Puerto Vallarta Is No Longer Your Grandmother's Vacation Spot? Michael Kaminer - New York Daily News
go to original April 4, 2016

Tourism’s the bread and butter in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and locals never stop reminding you they know it.

But I wasn’t here for its loose libations, nonstop nightlife, or broad beaches. I’d heard Puerto Vallarta — a destination on Mexico’s Pacific coast that I’d considered about as hip as a rerun of “The Love Boat” — was getting an injection of cool from a few bold creatives.

Cutting-edge is not Puerto Vallarta’s brand. Visitors crave what they know here, which accounts for an astonishing 98% repeat visitor rate. No one seems eager to mess with the formula. One hotel boasts about Liz Taylor’s stay half a century ago; a local restaurant touts its rave reviews from director John Huston (“The Maltese Falcon”). He died in 1987.

“People who’ve been in Puerto Vallarta a long time don’t want anything to change,” said Canadian expat Kevin Simpson, owner of “ancestral contemporary” galleries Galeria Colektiva (Guadalupe Sánchez 852) and Peyote People (Juarez 222, peyotepeople.com). Simpson reps artists like Luis Castro Hernandez, who injects loopy cartoon elements into classic indigenous motifs. “You have to adapt and evolve. Even native art can get stagnant,” he says.

With his words in mind, I sought to see if Puerto Vallarta might finally be casting off the leisure suit. The answer’s yes — sort of...

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