Sun-kissed Santa Monica is an Instagrammable marvel on its own, but that hasn’t stopped the city from getting into the selfie museum craze. Last year saw the sugar-coated Candytopia queue lines at Santa Monica Place. This week, a more savory, Latin-inspired Instagram-ready museum comes to the city.
Santa Monica’s own Azule Taqueria will partner up with Tacotopia to bring larger-than-life Mexican food-inspired art installations and of course, tacos, to the Third Street Promenade. The opening of the exhibit takes place Thursday, May 23, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m and will last until July 7.
The exhibit will feature photo ops with such Instagram-ready items as a taco teeter-totter, human-sized guacamole bowls, avocado chairs, a Shiva-like taco god holding tacos, a Jarritos lucha libre ring and more.
Participants will receive one free Jarritos drink and a taco from Azule Taqueria ranging from Pork Belly, Cauliflower al Pastor, Azule Asada, Wild and Free Mushroom and a special California Cholula Taco.
John Kolaski, CEO of K2 Restaurants (which owns Azule and several other restaurants in the Promenade), says the partnership came about when Tacotopia, who holds this event in other major cities, reached out looking for a local taco partner.
Kolaski and his team jumped at the opportunity.
“It’s a great way for us to partner with a destination experience and a great partnership that will allow us to be an extension of an immersive experience,” Kolaski said. “We really want to be able to show what we can do and get in front of people who wouldn’t have found us otherwise.”
Finding Azule is one of the positives for Kolaski as he says he hopes people will find the Promenade, too, whether it’s their first there or first time there in a while.
“I hope more people come down, hang out for the day and see all there is to offer here,” Kolaski said. “Not just [Azule] but the rest of the Promenade, too. We want people to come to our space, sure, but this is all a great area. We want people coming back down and see there’s something to do all day and fun ways to interact with brands and locations.”
The Tacotopia exhibit is located at 1254 3rd Street Promenade Santa Monica, CA 90401 and is open Mon-Sun 11am-9pm. Tickets are $20 for kids under 11, $25 for students and $30 for adults. For more information on the Tacotopia exhibit visit www.atacotopia.com
angel@smdp.com
