I had never heard of Wynwood Walls before I was on my way there. It was all new to me, I thought Wynwood was a city but it’s actually a district in Miami. As we were getting closer I kept thinking we were already there – the closer you get the more amazing the area is and you don’t have to be within Wynwood Walls to get a healthy dose of urban graffiti, it’s spilled out all over. These are some things we passed just walking from where we parked the car to the Wynwood Walls.
If you decide to go, do yourself a favor and look up. And look down. There is color and art everywhere from the rooftops to the sidewalk under your feet.
The area was a somewhat run down warehouse district until the early 2000s when Tony Goldman, the man behind Art Basel, saw that it could be so much more. It slowly morphed into what it is today, a thriving art community.
Now even an empty lot surrounded by old buildings is a spot to stop and appreciate the arts.
All of that was before we even got to the Wynwood Walls proper. It’s open to the pubic at no charge, which is amazing. You can easily spend over an hour within the Walls, and that’s if you aren’t taking the time to look for the little details that are in each work of art. The longer you look at each wall the more you notice; there is always more to see than what you see.
Within the Walls there are also a couple of galleries and a shop where you can pick up books of art by some of the Wynwood artists, prints, and of course lots of fun and interesting souvenirs. As you would expect the galleries are incredible. I recognized some of the pieces as being by artists that had done some of the walls, but others I wasn’t able to peg.
If you want to learn more about the project you can take guided tours. I didn’t get the opportunity to take one as I visited on the weekend and the tours are Monday – Friday. However, if I get up there on a weekday a Wynwood Walls tour is high on my to do list.
Here are a few things that caught my eye when I visited. I have abut 20 other pictures I’d love to share, but I guess that would be a bit ridiculous.
After you finish soaking in all of the culture you can in the Wynwood Walls walk over to Nabati and pick up some incredible plant-based ice cream. It’s not soft serve, it’s actual ice cream and you can get your traditional vanilla or peanut butter or try something more extravigant like raspberry & thyme or Cup of Earl Grey. Not sure what sounds good? They are happy to let you try a bite.
Here’s what you need to know to play tourist:
2520 NW 2nd Ave
Miami, FL 33127
(305) 531-4411