Early this morning, while it was still dark, I moved curiously around (and inside) the new Jaume Plensa sculpture Pacific Soul in downtown San Diego. Bright lights shining up from beneath the sculpture give its hollow but extremely complex form weird substance. Every angle fascinated my eyes.
If you’d like to learn more about this amazing public art, which now stands at the corner of Broadway and Pacific Highway near the Embarcadero, visit my original blog post, where several months ago, over the period of several days, I documented Pacific Soul’s installation. In that post I also provided some information about Jaume Plensa, who is a world-renowned artist from Spain.
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Public artwork is being installed outside the new City of San Diego Bayside Fire Station No. 2, at the corner of Cedar Street and Pacific Highway
Some cool public artwork is rising at the corner of Cedar Street and Pacific Highway, right next to the new Bayside Fire Station No. 2 in Little Italy!
For the past couple weeks I’ve been watching the unusual sculpture slowly grow, like flowers and vines sprouting from a base of urban concrete. And, according to what I’ve read, that’s exactly the effect that’s intended. The artists Ingram Ober, Marisól Rendón-Ober and Chuck Moffit are known for their unusual, thought-provoking creations, which are often sublime or humorous. The old Victrola horn-like brass elements of the sculpture will broadcast gentle music, which will contrast with the noise of the nearby streets and sudden fire engine sirens.
I can’t wait to see (and listen to) this artwork when it is completed!
Construction of the new Bayside Fire Station No. 2 appears to be almost complete.Twisting metal structures rise up like whipping fire hoses.Gentle music will play out of the brass trumpet-like forms.A red vine seems to be growing around those two horns! This might make a nice place to sit when finished.When completed, this new public art should to be pretty interesting!Cool art seems to be growing out the sidewalk in front of the new Bayside Fire Station 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!
A daring man does a one-armed handstand on the edge of a high roof!
I had to do a double take during my walk through Coronado yesterday. A man was doing a crazy one-armed handstand up on the Community Center’s rooftop!
After my initial surprise, I realized the man was actually an eye-catching sculpture. Handstand was created by artist Daniel Stern in 2010 and installed atop the building in 2012.
Does the name Daniel Stern ring a bell? The sculptor is also a prolific, well known actor! He’s probably best known for his role as one of the thieves in Home Alone!
I love it!
A surprising sculpture on top of the City of Coronado Community Center turns heads!Handstand, 2010, a sculpture by artist Daniel Stern, became part of the City of Coronado Public Art Collection in 2012.A crazy handstand at the edge of a Coronado rooftop!
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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!
Windows at The Black contain all sorts of sights that fit right in with the laid-back, unconventional OB lifestyle.
Walk through Ocean Beach, particularly down Newport Avenue, and you’ll pass all sorts of weirdly wonderful shops. Look into some windows and you might think you traveled by time machine back to the 60’s.
I paused for a moment in front of The Black, a store that sells stuff that fits perfectly with OB’s alternative lifestyle. Coming down the sidewalk were surfers, retired hippies, free-spirited youth and sandal-wearing professionals. I looked into one window filled with dragon figurines and small toy robots.
My eye was then caught by a nearby historical sign. It explained that The Black’s rather plain-looking building, dating from 1918, has been home to a variety of more traditional grocery stores and markets selling meat, fruit and fresh produce. But that was decades ago. Long before the counterculture’s rise in the 1960’s.
One fascinating thing about history is that a community can change in ways that seem rather unexpected!
The Black in Ocean Beach occupies a building with a unique history. Greeson Hardware was once here, as were various markets, and the USO.Historical photo on the building at 5017 Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach shows past markets. The Black’s owner won the right to lease in the building after winning a card game across the street.In the window of The Black I see Gumby, Mr. Bill, some drums, guitar strings and a Grateful Dead baby onesie.Smoke shop items and other diverse gifts can be seen in the front windows of The Black in Ocean Beach.I see some fun, nostalgic robot toys!I also see a Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band tin tote and a Super Mario figure.
