Downtown & ArtsWalkable districtFree
Downtown Arts District & Murals
Downtown, Union Plaza, Segundo Barrio
Galleries, studios, and an open-air mural scene that runs from Union Plaza into Segundo Barrio and out to the Lincoln Park underpasses.
Why go
- The Lincoln Park murals under the freeway columns are a landmark of Chicano public art.
- Segundo Barrio’s walls carry the neighborhood’s own history, painted by people from it.
Planning notes
- Walk it in the morning or the evening; midday sun is brutal and flattens the colors.
More downtown & arts
The Plaza Theatre
A 1930 Spanish Colonial movie palace with a ceiling full of stars, saved from demolition and now the city’s marquee venue.
San Jacinto Plaza
The heart of downtown, with Luis Jiménez’s fiberglass alligator sculpture standing in for the live ones that really lived here until 1965.
El Paso Zoo
A mid-size city zoo with an Asian grasslands section, a Chihuahuan Desert area, and enough shade to survive a summer morning.