Tio's Tacos, Pt. 1

OK, so Friday we went to this restaurant in DOWNTOWN RIVERSIDE called TIO'S TACOS. Back in the day, it was this little mom and pop mexican restaurant down by the sketchy bus station where all the drug addicts, homeless, and prostitutes hung out. You didn't go anywhere near there if you didn't have any business being there, let alone grab a bite to eat. You just didn't do that. Unless you were craving AUTHENTIC MEXICAN FOOD. I remember people saying that you could get "brain tacos" there. Anyways, Tio's always had these funny colored lights and wooden cut outs of MARIACHIS hanging out in the front of the building. Amusing, but never enough to draw me in...

...cut to over 20 years later...the folks at Tio's have been busy indeed, working slowly but surely to make their restaurant a destination. If the MISSION INN is the "crown jewel" of Riverside, then Tio's Tacos is it's wonderfully perverse "buried treasure". Behind the buildings which house the restaurant and a gift shop are the "GARDENS" filled with JUNK YARD SCULPTURES to rival those of other weirdly obsessive folk artists that came before. If the REV. HOWARD FINSTER were Mexican, he would've made the gardens at Tio's Tacos for sure. The gardens are the "WATTS TOWERS" of the Inland Empire, and if you live anywhere in California or any parts near by, then you should add this to your ROADSIDE AMERICA checklist and make the pilgrimage...you won't be disappointed!



Words can't even describe fully how jaw-droppingly awesome the gardens are, and photos certainly won't do the place any justice. You really have to go and experience the gardens for yourself. Add it to your bucket list. I took so many photos there that I'm going to have to break them up into 2 or 3 separate posts. The gardens are all at once, mysterious, hilarious, monumental, inspirational, and creepy. That old saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" fits the bill like a glove. Riverside, to me, has always been about making do with what you've got, and this is that spirit personified...we wandered around the gardens for a good 45 minutes before we even thought about ordering food, our minds lost in exploring and soaking up every little bizarre detail before us...



I have no idea what's going on in this scene, but check out the guy with HORSE UNDERWEAR...















My nephew Evan tries his best to "ride' a BICYCLE that's been EMBEDDED in the walkway. All manner of debris was used in the paved pathways, embedded in-between ceramic tiles and up-cycled BEER BOTTLES...





















Another bicycle in the walkway...and check out that half-buried GNOME, just chillin' out with nothing better to do than check out your busted old shoes...



















This character was really funny...not sure who he is, but check out his NAKED LADY TATTOO...hilarious!









This dude was pulled up into the trees by this giant ANACONDA, made out of an old FLEXIBLE HOSE...the kids kept calling him INDIANA JONES...

















Missy and Julia tested out the big swing they had...





There were all these GIANT ANTS made with metal and rocks...







In the very back of the gardens were these little buildings which I called SHRINES...there was a little CHURCH made out of beer bottles, a little SHACK with a LIVING ROOF made out of all these SUCCULENTS and CACTUS, and a giant teepee-shaped building that looked kinda like humongous DALEK. Every time I looked at the building I heard the word, "EXTERMINATE!"









We took a peek inside the little chapel which was adorned with statues of saints, angels, martyrs...it was a veritable CATHOLIC WHO'S WHO. The ceiling was painted Sistine Chapel-style...



























Outside, on the roof of another building, figures raced on TRICYCLES and BICYCLES like lemmings to the sea...