Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Major projects at Mission Beach's Plunge
Tile repairs, new filtration system, Wyland mural to become glasswork
If you went swimming early last month at Belmont Park’s historic pool, the Plunge, you likely noticed that the Wyland sea-life mural on the south wall was split from pool deck to high ceiling, exposing vertical steel beams. And if you stop by today, you’ll find the Plunge closed for repairs, with signs of construction throughout the Belmont Park complex.
Planned work on the Plunge pool at the Wavehouse Athletic Club was expected to take up to two weeks for replacement of the nearly 30-year-old filtration system with a modern one that uses fewer chemicals. But draining the pool revealed bigger problems: in places, water had seeped underneath the tile, some of which is dated from the 1920s, and patchwork repairs were failing.
“We were stepping in sections of the pool and could sink,” said Belmont Park’s director of operations, Justin Lopez. The Plunge will be closed until late April, while the pool is repaired and the uncommon small tiles are replaced. The San Diego History Center is ensuring that the new tile maintains the original look of the pool, which debuted in 1925 as the largest saltwater pool in the world.
The original Orcas off Point Loma was painted in 1989 on an interior wall.
When the now-freshwater pool reopens, it won’t be without its famous artwork. Accessing the old Plunge building’s interior steel structure for repair and reinforcement necessitated removal of sections of drywall, including some on which Wyland painted one his famous Whaling Wall murals in 1989.
Orcas off Point Loma will not be lost, however. Before repair work began, Wyland and his team took hundreds of digital photos of the mural. Steve Creech, executive director of the Wyland Foundation, said, “We have been working very closely with the developer to find a solution that not only retains the integrity of the former mural, but does something that we hope will be amazing for everyone.”
Rendering of the resurrected Wyland Whaling Wall, in glass
That solution involves using the photos to replicate the mural on glass panels, which will allow swimmers to enjoy the orcas as before, but will also be transparent from the opposite side of the interior wall, so that gym users can see into the pool area. The effect “will be like a bus wrap,” explained Lopez. The mural will also be illuminated and visible at night from outside the building.
It isn't only the Plunge that’s getting upgraded; hardhats and barriers are everywhere, as much of Belmont Park is being reworked. There are plans for a large rooftop deck, restaurants, new bathrooms, and more — even a zipline. The owners expect that by the start of summer, Mission Beach’s oceanfront park will be back and better than before.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Major projects at Mission Beach's Plunge
Tile repairs, new filtration system, Wyland mural to become glasswork
Major projects at Mission Beach's Plunge
Tile repairs, new filtration system, Wyland mural to become glasswork
If you went swimming early last month at Belmont Park’s historic pool, the Plunge, you likely noticed that the Wyland sea-life mural on the south wall was split from pool deck to high ceiling, exposing vertical steel beams. And if you stop by today, you’ll find the Plunge closed for repairs, with signs of construction throughout the Belmont Park complex.
Planned work on the Plunge pool at the Wavehouse Athletic Club was expected to take up to two weeks for replacement of the nearly 30-year-old filtration system with a modern one that uses fewer chemicals. But draining the pool revealed bigger problems: in places, water had seeped underneath the tile, some of which is dated from the 1920s, and patchwork repairs were failing.
“We were stepping in sections of the pool and could sink,” said Belmont Park’s director of operations, Justin Lopez. The Plunge will be closed until late April, while the pool is repaired and the uncommon small tiles are replaced. The San Diego History Center is ensuring that the new tile maintains the original look of the pool, which debuted in 1925 as the largest saltwater pool in the world.
The original Orcas off Point Loma was painted in 1989 on an interior wall.
When the now-freshwater pool reopens, it won’t be without its famous artwork. Accessing the old Plunge building’s interior steel structure for repair and reinforcement necessitated removal of sections of drywall, including some on which Wyland painted one his famous Whaling Wall murals in 1989.
Orcas off Point Loma will not be lost, however. Before repair work began, Wyland and his team took hundreds of digital photos of the mural. Steve Creech, executive director of the Wyland Foundation, said, “We have been working very closely with the developer to find a solution that not only retains the integrity of the former mural, but does something that we hope will be amazing for everyone.”
Rendering of the resurrected Wyland Whaling Wall, in glass
That solution involves using the photos to replicate the mural on glass panels, which will allow swimmers to enjoy the orcas as before, but will also be transparent from the opposite side of the interior wall, so that gym users can see into the pool area. The effect “will be like a bus wrap,” explained Lopez. The mural will also be illuminated and visible at night from outside the building.
It isn't only the Plunge that’s getting upgraded; hardhats and barriers are everywhere, as much of Belmont Park is being reworked. There are plans for a large rooftop deck, restaurants, new bathrooms, and more — even a zipline. The owners expect that by the start of summer, Mission Beach’s oceanfront park will be back and better than before.
Comments