Entry No. 26 — the Los Angeles file — filed under: art-immersive
Tio's Tacos
Behind a working Mexican restaurant, Martin Sanchez has spent decades turning one acre into a dense folk-art environment built almost entirely from trash. More than 100 sculptures fill the grounds, including a 30-foot man and woman assembled from aluminum cans and machine parts, plus pyramids, fountains, and wire figures stuffed with shoes, shells and toys. The centerpiece is a small chapel Sanchez built for his wife entirely out of colored bottles and recycled materials. You wander the whole maze for free.
The story
From the street on Mission Inn Avenue, Tio's Tacos looks like a standard neighborhood Mexican joint. Step past the counter and out the back doors, however, and you enter a dense, one-acre outsider-art maze. For decades, owner Martin Sanchez has been quietly converting discarded items into a sprawling folk-art environment behind his kitchen, turning trash into an overwhelming labyrinth of sculptures, fountains, and towers.
The scale is startling once you step into it. Towering over the patio are two 30-foot figures—a man and a woman—welded and pieced together entirely from crushed aluminum cans and scrap machine parts. Below them, wire frames stuffed with discarded shoes, seashells, and plastic toys line winding pathways alongside concrete pyramids. The emotional core of the garden is a miniature chapel built by Sanchez for his wife, constructed out of hundreds of colored glass bottles that catch the Inland Empire sunlight.
What it's like
Order your enchiladas or a giant watermelon agua fresca at the front register first, then carry your tray into the back yard. There are no velvet ropes or ticket booths here; the whole art garden is completely free to roam. Weekends get packed with lunch crowds, so if you want to squeeze inside the bottle chapel for a quiet moment without dodging other people's photo ops, hit it on a weekday morning after they open at 8:30 AM.
The move: Order enchiladas, then spend an hour wandering the recycled-art jungle out back and squeeze into the bottle chapel for a quiet moment.
📍 Before you go No admission fee; just walk the grounds. Open daily from 8:30am; it is a restaurant first, so weekends get busy. About 50+ miles east of central LA.
- 📍 Riverside
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 3948 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside, CA 92501
Hours: Added 2026-06-23 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Cabazon Dinosaurs — Continue your trek east along the I-10 corridor to pair Martin Sanchez's recycled folk art with Claude Bell's massive roadside concrete dinosaurs.
- Workman & Temple Family Homestead Museum (El Campo Santo) — Break up the drive back toward Los Angeles with a stop at another totally free, quiet historic sanctuary hidden in an unexpected suburban spot.
- 626 Night Market — Turn your day trip into a full-scale regional food tour by stopping at this massive outdoor Asian night market on your way back west.
Good to know
Is there an admission fee to see the art garden?
No. The outdoor sculptures are located directly behind the restaurant and are completely free for the public to walk through.
Where is Tio's Tacos located relative to Los Angeles?
It sits at 3948 Mission Inn Ave in downtown Riverside, about 50 miles east of central Los Angeles.
What are the hours?
The restaurant and back grounds are open daily starting at 8:30 AM. It's best to verify current closing hours before making the drive.
What kind of food do they serve?
It's a casual Mexican restaurant serving tacos, enchiladas, burritos, margaritas, and fresh fruit agua frescas.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: laist.com · roadtrippers.com · Atlas Obscura · pbssocal.org · Official site · californiathroughmylens.com
last checked: 2026-06-23