Looking Back: Best VL Posts of 2012

2012 was an awesome year for us: VL work kept us busy, but we were able to take a few amazing trips. The Great American Road Trip was the highlight of the year, and it took us from Cincinnati through the Southwest, and all the way to San Diego. On the way, we camped in Joshua Tree National Park. Mind blown, and self humbled.

Ocean Beach School in San Diego

The Ocean Beach School in San Diego is now Ocean Beach Elementary, a K-4 public school. It’s located at 4741 Santa Monica Ave. in the oceanfront [duh] community of Ocean Beach.

Welding Works Ghost Sign in San Diego

The Southwest US seems filled with what I might call shackitecture — warehouses, stores and even homes are often contained within structures that seem more like shacks than buildings. I spotted Welding Works in the Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego. This shop closed Saturdays. 4U2C.

VisuaLingual Seed Bombs for The Honest Kitchen

The Honest Kitchen is a San Diego-based natural pet food company that is celebrating their 10-year anniversary by offering each customer a parsley seed bomb free with any purchase over $5. Just enter SEEDBMB5 as the coupon code when placing your order. During the month of July, all products are also 20% off.

Ben-Hur Coffee Ghost Sign in San Diego

I spotted this Ben-Hur Coffee ghost sign on the corner of Ivy and India Sts. in the Little Italy section of San Diego. According to the San Diego Reader, this building was once the sales branch for a coffee company, which opened in the 1920s.

An Open Letter to the Western Half of the United States

This is specifically to the fine states of Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, California, Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma — thank you all so much for your hospitality over the past couple of weeks. We had a fine time on your roads, from interstates to dirt roads to a bit of Route 66. Your natural wonders are amazing, and your cities are as varied as your terrain. We’ll definitely be back, though we probably won’t visit all of you again.

Ads and Street Signs by TrustoCorp

“TrustoCorp is a New York based artist (or artists) dedicated to highlighting the hypocrisy and hilarity of human behavior through sarcasm and satire. TrustoCorp targets areas in the public domain typically reserved for messages of trust and authority and subverts them with messages of mayhem and absurdity hijacked from the visual style of our authorities.”

Seed Bombs in Laguna Beach

I’d love to take a road trip to visit our seed bombs in the various stores that carry them. We could go up the Pacific coast, from San Diego, to Santa Monica, to San Francisco, to Portland, and up to Seattle. Laguna Beach would be one of the stops on our road trip, to meet Bev at The Flower Stand.

Seed Bombs in San Diego

Yay, our West Coast seed bombs are now available at the San Diego Bay Flower Company, a flower shop located at 4822 Santa Monica Ave. in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego.

Seed Bombs in San Diego

Hee, our West Coast seed bombs are now available at the cutesy-poo Noon Jewelry & Paper Goods at 5022 Santa Monica Ave. in the Ocean Beach part of San Diego. The owners of Noon design and produce their own hand-fabricated jewelry and paper goods right in the store, which doubles as their studio.