Walking Around in San Diego

As I trudged along a quiet street in La Mesa, I came upon this uninviting wall of shrubbery. In the space where there should have been a white picket fence or a nice front lawn, a ten foot green palisade blocked the view. If it weren't for the wooden door in the middle, there would be no way of knowing that this was the entrance to a house. I immediately started drawing conclusions as to what was being hidden behind this living structure. First, my usual thoughts of secret society hideout sprouted in my mind. It could have been a house for a band of Dark Elf thieves or a training facility for clowns and jugglers. Then, I thought that this could all just be an overgrowth of healthy vines attributed to the sunny San Diego weather. I preferred my first guess because besides the address and signs on the door, this scene had a fantasy story just waiting to be written about it.

Although the craftsmanship of the structure is apparent, I don't know exactly why it was built. I'm going to guess that it's used to feature special plants. From the looks of things though, the landscaping was a work in progress. There was no lawn and very few plants. Inside the square enclosure a lonely shrub could be seen growing. Another thought that came to me was that this could maybe be a small fountain or maybe an unfinished jacuzzi for Roman god worship. It could be a possibility. The house was nice and there are probably plans to remodel the landscaping.

I keep running into random shopping carts that look to be in weird situations but I have resisted the urge to photograph them. I wouldn't want this to turn into a shopping cart blog but I couldn't resist writing about this unusual pairing which was found in La Mesa in front of an apartment complex in the early morning hours. These two look like they came home from a night of drinking but never quite made it inside and they're still fumbling to find their keys. The gray one looks like it's using the wall to hold himself up and the purple one is using her gray buddy in order not to tip over.

Check out this groovy guy walking on stilts. He was terrorizing the kids with his giant hammer by pretending to bonk them on the head. One crazy mosher tried messing with him and almost got a hammer to the noggin.

As I mentioned in the last post, the fair was not the greatest show on earth but it did have its moments. One of these moments began as a small disappointment. Monsters from Mars was scheduled to play at 6:30 but when we shuffled over to their stage, they were loading up their equipment. One source told me that the power had gone out and they were only going to be allowed to play two songs by the time the power would be back on. Curiosity got the best of me and I went up to the stage area and asked one of the band members what was going on. It turns out that this particular stage area did not have enough juice to power all their equipment. This turn of events saddened me since the number one reason for going to this fair, apart from the art, was this band. Fortunately, as the band was leaving, they announced to everyone that they would be playing an impromptu performance at a house nearby in half an hour and we were all invited. Everyone cheered and headed down the street. Once we got there we waited outside for a few minutes while the band set up their gear. The house was cozy and had a cool tiki theme. As the band started up, people stuffed the house. Monsters from Mars rocked! Everyone was dancing and having a good time. This was an amazing ending that I could not have predicted.

This last Saturday a few of us headed over to the Art Around Adams fair. There were about 4 stages for musical acts and a dozen or so vendor booths. Art displays were scattered around the large fenced area where the event has being held. I expected a much bigger involvement from the community and much more art being displayed. If I had to give the art fair a grade, it'd be a C-. It did have its moments though. For instance, these huge puppets pictured here were a surprise. It was fun watching them try to stay upright as gusts of wind attempted to topple them over.

This weekend I decided to take a walk at the Spring Valley Swap Meet. The weather was gloomy and perfect for browsing wares at the swap meet. My first pit stop was at the Weenie Queen eatery where they serve Tijuana style hot dogs. These hot dogs are prepared a little bit different than their American counterparts. The weenies are wrapped up in bacon and then thrown on the grill. The most common toppings are diced onions, tomatoes, mustard, mayo, and ketchup. Eating a hot dog at 8am seemed too early so I decided to eat elsewhere. Fortunately, I did not come up empty handed, I took a picture of the infamous weenie queen herself (just kidding, not really her).

