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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The Courthouse Gallery in downtown San Diego has a second exhibition. It’s titled: San Diego Pastoral – From the Desert through the Mountains to the Sea.
From the sidewalk, anyone walking down Broadway near Front Street can gaze into the large windows of the Edward J. Schwartz Courthouse and view juried artwork by local artists. The pieces celebrate the natural beauty and biodiversity of the Southern District of California, which covers San Diego and Imperial Counties.
The displayed art is primarily beautiful paintings. Beaches to canyons to foothills to mountains to the desert beyond them, the depicted region is immense. These varied landscapes support what is said to be the greatest biodiversity in the United States.
I blogged about the very first exhibition of the new Courthouse Gallery earlier this year here. This second exhibition runs October 6, 2025 to February 2, 2026.
Yesterday I took a few photos at an angle through the windows to avoid reflections from the street…
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I went on another fun “Holiday Season” walk today–this time in the South Bay through downtown Chula Vista.
Given that Christmas is about three weeks away, it wasn’t surprising that I found lots of holidays related sights!
Most of my photos are of shop windows along Third Avenue.
Can you believe the Grinch, Gingerbread Man, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Charlie Brown were painted all in one window? Those characters together would make a very inventive, peculiar Christmas television special!
Wandering through Chula Vista’s historic downtown, I discovered plenty of great stuff…
Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año!
I know, I know–Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin is more of a Halloween thing, but I liked this anyway…
Downtown Chula Vista will celebrate the holidays on Saturday, December 6, 2025 with the Starlight Festival from 3 – 9 pm, and the Starlight Parade at 6 pm!
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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The Holiday Season is upon us and the Village of Carlsbad is ready!
I rode the Coaster train north to Carlsbad a few days ago for a pleasant walk, and this is what I found!
Festive decorations everywhere one turns: at storefronts, in windows, on street banners and signs. I saw Christmas trees, Santa, elves at the North Pole, candy canes, wreaths, Frosty, snowflakes, poinsettias, Rudolph, gingerbread houses…
A free Musical Kickoff to the Holidays will take place this Friday, December 5th, from 4 to 7:30 pm. It will be at the Carlsbad fountain parking lot at 2898 State Street.
You can expect middle and high school student musicians, hot cocoa and more!
A smiling Steven Blake was playing Happy Holidays music at the Carlsbad Village fountain! (His Instagram is @deverb.band.)
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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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People are already getting ready for the Holiday Season in Coronado! And it’s still over a week until Thanksgiving!
Today I enjoyed a long leisurely walk from the Ferry Landing down Orange Avenue to the Hotel del Coronado and beyond.
What’s the first thing I saw? Red bows, wreaths, candy cane signs, festive banners, and a Christmas tree at the Coronado Ferry Landing!
Proceeding down Orange Avenue, I spied more holiday things (often in shop windows)…
The big landmark Coronado Rotary Club Christmas Tree is already strung with colorful lights!
Continuing my walk…
When I arrived at the beach near the Hotel del Coronado, I found workers setting up The Del’s holiday Beachside Igloos!
The magic of Oz is coming to The Del from November 21, 2025 to January 4, 2026!
(As you might know, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum has deep ties to the Hotel del Coronado. The beach resort’s grand Victorian architecture is said to be his inspiration for the Emerald City.)
That magic will include ice skating!
The holidays are nearly here in Coronado!
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Whenever I walk through downtown El Cajon, I make sure to pass by the Unarius Academy of Science. I peer through the front windows, wondering what weird new thing I might see.
Yesterday, I did find something new.
Yes, there were still displays concerning lost Atlantis, the future arrival of the Space Brothers, a Map of the Interplanetary Confederation, and students engaging in psychodrama as they reenact past-life experiences. But, lo and behold, there’s now a display that celebrates Nikola Tesla!
It’s titled The Unobstructed Universe of Nikola Tesla.
Taking photos through the windows of the building is very difficult due to strong reflections from the street. But here we go.
One sign calls Nikola Tesla a cosmic visionary and a dweller on two planets, and “If you wish to find the secrets of the universe, think of energy, frequency and vibration.”
