Back From Tomboctou Gallery has imported and sold Latin American folk art from 3564 Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, San Diego, for more than 30 years, building one of the largest Day of the Dead merchandise collections in the United States. Owners Claudio and Maribel De Lucca source directly from artisans across Mexico, El Salvador, and Central America, bypassing factory-made goods to stock handcrafted sugar skulls, calacas, papel picado, carved masks, papier-mâché figurines, and Frida Kahlo merchandise. That commitment to artisan craft aligns with the eclectic retail character of the Adams Avenue corridor, where vintage dealers including La Loupe Vintage contribute to the block's identity as a destination for non-chain merchandise in the 92116 ZIP. The storefront's inventory extends beyond Día de los Muertos into textiles, milagros, ethnic musical instruments, ceramic crosses, religious art, nativity sets, and holiday ornaments drawn from artisan traditions across multiple hemispheres. The De Luccas commissioned an exterior mural depicting a traditional Mexican street mercado as part of the Adams Avenue beautification program — a visual anchor on the corridor that reflects the store's role in educating the Normal Heights community about Latin American craft traditions. The gallery hosts workshops on traditional craft-making techniques, inviting families and school groups to learn the symbolism behind the Day of the Dead iconography and the construction methods behind papier-mâché and papel picado. Back From Tomboctou sits within the stretch of Adams Avenue between 35th Street and 36th Street where independent retailers cluster alongside restaurants and bars, and the annual Adams Avenue Street Fair drives tens of thousands of additional visitors past the storefront each fall. The gallery's fine-art and collectible inventory overlaps with the exhibition programming at Ashton Gallery at Art on 30th, where rotating shows feature regional artists working in ceramics, mixed media, and printmaking. The jewelry cases hold hand-wrought silver pieces, beaded necklaces, and milagro-charm bracelets sourced from the same artisan networks that supply the gallery's larger sculptural work.