Casa Dolores

I’m so glad we found out about Casa Dolores before our last trip to Santa Barbara.
I was scrolling through the events calendar to plan our trip and that’s how I found out about Casa Dolores and the cool altar they had on display for Dias de los Muertos (it was on display for more than a week!).
I was surprised I didn’t find out about Casa Dolores during our previous visits to Santa Barbara, but it’s always nice to discover a new place to visit in a town you’ve seen a lot of other attractions before.
Casa Dolores is a small museum that focuses on Mexican Folk Art. It’s situated in the downtown area, just minutes away from State Street, tucked away on Bath St. You can walk from State street, take Figueroa down and turn left on Bath. Casa Dolores is located in a small, old adobe house, nicely renovated. It has a cute courtyard in the back, so check it out.
On the main level they host temporary exhibits (we loved their «Art Made out of Tin» exhibit they have on display right now). Upstairs, they have their permanent collection, very nice pottery from Oaxaca and other places in Mexico, and other interesting folk art.
If you’re in the area and you’re looking for a nice activity to do for half an hour– an hour in the downtown SB, Casa Dolores is a cute place to visit. It could be a great break from all the hustle and bustle of the shopping area. The museum is a quiet and relaxing place to get away from it all.
We enjoyed our visit, the Mexican folk art on display, their Dias de los Muertos altar (great idea). The staff couldn’t be nicer, too bad I didn’t get the name of the young lady that works there that showed us around, gave us information about the place, the art on display, she couldn’t be nicer, we enjoyed our chat with her.
Also, there’s no fee to visit the museum. It’s open Tuesdays through Saturdays, Noon-​4pm. Check out their site for more info.
We’d like to go back on our next visit to Santa Barbara and check out their future temporary exhibit.