Each week I will highlight a person that has influenced, shaped or impacted my travels in a meaningful way. Ryan H. is the person of the week. Happy Birthday today Ryan! Last week, I visited the unincorparated city of Crest and Ryan was my guide. We mostly hung out at the local park up there but was shown where other landmarks were located such as the local fire station and the liquor store. Toward the end of my visit we headed over to Ryan's house. There at his house we listened to some tunes ranging from folk to hip hop and even some songs written by Ryan himself. It was a pleasant visit and I would like to thank Ryan and the community of Crest for having me.

If you look close enough you can see the sign on the door to this detached garage says "Office". I found it interesting that you would have your home office door marked. What is the need for that? It's not as if your employees would require a sign to point them in the right direction if they should happen to accidently get lost. All kidding aside, the sign is probably up there for fun.

I took this photo near a familiar house. I looked back and noticed that most of the trees had a stray growth that seemed to reach out to try and touch passersby. This scene reminded me of a medieval gauntlet where a person had to endure a corridor of pain from a series of combatants lined up alongside each other. The person would be badly beaten by the time they reached the end of the two lines.

When I was in school I would see these sheets of spam all over the campus but I didn't expect to see this one in my neighborhood. I also didn't expect it to be on a telephone pole. This promotion was a bit different though. For one, it was in Spanish and another thing, it was advertising massage therapy. I should have ripped off one of the dangling pieces of paper and kept it for my records. You never know when you're gonna need a good massage therapist.

Check out this deceptive use of art. This starfish is a skatestopper used at the dolphin fountains found at the UTC mall. I guess they had a skateboarder problem there and had to install these starfish in order to impede kids from doing damage with their boards. Although I disagree with the whole idea of skatestoppers, these actually are the most creative ones I've seen. They are scattered all over the mall fountains. Skaters beware! Believe me, they are not friendly to skateboarders at this mall.

Another significant thing I happened to come across while at the UTC mall was this spray painted image in the parking lot. I'm not sure why somebody would draw this. Could it be that a devilish being was trying to reserve their parking space by marking it? Probably not. This obviously was spray painted and not etched with sacrificial blood so that throws out the demon theory. I understand the number part but not the other image. Is it supposed to be demonic four square or maybe it's a window to another dimension?

How often do you see a yellow cow with ribbons painted on it? I don't see many walking about so when I took a gander at this fine specimen, I had to take a picture. This cow and others like it are part of a cow auction benefiting Rady Children's hospital. According to their website these cows are scattered around La Jolla. Each cow has it's own theme by a different artist. The artist that created this cow is Chris Keller Mueller. I also saw two other cows grazing around the UTC mall. I don't remember the exact designs on the other two cows but one of them was Jack in the box themed. Here's the Jack in the Box cow. For more info regarding the auction, go to www.cowparadelajolla.com.

This past Sunday I took a ride up to the UTC area near La Jolla Village Drive. I took a stroll near the office buildings across the street from the mall. The group of buildings surrounded an unusual scene. Hidden inbetween these wanna-be skyscrapers are a few ponds interconnected by small waterfalls which probably make for a peaceful lunchtime getaway for office drones. I enjoyed a small break there and listened to the water rush from one pond to the next. It was quiet except for the water, which made me want to pee, but it was peaceful nonetheless. I did notice something kind of odd though. There were no coins anywhere in the water. Wasn't anyone tossing coins in and making wishes? This made me start thinking that maybe the people in this town did not require making wishes because if you lived and worked in this nice of an area then you didn't need to wish for anything else. That would be downright greedy. Maybe they were really tight with their money especially during this recession. But most likely there is a really good filtering system installed in these ponds that washes the money into a bin and the janitor pockets all the loose change.

It's amazing what you can discover on a short walking trip. For instance, this safe for sale at only $450. What a steal! If the safe doesn't interest you, there's always these carts for sale. This was an interesting yard sale.

