The new river park at SDSU Mission Valley is noticeably taking form. Particularly on the north side of the Stadium trolley station.
I got off the trolley near Snapdragon Stadium today and observed that many plants and trees have already been introduced to parts of the river park. My first batch of photos shows planted areas north of the elevated trolley tracks.
The large area south of the tracks still appears rather barren, but I’m sure that will be changing before too long! Last I read, SDSU Mission Valley’s new river park should be completed later this year.
I previously blogged that mile markers around a long looping path are being created by renowned local artist James Hubbell.
The following two renderings on a nearby construction fence are handy for comparison.
In the first rendering, that’s the north side of the park in the foreground. Note the interesting shade structure…
And here’s the river park’s south side, which will feature wide expanses of grass…
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Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley officially opened today! The SDSU Aztecs are beginning their 2022 football season today with a big game against Arizona!
Before the game, a fun, festive Aztec Village was attracting a huge crowd of students, cheerleaders and fans outside the new stadium!
I watched as thousands streamed in from the Stadium trolley station, which also opened today, after a long closure due to the surrounding construction. I noticed that the river park and other areas around Snapdragon Stadium are very far from completed.
I hope to check out the new San Diego River park with its James Hubbell public artwork once it opens! Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, enjoy photos of all the “Grand Opening Day” fun outside Snapdragon Stadium!
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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!
A new trolley wrap has appeared for 2022 Comic-Con! This one celebrates crossover cosplaying!
Over the years, I’ve seen all sorts of cool cosplay mash-ups, utilizing some of the most unexpected character combinations. I suppose that during Comic-Con this year, some of that crossover cosplay magic might be found while riding the San Diego Trolley!
This is another wrap promoting Amazon Prime Video. It appears they will have a major footprint at Comic-Con. Of course, their epic series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is highly anticipated by many, particularly lovers of Middle Earth and Tolkien’s class novels!
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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!
The 47th Street station of the San Diego Trolley has newly painted public art! A mural along a low wall beside one platform is the work of San Diego artist Maxx Moses.
I stepped off the Orange Line today and took photographs of the cool new artwork!
According to this article, the long mural you are looking at is titled Seamless. Its theme is human connectivity through transit. I see that differently colored patterns combine and link to one another.
I’m not sure whether this artwork is completed. I’ll swing by during a future city adventure to see what might develop.
You can experience more art by Maxx Moses at three other San Diego Trolley stations, here and here and here!
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Look what I discovered during my travels today! New public artwork is now being painted on two low walls by the trolley station platform at the Euclid Transit Center!
When I saw the distinctive style, I guessed that the artist is Maxx Moses, who has other trolley station murals here and here. When I got home, I found this article confirming my suspicion!
And Maxx Moses will be painting a big wall at the nearby 47th Street trolley station, too! It’s part of a cool MTS project to enliven the Orange Line!
This Euclid Avenue Station art, titled Blossom, will eventually include many painted marigolds. Marigolds represent life’s fragility and spiritual endurance in Mexican culture. You often see these flowers during Dia de los Muertos.
I’ll post updated images at some point in the future!
UPDATE!
I visited the Euclid trolley station again in late February and took some more photos. I’m not sure whether the artwork is finished or still a work in progress…
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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!
Some very colorful abstract art was spray painted last month on a long wall beside the Massachusetts Avenue trolley station parking lot. The artist is Maxx Moses, whose distinctive work can be found all over San Diego.
The first time I glimpsed this mural I was riding the Orange Line. With sudden surprise and excitement, I jumped off.
I love the murals of Maxx Moses, they are so jammed with creativity and imagination. They often show technology fused with ancient culture, producing unique images of humanity that make you simply stand and stare with wonder. His artwork is simultaneously weird and familiar. All of it is filled with heart.
(Perhaps you recall seeing photos of another phenomenal mural he helped to create at the 62nd Street/Encanto trolley station, which just is a short ride up the Orange Line. If you haven’t, they are here!)
To view more cool art by Maxx Moses, check out his Instagram page here!
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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!
Veterans are conspicuously honored at the new VA Medical Center trolley station. The station opened for service last month as part of the San Diego Trolley’s Mid-Coast extension. If you’d like to see photos from the Blue Line extension’s big opening day, click here.
Plaques and flags representing five branches of the United States Armed Services, and words like Duty and Sacrifice embedded in the station’s platform, salute those who’ve worked to defend our nation and the freedoms we enjoy.
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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 usually use a combination of buses and trolleys for my work commute. I also ride different routes all around the city on weekends for my photographic adventures. (Old walking legs must be rested occasionally!)
I’ve been less active than usual lately, so my blogging material at the moment is sparse. But I do have one folder on my computer containing past images that were captured while riding the bus!
If we’re stopped and the window is clean, I can get crisp shots. Other shots are rather blurry. They all provide a momentary glimpse of our city’s life.
These photos are unedited, just scaled down a little. If you can identify all of the San Diego locations, you win a smile!
(Yes, one photo wasn’t taken while riding a bus, but as I waited at the Fashion Valley Transit Center. The skateboarder and ducks were simply perfect.)
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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!
A couple weekends ago, the day the San Diego Trolley’s Mid-Coast Extension opened, I got off the Blue Line and explored the area around the new UC San Diego Central Campus station. I noticed that a “plaza” beneath the elevated station was paved with lots of words and phrases that could be read in opposing directions.
Curious, I took photographs.
What I had discovered was just the beginning of an 800-foot-long “spine poem” titled CONCORDANCE that can be read while walking either way along the Rupertus Walk, which is under construction. This outdoor installation is by internationally renowned artist Ann Hamilton, and when finished will be the newest addition to UCSD’s Stuart Collection of public art.
