In honor of Jane Emerson, long-time San Diego resident and activist
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
US Grant Hotel
After being closed for 2 years, the US Grant Hotel opened last October after a $52 million renovation. Stu commented yesterday that it was purchased by the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. The restoration is a tribute to the 18th president of the United States, as during Ulysses S. Grant's presidency he set aside 640 acres of land for the tribe. His son, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr built the hotel in 1910. The restoration includes Wi-Fi throughout, original one of a kind artworks, handmade silk carpets, and decor in marble, granite, and gold leaf. Above is a photo in the main lobby. Click here to see a photo of the lobby from 1928.
Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar is a 24,000 acre military installation in San Diego. Click here for a short history of the facility. I don't want to see another 21,500 US men and women in Iraq. If we continue at the pace we are going, what will our tomorrow look like?
We ended up on one of the pedal boats at Santee Lakes yesterday. The price is $10 for 30 minutes or $13 for 1 hour for a boat that seats four people. I almost got a photo of a coot, a mallard and a wood duck together, but they quickly swam away from us. Those are coots in the foreground of the above photo - thanks to Stu for helping me identify those birds from an earlier photo. There were also quite a few egrets enjoying the afternoon sun.
We took a spontaneous trip to Santee Lakes today. This is a group of 7 lakes in the city of Santee which borders the city of San Diego. There are paved trails, campgrounds, and picnic areas. I read on their website that they also have two swimming pools, a jacuzzi and over 175 bird species! Anyone interested in bird watching from a jacuzzi?
Are you missing my photos of refried beans, tacos, enchiladas, and burritos? Well, sorry but Mexican food is not exactly kind to the waistline, so I've expanded my Friday post to cover all kinds of food. I went to this French restuarant called La Vache (see the little tiny cow in the upper right) to have salad, ironic huh? I've gone for both lunch and dinner. Dinner is okay but the salads at lunchtime keep me coming back for more. Below is the salmon and crab salad with crème fraîche.
Since I'm trying out night photography, I thought I'd keep you in the dark one more day. This is the California Building which is part of the Museum of Man and is located in Balboa Park. Here are two other views I showed before: with a polar bear and during the day.
The Oscar nominations were announced today and it made me think that I need to see more movies. I want to see the movie Night at the Museum, a comedy adventure set inside New York's Museum of Natural History. The above photo is of San Diego's Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. What movie would you like to see?
Try, try again. So here you have it, Jenny Holzer's "Truisms" light projection piece seen on the facade of the Museum of Art in Balboa Park. Click here to see a picture of the building in daylight. The above words are from the poem "The Joy of Writing" by Nobel Prize winner Wislawa Szymborska. Viewers saw the whole poem scroll across the museum and into the night.
I never intended to end up at the Scripps Pier tonight, but I felt that since I showed you photos first of the Santa Fe Depot, then of the new Museum of Contemporary Art buildings downtown, that I should at least try to show you what the light projection fuss was all about. Well, let's just say that my night photography skills need some work and a tripod. So instead of being able to show you the light projection project by Jenny Holzer, you get this view of the pier.
This past week I showed you the Santa Fe Depot and the new buildings of the Museum of Contemporary Art (big opening tomorrow from noon-6). The museum now has three buildings downtown, one is next door to the American Plaza trolley station (pictured above) and the two new art spaces are across the street from the trolley station.
Venissimo Cheese just celebrated their 3rd anniversary. It is not the best smelling place, but the free samples, selection of cheeses, and friendly service make up for the smell. I like the descriptive labels on the cheese and on the receipt that tell you how to pronouce the name and where it comes from as well as other information about the cheese.
Adjacent to the Santa Fe Depot are two new art spaces for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. The spaces will open to the public this Sunday (free, noon-6) and are part of an expansion project of their existing downtown site located across the street. The Santa Fe Depot baggage building was renovated for gallery space (Jacobs Building) and next door a new building (Copley Building) will be used for classes, films, lectures, and other events. The photo of the Copley Building above shows an LED light piece by Jenny Holzer that will show her "Truisms" in English and Spanish and will be lighted starting tomorrow night. As part of the opening, large scale light projections by Jenny Holzer will be displayed around town - at the Copley Building on Friday, on ocean waves near the MCASD La Jolla on Saturday, at Scripps Pier on Sunday, and at the San Diego Musuem of Art in Balboa Park on Monday.
Mission Revival stylin'. The inside of the station seems straight out of a movie. The interior features redwood beam ceilings, wooden bench seating, and brightly colored tiles between the arched doorways.
