July 2009

In This Issue:

Calendar of Events

July

August

  • 01 Sat Chinese lock exhibit opens, Chinese Historical Museum, 404 Third Avenue, www.sdchm.org, 2pm-4pm
  • 01 Sat International Youth Symphony, Balboa Theatre, 233-3232x115 / www.sdys.org, 8pm
  • 06 Thu Screen on the Green, Shadow Magic, Museum of Art, Balboa Park, 8pm 
  • 07 Fri Coffee w/CCDC Upper Staff, Downtown Information Center, 8am www.ccdc.com
  • 13 Thu Annie (opens), Starlight Bowl, Balboa Park, www.starlighttheatre.org  / 544-7827

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Summer Events in Balboa Park

Summer Musicals at the Starlight

The Starlight Bowl Theatre in Balboa Park will be presenting several musical favorites this summer.   It will be followed by the New Mambo Kings which opens on Friday 31 July.  The final summer musical this year at the Starlight Bowl will be Annie which will open on Thursday 13 August.  For additional information www.starlighttheatre.org  544-7827.

Mid-Week Twilight in the Park at the Organ Pavilion

Twilight in the Park started a free concert series on Tuesday 16 June with Breez'n.  Programs range from military bands and Dixieland jazz to big band swing and Latin salsa.  Concerts run through Thursday 27 August on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 6:15 to 7:15pm on the stage of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

Organ Festival On Mondays
The 22nd year of the International Summer Organ Festival began Monday 22 June.  The concerts are at 7:30pm every Monday through Monday 31 August on the world's largest outdoor pipe organ in Spreckels Organ Pavilion.  Internationally renowned concert and theater organists accompany vocal works, brass, bagpipes and a silent movie on Monday 31 August.  www.sosorgan.com

Three Old Globe Summer Productions
The Old Globe's 2009 Summer Shakespeare Festival presents three plays performed in rotation beginning Saturday 13 June and running through Thursday 27 September.  Two Shakespeare productions, Twelfth Night and Coriolanus, along with Edmond Rostand's classic Cyrano de Bergerac, are performed under the stars in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. www.oldglobe.org

Screen On the Green For the Summer

Museum of Art's Screen on the Green in Balboa Park returns on 24 July with a selection of films.  Dates are 24 July (note special Friday night), 30 July and 6 August. Screen on the Green movies begin at 8pm on the east lawn and movies are free to the public. The July 24 Friday night Comic-Con special offers a selection of animated and live action short films: "Once Upon a Tide"; "Abridged Iz -- the Spirit of Aloha"; and "Karma Café." the 30 July feature is "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," and the 6 August feature is " Shadow Magic." www.sdmart.org/calendar-screen-on-the-green.html

Writing Contest for High School Students

The Women’s History Museum & Educational Center in Golden Hill is sponsoring a historical research writing competition open to all San Diego County high school students.  The museum is currently creating an audio component to accompany its permanent exhibit, All Our Grandmothers--Building San Diego--The Untold Stories.  The exhibit showcases the achievements and contributions made by San Diego women in the from 1890 to 1920.
High school students are invited to research and write a historical narrative of a day in the life of one of the women on display in the Grandmothers exhibit.  The text of the winning submissions will be professionally recorded and integrated into the permanent audio portion of the exhibit.  Twenty winning students will be awarded cash prizes and their names along with the high school they attend will be displayed within the exhibit.  For an application, students may contact the museum’s executive director, Ashley Gardner, 233-7963 / www.womensmuseumsd.org.  The application deadline is 31 July.  Winners will be announced in this fall.

Comic-Con Returns To the Convention Center

What may be the largest of all San Diego conventions begins with the preview night on Wednesday 22 July.  The actual convention kicks off the following day, Thursday 23 July and continues thru Sunday 26 July.  This will be the fortieth show that started in the US Grant hotel in downtown San Diego in 1970.  The total success of the show is indicated by the fact that it is already a complete sell-out.  Most days will see in excess of 100,000 attendees at the convention center.  For additional information www.comic-con.org.

