Most art galleries in San Diego are sprinkled across the county like little jewels. A few in downtown and Old Town, several in La Jolla and Solana Beach, and on and on. But, where’s the real art scene – the enclave in the community where artists come together to create and showcase their art? The place where local retailers, businesses, and residents rally together to support their efforts and foster the arts?
New York has the Westbeth Artists Community, an entire city block in Manhattan’s West Village that houses artists, their families, and their studios in a complex of thirteen buildings. Chicago has the Hyde Park artist colonies and Los Angeles is home to The Brewery Art Colony.
For some time, the small San Diego artist community was virtually unknown to visitors and 
residents alike, save for a few of the savvy, devoted followers of the arts, many of them artists themselves. Today, the Ray Street Arts District in the neighborhood of North Park is emerging as a recognized art district. This area, located on Ray Street between University Avenue and North Park Way and 30th Street to the west, is the community’s cultural hub. It’s even been compared to New York’s SoHo District.
It’s rich in one-of-a-kind art galleries and studios, like the artist run Art Produce Gallery, a storefront exhibition space entirely visible from the sidewalk. Or the hip gallery a.k.a. and Disconnected Salon, an art gallery and full-service hair salon, artistically combined into one space that showcases San Diego’s underground, urban artists.
Zagrodnik + Thomas Architects (ZTA), a woman-owned architectural firm, uses their own Green Scene Gallery as a community showcase for both architecture and art with a sustainability theme. Pigment, a relative newcomer to North Park, specializes in self-irrigated wall sculptures that grow from ceiling to floor.
Public and private art events and private viewings are held at the Mosaic Gallery at Mosaic Wine Bar. Here, serious collectors are introduced to local artists. Cirello Gallery specializes in hand-made fine art from local San Diego jeweler designers, photographers, glass blowers, sculptors, and painters. A new artist is featured each month.
The Art Academy of San Diego and the San Diego Art Department are both located in North Park as are performance venues The Eveoke Dance Theatre and Birch North Park Theatre, a registered historic landmark built in 1928.
San Diego’s largest and longest running bohemian art walk, Ray at Night, is featured in North Park on the second Saturday of each month, drawing more than 1500 art enthusiasts to the burgeoning art community.
The San Diego Art Institute has played an active role in nurturing the neighborhood as a recognized art district. North Park is shedding its invisible cloak. It’s a dynamic, innovative community with a flair for the creative arts that is embracing its role as the city’s newest artist community.