FGHCGA Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego San Diego, United States - December 25, 2015: The entrance to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego on December 25, 2015 in San Diego.

Bastian Kienitz/Alamy

Museum of Contemporary Art

San Diego

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In an upcycled Santa Fe Depot baggage building, this well-respected museum presents changing exhibits drawn from a collection spanning the arc of artistic expression from the 1950s to the present. Genres where it's especially strong are minimalism, pop art, conceptual art and art from Southern California. The museum opens late and has free entry from 5pm to 8pm on the third Thursday of each month.

Opposite the museum, the Santa Fe Depot (aka Union Station) looks a lot like a piece from a model railway, with Spanish-style tilework and a historic Santa Fe Railway sign on top. It was built in conjunction with the 1915 exposition in the hopes that the Santa Fe Railway would make San Diego its terminus; that distinction eventually went to LA.

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