There’s a secret bench in Balboa Park that works magic. Very few visitors to the park ever see it.
Sit on this bench, look down, and suddenly before your feet colorful stars, planets and creatures appear!
This magic bench is in an out-of-the-way corner of Balboa Park, just north of Spanish Village Art Center, at the east edge of the small parking lot. In the above photo you can see the green grass of the nearby Balboa Park Miniature Railroad.
Should you sit on this magic bench, what might you see?
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The Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park is always beautiful. Even between winter showers.
As I walked down into the Lower Garden today, I noticed great progress has been made on JFG’s big new waterfall.
I spied other construction, too! A special space is now being built where outdoor weddings can be held among all the natural beauty.
Expert, artistic pruning in the Upper Garden.Naked branches during winter. Grays among greens.Today is JFG’s “free entry for residents” third Tuesday. Several folks were setting up on the patio, including the garden’s long-time beekeeper! She showed me this wood home constructed for native bees.Heading into the Lower Garden a few minutes after the Japanese Friendship Garden opened.Looking across the canyon, I could see how the big new waterfall appears just about finished.Walking down one of the garden’s special paths.I was surprised to see a new area under construction. A worker told me this little plaza will be for outdoor weddings.This path leading up to the new waterfall is still closed.A structure near the new waterfall. I was told special events will be held up there.I can’t wait for the new waterfall to be activated!These stairs will allow visitors to climb toward the top of the waterfall.Beauty is abundant down in the Lower Garden.A rain chain at one corner of the Inamori Pavilion is dripping! After taking this photo, I hurriedly put my camera under my jacket.
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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 Twitter!
The beautiful fountain splashing in the Oceanside Civic Center plaza has special symbolism that is revealed on a nearby plaque. The plaque, commemorating Andrew Jackson Myers, founder of Oceanside, can be found on a wall just north of the fountain, near the entrance to the Civic Center library.
As the plaque explains, not only was Andrew Jackson Myers the founder of Oceanside, but he created the Oceanside Water Company, critical to the city’s early development. And the fountain where water flows and splashes is the site of his homestead!
The colorful tiles leading down to the fountain represent the San Luis Rey River, which was the original source of Oceanside’s water supply.
(Here’s a great article concerning Oceanside’s water history.)
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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 Twitter!
Did you know the world’s first ever controlled glider flight took place in Otay Mesa? This important late 19th century breakthrough, which preceded the invention of motorized airplanes, was the achievement of John J. Montgomery.
There’s an exhibit at the San Diego Air and Space Museum that explores the life of Montgomery and his important contributions to aviation history. Photographs, ephemera, rare documents and a video tell his story. I noticed the display today when I visited the museum in Balboa Park.
I immediately took interest because I have visited the impressive monument to Montgomery’s first controlled heavier-than-air flight. It stands upon a hilltop south of Chula Vista in West Otay Mesa. A couple years ago I blogged about the Montgomery Memorial and posted information and photographs here.
One thing I was surprised to learn while watching the exhibit’s video is that a movie was made in 1946 about John J. Montgomery’s history-making flight. It’s titled Gallant Journey and stars Glenn Ford!
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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 Twitter!
In 2022, the University Heights Historical Society placed a historical marker at the intersection of Park Boulevard and Adams Avenue. The sign stands near the remains of the entrance to the long-vanished Harvey Bentley’s Ostrich Farm!
The City of San Diego describes Historical Landmark No. 346 as: Mission Cliff Gardens Cobblestone Wall and Related Features.
One can see similar stone posts a couple blocks to the east at Trolley Barn Park. Cobblestones structures (and images of ostriches) are frequently seen throughout University Heights!
The sign explains:
This was once the entrance to Harvey Bentley’s Ostrich Farm, established in 1904. Nearby are the remains of a waiting station and drinking fountain for the #11 streetcar that brought scores of visitors from downtown to University Heights to see the ostriches as well as Mission Cliff Gardens and William Hilton’s Silk Mill. The streetcar was part of the 165-mile San Diego Electric Railway network, established in 1892 by visionary entrepreneur John D. Spreckels.
