Touring San Diego

When your good friend who’s a photographer comes to visit, the best part of hanging out is geeking together around town with the cameras. To onlookers, this first shot probably appears strange; to a photographer who likes to look at life in different ways, it’s our oxygen.

It’s always fun to walk around downtown and pay attention to the things I would normally ignore as I either drive by or briskly walk by because I’m on a mission. Below is one of my newer favorite buildings in San Diego, the former Police Headquarters which has been repurposed as an outdoor mall.

They have kept enough quirky touches from the original building to remind you of what it once was.

Nearby is the 25' tall “Unconditional Surrender” J. Seward Johnson sculpture in the Tuna Harbor area that commemorates Alfred Eisenstaedt’s legendary August 14, 1945 photograph taken in Times Square on V-J Day. Art critics are about as laudatory on this piece as the they are about the Rocky/Sylvester Stallone Statue in Philadelphia. The tourists love it.

Bob Hope is just a few steps away.

Also nearby is the Midway Museum, which is located aboard...The Midway. Commissioned a week after the end of World War II, The Midway was the largest ship in the world until 1955.

Heading towards downtown on Broadway we came upon the former 1920s YMCA building, which is now The Guild Hotel. My mom once told me that she played the piano here during WWII for servicemen.

An eclectic mix of buildings in downtown:

They should have a before and after mug for the logo. This does not look appetizing.

The sunset was a bit mild at Pacfic Beach, but still beautiful.

A multitude of captions came to mind when I saw this:

Who knew there were Hidden Mickeys on Crystal Pier?

See more San Diego photos at my main website.

Summer of ’85

When a reader reached out to inquire purchasing my 1985 shots of Club Diego’s in Pacific Beach, it brought back a lot of memories for me. I was on summer break from college and went out to San Diego with my dad and his wife. I had just turned 21 and Club Diego’s was the place to go! Neon signs, huge dance floor, and the best 80’s music (or at least in my opinion!).

I looked at the other shots I took on my point and shoot camera; while the quality may not be great, I am sure glad I have them. While buildings come and go quickly at the beach, this restaurant/bar obviously still had its original vintage bones, as well as a cool neon sign. Saska’s is still in business; it opened in 1951 as the High Tide Bar.

Dad and I did the usual touristy things, including a visit to Sea World (I LOVED those board shorts!)…

and the Wild Animal Park, where I was part of the bird show. No, it didn’t crap on my hair. Apologies for the short-shorts, but OP (Ocean Pacific) was IN!

Lahaina Beach House was my favorite place to grab a lunch and beverage when I was surfboarding all day or catching the rays.

The Giant Dipper Roller Coast at Mission Beach has been around since 1925:

The Plunge swimming facility has been around since 1925 as well; my dad would tell me stories about swimming here when he was a kid. The boardwalk area around it had recently been renovated when I was there that summer.

No trip to San Diego was complete without a visit to the legendary Hotel del Coronado:

I was all about learning more about my dad and HIS favorite haunts back in the day; he took me on a tour of his alma mater, San Diego State University:

And there’s a snapshot of my Summer of 1985 vacation!

See more vintage and contemporary San Diego photos at my main website.

Crystal Pier Bodybuilding Photo Shoot

Last Sunday I had a photo shoot at Crystal Pier. It was a bit overcast and cloudy, which wouldn't seem like an ideal situation to take photos, but in truth, it worked out just fine.



Since it was early, Pacific Beach was pretty quiet with most of the people I saw either surfing or getting coffee and breakfast at Kono's, the local hot spot.



My subject was bodybuilder David Anthony Tassin, who just the night before had earned the NPC National Physique Athlete Runner-up in the Los Angeles Championships Physique Tall Class. Here he is prepping for his photos. He looked pretty ripped even before the pushups.



The back of a champion.



I don't think I've ever had a waist that small.



I had to laugh a little when he said he was going to do some sit-ups to make his abs stand out. Wow.



Doing his show routine:



His idea of shooting under the pier worked out well; really love this shot.



Elsewhere in PB, you can see what Crystal Pier looked like back in the day with this hand painted mural:



Pulling back, here's the entire mural:



Just down the street, you can also find John Lennon advertising Five Guys restaurant. Wouldn't Four Guys have been more appropriate?



Tonight, David competes in Las Vegas to hopefully get his pro-card at the USA Championships. I can't imagine him not succeeding.

See more Daveland photos at my main website.

