For decades, Avenida Revolución in Tijuana was a bustling tourist zone, attracting U.S. visitors with its colorful souvenir shops, restaurants and nightlife.

But at some point, popular interest in the historic district faded.

State and city officials have been trying to revitalize the area for some time to attract more tourists, with hopes of making it a place locals want to hang out, too.

The latest move involves closing off a few blocks to vehicles to make way for a pedestrian promenade. Visitors can now wander from Fourth to Seventh streets along the 136-year-old avenue.

When unveiling the $1.3 million project in October, Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila pledged to restore more public spaces to promote cultural, musical and recreational activities.

“This is what Tijuana deserves,” she said in a video posted on social media. “These spaces represent Tijuana.”

Reyna Alexandra Mendoza, 7, sits on a metal structure along Avenida Revolucion. The government has installed sitting areas and other features that invite people to stay awhile. (David Maung / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

So far, it seems to be working.

Isabel Hernández and her fiancé, Ramón Félix, are street vendors who craft bracelets and necklaces on a bench in the area to sell later in the day. One recent Saturday morning, the couple was particularly busy, preparing for two events taking place on different blocks of the same stretch of the avenue within a few hours — a food festival followed by a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

The couple said many visitors have come to check out the revamped spot, surrounded by hotels, coffee shops, pharmacies and restaurants.

Officials said people can expect more artistic activities in the plaza, such as music and theatrical performances.

“They come with their children, play with them for a while, have some ice cream, and stay for a bit,” Félix noted.

Tijuana’s landmark 

Avenida Revolución is at the center of much of the city’s history. In 1889, it became the first street in the city to be paved and provided with utilities, boosting its draw as a commercial and tourist hub. Throughout its history, the avenue has had five names, adopting its current one in 1932.

The concept of creating a pedestrian square was inspired by other cities, said José Carlos Robles, president of the Association of Merchants and Tourism Entrepreneurs of Avenida Revolución. He cited several examples, including the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego, which has experimented with a pedestrian promenade.

Related Articles

How to get TSA PreCheck using your credit card

Top 10 new theme park attractions in the U.S. for 2026

Cypriot fishermen battle invasive lionfish and turn them into a tavern delicacy

Six Flags Magic Mountain is no longer the Coaster Capital of the World

34 movies and shows to watch on a plane — or trapped at the airport — this holiday season

Robles said that Tijuana was missing that experience in its downtown area. “When you visit any city, you always want to go downtown and see the historic sites,” he said.

Robles said that some businesses reported increased sales after the opening of the pedestrian plaza and that the project has attracted others to open their businesses on the popular avenue, which is better known by locals as “La Revu.”

The project has faced some opposition, as some businesses were not on board with the idea. A vendor from a souvenir shop within the pedestrian plaza said the change didn’t help the business because it relies more on international tourists who come by bus or car than on locals who walk through the area.

U.S. tourists, including those traveling for medical reasons, still frequently visit Avenida Revolución. But there was a time when it was far more popular, recalled José Gabriel Rivera, head of the Baja California Historical Archive.

In the Prohibition era, when alcohol was banned in the U.S., people flocked to Tijuana to drink and gamble. It was around this time that the world-famous Caesar salad was created in the area.

In the 1980s and ’90s, Avenida Revolución was a mecca for San Diegans looking to party. Some took advantage of the fact that the legal drinking age in Mexico is 18 instead of 21.

However, that all changed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when crossing the U.S.-Mexico border became a more rigorous endeavor. Reports of cartel-related violence in the city around that time also discouraged many visitors.

This led to a binational tourism crisis, Rivera said, prompting a shift in focus to attract local tourism.

Rivera welcomed the ongoing efforts to improve the ever-changing avenue and its surroundings, but noted that it could be more attractive to locals.

“The Avenida Revolución is a landmark and icon in Tijuana’s history,” he said. “It’s important to develop different types of policies to revitalize it.”

People walk along Tijuana’s Avenida Revolucion.
(David Maung / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

On a recent Saturday, locals Óscar Díaz and his mother, Sanjuana Nachez, ran an errand a few blocks away and took the opportunity to visit the food festival and explore the new pedestrian plaza.

