Gaslamp Quarter Art Walk — San Diego

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You have walked these blocks a hundred times on the way to dinner and never once noticed the staircase between two storefronts, or the room at the top of it with somebody's paintings on the walls.

Last Saturday of the month, the doors that are normally shut get propped open. Galleries, boutiques, studios above street level, spaces you assumed were offices — all of it self-guided, so you set your own route and nobody herds you anywhere. Live music turns up at several stops. Artists stand next to their own work and will talk to you about it if you make eye contact, which is rarer downtown than it ought to be.

The Gaslamp on a warm evening already does half the work. The rest is free, and it bridges an afternoon into a night out better than any reservation.

Take the person you have been meaning to catch up with. You will end up talking more than looking, and that is fine.