Tucson, AZ

One of the cool things about moving into a new house is that you have a great excuse to shop for new furniture, art and other stuff you just simply like. A neighbor suggested I go to Tucson’s Lost Barrio area. Glancing at my Miata, she also suggested I borrow her husband’s pickup truck. “You can’t tell what you will find that you can’t live without, or get home.” she said.

So off to Tucson in my borrowed F-150 pickup in search of the “Lost Barrio.” It turns out that the “Lost Barrio” isn’t really lost; it is just hard to find! This eclectic collection of culturally diverse shops is located on South Park Avenue just south of East Broadway Boulevard. My first clue was the old brick buildings that have been transformed from factory warehouses to shops that house the dozen or so boutique-like businesses that make up the “Lost Barrio.”

I parked the F-150 at the end of the block and started my agenda. My first stop was at People’s Imports where Susan was holding down the fort. People’s Imports has 13,000 square feet filled with stuff from all over the world.

I was interested in the hand-woven baskets from Ghana, but I was intrigued by the mid-eastern rugs and fascinated by Susan’s knowledge of the styles, designs and tribal traditions behind each rug. Later in our visit Susan shared with me that she had lived in Afghanistan and traveled extensively in the Middle East.

My second stop was at the Colonial Frontiers. Here I saw the piece that made me happy that I had driven the F-150. It was a gigantic, antique mid-eastern Apothecary cabinet. Solid as a rock with beautiful woodworking the likes of which you don’t find any more. I won’t disclose the price other than to tell you it is still there! But, it is beautiful.

So far I had browsed two stores and spent over 2 ½ hours and it was becoming obvious that the “Lost Barrio” was going to require at least one revisit. But I continued down the street to “Explorations.” where they had an excellent collection of tables with Mosaic ceramic and stone tops.

The last stop of the day was ¡Aqui Esta! and I wished I had had more time. ¡Aqui Esta! — “here it is” for you gringos — has a wide variety of beautiful handcrafted Mexican Imports. The hand painted tiles, and ceramic sinks are beautiful. A large hand-hewn table with inlayed turquoise was exquisite, but the brightly painted children’s furniture and toys were what really caught my eye. I hadn’t finished my tour of the store when I noticed that they were trying to close.

Well I almost finished one side of the street. So from my view point it is no longer the “Lost Barrio.” I have found it and I have an excuse to visit downtown again next weekend.

And as a postscript, if you are a photography nut like I am, don’t forget to bring your camera along. This entire area is chock full of great photographic opportunities like the picture below which was taken next to “Aqui Esta.”.