New public art being applied to building on San Diego’s waterfront.
Early yesterday morning, I strolled for a few minutes along San Diego’s beautiful Embarcadero. I wanted to get some photographs to update last year’s blog post about the Star of India’s tattered sails.
While heading back east on Beech Street, I noticed some gigantic public art is being applied to the west side of the relatively new Ariel Luxury Apartments building. This high-rise stands between Santa Fe Depot and the Little Italy trolley station.
I’ve found no info on the internet about this new artwork. Here are some pics!
A red San Diego trolley passes fishermen catching a huge fish!This new artwork is on the side of the Ariel Luxury Apartments in downtown San Diego.
Half a century ago, San Diego was home to the world’s largest tuna fishing fleet! This image of fishermen working together is very similar to a sculpture on Shelter Island, which I have yet to blog about!
Workers on platform mount a gigantic trophy fish to a high-rise building!
I’m not sure what the white stuff is running down the building’s side. I suppose that will be removed when all is done!
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Adventure is out there! Just attach a bunch of balloons!
Okay, here’s a quick pic of some rather simple street art. I saw this colorfully painted utility box while walking up Bankers Hill a few days ago.
I love the symbolism in the image. A riot of small uplifting balloons whisking one’s home and carefully controlled life away on a carefree, restoring breeze was a theme that I really enjoyed in the Pixar movie Up!
Tomorrow I’m planning on a long walk. No telling where my legs will take me!
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Looking west along the narrow linear Cortez Hill Park, also called Tweet Street.
Every day for the past six years I’ve been watching for rare birds.
As you might have read on this blog, I live at the top of Cortez Hill in downtown San Diego. One cool feature of my neighborhood is a modest but well-loved park that awaits a few steps from my front door. Cortez Hill Park, more commonly called Tweet Street, is an extremely narrow urban park that stretches for several blocks along Date Street and Tenth Avenue. Completed in 2008, it includes a small playground, dog rest areas, and benches where visitors can rest and enjoy the San Diego sunshine. But Tweet Street’s unique purpose is to provide an inviting refuge of trees, shrubs and birdhouses that encourages birds to take up residence!
I remember when Tweet Street first opened, and my excitement. The artistic, brightly painted birdhouses were simply fun to walk past, and the idea that the park would soon be full of birds put a spring in my step.
Years later, I’m still watching for birds. Occasionally one can be glimpsed or heard in the deeper parts of the trees, or down on the hillside above Interstate 5. But to see a bird near the sidewalk is a rare thing. I’ve never seen a single birdhouse being used.
I suppose the lesson is that birdhouses shouldn’t be erected 5 or 6 feet from a popular walkway, where many people pass throughout the day, often with dogs. And that birds need a little more cover than what an extremely narrow park provides. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tweet Street! I love how the trees have grown out. I love walking along the park and gazing out at different vistas. The idea of attracting birds was terrific. But birds have their own notions about where to live. It seems they prefer a little more privacy.
Metal artwork resembles a bird perched atop trees in the downtown community.Houses for birds are creative works of imagination, built by local artists in 2008.Birds might choose to live in this traffic light.Display near center of park shows how to build a birdhouse.Bees have taken over this empty wooden birdhouse.The eyes of this colorful, weather-beaten cat invite courageous birds to enter.Human condos and apartments are across the street from vacant bird housing.House finches are among the birds that occasionally visit the Tweet Street park.Another fanciful but unused birdhouse in the downtown San Diego park.Stylish birdhouse, palm tree and downtown buildings.Squirrel perched on fence above Interstate 5 at edge of Tweet Street park.
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Large trees by San Diego River snapped by sudden violent microburst winds.
Late yesterday, a few minutes after five o’clock, a violent microburst tore through Mission Valley, several miles north of downtown San Diego. Similar microbursts occurred elsewhere around the city and county, bringing thunder and lightning, torrential downpours and extremely violent winds. San Diegans saw on the news how many small airplanes parked at Montgomery Field in Kearny Mesa (a few miles farther north) were thrown through the air and overturned like mere toys.
I was fortunate. I left the place where I work in Mission Valley half an hour early. Many of my coworkers weren’t so fortunate. One, walking to the Hazard Center trolley station, took shelter in a grocery store while the wind, sounding like an oncoming tornado, knocked over sturdy steel shopping cart corrals in the parking lot with ease. He reported the fury of the storm only lasted a few minutes.
Early this morning I walked along the pathway that follows the north side of the San Diego River. For better than a mile, from Qualcomm Way west well past Mission Center Road, I photographed the aftermath of the terrifying microburst. The amount of damage to the river’s lush canopy of trees was indescribable. Hundreds of trees, large and small, were torn to pieces or uprooted by the brief microbust.
