Centro Cultural de la Raza

On our list of the best activities in San Diego.

A converted water tank at the edge of Balboa Park, the round building opened in 1971 after Chicano artists occupied the site during protests demanding a place to exhibit their work, and the city turned the abandoned tank over to them along with funding to convert it. Muralist Antonia Perez led a group of artists in painting the exterior, a 240-by-18-foot band of color that wraps the entrance before a visitor gets inside. The center still runs as one of the largest Chicano cultural arts spaces in the Southwest, with galleries, a theater, and studios inside.