Tag: trolley station

Reflection pergola at Stadium trolley plaza.

Walking from the Stadium trolley station to Snapdragon Stadium, you might have noticed this distinctive structure. It has a name. The Mike and Christine Pack Reflection Pergola offers several tables and a shady resting place in the wide plaza north of the trolley station.

This article, which concerns the SDSU Mission Valley river park, contains a description of the pergola:

The central focal point of the trolley plaza is the Mike and Christine Pack Reflection Pergola, which draws inspiration from the river and ewaa (dome-shaped shelters) used by the early Kumeyaay. These shelters were built from branches and covered with leaves from willow, tule or other plants.

I was surprised to discover a small but beautiful mosaic near one table!

I love how the lighting structures in my next photograph appear organic–like tall grass bending in the wind, or trees with slender stems.

The SDSU Mission Valley river park has become a favorite place to walk on a sunny San Diego day.

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Vintage trolley runs on Presidents’ Day!

Good old San Diego Trolley car number 1001 is running in downtown today. It operates along the Silver Line loop during holidays–and today is Presidents’ Day!

The red light rail vehicle was the first modern trolley car to operate, back in 1981. Today families and excited kids were riding the iconic car. Me too!

Mysterious symbols at SDSU trolley station!

Mysterious symbols and figures can be seen at your feet when you stand on the passenger platform at the SDSU trolley station. Lean over in the dim light and look closely. What are they?

The mystery is solved when you learn these symbols are part of a larger public art installation at the SDSU Transit Center. In 2005, when San Diego’s only underground trolley station first opened, artist Anne Mudge and the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) debuted the art.

What you’ve discovered at your feet is called Stepping Stones. As this page on Anne Mudge’s website explains: Etched into the surfaces of 60 granite “stepping stones” are symbols of various cultural and academic disciplines found on the SDSU campus. The granite stones interrupt and redirect the linear flow of bricks around them, just as ideas impact the surrounding intellectual and cultural environments.

Visit the above link for descriptions of other works in this art installation, which are visible inside and around the SDSU Transit Center.

Students waiting at the trolley station can step from ideas to microchips to the Earth to people to atoms…

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Riverwalk San Diego development seen from trolley.

If you’ve recently traveled on the Green Line of the San Diego Trolley between the Morena/Linda Vista and Fashion Valley stations, you’ve seen renewed construction activity to the north of the tracks. That half of the old Riverwalk golf course is being replaced by Riverwalk San Diego, a massive project now under development!

I saw all this activity through the trolley window a couple days ago and took several photos.

If, like me, you’re curious about this project in the heart of Mission Valley, check out their website here and see a map of what is coming. Riverwalk San Diego will include 4,300 homes (including 430 affordable homes), 152,000 square feet of retail, one million square feet of office, and 97 acres of parks and open space, including a restored San Diego River and a 55-acre regional park.

You might notice there will be a new trolley station, too!

This webpage includes a project update.

I look forward to watching everything come together as I ride the Green Line and walk around in the many days to come. I’ll likely post more photos.

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Fun holiday decorations in the Gaslamp Quarter!

Another batch of fun holiday photos!

I took these this morning during a walk through the Gaslamp Quarter–mostly up Fifth Avenue. The Gaslamp trolley station was decorated, as were many restaurants, bars, hotels and store windows.

This year there are even inflatables and Christmas trees on patios and sidewalks. Some businesses are going all out!

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Pollinator garden planted near Lemon Grove Depot!

A week ago, members of the Lemon Grove volunteer group Revitalize Broadway planted an extensive pollinator garden next to the Lemon Grove Depot trolley station, in what is called Promenade Park. I first read about the project here. I saw the garden today!

Keep in mind the new plants are very small now, but they’ll grow and eventually fill out the garden spaces.

Several informative plaques among the new plantings explain the benefits of native plants, and how they attract a variety of local wildlife, including beneficial insects like butterflies and bees.

If you’d like to learn more about the Revitalize Broadway group and their positive community efforts, click here. Do you live in Lemon Grove? Why not join these good people?

