Old Town Artisans is a combination of Tucson’s best traits — rich history and strong community. Located downtown on the site of El Presidio San Agustín del Tucson at 201 N. Court Ave., there’s a selection of local shops and restaurants. Their proximity makes this location convenient for anybody enjoying a day downtown.
El Presidio San Agustín del Tucson was built in 1775 as a fort by the Spanish military. The building that houses the Old Town Artisans’ shops was constructed in 1850 with adobe walls and ceilings made of saguaro ribs. Today, the original construction and wallpaper can still be seen while browsing each shop.
Art House Centro
Art House Centro opened in 2013 and occupies many of the rooms at Old Town Artisans. This shop has an import room, beer and wine shop, furniture, jewelry, lamps, pottery, plants and more. Featuring over 100 local artists, the shop, along with its historic location, makes it the perfect place to find gifts that represent Tucson.
“We have over 100 local artists so when we first opened, we would go out seeking artists,” Mark Benko, the owner of Art House Centro, said. “Now we have a reputation that we’ve been here for almost over 12 years. A lot of artists find us now and the things that we purchase outright from companies, we just go out and see what we think is going to work here.”
Benko used to manage the shop that was there before Art House Centro, but when they went out of business, he partnered with the restaurant owner, Jo Schneider, to reopen the store under Art House Centro.
Along with the unique selection of items, customers can also visit Shadow.
“Art House Centro, home of Shadow the shop dog,” Benko said. “We have a lot of people that come in just to see him.” Shadow freely roams the store while customers are browsing, boosting the overall shopping experience and providing the ideal place to not only shop, but also visit a cute dog.
According to Benko, a lot of people visit the restaurant and don’t know that there are also shops located in the area. With the extensive selection of items like jewelry, books, clothing, food, plants and the wide selection of original art and prints, this shop has something for everyone, making it a worthwhile stop while exploring the city.
Also in the area and connected to Art House Centro is La Zia Native Arts, Crow’s Nest, Old Paint Records and Church Ink Tattoo Parlor, where walk-ins are welcome. La Zia Native Arts specializes in selling handmade local Southwest Native American art and merchandise.
Crow’s Nest
Crow’s Nest is an eclectic shop filled with anything a shopper could think of.
“This is Crow’s Nest. It’s mainly vintage and found objects. A lot of secondhand stuff. It’s one of a kind, maybe not one of a kind, but when it’s here, it’s here. There’s no backroom of stock for items,” Mary Pat Sullivan, one of six workers at Crow’s Nest, said.
Sullivan teaches at Tucson Preparatory School during the week, but volunteers at Crow’s Nest on the weekends. According to Sullivan, working at the shop on Saturdays is a great diversion from working with high schoolers.
“The community down here is, everybody works their jobs, but they’re really friendly. They’re smart, they’re witty, the customers are happy when they come in, so the whole thing is just a really nice environment. It’s beautiful. People’s goodness comes out when they come in here,” Sullivan said.
In terms of acquiring the selection of items: “We yard sale, estate sale, thrift sale, people give us things, we have stuff in our houses. We have a lot of stuff in our houses. Some of us more than others,” Sullivan said.
“It’s not a museum, but it almost is because there’s so much history in here from many different eras, so when people come in of different ages they reminisce about their grandparents, or their aunties and uncles, others are seeing things for the very first time that others of us have seen for a very long time, like an eggbeater. Have you ever heard of an eggbeater? […] So, there are tools from the kitchen, tools from the art world, just wonderful things,” Sullivan said.
Old Paint Records
Owned by Kevin Mayfield and Lana Rebel, Old Paint Records opened in January 2014 as a part of the shop that occupied the space before Crow’s Nest, until they eventually moved into their own space. “It’s been kind of cool because we’ve been able to grow slowly instead of having to put out a bunch of money all up front and it was kind of ideal actually,” Rebel said. According to Rebel, it’s a really special spot and she loves the energy and vibes of Old Town Artisans and the buildings.
The couple met when Rebel was living in Portland and she convinced Mayfield to move to Tucson, where they began working around the complex, before opening their record shop. She has been collecting records forever and they wanted to represent the uncommon and rarer selection that they felt other record stores in Tucson didn’t have.
“With the records we have a few distributors that we like to go through, because of their selection we like to try to find harder to find genres and more interesting music than just the top 40 stuff, so we have fun sourcing those records a lot,” Rebel said.
“We sell a lot of records, but then we also sell a lot of fun stuff too. T-shirts, we screen print our own shirts, hats and stuff and then just various things. We get a lot of tourist traffic so we try to have some stuff that they could bring home, but we like to make it fun, not just like some dumb souvenir shop. We try to source some fun stuff,” Rebel said.
According to Rebel, the area used to be homes and when it was turned into Old Town Artisans, they originally sold a lot more Native American items. “They would have people making crafts in the courtyard and they would have dances. They did that for a while, actually even while we were here there was Aztec dancing and stuff, but the guy who kind of coordinated that stuff no longer has a shop here so, he’s not doing that anymore, it was cool though,” Rebel said.
After checking out the treasures at each shop and working up an appetite, shoppers can eat at Ceres or Jojo’s. Ceres is a take-out or to-go restaurant serving fresh handmade pasta, sandwiches and rotating flavors of gelato. Ceres is also the sister store of Noodies.
Jojo’s is open later from 4-9 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday. The restaurant used to go by La Cocina, but now goes by Jojo’s, after owner Jo Schneider. Jojo’s also serves as a venue for local musicians to perform while the restaurant is open.
Old Town Artisans is the perfect place for tourists, Tucsonans and students and staff at the University of Arizona to visit. There’s a good selection of local food and shops containing gifts to represent their time in Tucson, or even decorate their spaces, as well as a tattoo parlor, where they can permanently decorate their bodies.
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