Greater San Juan Metroplex, Old San Juan

Ruins of Miraflores Magazine and Isla Grande

As mentioned in my last post on Santurce Graffiti, this is part 2 of a Photo MeetUp shoot we did a few weeks back. After having covered the Street Art of the area, Abandoned US Navy Hanger in Isla Grande, Santurce we moved over to the Isla Grande area which is also part of Santurce.

Isla Grande-

Isla Grande is also very close to Old San Juan and had been used by the Spanish military, very early on.

Though Isla Grande was originally an island, it and the surrounding mangrove swamps were filled in to accommodate the construction of the WWII San Juan Naval Air Station.

Prior to WWII and the arrival of the US Navy, it was the home of Puerto Rico’s first international airport operated by Pan American Airways. Later, after the exit of the Navy, the Air National Guard would work from the same airstrip. Small aircraft still fly in and out of it, but FAA suspended tower services a couple years ago.

A buddy of mine used to work there.

The Photo MeetUp group stopped briefly at an old Navy hanger to get some ground shots. It’s featured in a photo on Wikipedia. It was a huge structure with several smaller buildings next to it. One had become home to several bats. Abandoned metal buildings like this pepper the Puerto Rican countryside.

Then we moved onto the main event. [Read more…] about Ruins of Miraflores Magazine and Isla Grande

Santurce Graffiti- The Street Art of San Juan

My second most favorite subject to shoot.. Urban Art.

Most people don’t know this, but Santurce covers 40 sub-districts including, Condado, Isla Grande, Loiza, Miramar, Ocean Park and Sagrado Corazon. It runs the gamut of ritzy upscale hotels to abandoned barrio slums. You can see a full breakdown with a map of the area, on Wikipedia, via this link.

The first suburb of greater San Juan… a microcosm of life in Puerto Rico.

Because of it’s convenient bus routes and cheap housing, it is very popular with immigrants from Cuba and Haiti and to a somewhat lesser extent, the Dominican Republic. Though to be fair, most immigrants from the Dominican Republic are of a more professional background and tend to seek more upscale housing.

The gritty side of life…

The drug trade, driven by the local gangs, tends to dominate the poorer public housing areas. Efforts to reduce this in recent years has resulted in hundreds of arrests. Similar to the action taken in La Perla of Old San Juan. That made national news. [Read more…] about Santurce Graffiti- The Street Art of San Juan

OMG- The Gay Pride Parade of San Juan

With short notice, we found out that the Puerto Rican Gay Pride Parade was scheduled for Sunday, June 3rd. Our Photo MeetUp Group thought it was to start at 9AM.

That said, I did some last minute research only to discover there was almost NO information about the upcoming event. Most sites simply re-stated what was already known.. that something would happen on Sunday morning.

There was no official website as far as I could tell. Basically, it’s scheduled for the first Sunday of June each year.

Covering the Gay side of life in Puerto Rico was something I wanted to check out from the beginning so this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

I’ve been to one gay bar in my entire life- Mad Myrna’s in Anchorage on 5th Avenue. I hardly got through the door before someone pinched my butt. Then there was the floor show at Finocchio’s in San Francisco… It was very, very impressive, but it’s been closed since 1999.

That was so long ago… it feels like another lifetime. [Read more…] about OMG- The Gay Pride Parade of San Juan

Hwy165- Balneario Punta Salinas and Toa Baja

Balneario Punta Salinas

A nice little park for relaxing on the weekend or whenever.

Continuing with my exploration of the North shore, we made a quick run into Balneario Punta Salinas. It’s off Highway 165 at Highway 868. There’s a formal entrance that’s hard to miss. Blvd. de Levitown is on the opposite side of Hwy 165. This park is run by the same group that manages Isla de Cabras, Compania de Parques Nacionales. If I lived near by, I could see me coming here on the weekends to kick back and relax. It’s a popular place.

Think of this recreational area as a smaller, more laid back version of the one at Isla de Cabras.

Once you leave Hwy 165, you pass through a forest of very tall wispy pines. These are old growth trees in a somewhat swampy area. Kind of reminds me of the bayous in Louisiana near where I used to live in East Texas. I have seedling starts of these same pine trees.

Moving on through this area to the main parking lot of Bahia de Toa, you could see folks spread out along the bay facing the Atlantic Ocean. Definitely one of the nicer beaches in Puerto Rico. It’s postcard perfect here. [Read more…] about Hwy165- Balneario Punta Salinas and Toa Baja

1797 British Invasion of San Juan, Revisited

‘San Juan 1797 Puerto Rico 2012’ IS a must see!
People from all over the world come for this 3 day event.

If you can schedule your cruise ship trip around it, you will get to witness something truly unique. Over 60 participants were dressed in period costumes.

Big kids, little kids, everyone loves it!

The re-enactment is performed annually, by the Regimiento Fijo de Puerto Rico… staged on the grounds of El Morro, Fort San Cristobal and the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan. The US National Parks Service provides support for the event as well. I covered that in great detail last year.

The Regiment has a most excellent Website with both Spanish and English content. When they post a new schedule, you can find it there. The local group was host to re-enactors from Poland this year. Yes, Poland! A friend of mine in San Juan is from Poland. He got a chance to chat and visit with his fellow countrymen. Cool.

For re-enactors, San Juan is considered the ‘trip of a lifetime’. [Read more…] about 1797 British Invasion of San Juan, Revisited