Works by Alma Silva and Angel Esparza that are part of the Far South/Border North program. Photo credit: @SDArtsComm via X Far South/Border North has a new interactive map to better locate art and culture campaigns that are part of the city of San Diego program. The website, searchable by zip code, now has detailed information about each of the more than 70 projects funded in the program, including: I Am San Diego:  by Cat Chiu Phillips, using student artwork to raise awareness of San Diego’s diversity and underrepresented youth. Connected Voces: by Media Arts Center San Diego ..read more

DrumatiX will perform as part of a residency program at San Diego International Airport. Photo credit: @sandiegoairport via Instagram San Diego International Airport has resumed its Performing Arts Residency Program, with live performances in terminals beginning Monday. Artist groups are invited to develop and perform new works as part of the program, which had been on a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. New visual art is being featured in the airport as well. DrumatiX, a creative percussion company, is up first amongst the performers. The group was selected to develop, reh ..read more

The famed Universal Studios Hollywood backlot tram tour took a step back in time Friday as the attraction marks its 60th anniversary, and for a limited time it will include a chance for people to step off the tram and wander onto a movie set and snap photos with some iconic props. “The Studio Tour paved the way for the development of Universal Studios Hollywood and celebrating its 60-year milestone pays homage to its indelible impact,” Scott Strobl, executive vice president and general manager of Universal Studios Hollywood, said in a statement earlier this month announcing plans for the anni ..read more

Raise a glass – even a wee one – to the latest food and beverage fests in San Diego. There are two this weekend. Photo credit: Screen shot, Liquid City via YouTube This San Diego weekend, there’s art, music and street fairs, a party for a king (really!) and cocktails and cheese. What more could you want? First up, two art extravaganzas, in Balboa Park and Little Italy: Art Alive, an event in which flowers are used to represent great works of art, continues at the San Diego Museum of Art Saturday and Sunday. See installations, live performances and more with the focus on the art of India. Tick ..read more

Verbatim Books in North Park. Photo credit: @sdbookcrawl via Instagram Hop on the bus for the San Diego Book Crawl beginning Saturday at 13 San Diego County independent book stores. The crawl continues through Monday at: San Diego – Bluestocking Books in Hillcrest, Book Catapult in South Park, the mobile bookstore Joyride (in Liberty Station Saturday), La Playa Books in Point Loma, Libélula Books in Barrio Logan, the Library Shop SD in the East Village, Meet Cute Romance Bookshop in North Park, Mysterious Galaxy in the Midway District, the UC San Diego Bookstore in La Jolla, Ve ..read more

Take a stroll through the streets of Little Italy for ArtWalk. Photo credit: @ArtWalkSD via Facebook Mission Fed ArtWalk, the largest and longest running fine arts festival in Southern California, is back for its 40th year, celebrating both visual and performing arts. Head to Little Italy at 11 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday to participate in community art projects and view, experiment with or create with new mediums. “We believe art has the power to connect communities, cultivate new artistic talent and create a better quality of life for all through cultural enrichment,” said Cur ..read more

Native California plants in a water-saving landscape. Image courtesy San Diego County Water Authority Have you got a green thumb? Consider entering the Garden Show at the San Diego County Fair. Two divisions for the competition will bring together landscapers and “green thumbs” this summer for the San Diego County Fair’s Paul Ecke Jr. Garden Show. In total, about $54,000 in prizes are available. Participants can enter competitions for large-scale landscape displays and compact container plants.   The larger landscape division exhibits should incorporate conservation standards, the us ..read more

Closeup of the structure of a leaf, through which plants take in carbon dioxide. Courtesy Scripps Institution of Oceanography Have you got a green thumb? Consider entering the Garden Show at the San Diego County Fair. Two divisions for the competition will bring together landscapers and “green thumbs” this summer for the San Diego County Fair’s Paul Ecke Jr. Garden Show. In total, about $54,000 in prizes are available. Participants can enter competitions for large-scale landscape displays and compact container plants.   The larger landscape division exhibits should incorporate conser ..read more

One word comes to mind while watching Rose Glass’ gritty new thriller Love Lies Bleeding — greasy. Set in a local community of gym rats and gun nuts, we see the ever-fascinating contradiction of people obsessed with working out — something that should be healthy — while simultaneously addicted to cigarettes, steroids or both. Everyone in this movie looks like they need a bath or a trip to the dentist. Glass builds a gnarly universe for viewers who will either be sucked into the experience or too grossed out toward the end. In 1989 small town Nevada, Jackie (Katy O’Brian) is an aspiring bodyb ..read more

The Timken Museum in Balboa Park. Courtesy of the museum Frank L. Hope III, who headed what was San Diego’s largest architectural firm from 1966 to 1993, died last month. He was 93. In its prime, Hope Design Group had 150 employees and offices in Southern California, San Francisco and Saudi Arabia. They designed hundreds of buildings here and abroad including military projects in the Philippines.  Hope’s most visible San Diego structures included San Diego Stadium (aka Jack Murphy, Qualcomm, SDCCU), the former San Diego Union-Tribune headquarters in Mission Valley, the Timken Museum of Ar ..read more