BALBOA PARK II in Postcards 4

Balboa Park Map, Copyright: Open street maps.

I include the map a second time so you don’t get lost.

The first thing you will find as you walk down toward the South, is the Japanese Friendship Garden. You can stop for a cup of tea at the Tea Pavilion and see down into the Japanese Garden. Before WWII, the Japanese had a small garden where I used to picnic at the back of the Zoo. It was ignored, and after the war demolished. Now this beautiful space lives at the heart of Balboa Park.

Tea and snacks are available above the Japanese Garden at the Tea Pavilion.

“The Garden sits on a 12-acre plot. It offers a variety of educational programs, exhibits, and festivals as well as accredited horticultural classes to enhance and deepen visitor appreciation for Japanese culture,” the Friendship> Garden Page Tells us.

Looking down into the Japanese Garden

Turning South down the long arm of the park away from the Prado, you will encounter the Spreckles Organ with it’s arms reaching out around the seating plaza. The Spreckles brothers donated the organ for the 1914 Panama California Exposition. There have always been Sunday concerts. The city of San Diego has hired a new , much touted organist, Raul Ramirez. He plays a concert every Sunday at 2pm.

The Organ Pavilion with the great elephant door open.

The organ Pavilion is used for many things year round. There are quinceanera’s, weddings, and celebrations of all sorts. During the summer, many local groups perform while their audiences eat picnic dinners on the benches or lawns. Once a year also, there’s the Silent Movie Night which is August 31 this year.

I don’t know if this is a Wedding or Quinceanera’s.

Behind the Organ is a big parking lot. Many who come to shows at one of the Old Globe’s three theaters park here. Yes, there is limited parking in the park. On the right are the cottages of the International houses with Palm Canyon behind them. Further down are the southwestern style buildings used by the city.

Palisades Building

To the left is a large Aztec style museum building. The Hall of Champions moved there after their space was torched. Friends from another museum tell me that this was used only as an event space. Now the Hall of Champions has moved again to the Padre’s Petco Park, and The Comic Con Museum has moved in. Yes I am a founding member.

The front of the New Comic Con Museum.

Next to that is one of the City’s gyms. There is a brand new gym across Park Blvd., but kids are scheduled for basketball practice here. At the Far end of this small promontory is the Ford building and the Ford outdoor theater….now the Aerospace Museum and the Starlight Bowl. This photograph illustrates the problem with the Starlight.

The Aerospace Museum and Starlight Bowl with a very large spy plane in front.

This Moderne structure was built for the California Pacific Exposition in 1934 by the Ford Motor Car Company. It is a circular structure with a now covered central patio. The museum has workshops below the displays. One of the highlights of the building itself is the Circular mural in the WPA approved style. I was lucky to get in and see it before the restoration. Today there are a series of displays chronicling the history of flight, and usually there will be a special display also.

Last but not least, the San Diego Automotive Museum. Unlike most other museums in the park, the museum rotates it’s shows three times a year. There is a little less than half of the floor space taken by a permanent exhibit. The rest is filled with well done and often unusual automobiles, trucks, or military machinery.

The Deco Automotive Building.

Museum members with their cars at the annual summer picnic.

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• Himself: Working hard this Friday. Dinner, Meeting, and Project Runway.


• Myself: Trying not to think, and following G around.


• Photos: Mine.


• Reading: Evanovich.


• Gratitude’s: That I am able to put my thinking aside.

Last updated June 14, 2019