Back from Tomboctou

Right next to Broke Girls Coffee Bar is this cute little folk art place...

you'd have to be blind to miss the big "Tomboctou" banner next to BCBG's pink one...


I saw the Frida art on the porch and more interesting stuff within so we just had to check it out.  No one was around and we were alone browsing for awhile before an older beareded gentleman came to the counter. I found out later he was the co-owner, Mr. Claudio Delucca.

This is only the front of the store. There are a few more rooms in the back. You can find all kinds of folk art from Mexico and other Latin American countries.  There was jewelry of all kinds, knick knacks, wall art, dolls, Christmas ornaments, religious items, and Day of the Dead figurines and tableaus.

I thought these filigree earrings that resembled papel picado were cool. I ended up buying the solid red version, as well as another design featuring flowers.

These bottle cap Frida Kahlor earrings were cool, but even more cool were the masked luchadores earrings made of tin!

There were many kinds of crosses with various designs - hand painted, hammered and embossed tin, as well as inlaid with shells, tile and designs from the Loteria a Mexican card game...


I liked the hand carved wooden VoG with the golden rays...

These Day of the Dead figurines werein one of the back rooms...

I need to mention that the prices here are pretty fair. If you go to Old Town (a tourist trap if there ever was one), these same items would go for two or three times as much.

In the back corner (below) were sugar skulls, ranging from $1.50 and up. They even had plastic sugar skull molds.

I spotted these VoG wall hangings on the floor...

In addition to sugar skulls molds, they even had one of the VoG!

More skull decor and actual sugar skulls on the shelves...

A card that I bought...

I got to chatting with the owner about the variety of items he had. He stated that nothing was made in China and that all items are from the countries stated. He's also quite the world traveler. In fact, he has been to all of the main island groups of the Philippines as well as the other outlying islands.

With my purchase, Mr. Delucca also gave me three of these foreign bills; each is good for $1 off my next purchase.

The next day, which happened to be when Cathy and I had lunch at the San Diego Soup Shoppe both of us went back here to look around. I wanted to pick up a few things for MFH, as seen below - a postcard of Frida Kahlo (not one of Frida's paintings but a modern artist), three small coins with a religious prayer on the back (it was only $1!), a handwoven bookmark, a handpainted angel from El Salvador, and for me, a trio of heart shaped milagros for a future jewelry project. The sacred heart milagro (either with flames at the top or a dagger through it) is a common design and is meant to represent Christ's compassion for humanity. I just found this out knew this when I looked it up).

The tiny milagros I will make into earrings for myself. The larger one I plan to incorporate as a pendant but I need to McGyver up some old necklace chains and add beads, spikes and other stuff to make this interesting. The larger milagro was $6 because it was thicker and heavier while the smaller ones were .75 each.

Cathy also got something quite cool here but I'm sure she will post on that when the time is right.

Back from Tomboctou
3564 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116
(619) 282-8708

www.shop.backfromtomboctou.com

Reviews:
yelp

As you can tell, I liked this place so much that I came back the very next day! Although the kindly owner wasn't there during my second visit, it was still fun looking around with Cathy. I think she appreciated the place much more than TC did. It's got all kinds of unique items that make great gifts or decor for your home. It's on the eastern end of Adams Ave just a few steps away from my favorite independent bookstore too. If you're ever in Normal Heights, stop by to check this place out.