Díaz reminisced about the late ’80s, when he used to party in the area. He said that back then, it was common to see many visitors from the United States. “Many people from San Diego came,” his mother echoed. But nowadays, not as many, they said.

“It was about time they renovated the Revolución,” he said. “Hopefully, it will attract tourism.”

Local life

For the past three years, Mariana Sánchez — known on social media as Nana en Tijuana — has been giving walking tours of her hometown. Her bilingual tours begin on Avenida Revolución. As she points out, to understand the city, you have to go back to where it all began.

Throughout her time working in the industry, she has noticed the interests of tourists changing. She said that many want to “experience life as we live it.”

“They want to know where we go, what we eat and how we get around,” she said. “Many people are searching for that feeling of local life.”

That still often includes the souvenir shops and famous salad at Caesar’s Restaurant, which long ago relocated onto Avenida Revolución. But tourists are also venturing farther from downtown, trying the numerous taquerías scattered throughout the city or attending a Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles soccer game or a Toros baseball game, Sánchez said.

Caesar’s, which many agree is one of the most touristy places on the avenue, is situated within the new pedestrian plaza. Visitors can no longer valet park in front of the restaurant. Instead, they must look for public parking nearby.

While Sánchez welcomes the idea, she said there is still work to be done. For instance, although the avenue is closed to vehicles, the side streets are not, which may confuse pedestrians and drivers.

“It’s an interesting time to analyze and rethink tourism strategies,” she said. “The pedestrian plaza has presented new opportunities for some vendors, as well as some challenges that need to be considered.”

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press

The United States carried out a lightning military strike on Venezuela early Saturday, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and spiriting them out of the country. American officials say the pair will face narco-terrorism charges in U.S. courts.

The overnight operation left Venezuela reeling, with its leadership uncertain and details of casualties and the impact on its military still to emerge. Countries across the region and the wider world were absorbing the destabilizing implications of the apparently unilateral U.S. action.

Here’s what we know — and what we don’t.

Rising US pressure, then an overnight attack

Explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, early Saturday. At least seven blasts were heard in an attack that lasted less than 30 minutes. The targets appeared to include military infrastructure. Smoke was seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas and another military installation in the capital was without power.

Trump said in a social media post that Maduro “has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country.”

Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández told The Associated Press that Maduro and Flores were at their home within the Ft. Tiuna military installation outside Caracas when they were captured.

Venezuelan officials said people had been killed, but the scale of casualties was unclear.

The attack followed months of escalating pressure by the Trump administration, which has built up naval forces in the waters off South America and since early September has carried out deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Last week the U.S. struck Venezuelan soil with a CIA drone strike at a docking area alleged to have been used by drug cartels.

Maduro facing US terrorism charges

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social network X that Maduro and Flores had both been indicted in the Southern District of New York and “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”

She said Maduro faced charges of “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.”

Maduro was indicted in March 2020, during Trump’s first term, but the indictment against Flores was not previously made public.

In an indictment made public Saturday morning, U.S. authorities accused Maduro of leading a “a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.” It alleges the drug trafficking “enriched and entrenched Venezuela’s political and military elite.”

Authorities estimate that as much as 250 tons of cocaine were trafficked through Venezuela by 2020, according to the indictment. The drugs were moved on go-fast vessels, fishing boats and container ships or by plane from clandestine airstrips, authorities allege.

Trump said Maduro and his wife are aboard a U.S. warship and will face prosecution in New York.

Questions over legality

The U.S. does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, and the legal implications of the strike under U.S. law were not immediately clear.

The Trump administration maintains that Maduro is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela and claims he has effectively turned Venezuela into a criminal enterprise at the service of drug traffickers and terrorist groups.

Mike Lee, a U.S. senator from Utah, said on X that the action “likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack.”

But some Democrats were more critical.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, said in a statement, “President Trump’s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to arrest Maduro — however terrible he is — is a sickening return to a day when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere.”

Venezuela’s future uncertain

Maduro’s government accused the United States of an “imperialist attack” on civilian and military installations and urged citizens to take to the streets.