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PBS Superstar Coming to San Diego
The host of Nova Science Now on PBS--Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson--is coming to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park on Thursday 23 July at 7:30pm.  If anybody makes astrophysics cool, it is him.  He is well-known for his appearances with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report.  He is the Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.  In 2008, Dr. Tyson was also voted one of Discover Magazine’s ten most influential people in science.  In 2000 People Magazine named him “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive.”
Appearing with Dr. Tyson will be Paula S. Apsell, Senior Executive Producer of Nova and Director of the WGBH Boston Science Unit.  Under her leadership NOVA is the most popular on-going science series on primetime television and on the Internet—having won virtually every major broadcasting award including:
*    Emmy
*    Peabody
*    AAAS Westinghouse Science Journalism Award
*    Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Gold Baton
 For further information or to purchase tickets at $20 each, www.kpbs.org

Walking Tours To Cover Several Of The Ports Top Spots
The Unified Port of San Diego will be conducting several guided walking tours of the central part of the waterfront in July.  The tours will start at the San Diego Mooring Company, 1820 North Harbor Drive, at the northern end of the North Embarcadero and end at Seaport Village.  The tours cover about one mile of the waterfront and last one and a half hours each.  During the tours you will see and learn about some of San Diego's seaside greatest assets including:

  • Seaport Village
  • USS Midway Museum
  • Urban trees program
  • Unconditional Surrender stature
  • USS San Diego memorial
  • Bob Hope memorial

The guided tours are scheduled to be held three times in July.  Two tours will be conducted on Wednesday the eighth starting at 9:30am or 11:30am or three days later on Saturday the eleventh starting at 10am.  For reservations or further information 686-8008.

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Chinese Locks Exhibit Opening
The Chinese Historical Museum, www.sdchm.org, 404 Third Avenue, is opening a new exhibit, The Many Faces of Cantonese Family Locks on Saturday 1 August.  The items on display will mostly be from the Qing Dynasty and the Han Dynasty and have been brought to the US for this exhibit.  The opening event takes place from 2pm-4pm at the museum annex across the street at 328 J Street.  It will feature a PowerPoint presentation at 2pm.

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Highlights of 2009 June 10 CCAC Meeting

CCAC Marina District Business seat now available
As the result of a resignation there is an opening on the CCAC for a business representative for the Marina district.  Interested applicants are requested to submit letters outlining qualifications to CCDC Associate Planner Brandon Nichols.

State budget situation described as dire by Senator Christine Kehoe's office
Policy aide Deanna Spehn of the office of State Senator Christine Kehoe reported that the state will run out of funds by 1 July and is currently operating on emergency reserves.

City losing convention business due to lack of convention Center space
 Newly-appointed Convention Center Task Force member Bill Sauls reported that the city is having to turn away groups wishing to hold conventions here.   While there now appears to be enough hotel space, the convention center cannot accommodate the demand.  Expansion plans are under serious consideration at this time.

Downtown leash-free dog park being considered
CCDC Senior Planner Mark Caro reported on three potential downtown sites for a new leash-free dog park.  The sites appear to be mostly on the east side of downtown.  The CCDC Real Estate Committee is recommending that sites on the west side also be considered.

Live entertainment at Nicky Rotten’s recommended for approval.
 A Conditional Use Permit (CUP) was recommended for approval following tests which showed acceptable noise levels in neighboring structures.

CCAC gives nod to this year’s Street Scene
Promoter Rob Hagey outlined plans for this annual event scheduled for the weekend of August 28-29 on the east side of Petco Park and it was recommended for approval by CCAC.

New affordable housing guidelines
CCAC voted to accept new affordable housing guidelines and priorities.  These guidelines include modification of a distance rule so that projects outside of Project Areas can be supported so long as they are within ¼ mile of a transit stop which provides direct routes to downtown.

