BAJA’S GOLD COAST : Shopping for collectibles in curio land

Shuffling past the zebra-striped burros and nudie show barkers, hordes of shoppers clog the 10 blocks of curio shops along Avenida Revolucion and--can’t find anything to buy.

With levels of walk-in traffic comparable to a suburban mall the week before Christmas, the purveyors of Mexican blankets, plaster statuary, leather jackets and fake Rolexes mostly sit and watch their wares collect dust. Some of their colleagues have given up and been replaced by pharmacies, the latest capitulation to American desires that stretches back to Prohibition, when this street sold booze to thirsty norteamericanos.

The crumbling of the curio business on Revolucion is a sad spectacle. Some of my most treasured possessions were unearthed in these shops, and those farther south in Rosarito Beach.

Back home, shopping holds about as much enjoyment for me as a trip to the DMV, but somehow it’s different in Mexico, maybe more honest. Without all the blather, you realize junk is junk, and the main difference between theirs and ours is marketing.

Here’s a partial inventory of the stuff I’ve hauled back from curio hell in the last 25 years with some current prices (not much different from years past): an annual pair of huaraches ($12), a dozen or so Mexican blankets ($10 each), a wool herringbone poncho that Clint Eastwood would shoot me for ($20), a sturdy hammock ($15), some handmade beer mugs (four for $10), an outdoor clay fireplace ($40), numerous hand-painted flower pots, a couple of switchblades, a bullwhip, a Nazi skull with glittery eye sockets (bachelor party gear), a 20-pound concrete fish, custom-made bar stools, leather jackets ($100 each), silver jewelry, Christmas ornaments, several boxes of Cuban cigars, and one or two velvet paintings, which I argue (constantly) are a legitimate art form.

Many of these purchases were made on forced marches with out-of-town family or friends in tow. Like every other reluctant visitor to Revolucion, I could have plastered on a smug scowl and zoned out. But there’s great fun in bargaining amid the Porky Pig sheriffs and onyx ashtrays if you adopt the right frame of mind.

It’s always been a buyers’ market--even more so now. Nobody expects you to take the first price offered. “People come here looking to bargain,” says Carlos Sanchez, manager of Virgo in Rosarito Beach. “If we don’t bargain, they say it’s no fun and don’t come back.” Curio shop salesmen can’t compete by offering radically different merchandise--most shops have basically the same stuff--so they rely on personality. You can match your shopping to your mood: Feeling garrulous? Look for the young hombre with the sharp repartee. In a quiet mood? Find a low-pressure Oaxacan woman in a shadowy stall in the basement arcade.

And if you can’t stand the sight of any more colorful junk, you’re in luck. There’s an upgrade underway in curio quality, an experiment that may or may not work. Real arts and crafts--from handmade furniture to beaded basketry--are finding their way into established stores such as Tolan, or new ones opening in the past year such as El Companario and La Piramide del Sol.

Whether the market will bear real quality is still an open question. And to me, shopping for junk is the whole point. Look, sooner or later everybody has to enter the curio zone, no matter what city in Mexico you visit. At least pretend to be in the market for something, and the hours won’t be wasted. Plus, you’ll end up with some gewgaw you never knew you couldn’t live without.

With this plan in hand, here’s the treasure map:

Sanborn’s

Corner of 8th and Revolucion. Telephone: 011-52-66-88-1462

Open 9 a.m.-midnight daily.

If you only go into one store on Revolucion, this should be it. There’s a pretty good Mexican restaurant, large bakery and candy counter, and a microcosm of the country’s goods in this Mexico City-based chain department store. A fine bookstore, perfume counter (perfume is cheaper in the U.S.), jewelry (30% off Taxco silver all summer), electronics, pharmacy (the fertility drug Pergonal is a hot seller at $13.34 for 75 international units), stoneware, toys, luggage and boxes of 25 Cuban Montecristo cigars at $230. A good place to whet your appetite for the more hand-to-hand style of curio combat along the street.

Tolan

1471 Ave. Revolucion. Tel. 011-52-66-88-3637. Open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.

Across the street from the jai alai palace and one block north of Sanborn’s, Tolan has been selling quality folk art since 1960. Tolan owner Jesus Perez combs all of Mexico for metalwork, carved wood doors, glassware, crockery, papier-mache animals and clothing. Mirrors framed with hammered tin go for $100. Two floors and numerous chambers filled with stuff make for diverting fun.

Jorge Espinosa Silver

918 Ave. Revolucion, in the Ciros Arcade between 5th and 6th streets. Tel: 011-52-66-85-0705. Open 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. daily

The narrow arcade lined with shops below the Tequila Sunrise balcony bar contains one of the best custom silver operations in Tijuana. The Espinosa family has been silversmithing here since 1942. Jorge and his father Arnulfo are friendly and knowledgeable about their trade, and have many one-of-a-kind pieces in stock. A good pair of solid sterling silver earrings goes for $30-$50. They’ll also make you anything in silver or gold. Ask Arnulfo about the old days in TJ.