Armed individuals and uniformed members of a civilian militia took to the streets of a Caracas neighborhood long considered a stronghold of the ruling party. But in other areas of the city, the streets remained empty hours after the attack. Parts of the city remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.

By law, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez should take power, but there was no confirmation that had happened.

There was no immediate comment from Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. She was in hiding for almost a year before traveling to Norway last month to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump told Fox News that the U.S. was deciding what is next for Venezuela and said “we’ll be involved in it very much” as to who will govern the country.

Christopher Sabatini, a Latin America expert at the Chatham House international affairs think tank, said the U.S. strikes “open up an entirely unforeseen, in many ways unexpected, series of events,” and it’s unclear what kind of government will emerge.

He said elements of the Trump administration and the Venezuelan opposition have held a “dangerously naive” belief that “if you decapitate the regime, figuratively speaking, by removing Maduro … that would somehow lead to a democratic transition.”

Other countries scramble to respond

Venezuela’s neighbor Colombia sent troops to the border and anticipated an influx of refugees.

Latin American leaders were sharply divided over the strikes. Trump’s right-wing ally President Javier Milei of Argentina celebrated the operation, while leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemned American actions and warned of the sharp repercussions of past American interventions in Latin America.

Cuba, a supporter of the Maduro government and a longtime adversary of the United States, urged the international community to respond to what President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez called “the criminal attack.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the attack and capture of Maduro would be “an unacceptable infringement on the sovereignty of an independent state.”

U.S. allies in Europe — critical of Maduro but mindful of international law — offered muted responses as they scrambled to understand the scale and implications of the attack.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc “has repeatedly stated that Mr Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition. Under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the U.N. Charter must be respected. We call for restraint.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had not spoken to Trump about the attack and stressed that “the U.K. was not involved in any way.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Spain was “conducting a thorough monitoring of the events in Venezuela” and called for “de-escalation and responsibility.”

Associated Press Writer Danica Kirka in London contributed to this story.

Charlie Polinger achieves a lot with relatively little with his feature directorial debut, “The Plague.”

Getting a wide release this week, this slice of psychological horror is quite effective despite its small scale and a cast consisting largely of little-known young actors.

A cross between “Lord of the Flies” and … some other movie set at a youth water polo camp, “The Plague” explores, as Polinger puts it in his directorial statement, “the clumsy liminal space between childhood and adolescence, when the id grows too fast and too strong for the conscience to keep up.”

Also the film’s writer, Polinger found inspiration for the story when he unearthed old journals from when he was 12. He read his tales of a youth sports camp, where boys told tall tales of a mysterious “plague” that had infected one unfortunate kid — it was the reason for his acne-covered face and was turning his brain to “mush.”

Related Articles

Movies this winter: Post-apocalyptic thrillers. Crime stories. Gothic romance

Even ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ can’t lift 2025 box office out of pandemic-crisis doldrums

Hollywood was built on movie stardom. AI is changing the rules

34 movies and shows to watch on a plane — or trapped at the airport — this holiday season

The 12 best needle drops of 2025

That is the situation 12-year-old Ben (Everett Blunck) encounters when he joins the second session of a water polo camp after moving to the area from another city in summer 2003. A bunch of the boys — led by the charismatic Jake (Kayo Martin) — have ostracized another with a skin issue, Eli (Kenny Rasmussen), which they make very clear as they accept Ben into their fold.

“Those aren’t regular pimples,” Jake tells Ben as they sit on the bottom part of a bunk bed, several feet from Eli. “Those are plague pimples. That’s a plague face.”

Jake proceeds to fill Ben’s head with more disturbing details, including the fate of the unfortunate boy who supposedly gave the plague to Eli. (Spoiler alert: He’s said to be spending his time in a mental institution playing “Jenga.”)

You can tell from Ben’s face that he doesn’t believe any of this to be true — mostly, kinda, probably — but he does as instructed, scrubbing his skin quickly after any physical contact with the outcast. He’s just trying to fit in, especially after Jake gives him a hard time about having trouble pronouncing “t” sounds, earning him the cruel nickname “Soppy” as a result. We’ve all been there — if roughly, not precisely.