This display seems apropos, as their website states how Unarius offers “…a course in self-mastery, based on the interdimensional understanding of energy–the joining of science and spirit.“
I don’t get the dweller on two planets, however. Tesla actually journeyed to Mars?
One of the Unarius webpages explains how Tesla thought we could communicate with beings from other planets. In 1899, he believed he had received a message likely from Mars.
Yesterday I also noticed the parking lot near the Unarius Academy of Science has a new mural. Here it is:
Have you seen their cool flying saucer car? I spotted it once during a walk through Coronado.
Just for fun, here it is again!
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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.
An organization is turning an inspired idea into reality in Chula Vista. Why can’t vacant storefront windows become art galleries?
“Art Through the Glass” is an initiative of the San Diego Art Society. See their webpage concerning this project, and an example of a storefront gallery at the Chula Vista Mall, by clicking here.
Turning vacant storefront windows into galleries can benefit so many people: local artists who receive valuable public exposure, and the greater community, which receives enjoyment and a surprising cultural experience!
Look at those smiling people in my first photo! They’re the force behind this very cool initiative! I met them yesterday at the Chula Vista ArtFest.
I was told efforts are being concentrated on storefront windows in Chula Vista along Broadway. Seems to me this great idea could be applied everywhere! Why not?
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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.
Should you visit the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla, make sure to step into the Krichman Family Gallery. That’s where you can experience eye-opening effects of light, caused by apertures cut in glass windows overlooking the coast.
This site-conditional installation is the work of Robert Irwin, who passed away in 2023. According to a nearby sign, his art is foundational to a certain West Coast minimalism, referred to as Light and Space. He was a longtime resident of San Diego.
Window areas with no glass bring new light into the viewer’s eyes. Standing in the gallery makes one wonder: to what extent do we fully experience reality and its acute beauty? Is there “glass” in our eyes that can be cut away?
Those open spaces in the windows also allow our senses to feel and smell the fresh ocean breeze. Now, if only human hands could reach out and feel the ocean’s vastness.
Robert Irwin is also responsible for the Edwards Sculpture Garden’s radiant Spanish Fan, which you can see in the lower left of the above photograph.
Inside the museum’s adjacent galleries are more of Irwin’s beautiful works. Perhaps I’ll cover those at some future time.
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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.
A new art gallery recently opened in downtown San Diego. Juried works by diverse artists can be freely viewed from the sidewalk in front the Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse!
From behind several large windows, works by local artists greet the curious eyes of those walking down Broadway. This new Courthouse Gallery of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California is now displaying The Art of Freedom.
The courthouse website describing the project and a call for submissions explains: The inspirations for this on-going, rotating art display are: making art more accessible to the public, enhancing civic engagement through the arts, and creating an opportunity for local artists to increase exposure to their work. The gallery will be featuring emerging and established artists 18 and older residing in San Diego and Imperial Counties.
It’s difficult to photograph through these windows with the reflections. Enjoy several pieces…
Woman Charging I by Cathy Deibler.Forest Dance, by Leah Schaperow.Remember When We Were Free by Cynthia Sue Kelly.
Years ago, these same windows displayed artwork created by students for San Diego County Bar Association’s Law Week Poster and Video Contest. See three years of those displays here and here and here.
Over the years, my photos of those Law Week posters have been viewed thousands of times through Google search–quite possibly by teachers and students around the nation and world. Amazing.
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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.
The new Navy SEAL Museum will be opening in downtown San Diego later this year. Meanwhile, I’ve noticed they’re in the process of installing an exhibit on the ground floor of the One America Plaza office building, near the lobby, in a hallway that leads to the trolley station. (The same hallway where the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego used to have exhibits.)
Two of six large display cases now contain U. S. Navy SEAL artifacts. The other four have signs that indicate EXHIBIT COMING SOON.
If you want to check out this developing exhibit, One America Plaza is located at 600 West Broadway. (It’s that tall bluish building with a top that looks like a phillips-head screwdriver!)
Early this year I posted a blog about a large bronze frogman statue that will be placed outdoors near the coming museum. Once installed, you’ll see it beside the America Plaza trolley station across from Santa Fe Depot.
Cool San Diego Sights! 