the outline of a locomotive, and the Cosmic Train of Wisdom was subsequently painted.
(Jim moved the original train store to today’s location just down Park Boulevard and added to it his own unique collectibles museum, which includes some extremely rare antique automobiles. I blogged about that here.)
I walked behind the building yesterday and took the following photographs of the large, nearly 30 year old mural, to help preserve a little bit of San Diego history…
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Marilyn Monroe of Some Like It Hot, filmed at the Hotel del Coronado, in colorful new street art. Art Outside the Box features decorated utility boxes around Coronado.
As I walked around Coronado before the big Fourth of July parade, I noticed all sorts of cool public artwork I’d never seen before.
Most notably, a whole bunch of utility boxes have recently been jazzed up with images that represent the life and history of Coronado. The project, called Art Outside the Box, is sponsored by The City of Coronado Cultural Arts Commission and Caltrans. I photographed two of the eight boxes. I suppose I’ll swing by the other six some other day.
I also saw a couple of cool public restroom trailers that the City of Coronado uses during special events. I’m not sure how many of these exist, but I do recall seeing one years ago during a walk near the Hotel Del and Coronado Shores. It didn’t occur to me to photograph that one back then!
The two trailers I spied today at either end of Spreckels Park celebrate Coronado’s railroad history and the fun Tent City carousel, which today makes its home in Balboa Park.
Finally, I got some photos of a public piano that had been set up in Rotary Plaza. A plaque on it suggests that people passing by Sit a Spell and Play a Tune! It’s covered with images of Coronado landmarks.
Very cool!
Forgive me for being ignorant and not identifying this face. UPDATE! Sharon left a comment indicating this is Jim Morrison. He lived in San Diego as a child and his parents lived in Coronado.And I can’t identify this person either! UPDATE! Sharon identified this as Bela Lugosi! He performed in San Diego, but I can find no Coronado connection…Art Outside the Box celebrates Coronado’s zip code 92118.Surf breaks on a utility box. Coronado is not a true island, even if it’s almost entirely surrounded by water.Unusual public restroom trailers used during city events each celebrate a different aspect of Coronado history.Sign describes the history of Coronado’s railroads. John D. Spreckels built a line that went up the Silver Strand, bringing passengers to the Hotel del Coronado and Tent City.Graphic on restroom trailer shows the faces peering from a streetcar that ran along Orange Avenue to the original ferry landing.All aboard!Another restroom trailer features images from Coronado’s historic carousel at Tent City.The old Tent City carousel moved away from Coronado in 1922. Today it offers rides to young and old alike in Balboa Park!The carousel was built in 1910 by Herschell Spillman Co. in North Tonawanda, New York.Sign describes the golden age of carousels and the history of one beloved merry-go-round that lives on in San Diego.Another photo of the trailer.If these images seem familiar, you might have seen them in Balboa Park, where the historic carousel provides rides today!A cool public piano had been placed in Rotary Plaza during Coronado’s Fourth of July Celebration.Sit a Spell and Play a Tune!The public piano is decorated with memorable landmarks found around Coronado.A look at the top of the piano.One more side of the Popcorn utility box. Orville Redenbacher was a famous resident of Coronado!
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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!
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