Surfing Safari

Getting new tires ranks pretty low on my meter of excitement, but last Sunday, when the manager said it would take 2 hours, it became even less exciting…until he mentioned that I could just hang out at the beach. As fortune would have it, my camera was in the trunk of my car. It all seemed like a no-brainer. I walked a few blocks west and hung out at Pacific Beach for 2 hours. I eventually ended up at the Crystal Pier, which gives a fantabulous view of both the ocean and the coast. No fishing for me, but I was definitely interested in shooting!



The lighting was perfect, and the surf didn't seem too bad, either.



Here are a few shots I got on that beautiful Sunday where the surfers seemed to be having a blast, and I found it hard to walk away as I kept waiting to capture the perfect wave.











It almost felt like summer.

See more vintage & current Daveland Pacific Beach photos on my main website.

Memories of the Beach

The summer of '85 was a magical one for me; I was about to enter my senior year in college and I had just turned 21. It also marked the first time that I stayed at my father's vacation home on Mission Bay in San Diego. Although there were times during that two week stay that he (and his wife) drove me nuts, it was also one of the first times that we were able to start relating to each other as adults. Both of us were born in San Diego, but my father actually grew up there. I loved driving around town with him while he pointed out certain memorable spots that had been part of his childhood. I remember him talking about The Plunge (shown below), which was the largest salt-water pool in the world when it was built during the 1920's. This 1985 photo that I shot with a film camera (like all of the photos in this post) was taken two years before the Plunge and the rest of Belmont Park was (temporarily) shutdown for a major renovation.



I also remember my dad pointing out Saska's, which was a hangout for him back in the 1950's. He also seemed to recall that it was a place that he would run into my mother before the two of them wed in 1956.



We also walked around the San Diego State University campus, where both he and my mother attended for two years before he went off to the Marines and she went off to finish her degree in Arizona.



A year later, I took one of my college friends, Rob, out to Mission Beach for Spring Break. Unsupervised, unchaperoned, and ready for fun! We never let the cast on his leg get in the way of our vacation.



The Lahaina Beach House at Pacific Beach was a great place to grab a burger and brew while “people watching” the interesting folk on the beach.



We found this broken surfboard on the beach; neither of us had any idea how to surf, but we sure had a blast posing for photos as if we did.



For nightlife, the two of us walked down Mission Boulevard to Club Diego's, THE hip dance spot of San Diego. I can still picture that rube on the dance floor with a cast on his leg, pivoting around it while flailing the rest of his body.



I shot this photo the morning we were leaving to go back to school in Indiana. What a farewell.



Rob and I returned to Mission Beach a few months later after I graduated; he was staying at UCLA for an internship and I was still floundering around, trying to find my way...and find a job. I eventually got frustrated and moved back to Indiana...for another 13 years!



I would still make occasional trips back to Mission Bay, and often brought friends to show them why I was so hooked on Southern California. There was boogie boarding, which I like to refer to as "Surfing for Idiots."



For those who like to build things with their hands, nothing like sand castles to stretch your creativity.



For thrills, nearby Belmont Park had The Giant Dipper, an old fashioned gut-wrenching roller coaster.



Hold on tight...this one is guaranteed to move your intestines around...



I am so glad I have this shot, taken in 1995. When I went on the coaster recently, they told me that cameras are not allowed.



Finally, after a few lukewarm attempts to job search while still living in the midwest, 1999 brought on my life changing epiphany; I could either stay in Indiana and flatline, or take a leap of faith by quitting the job, selling the house, and attempting to start fresh in San Diego. At that point, my dad was retired and living full time in his beach house. Being able to stay with him while I job searched made that leap a lot less scary. Living with a parent again in your 30s can be a bit nuts; at times it was like a bad sitcom.



It took me three months to get my first job. Although it wasn't ideal, the skills I learned there helped me secure my current position. My father passed away suddenly a year later, which makes me oh so grateful for that time that we spent together and even more aware that it is important to listen to the messages that the universe sends. Well, most of the messages at least. I am a firm believer that things happen in life for a reason, and having that three months of living with my father again was a gift that I will never forget.

My visits to the beach slowed down to a screeching halt once my dad was gone. Without his beach house to use as a mission control center, it became more of a production to go to the beach while dragging the boogie boards, towels, and attempting to find a place to park. Even to this day, it just feels weird to go there knowing that he isn't around.

Still, I look back fondly on the days that I spent there and think how much I owe my father for all that he shared with me. Thanks for the memories, Pops!

See more vintage & current San Diego Pacific Beach photos on my San Diego web pages.