Tag: travel

A visit to the Oceanside Historical Society.

Walk along the north side of the Oceanside Civic Center and you might spy the door of the Oceanside Historical Society. The unobtrusive glass door is a portal to Oceanside’s past!

Inside Oceanside’s small history center you’ll find dozens of old photographs on several walls. A glass display case contains historical artifacts. One corner of the room is occupied by a model of Oceanside’s famous Top Gun House. Just inside the front door, stairs wind upward and end mysteriously at a wall.

The space occupied by the history center was originally the home of Oceanside’s police department. Those stairs that end in a wall once climbed to a jail on the second floor. Where the jail was located is now part of Fire Station 1, which occupies the same building. The building was designed by famed architect Irving Gill, who apparently didn’t take into account that drunks and belligerents headed for jail would be ascending those steep, winding stairs! And there was a skylight in the jail, too, very convenient for escape!

During my visit earlier this week, I learned the nearby Oceanside Museum of Art will be expanding into both the fire station and history center, and the latter two will be relocated to Civic Center Drive.

Kristi Hawthorne, Director of the Oceanside Historical Society, also told me a little about the police and firefighter artifacts in the display case, including material confiscated from bootleggers during Prohibition. She maintains a great blog called Histories and Mysteries, where you’ll discover all sort of fascinating photos and little known stories from Oceanside’s history.

She explained that the society maintains a huge archive of historical photographs, and is presently digitizing tens of thousands of documents.

I also learned the Oceanside Historical Society leads downtown history walks!

The free walks are held the second Saturday of each month, April through September. If you’d like to participate, check out this web page. (You can also download a guide for a self-guided tour.)

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Michael the pelican on the Oceanside Pier.

Meet an old-timer on the Oceanside Pier–a California Brown Pelican named Michael.

Michael has been hanging around the pier about twenty years, according to Jeff who works at the bait shop. Michael the pelican likes to gobble handouts from passing fishermen.

He likes to watch people walking along the Oceanside Pier, too.

Michael had a foot problem. Humans helped him out and now he’s much better. I could plainly see that he and Jeff were close buddies.

But he doesn’t like strangers to get too close.

How did the bird get its name? Jeff told me that Michael has a tendency to dance around–like Michael Jackson.

(Jeff also explained that Iggy the snowy egret will sometimes join him inside the bait shop. When I happened by today, Iggy, Ziggy and several other egrets were being shy, standing on the bait shop’s roof.)

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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)!

The forgotten Seiko clock in San Diego.

There’s a street clock in downtown San Diego that few seem to know about. It rises at the southwest corner of 7th Avenue and B Street. Perhaps you’ve seen it. Many of the people I’ve questioned over the years haven’t.

The clock is slender and about 20 feet tall, and appears a bit like a sleek, elevated wristwatch–indeed, the word SEIKO appears on the clock’s face.

I did a little research and discovered this “Solar Post Clock” was a gift in 1983 from Seiko to Jacobs & Sons Jewelers, a family business that used to be located on this city corner.

According to an interesting National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors web page, this Seiko street clock is an unusual and novel device that was supposedly the first solar powered clock to be installed in San Diego…. It has a very accurate time only quartz movement and runs on a solar powered battery system that theoretically can run for 90 days without sunshine.

The clock’s hands no longer move. While our San Diego sunshine continues, it seems time eventually ran out for this unique street clock.

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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)!

Lemon Grove Women’s Club history remembered.

An inspiring exhibit at the Lemon Grove Parsonage Museum celebrates friendship and community service. It’s titled Marching Forward.

The history of the Forward Club of Lemon Grove (later known as the Lemon Grove Women’s Club) is detailed with photographs, newspaper clippings and assorted documents. Visitors to the museum can learn about the club’s beginning in early 1913 (when Lemon Grove was a small ranch community) to its “last meeting” in 1998 to its very recent rebirth.

The exhibit describes: The club began, like many of its time, as a place for women to study literature and discuss current events. They didn’t stay inside studying for long; they were soon outside planting trees. In 1922, when the club was just nine years old, they built their own clubhouse… By the 1950s, a time when Lemon Grove was one of the fastest growing communities in the state, the club had 150 members… In 2022 the clubhouse 100th anniversary celebration inspired a group of Lemon Grove women to resurrect the club. They voted to use the historic name, so once again the Forward Club is going about doing good.

Community service that club members have performed over the years include helping the needy, the encouragement of youth, and neighborhood beautification. In addition, cultural events in their old clubhouse brought joy to many.

If you’d like to enjoy a glimpse of Lemon Grove history, and see how a group of pioneering women made (and continue to make) their community a much better place, plan a fun visit to the Parsonage Museum in beautiful Treganza Heritage Park!

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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)!

Mysterious public art in Lemon Grove!