Development permit extended
Extension of the development permit for Cosmopolitan Square (full block bounded by J Street, Island, Seventh and Eighth avenues) was supported by CCAC at the request of the developer.  It is planned to be a mixed use project that contains a 39 story 113-unit condo and 211-room hotel along with 29,500' sq of commercial/retail.  CCAC voted to grant a full three year extension of the development permit for this project.  By doing so, the committee disagreed with the CCDC Real Estate Committee which had voted for only an 18 month extension.
David Priver, dpriver@aol.com, CCAC Secretary

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Coffee with CCDC Upper Staff Moves Back To Morning
The bi-monthly informal meeting between CCDC's upper staff and the downtown community moves back to the morning.  The June meeting was held in the evening for the first time but the next meeting on Friday 7 August will return to eight o'clock in the morning.  It will be held in the usual spot at the Downtown Information Center (DIC) which is located between Victoria's Secret and Sam Goody in Horton Plaza right above Longs Drugs.

New Downtown Publications Available

Downtown Public Art Guide Map

A newly updated map of downtown's public art and many other items of cultural interest is now available at the Downtown Information Center (DIC)   The DIC is located in Horton Plaza just above Longs Drug Store between Victoria's Secret and Sam Goody.  The map shows all of downtown and includes:

  • 52 items of art and cultural interest
  • 20 galleries
  • 7 museums
  • 11 theatres

2009 Downtown Living Guide

This 28 page guide has been improved and updated.  It is all encompassing including sections on virtually everything downtown including:

  • Clean & Safe--downtown's property-based business improvement district, (PBID)
  • parks and open space
  • futures visions
  • establishing a quiet zone
  • extensive downtown contact information

The map and the Downtown Living Guide are available for free as is a wealth of additional San Diego information mostly about downtown at the DIC.

The DIC is a function of Center City Development Corporation (CCDC).  Since it was established in 1975 CCDC has been the downtown redevelopment agency for the city of San Diego.

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National Event Held on USS Midway Flight Deck
On what would have been Bob Hope's 106th birthday the United States Postal Service (USPS) issued a First-Class postage stamp in honor of the late entertainer. He died in 2003 shortly after his 100th birthday.  On Friday 29 May the stamp was dedicated on the flight deck of the USS Midway at the same spot where he had twice (1972 in Singapore Harbor & 1987 in the Western Pacific Ocean) entertained service personal during his over 50 year commitment to boosting military morale during the last two weeks of each year.  He was one of America's most beloved entertainers and largely due to his over 50 year commitment to entertaining the troops he was the first person recognized by the US Congress as an honorary veteran of the US Armed Forces despite never having served in the military.

After the dedication service the USPS sold the first of the stamps at a makeshift post office that was set up on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier museum where people could also obtain first-day-of-issue postmarks.  The Bob Hope stamps are now available at all USPS stations in the world.

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Free Downtown Bus Tours
Free Downtown bus tours offer close-up views of downtown's unique neighborhoods and highlight recently completed and upcoming new projects.  All tours begin at the Downtown Information Center (193 Horton Plaza) just above Longs Drugs between Victoria's Secret and Sam Goody.  Reservations are required, please call 619-235-2222 for reservations or further information.

Seaport Village Live Entertainment

Seaport Village will be featuring live entertainment almost everyday during the summer.  Almost all of the performances are at no charge to the public and no purchase is necessary.  For additional information on the type of entertainment on each day along with the time and location within the facility check the Internet at www.seaportvillage.com/entertainment 

Masthead

All items in this publication are the opinion of the writer of the piece.  Any item without a named author is the responsibility of the editor. Any submissions for inclusion in this publication should be submitted to the editor.   All telephone numbers are in the 619 area code unless otherwise noted.

 

Editor,  Stan Marder, smarder1@alum.ups.edu

Downtown Editions Index

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