These pics aren’t so cool, but they are interesting…
Popular pathway through Mission Valley is covered with miles of fallen trees.Walking along the river required fancy footwork the morning after the freak storm.One of many trees torn to pieces next to residential buildings.The late summer microburst came on a very hot, humid San Diego day.San Diego River seen behind devastated trees near walking path.This hurricane-like rainstorm ended so quickly no severe flooding occurred.
This sign talks about the history of flooding in Mission Valley, and how nature occasionally flushes out accumulated debris and keeps the river healthy. Because the storm was so brief, nature didn’t create much flooding yesterday–but it certainly created quite a bit of debris!
Many trees around the developed parts of Mission Valley were also uprooted!
Tree trimming businesses and city workers converged in full force on Mission Valley today! Many truckloads of branches were hauled off from all over!
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Visitors walk through Balboa Park’s Alcazar Garden on a summer day.
There are many gardens in San Diego’s vast Balboa Park. One of the best known–and one of my favorites–is the Alcazar Garden.
Located on the south side of El Prado between the Museum of Man and the Mingei Museum, a visit to the spacious garden is like walking through an elegant painting of towers, arches and sunlit flowers. Thousands of blooming annuals, long green hedges and colorfully tiled fountains make this the perfect place to slow down and absorb the quiet beauty. A shady pergola is ideal for rest and reflection. The Alcazar Garden is so named because it was created to resemble the formal gardens of Alcazar Castle in Seville, Spain.
Yellow blooms beneath museum tower. The Spanish Colonial architecture adds elegance.Moorish tiles on a fountain, colorful benches and an archway.The California Tower and palm trees rise into blue sky.The formal garden can sometimes appear a bit ragged.The garden is not easily seen from El Prado, but many people find and enjoy it.Rotary Club plaque reveals that the garden underwent a restoration.A picture I took while sitting in the cool, shady pergola at the west end.
Here are two pics I took the following spring…
Beautiful flowers in Balboa Park.Sunshine sprouting from the Earth.
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Canyon in Balboa Park to be site of San Diego Zoo employee parking structure.
When I recently went on a special tour at the San Diego Museum of Art, my new docent friend expressed concern about an upcoming construction project. We were standing at a window that overlooks Old Globe Way, a short, winding access road that follows the edge of Jungle Trail Canyon directly behind the museum. The road starts behind the San Diego Junior Theatre, passes the rear of the Botanical Building, and finally leads to the back of the Old Globe Theatre. We gazed out the window at many colorful hummingbird feeders dangling from a nearby tree, at trees by the road that were marked with green paint, then beyond the narrow canyon to the back of the famous San Diego Zoo. The small canyon, I learned, was to be converted to parking!
After doing a bit of research for news on the internet, I learned the canyon would be the location of a six level parking garage for zoo employees. The idea is to free up a large amount of space from the zoo’s main parking lot on Park Boulevard. Employees arriving by car usually start their shifts in the early morning, and depart at different times, so traffic problems in the park would be kept to a minimum. The new structure has been in the planning stage for a long time.
Yesterday my journey through Balboa Park included a stroll down Old Globe Way. I saw that the work had already been started. Fortunately, those green markings on larger trees indicated they were to be saved.
A tree at canyon’s edge is mercifully saved.Canyon between Old Globe, art museum and zoo has been mostly unused.San Diego Zoo amphitheater where exotic birds and other animals perform.Trees cut down, making way for new road to a long-planned parking area.Hummingbird feeders in a tree directly behind the San Diego Museum of Art.
Here’s one of several identical signs that appeared nearby in November…
Sign posted in Balboa Park explains the Old Globe Way Renovation.
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House of Panama dancers practice on a Saturday morning in Balboa Park.
I spend a lot of time in Balboa Park. It’s close to where I live, just north of downtown San Diego. It’s full of things to do and see. And it’s simply a wonderful place that makes me feel optimistic and alive.
My pleasant walk today took me once again into the park. As if by magic, I discovered dance, a play, music, bright works of art and a surprising someone I used to know years ago.
Members of Jane Austen Society in San Diego prepare to perform a play.Scandalous play Lovers’ Vows was referenced in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.Moonlight Serenade Orchestra practices at Spreckels Organ Pavilion.Jazzy group rehearses Night and Day, Sweet Georgia Brown, and more!
That big happy dog is a frequent visitor to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. He’s the friend of Dr. Carol Williams, the civic organist! The musicians today were getting ready for Monday’s finale of the International Summer Organ Festival.
Kids, hula hoops and sunshine on El Prado in San Diego’s Balboa Park.
I believe that’s the same hula-hooper who wore the Merry Solstice shirt in my December Nights blog post.