Leyva’s Liquor

1026 Ave. Revolucion between 6th and 7th. Tel. 011-52-66-88-0980. Open 9 a.m.-10 p.m. daily

If you’re buying booze (only one bottle can be driven across the border per person per month), you get a better price in the grocery stores than the liquor stores, but Leyva’s is worth a stop to look over the Cuban cigars. A combination of the cigar fad and the worldwide shortage of premium tobacco leaf has driven the prices up hilariously. A Montecristo in a tin tube is priced at $19.99, a single Cohiba Esplendido goes for $30.45, and a giant Montecristo A is $37.75. If you decide to buy, beware: Cuban cigars are contraband in the U.S., thanks to the 1962 Cuban embargo. If you try to smuggle cigars across the border, friendly customs agents will confiscate them, unfriendly ones might confiscate your car as well. Better to smoke them in Tijuana after a good meal at, say Chiki Jai, the Basque joint on the corner of 7th and Revolucion across from the jai alai palace.

El Campanario

952 Ave. Revolucion, between 3rd and 4th streets. Tel. 011-52-66-85-8561. Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. daily

Three floors of the newest Mexican folk arts from throughout the country. Unlike mere curio shops, everything here has a price tag. You might get a discount, but the clerks don’t work on commission, so this isn’t a good place to bargain. There are many one-of-a-kind pieces, including Ken Edwards earthenware, beaded masks made by the Huichol Indians of Northern Jalisco, and lots of the vibrantly colored, hand-painted Talavera crockery (named after a region in Spain where it originated). It pays to compare Talavera prices; a small plate from Tlaxcala costs $50, while the plate from Puebla goes for $20. There’s also interesting furniture, wall hangings, glassware and pewter.

La Piramide del Sol

946 Ave. Revolucion, between 3rd and 4th streets. Tel. 011-52-66-85-8526. Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.

This place is jammed with large, colorfully painted papier-mache zebras and unicorns, as well as the small, fantastically decorated myth-beasts from the Oaxaca area called animalitas or alebrijes. Some alebrijes, signed by the Linares father or son, can cost as much as $1,000 here, though the price range is enormous. There are three floors of pottery, including the lead-free Talavera from Puebla; Oaxacan black clay pots from $8 to $200; carved wood masks starting at $15 for small ones, $120 for jumbos; furniture; oil paintings; and yarn paintings ranging from $60-$400. It’s a grand experiment in quality, but whether tourists will recognize the difference between real handicrafts and the kitschy knockoffs they also carry is still an open question.

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Some of the better shopping in Baja is in Rosarito Beach, 10 miles south on the coastal toll road from Tijuana. It gained independent cityhood late last year, and is now trying to define itself as an artist colony and tourist mecca. Rosarito has a breezier style and less-predatory vendors than its big brother to the north.

Los Arcos, Amigo’s, and Yuliana Custom Furniture

At the northern end of Avenida Benito Juarez, the main street through Rosarito. Tels. Los Arcos, 011-52 66-12-0882; Amigo’s, 011-52-66-12-2002; Yuliana, 011-52-66-12-1594. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily

Custom-made furniture is a local specialty. Though the pieces on display are mostly of pine and reflect the heavy, Spanish Colonial style, bring them a picture of what you want and they can reproduce it in either metal or other types of wood, usually for a much lower price than in the U.S. For example, leather-cushioned Southwest-style bar stools go for about $50 apiece.

Interiores Los Rios

25500 Ave. Benito Juarez, in front of Quinta del Mar Hotel. Tel. 011-52-66-12-1651. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Saturday

Interior designers from throughout Southern California have been coming here for custom wood and iron furnishings for 13 years. The American owners also offer select Mexican folk art, which they buy on forays throughout the country. They employ 50 workers, a couple of whom specialize in hand-carved wood. Entertainment centers with TV swivels and shelves range from $800 to $4,000. Custom iron beds start at $250 and go up to $800.

Mercado de Artesanias

Just north of El Nido Restaurant, two blocks north of the Rosarito Beach Hotel. Open 9 a.m. to nightfall, every day.

This narrow-alleyed bazaar is filled with dozens of stalls and shacks selling an incredible variety of curios, from $3 puppets to $75 metal sculptures. This is the place for huaraches, belts, purses and Guatemalan shorts. There’s a little stained glass place, a shell shop, and stalls specializing in quality, hand-woven Oaxacan blankets that usually start at around $70. They wheel and deal here because there’s so much competition.

Galeria Del Mar

Center hallway in the shopping mall in front of the Rosarito Beach Hotel. Tel. 011-52-66-12-1452. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily, Tuesdays optional

Armando Gonzalez has been in the arts business for 18 years, and his gallery shows it. Artists must be working in Mexico to be displayed here, so he represents several well-known Baja artists as well as a couple of Americans, an Armenian, an Israeli and a Frenchwoman. Photographs, sculpture, mixed media, watercolors, drawings and etchings grace the small, well-lighted place. Prices range up to several hundred dollars for an oil painting. Gonzalez also does custom framing, at about half the cost of American frame shops.

Alex Curios, Virgo Mexican Art

About half a mile south of Rosarito on the free (libre) road. Tels. Alex, 011-52-66-12-1175; Virgo, 011-52-66-12-2357. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily.

The pottery stands south of Rosarito are the place to go for large, outdoor urns, pots, fountains and other sturdy whatzits. In recent years, handsome, light-tan Guadalajara pots have come into vogue, but there’s also plenty of Rosarito red terra-cotta. Large urns go for $55, with even more massive ones priced at $75. Prices are negotiable, especially if you buy in quantity. Equipales furniture, built of copal wood and pigskin, starts at $50 for a chair, about $300 for four chairs and a table. Don’t believe the first price.