Colorful mural painted on side of 7-Eleven on Beyer Boulevard, not far from a trolley station.No al Racismo! No to Racism! By @Yvette_RomanLarge agricultural mural on the side of La Bodeguita Food Store.Cat street art under a starry, starry night. By @d_barron26 in 2022.
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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!
Last weekend I rode the San Diego Trolley’s old PCC streetcar 530. I traveled a few stops on the Vintage Trolley’s downtown Silver Line loop.
As I looked about the interior of the restored 1940’s streetcar, I noticed a sign that I’d never seen before. Several paragraphs pay tribute to Ed Lindstrom, who was instrumental in restoring the Vintage Trolley vehicles operated by MTS.
Ed worked as a Light Rail Vehicle Project Coordinator and Electromechanic. Restoring the two streetcars that now run on the Silver Line–cars 529 and 530–required parts that are extremely difficult to find. According to the sign, Ed relentlessly sought the necessary parts from other transit agencies, collectors and museums. With some harder-to-find components, Ed got creative. He reverse-engineered and produced them specifically for the project!
To learn more about the PCC streetcar restoration, and see photos of how the old cars once looked, click here!
If you ever ride one of these nostalgic streetcars on a weekend, you can thank Ed and many others who’ve worked countless hours making a beautiful dream come true.
A LABOR OF LOVE.
Operation of the vintage streetcars in San Diego…began as a dream of Harry Mathis… A cadre of volunteers, led by our restoration manager, Dave Slater, has contributed more than 11,000 man hours of work on our fleet of PCC’s…
As a resident of downtown San Diego who loves riding the Vintage Trolley cars, thank you!
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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!
Are you ready to face overwhelming evil? Have you the courage to ride with terrifying monsters or a brilliant criminal mastermind?
During 2022 Comic-Con, you might need all of your strength and wits should you jump aboard the Doom Breaker bus from WEBTOON, or the Moriarty: The Devil’s Game trolley from Audible!
I spotted both of these vehicle wraps today while walking around downtown.
The Doom Breaker bus appears to be for charter; the awesome Moriarty wrap on the San Diego Trolley is the latest of many cool trolley wrap designs this year!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click 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!
If you’re a hideous, bloodthirsty orc (or goblin), the San Diego Trolley welcomes you during 2022 Comic-Con!
That’s the message provided by the newest Comic-Con trolley wrap!
ORCS WELCOME is another (the third I’ve spotted) nerdy message on trolley cars that promotes Amazon Prime Video.
There will no doubt be hordes of orcs rampaging through Middle Earth in Prime Video’s upcoming series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
I imagine there will be monstrous trolls, too. But whether or not trolls are welcome on the San Diego Trolley, I’m not really sure. They might not fit through the doors.
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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!
I spotted a new trolley wrap this morning. It promotes the upcoming Amazon Prime Video science fiction television series Paper Girls. The show is about four young paper girls who become involved in an epic adventure. They must save the world when they find themselves in a war among time-travelers!
As more Comic-Con trolley wraps appear, I’ll post photos!
Comic-Con is now about a month away, and more and more cool stuff should be appearing in San Diego. Stay tuned!
UPDATE!
A couple days later I got more pics…
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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 promoting ABC television’s mockumentary sitcom Abbott Elementary has debuted for 2022 Comic-Con!
The trolley has been wrapped to appear like a school bus, transporting the show’s main characters, who teach at Philadelphia’s Willard R. Abbott Elementary School.
This year the San Diego Trolley will be featuring 40 cars decorated for Comic-Con! The huge, international pop culture event will be held at the San Diego Convention Center and around downtown from July 21 to July 24.
(Are you excited? I am! My camera is ready!)
ABC’s Abbott Elementary has been renewed for a second hilarious season! You can also watch it on Hulu.
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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!
The nostalgic Silver Line trolley has returned to San Diego!
I saw historic, restored PCC streetcar 529 pulling into America Plaza this morning, and I had to jump aboard. The old trolley cars that run in the downtown Silver Line loop are definitely a very cool San Diego sight!
The Silver Line resumed service today after not running for most of the COVID-19 pandemic. I learned the line will be operating on weekends from this point forward.
I want to give a special shout out to the driver and another MTS employee on the streetcar during my ride. A distressed passenger at one station informed the driver she’d been accidentally separated from some of her belongings. As I looked on from a seat in back, the attentive, friendly MTS guys immediately got on the phone and quickly resolved the situation! The belongings had been found and awaited the passenger at the next station, under guard of an MTS Ambassador! I don’t know the name of the trolley driver, but he and his buddy are totally awesome!
If you like historic old streetcars, watch for the distinctive Silver Line cars running in a loop downtown and jump aboard!
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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!
Do you want to see an incredible, important part of San Diego history? Then head over to the National City Depot Museum, which is operated by the San Diego Electric Railway Association. Last year they obtained the three only remaining streetcars that operated in the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park!
As you step into the depot museum, you’ll see a sign that describes the history of these historic cars. To summarize:
In 1910 the Class 1 streetcars were designed in San Diego and ordered from the St. Louis Car Company. Twenty four cars were built, and they began operations in San Diego in 1912. These cars would operate on various streetcar lines until 1939.
In 1939, a couple residing in El Cajon bought three streetcars that weren’t scrapped; in 1996 they were acquired by a local antique dealer and moved to storage on Adams Avenue; and in 1997 the cars were designated San Diego Historical Landmark #339.
Between 1997 and 2013 extensive restoration work was performed on car 138 by San Diego Historic Streetcars, as you can see in my photographs. There had been a plan to operate the cars during Balboa Park’s 2015 Exposition Centennial.
Finally, in 2021, the three historic streetcars were donated to the San Diego Electric Railway Association in National City, where the public, on open weekends, can freely observe them up close!
The plan now is to obtain wheels for car 138, and to fully restore the car so that it will endure for future generations.
Anyone who is intrigued by San Diego’s history, and what life might have been like around the time of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, must see these three original streetcars!
With a little imagination, one can picture the colorful cars running up rails that once existed near today’s Park Boulevard, transporting crowds of excited visitors to the exposition grounds!
The book Rails of the Silver Gate by San Diego railroad historian Richard V. Dodge provides a description of cars 125-148.
At the other end of the National City Depot Museum’s large outdoor yard stand the two unrestored streetcars, numbers 126 and 128.
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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!
The new PRONTO ticketing system for transit in San Diego and North County is now operating. I received confirmation today from an MTS Supervisor.
This morning, before boarding a Green Line trolley at the Gaslamp station, I noticed one of the PRONTO ticket machines has been uncovered. And it’s ready to go!
The new PRONTO ticket machines appear somewhat similar to the old Compass Card machines. Compass cards will be gradually phased out.
You can learn more about PRONTO, and how this new fare system is more functional and convenient here.
If you ride the bus or trolley, all September trips will be free with a PRONTO card!
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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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 