Flowers near the reflecting pool in front of the Botanical Building.Bright greens and clear water attract my wandering camera lens.A daring pirate dangles beside the San Diego Natural History Museum.Falun Gong artwork emphasizes overcoming persecution in China.A homeless Chinese girl and sunflowers.
A friendly lady advocating for Falun Gong and protesting their persecution in China told me she believes in collective consciousness, and that the power of good thoughts around the world will eventually bring about positive change.
Glassblowers in Spanish Village remove red hot molten glass from furnace.Photographer Dallas displays his fine work near the International Cottages.
Dallas used to show his excellent photographs along the Embarcadero, just north of Seaport Village. I’d stop and chat from time to time and he’d tell me all about his interesting life experiences. One day he disappeared.
Today, many years later, I saw him again! He was among other artists showing his professional work on a patch of grass. It was great to see him again! His photography is truly top notch and depicts places he’s visited all around the world. Please check out his website!
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Large cow stands in front of Coronado ice cream shop.
Mosey along Orange Avenue on the island of Coronado and you’ll be confronted by extraordinary things. You’ll probably run into a large cow. Or Elvis standing on the sidewalk, or a scaly, fantastic dragon. Or colorful ribbons of music. Or beautifully painted canvases by local artists in a public park.
Here are random pics of fun art that I’ve spotted…
Moo Time Creamery features an Elvis on the sidewalk.Coronado hot dog pours ketchup on itself!Checking out creative artwork for sale in Coronado’s Spreckels Park.Playful tile mural on a Spreckels Park restroom.Ribbon of music shown moving both old and young.Tile mosaic on park restroom shows lively musicians.Big dragon stands in front of the Coronado Public Library. Imagine Dragon, by artist Kent Kraber, 2008. This fun sculpture was originally part of an Urban Trees exhibition along San Diego’s Embarcadero.Head of fantastic dragon sculpture faces Orange Avenue.
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Beginning my walk south from Crystal Pier along the boardwalk.
Now please walk with me as I head south down the Pacific Beach boardwalk. We’re starting at Crystal Pier and going all the way to Hamel’s down in Mission Beach. It’s one of the most amazing walks (or bike rides) in all of the world!
Cool octopus art made of tile, stones and shells.
This bit of artwork was next to the walkway right by the pier.
Folks head toward a hungry shark and big ice cream cone!Youth hostel by Pacific Beach boardwalk has a sunny mural.A small backyard is paradise on the beach!Colorful surfboards by beach contain happy messages.Fish tacos are a San Diego specialty!Shells and boogie boards line the boardwalk for passing tourists.Just a sample of what you’d see while walking along the beach.Looking out toward umbrellas and the blue Pacific Ocean.Several camps on the sand teach people to surf.Kids learning to surf file along carrying surfboards.People chat as a lifeguard watches the beach from a tower.Colorful beach toys left forgotten on the concrete sea wall.Beautiful and unusual houses line the boardwalk.The Surf Rider building includes a huge surfboard!Bicycles are a very popular mode of transportation.I reached the Hamel’s castle surf shop in Mission Beach!Lady looks through a high stack of surfboards.Cool mural in alley shows a roller coaster.
This mural in the alley behind Hamel’s shows a roller coaster. Is there a roller coaster nearby in Mission Beach? Yes, indeed! We’ll visit Belmont Park in my next blog post!
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Cool art on a music store window on Garnet Avenue.
Yesterday I went for a very long walk through Pacific Beach and Mission Beach, two extremely popular beach destinations just a few miles north of downtown San Diego.
I began by walking west along Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach, from around Ingraham Street all the way to the beautiful and historic Crystal Pier. This stretch contains more bars, tattoo parlors, smoke shops and swimwear stores than just about anywhere else in Southern California. It’s a young, hip, beachy sort of place, that’s mostly laid back and unpretentious. You’ll see bikinis and skateboarders and tourists and families and surfboards atop cars and under arms just about everywhere you go.
You’ll also see a lot of very cool urban art: on walls, on windows, on rooftops, in alleys…all over the place! Here are some random pics I took as I walked westward in the sunshine…
Aloha Spirit mural on side of Pacific Beach building.Surfers and the ocean are major themes in this popular beach community.Mural shows lifeguard climbing a tower among palms.Funky street art between two buildings on Garnet Avenue.Pacific Beach public art features a large seagull.Street art in an alley behind a tattoo parlor.Hubcaps and tiles add flavor to a colorful local eatery.Another tattoo parlor embellished with bold swirls of urban art.Photo mural on a wall shows old Crystal Pier at west end of Garnet Avenue.Sunny Pacific Beach has a sunny utility box.Images of surfers and beach scenes are everywhere.
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Cool San Diego Sights! 