Spanish Village Art Center

On our list of the best activities in San Diego.

A cluster of small stucco buildings at the edge of Balboa Park, built by architect Richard Requa for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition, sat empty after the fair closed until painter Sherman Trease proposed turning them into working studios in 1937. The Army used the space during World War II, and artists didn't get their rooms back until 1947; the tiled courtyards came later, in the 1980s, when tenants banded together to paint them. More than 200 painters, sculptors, metalsmiths, and jewelers now rent studios here, with a working glass-blowing facility and daily demonstrations visitors can watch through open doors.