For 25 years, the Arroyo Arts Collective's Discovery Tour spread across more than 50 homes and studios in Northeast Los Angeles every year. On Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026, it comes back with five locations: Avenue 50 Studio on Fig and four others.
The Discovery Tour is back under a new name, ART/FOUND, after four years off. If you remember the old version, a Sunday of wandering from porch to porch across the hills, this year's tour will look small. That smaller size is the clearest map you'll get of how the neighborhood's art scene works now. There are fewer rooms, the work is smaller, and the starting point is a gallery that spent 25 years on Avenue 50 before moving to Figueroa.
What the tour used to be
The Arroyo Arts Collective started in 1989 as a group of artists, writers and performers living and working in Highland Park, Mt. Washington, Montecito Heights, Cypress Park, Lincoln Heights and Eagle Rock. According to the Collective's own history, the area had just one art gallery at the time. The Discovery Tour came along in 1993 to give local artists a place to be seen. For 25 years it ran every year, drawing 500 to 700 visitors to more than 50 homes and studios and featuring 70 to 120 artists. For almost 20 of those years the Collective also printed 1,200 copies of a monthly newsletter and handed them out around the neighborhood.
The 25th annual tour took place on Nov. 19, 2017. Then the tour stopped for five years.
How it shrank, and when
The tour didn't shrink this year. It shrank in 2022. That September's revival ran on a Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., as a self-guided auto tour of a hand-picked set of locations in Highland Park and Mount Washington. Earlier tours had opened studios all over the area. ART/FOUND keeps that curated format and turns it into a holiday marketplace.
| Discovery Tour, 25-year run through 2017 | ART/FOUND, Nov. 8, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Locations | 50+ homes and studios | Avenue 50 Studio on Fig plus 4 other locations |
| Artists | 70 to 120 a year | About 40 named participants |
| Format | Annual tour of homes and studios | Curated, self-guided driving tour and holiday market |
| How you start | Varied by year | Pick up a map at 3714 N. Figueroa St. |
The prices tell you more than the location count. In its call for artists, the Collective said everything will be sold "Cash N' Carry" and strongly suggested pricing work under $200, with smaller pieces under $100. Each artist is present, sets up their own display and takes their own payments. A 10% commission on sales goes back to fund Arroyo Arts Collective programs. In practice, this is a tour where you can leave with a print, a textile or a piece of jewelry in hand, without arranging a pickup or shipping. The accepted mediums include 2D work up to 40 by 40 inches, jewelry, textiles, assemblage, mixed media and handmade crafts.
Why the map comes from Figueroa now
The tour starts at Avenue 50 Studio on Fig, and that address is new too. The studio began in November 1999 as a photography workshop and opened its first exhibition in February 2000. For a quarter century it was at 131 N. Avenue 50. CALÓ News reported that the studio had to leave that space at the end of 2024 and found a storefront at 3714 N. Figueroa St., where Highland Park meets Cypress Park. The name changed with the move. The first show at the new location, "Changes/Cambios," opened on March 8, 2025.
Kathy Gallegos, the studio's executive and artistic director, told CALÓ News what the trade-off was:
"It's a smaller space, so we might not have as many exhibitions as in our old place and won't be able to host as many people. But it's ours."
You could say the same about ART/FOUND. It's a smaller tour, run out of a smaller room, by a group that owns the format. The Arroyo Arts Collective is presenting it in partnership with Avenue 50 Studio on Fig. Lisa Tomczeszyn is coordinating, and support comes from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the LA County Department of Arts and Culture, and Creative Recovery LA.
Who's showing
The Patch listing for ART/FOUND names these participants: Imelda Alas, All things will be, Juliane Backmann, Fern Belmear, Claudio Ciampi, Richard Michael Conti, Aleka Corwin, Raoul De La Sota, Liane Enkelis, Linda Estrada, James A. Faulkner, Emily Franz, Gwen Freeman, C. Michael Frey, Heike Fritz, Maria Go, Godmother Salt, Erica Goebel, Carrie Gordon, Kevin Haas, Cidne Hart, Susan Loraine Jewelry, Julie Larmi, Kim Lesak, Heather McLarty, M. Lou McIntosh, Cathi Milligan, Ruth de Nicola, Devora Orantes, Theo Page, Robin Potash, Guadulesa Rivera, Connie Rohman, Nora Rachel Rohman, Iris Schneider, Gilly Shaeffer, Suzanne Siegel, Roderick Smith, Betty Wan Hamada, Julie Williams and Katsu Yokoyama.
The listing promises historic private homes along with the studio, but the home addresses aren't published. They're on the map you pick up at Avenue 50 on Sunday. If you live within walking distance of Fig, you'll still need a car once you have the map. The Collective calls it a self-guided driving tour.
Making a weekend of it with the Brewery
ART/FOUND has a neighbor event. The same weekend, the Brewery Artwalk has more than 100 artists opening their working studios at the Brewery Arts Complex, 2100 N. Main St., just down the Arroyo Seco. It runs Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 7 and 8, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The two events show both versions of an open-studio weekend: the Brewery is big and in one place, and ART/FOUND is small and spread out. The Brewery happens to be at about the scale the Discovery Tour used to reach.
Here's one way to fit both in:
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Brewery Artwalk. A $5 wristband covers the whole weekend. Under 18 get in free, and so do residents of the 90031, 90033 and 90023 ZIP codes with ID. Parking is free, but the listing says it fills fast, so go early. There's a beer garden and food trucks on site. Tickets are at breweryartwalk.org/tickets.
- Sunday, Nov. 8, 11 a.m.: Get your ART/FOUND map at Avenue 50 Studio on Fig, 3714 N. Figueroa St. Patch lists an 11 a.m. start, and the Collective's homepage lists the market from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Sunday, midday to 4 p.m.: Drive the loop to the four other locations. Bring cash, because artists process their own sales and the work is meant to go home with you.
- Sunday afternoon, if you still have energy: The Brewery stays open until 6 p.m., and your Saturday wristband covers a second visit.
The ART/FOUND materials don't mention a ticket price. The only instruction for Sunday is to start at Avenue 50 and pick up a map. If you're shopping for holiday gifts, the under-$200 price guidance leaves room to buy small pieces from more than one artist along the route.
Sunday the 8th is on our calendar. If you'd like to compare finds on Figueroa or talk about what's changing on your block, Lexi Newman Team is always up for that conversation. Connect with your real estate best friend.