Here are two public domain images of the ostrich farm…
Just for fun, I photographed an ostrich painted at Yipao Coffee, a short distance south on Park Boulevard…
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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!
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Two tours in one! That’s what it felt like today when I explored San Diego’s harbor on a SEAL Tours boat with wheels!
It was my very first time experiencing one of these unique tours.
Passengers boarded the amphibious SEAL vehicle at Seaport Village and started down Harbor Drive along San Diego’s beautiful Embarcadero. We passed the airport and Spanish Landing and entered Point Loma. All the while, our tour guide (the boat’s first mate), provided a fun and spirited narration. My love of San Diego was renewed once again.
At the Shelter Island boat ramp we seamlessly entered San Diego Bay and headed out across the sparkling water!
Of course there were amazing views of downtown San Diego across the gentle water. And, of course, we had to swing by the bait dock near the entrance to the bay where sea lions entertained kids with their antics.
We saw several Navy facilities and were surprised to learn how super high-tech robot ships are autonomously interdicting drug smugglers. We also saw where the Navy trains sea lions and dolphins to detect underwater objects. And we saw the R/P FLIP, a very long, very strange Scripps research vessel that plunges 90 degrees into the ocean to become a sort of floating tower! There was so much cool stuff to see, I couldn’t begin to describe it all.
The tour was a lot of fun. Our guide, Bret, was a ham and everyone was always smiling and laughing. Personally, I learned quite a lot about my city that I hadn’t known before.
Are you a San Diego resident? This month–January–Old Town Trolley Tours is offering locals free rides. That includes the SEAL Tours, which they operate!
If you do partake of this harbor experience, make sure to bring a jacket. The wind out on the bay can be quite chilly!
Here’s a tiny taste of the experience…
Both the captain and first mate were really nice. As we got started visual aids helped to explain the coming attractions.Two huge cruise ships were docked on the Embarcadero today.Passing the beautiful, historic Star of India, world’s oldest active sailing ship.We’ve arrived at Shelter Island, where we saw many boats moored in America’s Cup Harbor.About to enter San Diego Bay! How cool is this?The transition to water is so smooth you hardly notice it.Another perfect San Diego day.Hello!The bait dock had everyone taking a million photos. Those sea lions are digesting their breakfast.How cute!A bunch of cormorants were hanging out on this section.A view of downtown San Diego skyscrapers over the large naval air base on Coronado’s North Island.That narrow ship on the right operates autonomously. If it detects a drug runner out on the Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard is notified.Here’s where sea lions are trained by the U.S. Navy. We learned they are actually a bit more intelligent than dolphins.Here comes another SEAL Tour! That’s Harbor Island behind it.Back to land! Before heading again down city streets, our captain checked for seaweed caught in the wheels!
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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 Twitter!
Not far from the front entrance to the Hotel del Coronado grows a tree you might have seen in a classic movie.
It’s the Dragon Tree, which appears briefly in the 1958 comedy Some Like it Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.
Here’s a page on the Hotel Del’s website about the filming of Some Like it Hot. In the movie the world-famous Victorian beach resort is called the Seminole Ritz.
When I was walking around the Hotel del Coronado late last month, I noticed the unusual Dragon Tree and then a nearby plaque…
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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 Twitter!
If you’ve ever traveled by Amtrak or Coaster train through the Carlsbad Poinsettia station, you might’ve seen this fun artwork on the back of a fence!
I got off at the train station during my last Carlsbad adventure and took photographs!
At the south end of the station’s west platform, a pathway leads a short distance along the tracks before turning past residences toward the beach. From this path there’s a good view of the fence art.
I quickly asked the conductor of the Coaster, who was out on the platform making sure all passengers had boarded, if he knew anything about this folksy art. He told me it had been there for years and years–as long as he could remember.