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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!
In downtown San Diego at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Ash Street you’ll find a very mysterious building. At first glance it appears to be a Gothic manor, or the corner of an impenetrable stone castle. Stranger still, a small shield on the building’s exterior includes the word GAS. Is this the castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, from which gas is expelled in your general direction? No–it’s a power substation of San Diego Gas and Electric!
The secure little building was designed by prominent architect Richard Requa in 1922, who would go on to become Master Architect for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park.
My imagination is always electrified when I walk past this unusual sight. Is a Frankenstein monster being assembled behind those dark walls?
Here are some photos!
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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!
As I walked with my camera I tried to capture small scenes of real life. Some scenes evoked a sense of sadness, waiting, uncertainty; others contained glimmers of hope or subtle humor. In downtown San Diego thousands of lives mingle.
Mysteries around every corner.
Countless untold stories.
You might recognize that plaque.
Its exact origin was once was a mystery. But the plaque’s fascinating story was revealed here.
The Jessop’s clock fascinates many eyes.
After 125 years, Jessop’s jewelry store is closing. A chapter in San Diego’s history ends.
But the clock’s hands will will continue to mark time.
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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 have a tendency to take photos of everything and anything while I’m walking. Sometimes I’m surprised at the results!
Here are some visually interesting photos of buildings in downtown San Diego. You’ll find reflections in windows, strange shadows, and splashes of light. There are unusual shapes, surprising contrasts, and a few delightful discoveries.
Every walk through downtown is an optical adventure!
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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!
Cowboys on horseback drive cattle down Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego. They are promoting this year’s San Diego County Fair.
This morning there was a big cattle drive through downtown San Diego!
Huh? What?
It’s true! About 200 head of cattle were driven by cowboys on horseback and herding dogs down Harbor Drive, then up Fifth Avenue, then back west along Market Street. The intention of this unusual spectacle was to promote the San Diego County Fair, whose theme this year is How the West is Fun!
I followed along much of the way! Here are some photos!
At Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway, police escorts gets ready for the big cattle drive!The 2017 theme for the San Diego County Fair, which opened yesterday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, is Where the West is Fun.Excitement mounts nearby as the cattle drive is about to get underway.A temporary corral set up by Ruocco Park contained about 200 head of cattle.Here they go, starting down Harbor Drive!Lots of cowboys on horses and some excited herding dogs start the cows along the street.Hundreds of people lined the sidewalk to watch the unusual spectacle. It seemed like the Old West was being relived in San Diego!The downtown cattle drive will head along Harbor Drive, turn north up Fifth Avenue, then head back west along Market Street.You don’t see this every day!Neither does this city dog! What is going on?A guy in a crazy cow costume gets a photograph of the cattle drive.Cowboys keep a close eye on the cattle as they head along San Diego’s waterfront.Not your ordinary Saturday morning in the big city!Skyscrapers in the background. The cows didn’t seem to notice.The cattle drive heads past the San Diego Convention Center. So does a jogger.The downtown cattle drive has turned onto Fifth Avenue. Here they come!Cowboys ride under the famous Gaslamp Quarter landmark sign.The Gaslamp hasn’t seen so many cowboys on horseback in a good century and a half!The cattle are driven up Fifth Avenue into the heart of San Diego.Folks ride in a wagon that promotes the 2017 San Diego County Fair – Where the West is Fun!A rather unusual sight proceeds north up through San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter.The Old West has come back to life in downtown San Diego!
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This 1947 Cadillac was transformed into an amazing cross-country contraption! The unusual car drove from San Diego to New York and back–without stopping!
Have you heard of the amazing car that features a toilet, washing machine, ironing board, shower, and even a kitchen sink?
Did you know this amazing car also has an electric stove, refrigerator, medicine cabinet, and drinking fountain?
