San Diego at 5am

One of my favorite times to shoot is early in the morning, just before the sun comes out. Maybe it sounds crazy, but you get the city ALLLLLL to yourself. Hardly any people, plenty of parking, and while the silence can be a bit eerie, it’s also super relaxing and allows the brain to think better. Ah...creativity! It also helps when you have a friend to shoot with who can climb and has a sense of adventure!



The trolley station is a favorite location of mine to shoot, with its ever-changing rainbow of colored lights.



This bridge near the Convention provided some amazing views of downtown all lit up.





Colors are different this time of day, too. The sky has no sunshine at this time of day, but there’s plenty fo “light pollution” from all the streetlights and signage that have yet to be extinguished.



Horton Plaza was completely empty, save for a security guard or too. The perfect place to get your morning stretch going.



The once vibrant mall there has been completely abandoned, awaiting its next concept. You almost expect a zombie or two to appear.





The final shot of the morning was the marquee for the Balboa Theatre, one of the historic gems of downtown San Diego.



See more San Diego photos at my main website.

Vintage San Diego

Today's post takes us to San Diego in the 1950's. The first shot shows the historic fountain that is located across from the U.S. Grant Hotel in the downtown area.

This contemporary shot from a few years back shows the same view from an upstairs window of the U.S. Grant, taken by me when I stayed at the hotel one evening. The area behind the fountain was converted into Horton Plaza during the 1980's. Mercifully, these funky storefronts have since been removed. The fountain is now behind construction walls while the city is working to turn this area into a public park. I am not sure how this will be successfully accomplished, as the last few years have seen this patch of land taken over by drugged-out vagrants and the homeless. How do you keep out the less-than-desirable element while enticing the general public? Unless there's a velvet rope with bouncers, I can't see how you would pull this off.



Moving on, here are two vintage 1950's consecutive shots showing the U.S. Grant Hotel:



When you think of cool and sexy, buses rarely come to mind. Still, seeing the retro vehicles in the background of this photo in the flesh would probably encourage me to ride public transportation more than I do!



The last two shots show the fountain again, being enjoyed by visitors to the downtown area:





One of these days when the park construction is finished, I'll head back downtown and shoot some contemporary corresponding comparison photos. So much to do, so little time.

See more vintage & current San Diego, California photos on my San Diego web pages.