Over 50 vendors with a fantastic array of items, all made in Mexico, line the street we once referred to as Shacks 5th Ave. Wonderful cool cotton clothing, leather sandals custom made for you, a hammock for your patio, “designer” sun glasses, home accessories to die for, hand carved wooden pieces, ceramics in wonderful Mexican design! What more could a shopper with a discerning eye ask for? How about friendly and helpful vendors that don’t chase you down the street and, of course, the best prices in town? That’s Rodeo Drive. And it keeps getting better.

On the far west end of our shopping street you’ll see Peñasco’s answer to Jurassic Park. You can’t miss it. There is a wonderful and very tall giraffe out front. It’s so tall, in fact, it won’t fit inside the shop! The Ortiz Madris Family can usually be found inside fashioning metal into everything from flowers to dinosaurs, cactus to giraffes. Whatever you have in mind if you don’t see it just ask. My favorites are the burros. They just ooze with personality.

The family has been working together for the past 30 years when they relocated in Peñasco from Michoacan and are very happy they did so. Peñasco’s Rodeo Drive is becoming “THE place to be”.

As we’ve seen many times before, everyone in the family does their part. Maria and Armando and two of the children do the welding, a task that takes great care and skill. Dad, Anthony, does the drawing and cutting of the designs. Mom, Margarita, and the rest of the family do the painting. The end result will knock your socks off!

Whenever they can take time from welding these clever creations they are going to make a sign for their shop. It will read “Fuentes y Mesas Margarit,” or maybe just “Jurassic Park”.