And that this particular car holds the cross-country driving endurance record? In 1952, three men drove the car 6,320 miles nonstop–literally without stopping–from San Diego to New York and back, accompanied by a police escort the entire way! They refueled from a moving gas truck!
What else can this amazing car do?
The car automatically changes oil and refills the radiator. Movable platforms and hydraulic jacks allow any tire to be changed without stopping the car. And repairs to the engine can be made while driving. The hood, when open, has transparent panels that allow the driver to see the road!
A shower and drinking fountain! Why not? The shower is on the right running board and the drinking fountain can be accessed at a rear taillight! The back seat conveniently contains several household necessities, including a refrigerator, stove, small washing machine, chemical toilet, and, of course . . . that kitchen sink!
Never heard of this crazy car? It once was quite famous, widely appearing on television, in magazines and newspapers. But that was decades ago.
Today you can see Louie Mattar’s extensively modified 1947 Cadillac for yourself. It’s on display at the San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park!
Here’s to the dreamers. And here’s to the actual doers. It took Louie Mattar five years to transform his amazing dream into reality!
Louie Mattar’s car was driven 6320 miles without ever stopping. Refueling, tire changes and even engine repairs are done on the run!You can see the most amazing car in the world at the San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park!The car tows a trailer, which stores gasoline, water and oil. At the rear is an outdoor dining area complete with dial telephone!When the car was in motion, a passenger in swim trunks could stand on a narrow platform outside and take a shower!A look at the complicated dashboard. I’m reminded of an airplane’s cockpit.Diagram shows the many gauges and switches available to the driver. A bar and hookah are within easy reach of the front seat passenger!Another look inside the amazing car through the front passenger side door.A crazy tangle under the hood. It looks like a dish of spaghetti!Diagram shows numerous modifications and additions to the 1947 Cadillac’s original stock engine.A passenger in the moving car could stand on this projecting platform to change a tire! The axles are drilled, so tires can be inflated while they are turning!A video in the San Diego Automotive Museum shows the amazing car in action!How many cars in the world are equipped with an electric stove and ironing board?
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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 fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
A mushroom fair was held this weekend in Balboa Park inside the Casa del Prado. The event was put on by the San Diego Mycological Society.
There’s a fungus among us! I’m not kidding! (Groan.)
All sorts of mushrooms were on display inside Balboa Park’s Casa del Prado today during a special show by the San Diego Mycological Society.
I wandered through this cool “mushroom fair” and took a good look around. And I learned quite a lot!
Check out a few fun photos and some informative captions…
Mushroom enthusiasts check out all sorts of displays at the mushroom show. Mushroom facts, art, and food products like jerky were plentiful.Several tables exhibited different types of mushrooms one might encounter in nature. The San Diego Mycological Society puts the fun in fungus!These mushrooms are all edible. Some are said to taste better than others.A basket full of Bolbitius vitellinus. Labelled edible but mediocre. According to Wikipedia, it’s inedible. I’m no expert, so don’t ask me.Cooking with Wild Mushrooms. (Click image to enlarge the sign for easy reading.)Okay, these are definitely poisonous! Children were advised not to touch. I steered well clear!Here’s a monster yeast fungus so villainous that Captain Marvel had a tough time coping with it.I do know that much of the art displayed at the mushroom show was tasty!Check out this fascinating poster and the following photo. Spore prints show how spores are ejected from the mushroom gills.These spore prints strangely remind me of human thumbprints.An inventive artist created some spore print cards, hand made from mushrooms found in San Diego! Cool!Volunteers from the San Diego Mycological Society are collecting mushroom specimens found throughout the county. Tiny tissue samples will be scientifically barcoded for species identification.All sorts of arts and crafts, books and fascinating stuff was for sale at the mushroom fair.Colorful mushroom ornaments!
UPDATE!
I swung by the annual event again in 2018. I saw many of the same interesting exhibits, and snapped a couple more fun pics…
Spore print cards and a fun fungus pillow!Cool mushroom artwork for sale.
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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 fun photos for you to enjoy!
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