If you ever walk down the Santa Cruz boardwalk with its saltwater-taffy paint scheme and nostalgic carnival rides and think, “This is like a Wes Anderson movie” – you’re not alone. The idyllic city by the sea strikes so many Andersonesque notes it’s celebrated in a new local photography show, “Accidentally Wes Anderson.”

Running January 24-May 18 at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the exhibit crowdsources photos of locations from around the world that, while not always appearing in Wes Anderson films, share the same quirky architecture and color palettes. It’s a physical embodiment of the online phenomenon Accidentally Wes Anderson, started by Wally and Amanda Koval and embraced by travelers who share social-media images in themes like “pink,” “turquoise,” “classic facades,” “gardens and greenhouses” and “on the rails.” (There’s since been a New York Times best-selling book with the same name.)

The photography exhibit “Accidentally Wes Anderson” runs Jan. 24-May 18, 2025, at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. (Sarah Curry/Accidentally Wes Anderson/MAH) 

Related Articles

“Each of the locations highlighted in the exhibition boasts the recognizable singular aesthetic that is oh-so typical of film master Wes Anderson,” write the organizers of the show, which is endorsed by the filmmaker himself. “Bright, vivid and often slightly jarring to reality, AWA collects the world’s most Anderson-like sites in all their faded grandeur and pop-pastel colors, telling the story behind each stranger-than-fiction location.”

The exhibit is meant to pay tribute to the centennial celebration of the very Anderson-like Giant Dipper roller coaster out on the beach, so after you’re done maybe head on over for a thrilling ride.

Details: Open noon-6 p.m. Thursday-Sunday at 705 Front St., Santa Cruz; $10 suggested admission, santacruzmah.org