This building is the end of the line for train service and a hub for trolley and bus services. It opened in 1915 and was built in order to accommodate visitors to the Panama-California Exposition that was held in San Diego from 1915-1917.
Here is a mural on the corner of 32nd & Imperial Avenue picturing Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Marthin Luther King Jr among others. The mural extends around the block and says, "If you want peace work for justice".
San Diegans are cheering on our football team the Chargers as they compete against the New England Patriots this afternoon in the divisional playoffs. It is not uncommon to see Charger flags hanging out of car windows, huge lighting bolt (the team logo) decals on car windows, supermarket cashiers in Charger jerseys, or signs like the above.
We have a holiday this coming Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. The city held a parade today to celebrate Dr. King. Many of the local high schools performed in the parade including these Morse High School students from the Step team. Bravo to all the parade participants - it was very cold (for us - temps in the 50's) and windy today and everyone was still smiling!
Parmigiano reggiano, panettone, pancetta, prosciutto, pasta, pizza. You can find it all at Mona Lisa Italian Foods in Little Italy where they have a restaurant and a market in the same building. The deli sandwiches are the bomb!
This pair is over in Point Loma near Canon Street. If you walked a few blocks from here, you could see the actual view of what is painted on these boxes. Click here to see the other electrical boxes I've shown: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
This is #64 in a series of Whaling Walls by Wyland. This mural called "San Diego Migration" was painted in 1994 when he made a West Coast tour (Anchorage, Vancouver, Seattle, Newport, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and ending in Mexico City) painting 13 murals in less than 8 weeks. There are currently 93 Whaling Walls around the world and the artist plans to have painted 100 murals by 2008.
From Coronado's beach you can see Mexico! Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can see the city of Tijuana (the land mass to the left) and the Coronado Islands (the two little blips on the horizon to the right) both are in Mexico. There are actually 4 islands that make up the Coronado Islands and they are mostly uninhabited.
Daily Photo bloggers that know Kate from Visual St Paul are wishing her farewell today as she leaves for Mazatlán for 3 months. So in honor of Kate here is a photo of Mexican textiles that are sold at the Bazaar del Mundo shops. In Mexico and many other countries, the art of weaving, embroidery, and quilting are sometimes passed from generation to generation. Click here to learn about an interesting project that is documenting Mexico's vanishing indigenous textiles.
Lemon Grove is a community that borders the city of San Diego and this big lemon is their most famous landmark. The base of it reads "Best Climate on Earth". As you can imagine, the town got its name when large lemon and orange trees were planted in the early 1900's. Today the city is no longer filled with citrus groves, but behind the big lemon there are still a few lemon trees growing.
I decided to branch out a bit for my Friday posts because as much as I love Mexican food, I do enjoy other kinds of food as well. For all you taco fans, I'll still post Mexican food now and then. Here is the breakfast menu from Hash House A Go Go. They serve enormous portions (one plate is enough for 2-3 people) of "twisted farm food". I always get a kick out of the "O'Hare of the dog" menu item. See anything you might like to eat?
Well, the clouds and rain rolled in today after a lovely week of fun in the sun. The lifeguards are always reminding swimmers and surfers to stay on their side of the checkered flag. Aside from maintaining safe areas for swimming and surfing, the flag is a good visual marker for those in the water. I remember when I was a kid coming out of the ocean and walking a good distance back to where my family was sitting because the currents had pulled me half way down the beach.
This is for Susan of Not Strictly Seattle who was the runner-up in my contest from the other day. Corvette Diner opened in the 1980's and it was an instant hot spot and still is today. Loud music, real Corvette cars in the dining room, a soda fountain, Bazooka bubble gum, and lots of neon. The waiters and waitresses are really sassy and kitchy. Be prepared for sensation overload. I took these photos in the morning before they were opened because I haven't had the heart (or the time) to dine there in person.
You would hardly know that it is winter with the temperatures in the 70's, blue skies, and blossoming trees. Only 10 more weeks until the first day of spring.
After being closed for 2 years, the US Grant Hotel opened last October after a $52 million renovation. Stu commented yesterday that it was purchased by the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. The restoration is a tribute to the 18th president of the United States, as during Ulysses S. Grant's presidency he set aside 640 acres of land for the tribe. His son, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr built the hotel in 1910. The restoration includes Wi-Fi throughout, original one of a kind artworks, handmade silk carpets, and decor in marble, granite, and gold leaf. Above is a photo in the main lobby. Click here to see a photo of the lobby from 1928.