I almost missed seeing these bear guardians because of the dense shrubbery covering the front fence. Backpeddling a few steps I found a clearing and was able to snap this photo. These bears were carved from wood. Mama bear was about 5' 5'' tall and baby bear was about half the height of his mother. I wonder where they were bought. Maybe they were not bought at all and the artist that created them lived at this very spot. Since there were no other carved wooden items to be found nearby, I'd have to speculate that these were either purchased or given to the residents and not created on the premises. Check out the bush to the left of me, it had to be at least 7 feet tall. If I were a burglar I would definitely be deterred by the wall of bushes and also by the bears guarding the front yard.

This scene made me do a double take. On one hand, I applauded the ingenuity of the person that thought to attach a tub to the end of a slide. On the other hand, it made me want to laugh just thinking of the mischief one could get into on this Jackass inspired creation. One thing is for sure though, these people really know how to have some fun.

Now who would throw away a nearly full package of Top Ramen? This type of behavior is wasteful and should not be tolerated in these harsh times. I'm not particularly fond of packaged ramen noodles but when you don't have anything else to eat, these can be a godsend. I found this bag right next to a bus stop just east of my home. The noodles looked like they were soaked so I would have to guess that someone was eating them dry with lemon juice. Or...

My hypothesis: The fellow that was guilty of eating this bag of noodles rides the 9:15am bus every morning to work. The previous night he drank himself to sleep due to being upset because of the crushing defeat of his beloved San Francisco Giants at the hands of the San Diego Padres. Because he stayed up late and drank too much, he awoke at an unexpected 9 o'clock. In order to make the 9:15 bus he was gonna have to hurry. He skipped his normal hygiene rituals so no shower, no shave, and also no breakfast. He grabbed what he thought was the easiest food to prepare, shrimp flavored Top Ramen Noodles, and doused the dry food with lemon juice. In his hurried state, he forgot that there was no food allowed on the bus and also that his nemesis, Charlie the bus driver, had already caught him eating on the bus twice. A third strike would ban him from ever riding public transportation on that side of the city. This was all realized at the last possible moment as the bus pulled up. In a panic, he tossed his make-shift meal behind him just as he boarded the bus. And that is how a full bag of Top Ramen happened to find it's way on the sidewalk. The end.

As I ran alongside this patch of jasmine I inhaled a huge whiff of soothing aroma. The smell was sweet and made me feel at ease. I was compelled to loiter there a few minutes but instead I took a picture and moved on unwillingly. One weird thing I noticed is that I usually don't see jasmine grown on the ground like this. It's always flourishing on a fence or gate but always grown as a vine. Perhaps it was accidental growth or intentional planting but either way I look forward to walking by there again.

Isn't it sad that this city limits sign is accompanied by a neighborhood watch warning. It's as if they're saying, "Welcome to our fine city but no funny business cuz we have people watching you". I'm sure they were put together to save money but it seems a bit tacky or maybe I'm over-analyzing? What do you think?

I had a lazy day yesterday and was unable to write anything interesting. Also, I went jogging instead of walking and didn't have a good chance to observe anything of merit because I was traveling much faster than usual. I did take a few pics but not as many as I should have. Again, I am sorry for failing all of you. I will do my best to continue to bring you new content everyday. (except weekends, most holidays, religious events, musical appearances, visits from my girlfriend and if I feel tired and/or lazy again) :)

All kidding aside, I will have posts for today and some from yesterday posted up shortly.

Bored of my usual route I decided to head west down Imperial Avenue in hopes of seeing something new. What I happened to come across really made my day. It turns out that North Park is not the only city in San Diego that has cool art masquerading as city equipment. This utility box had old school neon signs painted on it. The nostalgia made me giddy (I'm a sucker for anything vintage). This was not the first painted utility box I had seen but I'd have to say it is one of coolest around. Not only because it had vivid imagery of the past but I especially liked it because it's now a part of my neighborhood.