That’s why “The Plague” feels so authentic for its first long stretch: It’s relatable in a way you may not enjoy thinking about, even if you were more follower than leader, more Ben than Jake, in your youth.

As the film progresses, however, Polinger skillfully blurs the line between childhood nonsense and reality in a really potent and, at times, downright chilling way, as Ben takes the inevitable turn away from Jake and toward Eli — despite the latter’s odd social behavior. (To be clear, Eli’s idiosyncrasies feel authentic for an outcast kid … at least for the most part.)

With the help of collaborators who include director of photography Steven Breckon, production designer Chad Keith and sound designer Damian Volpe, Polinger creates an aesthetic that evolves from lovely (the opening underwater shots) to unsettling (well, you’ll see).

Plenty of heavy lifting is also done by the aforementioned actors, with Blunck (“Griffin in Summer”) compelling as a pre-teen everyman — not exactly cool but able to vaguely fake it — and newcomer Rasmussen, who throws himself into the role of a boy trying to make the best of being separated from the group at camp.

The standout, though, is Martin, who, as the ringleader, straddles the line between angel and devil, aided by an often-present smile that can be read either way. (Also into skating and boxing, the youth has about a million Instagram followers.)

Joel Edgerton (“Boy Erased,” “Train Dreams”) portrays the only meaningful adult role, that of the boys’ coach, Daddy Wags, and he turns in solid work, both when his character lays into Jake for his behavior and later tries to comfort Ben.

Know that a viewer isn’t likely to find much comfort in “The Plague.” It isn’t a fun experience, the film dipping its toes into such upsetting topics as self-mutilation, but it is impactful.

Without hinting at the nature of the conclusion, Polinger sticks the landing, leaving the viewer wanting more — not of “The Plague” but of him.

‘The Plague’

Where: Theaters.

When: Jan. 2.

Rated: R for language, sexual material, self-harm/bloody images, and some drug and alcohol use – all involving children.

Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes.

Stars (of four): 3.

It’s winter, time to curl up by a crackling fire with a blanket and a hot cup of cocoa.

Or if you happen to be a beer lover, perhaps a glass of pitch-black, high-octane beer – peanut-butter stout, maybe, or oak-smoked doppelbock – that will warm you from the inside out.

The coldest months are peak season for winter beers, a slightly amorphous category defined by production date, alcohol content and spice flavors that can resemble a mincemeat pie.

Enjoyed hundreds of years ago in societies such as English and Norse, these tipples fell into a lag only to see a resurgence in the 1970s as “winter warmers” or “Christmas beers.” They became a hit in the U.S. after San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing released its Christmas ale in 1975, and today include the likes of Sierra Nevada’s Celebration IPA, Allagash Brewing’s Ski House and Deschutes Brewery’s Jubelale.

With a short window to shop for these liquid treats — whose flavor profiles can be intimidating, ranging from dark chocolate to gingerbread to peppermint candy – how should you decide what to sample? Here to help is Craig Thomas, who knows a little something about beer, given his role as a Master Cicerone.

Thomas is a former sensory-research analyst at Firestone Walker Brewing Co. who now works at Abstrax Hops, a company that develops flavor and aroma extracts for the beverage industry. He lives in Templeton, near Paso Robles. In 2023, Thomas made beery history by earning the title of Master Cicerone from the Cicerone Certification Program. It’s the fourth, and final, tier of the program; of the 150,000 people worldwide who’ve successfully ranked as a Cicerone, only 28 (including Thomas) have made it to this highest level.

What, exactly, is a Master Cicerone? Think of it as an exceptional beer sommelier who’s verified through written, oral and sensory testing. “It recognizes an exceptional understanding of brewing, beer and pairing — combining outstanding tasting abilities with an encyclopedic knowledge of commercial beers,” according to trade publication Craft Brewing Business.

Recently, Thomas took the time to talk about the Cicerone program and about the joy of winter beers, and to recommend a couple of his favorites.

Q: Is becoming a Master Cicerone as difficult as everyone says?

A: It’s the hardest test I’ve ever done, including any final I had during my (history) master’s degree. I don’t know if anyone’s passed the first time – maybe one or two? I passed the second time I took it.

