Thursday, September 27, 2012

Tijuana Arts Revival(For The NY Times)

It's been a rough 5 or so years for Tijuana due to the ongoing drug wars that have crippled this city, so when I got the call to do a story on the emerging arts scene, I was delighted to be able to document TJ in a positive light. Although tourism has basically come to a standstill, many young, talented artists and gallery owners have slowly transformed this city into a very vibrant and hip place where visitors and residents can stroll the streets of Avenida Revolucion and surrounding neighborhoods and be visually enticed. Much of the story focuses on a few of the Arcades, or little covered ally ways off of Ave. Revolucion , that used to be home to titty bars and restaurants(which have mostly closed down) but have now become galleries, coffee shops and are filled with colorful murals. You see lots of youngsters, with cool hairdo's, sipping on Latte's and smoking their Camel's along with a variety of other folks checking out used books and other knick-knacks along the Arcades. Hopefully peeps from the North will slowly start to migrate down and see all the wonderful sights this city has to offer.

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