According to this web page: “The pathway will be made from basalt blocks hewn with words and phrases drawn from the writings of authors from many disciplines, all associated with UC San Diego and the history of the site….“
The Rupertus Walk will lead past the future Pepper Canyon Amphitheater. Here’s a photo of the path and amphitheater construction.
All of the photographs I took that historic Sunday the trolley’s Mid-Coast Extension opened can be found here.
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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!
Today was the big day! San Diego’s new Mid-Coast Trolley extension opened for regular service! And there were free rides and a big public celebration at the main UCSD campus station!
The greatly lengthened Blue Line now serves nine brand new trolley stations between Old Town and the UTC shopping mall. Much of the new line runs along Interstate 5 and is elevated. So imagine the great views!
I had to take photos, of course! And check out each new station!
A huge crowd turned out, and in some of the cars passengers were packed like sardines. But everyone was having a fun, memorable experience. Families with kids were everywhere, and the kids were especially excited!
I took loads of photos–so many, in fact, that I’ve left them somewhat unedited. But they provide a sense of what the day was about.
Here we go! Starting at the Old Town Transit Center, heading north…
Another trolley heads north from Old Town. Beyond that distant Interstate 8 overpass, the Mid-Coast Trolley extension passes over the San Diego River and Friars Road, then heads along Morena Boulevard into Bay Park.Peering through the driver’s compartment. What lies ahead?Passing over the San Diego River. Those other trolley tracks veer eastward into Mission Valley–the Green Line which I often take to work.Passing over Friars Road. Some environmental work still underway, left over from creating new railway bridges.I step off at the Tecolote Road station and take a photo of the trolley continuing on north. While I waited for the next trolley, I asked MTS ambassador Pat about possible new public art along the Mid-Coast Trolley extension, and she thought it would be cool to have owl art at this station. Tecolote is Spanish for owl!I got on the next UC San Diego Blue Line train and have already arrived at the Clairemont Drive station.There it goes!Here comes the next trolley!Heading north past Mission Bay we could see water and palm trees in the distance.It’s getting noticeably busier at the Balboa Avenue station! A sizeable parking lot here was used by many passengers on this free ride day.The trolley continues north toward Rose Canyon. You can see Mount Soledad in the distance on the left.A path for pedestrians and bicyclists heads toward Balboa Avenue.Bicyclists descend to Balboa Avenue.Lots of passengers on this special day!Heading north past industrial buildings by Rose Creek. Climb those hills to the east and you’d find yourself in Clairemont.Autumn scenery is a bit blurred as we move rapidly along.The Amtrak and Coaster train tracks, which we’ve been traveling beside, now veer northeast toward Miramar. We soon veer a bit west to pass over Interstate 5 and commence an elevated journey beside the freeway.Our first glimpse of Golden Triangle office high-rises and the exotic temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Pulling into the Nobel Drive station, which is across the freeway from the distinctive Mormon temple.Folks walk along the station platform.Looking back south. Some construction is still going on.Look both ways!Looking north. You can see the big VA Medical Center building in the distance, to left of center.Continuing on the trolley north.Approaching the VA Medical Center station. The best photo I managed to get at this moment. (The trolley car was jam-packed!)We’ve arrived!Flags and plaques honor the five branches of the Armed Services at the VA Medical Center station. I’ll be posting more photos that I took here shortly.One last look down at the freeway before we curve our way into the large campus of UC San Diego. I took photos of Mid-Coast Trolley extension construction some time ago from this same bridge.There’s a good deal of construction activity around the new UC San Diego Central Campus trolley station.Here we are!The trolley cars emptied here as people flooded down toward a big Mid-Coast Trolley extension opening day celebration and festival!Somebody already got a cool new shirt!Down some stairs we go.Lots of stuff going on beneath the elevated station!A sign indicates the Grand Opening Celebration event is this way!That’s the big celebration in the distance. Meanwhile I spotted these dancers.It’s the San Diego Dance Theater! They perform the annual Trolley Dances! You’ve seen them many times before on Cool San Diego Sights!Oh, man! Look at that line! I’m afraid I didn’t have the patience to wait. More places to go today…I did take a photo from outside the big Grand Opening Celebration event. They had a huge stage for speeches and entertainment. And kettle corn, of course!Heading back under the UC San Diego Central Campus trolley station I noticed this cool public art. Words and phrases fill the plaza! I’ll blog more about this later.Heading up stairs on the station’s other side.A view of UCSD campus construction near the new trolley station. UC San Diego has been expanding like crazy the past few years.More construction photographed from the same stairs.The top of the elevators to the station platform.Well, here we are a short time later at the UC San Diego Health La Jolla station. That’s quite a mouthful!The longest station name ever.Not much action at this station. A MTS worker is keeping things clean.Looking around.We’re now on our way to the Executive Drive station.I’ve arrived at the Executive Drive trolley station near the heart of University City. Gleaming office buildings are all around. That pedestrian bridge provides easy passage to one nearby building.From here the Blue Line heads south above Genesee Avenue for a short distance.I see the UTC shopping mall a short distance to the south.I watch a trolley head toward its final destination–the UTC Transit Center.I’m riding there now!Look at all the passengers disembarking!At the UTC Transit Center trolley platform, on the west side.Stairs head down to a nearby parking lot.MTS buses at the UTC Transit Center below, on the east side of the trolley platform.People head into the popular UTC shopping mall.One last look north up Genesee Avenue.
That is a little of what many experienced on this day, November 21, 2021.
History was made in San Diego!
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 