Q: What’s it involve?

A: All of the beer canon is basically encompassed in the program. So you have to be very well-studied, not only in the production side and ingredients side, but also in serving and dispensing and the presentation of beer and food pairings. You have to pack a lot of information into your head, and you have to be able to talk about it in both the technical fashion but also very eloquently, in a consumer-facing way that appeals to your average beer connoisseur.

Q: Did you have to taste a lot of beer for the exam, you poor guy?

A: You have to memorize all the different styles of beer as defined by the certification program. There are over a hundred, and you have to know their specifications when it comes to their alcohol levels, color, bitterness. … And the tasting exams are all blind. The whole point is that you’re able to identify what’s in the glass without knowing what it is. There are also “off flavors,” which they spike into the beer for you to pick out.

Q: “Off flavors”?

A: Yes. There’s a specific compound in beer that’s widely considered to be very important from a quality measure. It’s called diacetyl. And when you smell it, it’s the exact smell of buttered popcorn. It’s a key component in a lot of Chardonnays. But in beer, 99% of the time, diacetyl is considered to be an unappealing flavor. … It’s a blessing and a curse if you train yourself to identity a compound like diacetyl, as you find it in a lot of different places and it will ruin a lot of beers for you.

Then there’s “infection,” which is not a specific compound but usually a bacterial infection in beer. It usually showcases as a sour vinegar-like note, and is usually because of poorly cleaned draft lines. … The crusade I’ve embarked upon since studying for Master Cicerone is that I believe there is a big problem in draft-beer dispense within the U.S. Draft-line cleaning is a very critical component of brewing, and of serving beer in its best light, and it’s underappreciated or frankly ignored among most establishments.

Q: To switch gears, what do you know about winter beer?

A: I would say it’s a very loose style, or not even a style. It’s just something that a lot of breweries do in their own fashion, and everybody’s taken their own interpretation of it. In the olden days, a lot of winter beers were conceptualized as stronger with more alcohol. They put you in that space, where you’re eating cake or gingerbread next to a fire and a Christmas tree. The higher alcohol and the spices in the beer – if you get some nice caramel or gingerbread characteristics — it all just fits into that atmosphere.

Q: What kind of spices are typically added?

A: Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, orange peel, ginger — there’s no necessary rule to what you can put into a Christmas ale. The best I would say is peppermint. But there are a number of brewers who go in a different direction and say, “It’s not going to be spiced. We’re just going to make a unique IPA that we’re only serving around Christmas time.”

Q: What foods do winter beers pair well with?

A: Ham would be really good, especially if you’re putting any kind of cloves on it. But it’s always going to depend on what the actual winter warmer is, right? If it’s an IPA or one of those spiced beverages, any classic Christmas entree will fit with them. If you get a lighter style — something along the lines of Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome — I would pair that with a roast turkey. Then for the darker ones out there, like Deschutes Brewery’s Jubelale which is maltier with some chocolate notes, that would work for prime rib, especially if you did a coffee crust.

Q: Would you like to throw out some winter recommendations?

A: Sierra Nevada’s Celebration IPA is just an exceptional beer from start to finish — it’s worth trying regardless of anything. Every brewer I know always enjoys tasting this year’s Celebration. St. Bernardus is a brewery out of Belgium, and they do a Christmas ale every year. It’s very high ABV, usually around 10%, and typically has a nice spice character. And Belgian beers often use dark-candy sugar, which lends a not-quite-molasses, but toasted-rich-caramel note that works in harmony with these beer styles. I think you can find it at Trader Joe’s.

The last one might be a bit harder to find, but look in specialty shops. It’s called Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier, and it’s from a brewery in Bamberg, Germany. They kiln their malts with beachwood, so they make unique but glorious smoked beer. Smoked beers are very polarizing for most people, but I adore them, particularly with a beer they only release around Christmas (Aecht Schlenkerla Oak Smoke). It’s a doppelbock with 8% ABV, and it’s like drinking candy bacon.

– Connect with Craig Thomas, and ask your own beer questions, at instagram.com/peopleaskme