Oddities & curiosities in San Diego
Looking for oddity shops & curiosities in San Diego? These 6 are the genuinely strange ones — The Gold Dust Collective, The Cave of Wonders, Artifacts & Artichokes and more — each hand-vetted and sourced, not pulled from a top-ten list. Great for an unusual date, a weird afternoon, or showing a visitor the side of San Diego they'd never find on their own.
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The Gold Dust Collective
A moody, maximalist boutique where fox and coyote mounts stare out from shelves crowded with human-tooth jewe…
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The Cave of Wonders
A "shop of curiosities" opened in 2014 by graduate gemologist David "Scotty" Chatfield on North Park's galler…
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Artifacts & Artichokes
Self-billed as San Diego's "Gallery of Oddities," this plant-and-curio boutique mixes rare houseplants with t…
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Datura
A self-described "witchy trinket shop / ethical herbal apothecary" with over 350 herbs in stock — dried mushr…
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The Nat's Nature to You Loan Library
Tucked inside the San Diego Natural History Museum is a genuine library — with a card catalog and checkout sy…
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J.A. Cooley Museum
Owners Jim and Carmen Cooley built this one-man cabinet of curiosities across roughly three dozen collecting…