I really appreciate that an artist would come down to my 'hood and help beautify it. Thank you Jeanette. This is a link to the artist's website/blog: http://jeanettevieira.wordpress.com/

The utility box can be found on 68th street, just south of Imperial avenue.

This is the coolest mailbox I've seen so far this week. I like that it's different than most plain mailboxes in the area. The wooden shell and rocks below it brought back memories of Disneyland's Swiss Family Treehouse, which is now known as Tarzan's Treehouse (Lame). Along this new route I saw one other mailbox that was encased in wood similar to this one but did not have the decorative rocks holding it up and was instead just propped up on a cement wall. Not nearly as nice looking as this one.

Honorable mention: mailbox-eating shrubbery or mailbox in a green dress.

Every week I'll showcase a car I've seen on my travels. Today I stumbled on this 60s, maybe 70s VW. While I'm not a big fan of the VW bug, I'll have to give props to the mad genius that chose this color scheme. It has Sweetness painted all over it. The interior also had an orange and white layout. Reminded me of a creamsicle, orange sherbert and vanilla goodness. Nice!

I came upon this estate close to the end of my walk. If you drove by this, you'd think it was a top secret government installation of some kind. The house had at least three No Trespassing and Guard dog signs. I also saw about four 1980s security cams scattered around the property, along with some flood lights. The fence was completely covered with vines but I decided to do some detective work and check out what was hidden behind some trees. Much to my surprise I did not find experimental weaponry, nor did I find a training facility for covert operatives, nor were there any trained German dogs guarding the place. I did see a half empty pool back there though.

My hypothesis: This was an old location for the most popular swinger parties of the excessive 1980s. These booze and coke-infused orgies would rage on into the morinng hours. The neighbors were all a part of the festivities so nobody called the cops to report noise complaints. In order to keep the papparazi from taking pictures, the walls were extended a few feet and vines were encouraged to grow on them. The dogs and the cameras were installed to scare off any party crashers bold enough to jump the fence. When the turn of the century came and the tech market bubble burst, the demise of these crazy and expensive parties also came. It could be a possibility.

This fine piece of artwork was left outside and looked neglected. The owners must have gotten their use and abandoned it. The lonely stare it gave beckoned me to rescue it and give it a new home. The longhorn heads creeped me out. The previous owners probably used it for dark rituals to help summon their demon gods. Or maybe it's just a cheap vase they bought at the flea market back in 1993.

These two anguished souls are found near my sister's house. I took a new route which ended up being longer and tougher. I felt a little like these guys after all the hills I had to climb. Oversleeping does not help when you want to avoid the harsh sun bearing down on you in the early afternoon hours. I wonder if these are relatives of Humpty Dumpty.

One of the first pictures I took on my walk was of these two shopping carts making love in a forest clearing. Ok, not really, but how did these shopping carts get up there? Who would take the time to trudge these up this hill? It's not an easy slope to push something up. My guess is that the nearby neighbors living on top of the hillside threw them down and they somehow landed on each other as they came barreling down the hillside. The weird thing is that the nearest supermarket is like 5 miles away, maybe further. Where the hell did these come from? I'll take a closer look some other day and identify what shop these poor lost souls originated from.

Towards the middle of my usual route there's this unusual house for sale. It has a platform-like deck in the backyard. The broken fence exposes the backyard to the street and you can get a sneak peek of what's going on back there. This deck does not seem to have any reason to be back there. It's weird. Why would it be so crammed up into the corner? You do not get a better view of anything by being up on the deck. Perhaps it was used as a cooking area for barbecues or maybe it was used as a stage for Shakespearian dramas during the summer. Your guess is as good as mine.

I happened to see this on my way back from my walk near the park in my neighborhood. Apparently this tagger thought it would be cool to incorporate this STOP sign into his/her message to the world. Can't Stop Tong it says. It's a clever use of a stop sign but why have a question mark and why place it inside the O in STOP? Maybe they're unsure about their unstoppability. Who knows?

Walking Around in San Diego

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