Commerical storefronts of Tijuana Mexico

Tijuana is the quintessential border town, a city between two worlds and not fully accepted by either. Officially Established in 1889, Tijuana’s main growth has been driven by a constant influx of tourists from the United States and more recently by a boom in maquiladora’s, or American factories, located in Tijuana for its cheap labor, and exporting goods back into the United States. Tijuana's population is now nearing 2 million people, the fifth largest city in Mexico.

The Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing is the most crossed international land border in the world, driven in large part by day tourism drawn to the shopping and music and dance bars surrounding Avenida Revolucion in downtown. This photographic survey documents some the commercial facades of the tourist region of downtown Tijuana, home to a transient population and a unique commercial architecture occupying the no mans land between two cultures.