What did I see today?

One plaque describes the life cycle of the monarch butterfly.

Another plaque explains the migration of monarch butterflies and how certain plants provide food sources for declining butterfly populations. Pictured are Yarrow, California Lilac, Pozo Blue Sage, Pacific Aster and Narrow Leaved Milkweed.

Another part of the new garden is slightly depressed and resembles a dry creek. It’s called a rain garden.

Designed to be environmentally friendly, it will help valuable rain water permeate the ground and act as a natural filter.

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If you’d like to see San Diego through my lens, find the “Follow” box in the sidebar to receive new posts in your email, or bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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Navy SEAL Museum San Diego gets ready to open!

The new Navy SEAL Museum San Diego is almost ready to open! Opening day is Saturday, October 4, 2025. That’s less than three weeks away!

This afternoon, walking past downtown’s One America Plaza building, I noticed the black marble pedestal that will support a Navy SEAL frogman statue has been installed outside. You can see it in my first two photographs. The nearby America Plaza trolley station is in the background.

I also observed new graphics have appeared near the museum’s front entrance!

Abandon Self – Embrace Team… The Deed is All – Not the Glory… Be Someone Special… The Only Easy Day was Yesterday

Responsibility – Service – Commitment – Discipline

Join the Team.

Here’s the museum’s website if you’d like to learn more.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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Archaic Passage at the Old Town Transit Center.

Travelers at the Old Town Transit Center might find themselves walking through an underground passageway. The tunnel safely crosses beneath the San Diego Trolley and train tracks. In this shadowy place curious eyes will encounter public art titled Archaic Passage.

Not in a hurry to catch your bus or other transportation? There are plaques on either end of the passageway that you can read. They provide information about this unique art…

“ARCHAIC PASSAGE”

COMMISSIONED BY SAN DIEGO METROPOLITAN TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT BOARD JUNE 1996

DESIGNED BY SAN DIEGO ARTIST PAUL HOBSON, “ARCHAIC PASSAGE” CELEBRATES THE ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF OLD TOWN, FROM NATIVE AMERICAN TO CONTEMPORARY TIMES. ART MATERIALS USED–CARRIZO CANE, WOOD, STUCCO, ADOBE, BRICK, CLAY ROOF AND DECORATIVE TILES–REPRESENT BUILDING MATERIALS USED TO BUILD OLD TOWN. EACH GEOLOGICAL STRATA-LIKE WAVE REFLECTS A SIGNIFICANT ARCHITECTURAL STYLE.

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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.

Feel free to share!

Eat at a farm next to Snapdragon Stadium!

Did you know there’s a farm immediately next to Snapdragon Stadium’s parking lot?

Did you know that on Saturdays this farm is open to the public and offers a café and fresh vegetable stand? (Not to mention tours and fun activities.)

Yes!

The MAKE Farm is a Community-Supported Agricultural (CSA) Program that empowers refugees and immigrant women. So when you eat here, you’re helping other people as well!

MAKE Farm is located immediately south of the large Snapdragon Stadium parking lot, a little east of the Stadium trolley station. According to signs I spotted today, their offerings include Garden Veggie Wraps and Yogurt Parfaits, and you get a free cookie during your visit, too!

Going to a Saturday game at the stadium? Enjoy a unique and healthy lunch in the outdoors here.

I suppose I’ll have to swing by some weekend!

Late last year, before they opened their on-site café, I toured the farm. You can see that blog post 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.

Feel free to share!

Gaslamp trolley umbrellas for Comic-Con.

San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) workers were testing a new development at the Gaslamp Quarter trolley station this morning. They were setting up that large umbrella in my photo!

I learned that during upcoming Comic-Cons and other similar events near the San Diego Convention Center, temporary umbrellas will be installed at the station platform to provide shade. One of the umbrellas, I was told, will shade a spot for police canines. Dogs can overheat in San Diego’s summer sunshine!

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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.

Feel free to share!