Take a look at this mysterious public art. You can find it by wandering around Treganza Heritage Park in Lemon Grove.

Three simple structures (that I found) seem to have been constructed for seating. Each resembles a fruit packing crate made of marble, and each features a unique lemon growers brand label. Two brands that are recognizable are On Honor Brand and Temptation Brand.

I asked a docent at the nearby Lemon Grove Historical Society & Parsonage Museum about these “marble crates” but he didn’t know they existed. I can find nothing on the internet about them.

Somebody out there must know the history of these very unique seats! If you do, please leave a comment.

The three different label images are faded, and, as you can see, one is now unreadable. I’ve added a lot of contrast to my photographs to bring out as much detail as possible.

This beautiful park was established in 2003 as Civic Center Park. It was renamed Treganza Heritage Park in 2020.

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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)!

Historic U.S. Route 101 signs debut in South Bay!

Thirteen new Historic California US 101 Route Signs have debuted in San Ysidro and Chula Vista, marking where the legendary highway once ran through the South Bay. The signs recall a time when motorists relied on old Highway 101 to travel from San Diego down to Mexico.

The signs, recently installed by the City of San Diego and Chula Vista, are part of a project undertaken by the South Bay Historical Society, led by Jack Gechter. Seven additional signs have been created for National City. Hopefully those will debut soon, too!

Here is Jack’s Facebook page with a post that describes exactly where these new Historic California US 101 Route Signs have been placed.

I walked along Beyer Boulevard in San Ysidro this morning to capture a few photographs. Had I continued north into Chula Vista, where Beyer turns into Broadway, I would have seen more of these awesome new signs!

Here’s a blog post from last summer where I share more details about the project. You’ll find links to maps depicting where U.S. Route 101 once ran south of 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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Extinct mammoth unearthed near Petco Park.

The skull of an extinct Columbian mammoth that was unearthed near Petco Park is presently on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum!

The approximately 500,000 year old fossil, which includes two large molars, was found in 2009 about two blocks from the East Village baseball home of the San Diego Padres. The rare discovery occurred 25 feet below street level, during the construction of Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

Here’s an article about the dig and the rare find.

Visitors to the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park can view the remnants of this Mammuthus columbi on Level 3 near the building’s north stairs. The upside-down skull is massive! These extinct mammals were even larger than woolly mammoths!

Would you like to see early San Diego artifacts found by archaeologists during the grading of Petco Park? If so, click 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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

A damp New Year’s Eve walk in Balboa Park.

It was a bit damp on the morning of New Year’s Eve in Balboa Park. It had rained overnight.

Big weekend crowds wouldn’t turn out until the afternoon, which made my early walk quiet and easy.

I wandered about randomly, turning right or left with no clear destination. The sky was overcast and the air was chilly.

Kids splashed in puddles. Artists were setting up along El Prado. Street musicians were already filling the air with music. Ambitious tourists pointed at new sights, as they explored San Diego’s crown jewel. The faces of friends were already smiling.

Even on a gray, damp, chilly morning, Balboa Park is very alive.

I’m sure in the coming year this special place will bring more joy to you and me.

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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)!

Finding winter beauty in the Zoro Garden.

Visitors to Balboa Park during the winter might walk past the sunken Zoro Garden without seeing its enduring beauty.

On a cold, gray day late in the year, fallen leaves, puddles and a big patch of bare dirt might seem the main attraction of this stone grotto garden. But those who stroll down any of the winding pathways will discover small flowers, surprising color, and perhaps gleaming raindrops on bright green leaves.

Please enjoy these photographs. I took them today on a New Year’s Eve walk through Balboa Park. It had been drizzling earlier in the day.

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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)!

Original site of the San Diego Peace Memorial.

A little-seen plaque in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park marks the original site of the San Diego Peace Memorial. The bronze plaque is located near the corner of San Diego Avenue and Twiggs Street, in an unobtrusive spot behind the Old Town Trolley Tours ticket booth.

The plaque reads: Honoring San Diego’s sons and daughters who lost their lives in the Vietnam War, and remembering those who remain missing. 1964-1975. First dedicated on this site in 1969. Relocated to the Veterans Memorial Center, Balboa Park, 2115 Park Boulevard, San Diego, in 1996.

Back in 1969, volunteers created two concrete monuments on Roman Catholic Diocese land here in Old Town. Plaques listed those from San Diego County who were killed or designated missing in action during the Vietnam War. Two more plaques full of names were added to the San Diego Peace Memorial in 1974. It was one of the first Vietnam War memorials in the United States.

In 1994 the diocese sold the property and the memorial was moved to the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center in Balboa Park.

In 2014, on New Year’s Eve, I visited the the renamed Vietnam Veterans Peace Memorial in Balboa Park.

You can revisit that old blog post by clicking 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 (formerly known as Twitter)!