The fence is painted blue, and it is populated by fish, a shark, birds and other ocean creatures. At the center of it all a small fishing boat, occupied by a mannequin, is suspended as if floating on water. At the left end of the scene, a surfer rides a three-dimensional tubular wave!
Do you know anything about this delightful fence? Leave a comment!
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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 Twitter!
I came across historical photographs of three buildings in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter that were taken in 1960. These photos, resulting from the Historic American Buildings Survey, were taken by an employee of the U.S. National Park Service, and are consequently in the public domain.
I thought it would fascinating to post a “then and now” blog, comparing the 1960 photographs of these buildings with how they appear at the beginning of 2023. That’s a span of almost 63 years. By looking carefully, you can notice changes that were made.
The first building is located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Market Street. It’s called the Backesto Building. When built in 1873, it stood at the center of New Town’s original business district.
According to a historical plaque, the grocer and general merchandise firm Klauber and Levi occupied the ground floor from 1878 to 1886. San Diego Hardware would occupy the building from 1892 to 1922. Its exterior reflects the turn-of-the-century style.
The Backesto Building, photographed in 1960.The Backesto Building, photographed in 2023.
The second building is also at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Market Street. It’s called the McGurck Block and was built in 1887.
The Ferris and Ferris Drug Store occupied this building from 1903 to 1984. I once blogged how the father of actor Gregory Peck worked there as the night druggist.
The building was also a post office and ticket booth for the Coronado Ferry. The upper floors of the three-story Italianate building were known as the Hotel Monroe in 1929.
The McGurck Block, photographed in 1960.The McGurck Block, photographed in 2023.
Finally, there’s the adjacent I.O.O.F. Building at Market Street and Sixth Avenue.
I.O.O.F. stands for Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
The 1882 building was a joint effort of the Masonic and Odd Fellows Lodges.
The Classical Revival building took almost a decade to complete. The cornerstone contains valuable coins, historic documents, and a stone from Soloman’s Temple!
I.O.O.F. Building, photographed in 1960.I.O.O.F. Building, photographed in 2023.
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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 Twitter!
For over a hundred years, curious visitors have descended into Sunny Jim Cave in La Jolla. I recently ventured down into the sea cave for my very first time! And I’m glad I did!
What was this small adventure like?
North of La Jolla Cove is a series of sea caves, with entrances that can be approached by water. One of the openings is to Sunny Jim Cave.Visitors to The Cave Store can descend via tunnel into famous Sunny Jim Cave.Historical Landmark No. 380. Tunnel & Cave Store – 1902. The City of San Diego.Artwork in the Cave Store depicts someone sitting on a rock inside Sunny Jim Cave.History of the Cave. In 1902, a German entrepreneur named Prof. Gustav Schultz commissioned two Chinese workers to dig a tunnel into the sea cave through the cliffs of La Jolla with the idea of charging visitors a few cents to enter…During Prohibition, alcohol was smuggled through the tunnel and into San Diego…Its nickname, Sunny Jim, comes from the resemblance of (its) silhouette to that of an old cereal mascot named Sunny Jim.Starting down narrow stairs into the steeply sloping tunnel.145 steps…All persons entering this cave do so at their own risk.Here we go!I’ve been inside mines, and this experience feels similar.The stairs descend around several turns. In places the ceiling is rather low, and I had to stoop while carefully holding onto the railing.When people pass in the narrow tunnel, it’s a tight squeeze! The wooden steps become more wet and slippery the farther down we go…Almost there. The rock above and around is very damp now.Walking out onto the wooden deck just inside Sunny Jim Cave.The profile of Sunny Jim becomes apparent.Several people were already on the deck, gazing out at ocean waves surging into the cave.Sea lions sometimes hang out in the cave, but there were none when I visited.
The cave’s name Sunny Jim was suggested by Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum. Sunny Jim was the prominent-nosed mascot for Force, the first commercially successful wheat flake breakfast cereal!
Cool San Diego Sights! 