ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BEST DANCE STUDIO The Dance Center 26135 Carmel Rancho Blvd., Suite B6, Carmel Mission and 8th, Carmel Big Sur Grange, Highway 1, Big Sur (831) 625-3262, dancecarmel.com Grace, body control, mental fortitude— these are all skills necessary for the demanding task of playing Jenga…and also the qualities present in the talented performers of The Dance Center. This perennial favorite for Best Dance Studio offers youth classes starting at 12 months until 12th grade, teaching tap, ballet, acrobatics, musical theater and more. The Center’s three locations celebrate 10 years in 2025, including eight straight years being voted by Weekly readers as Best Dance Studio— stability that would make a Jenga tower proud. BEST ART GALLERY Carmel Art Association Dolores Street between 5th and 6th, Carmel (831) 250-3347, carmelart.org Remember walking through the toy aisles? The colorful artwork of a box would catch your eye. You would be drawn to it. And then to another, and so on. That’s like walking through Carmel Art Association’s gallery. Since 1927, over 550 artists have joined the Carmel Art Association. Currently, the CAA represents more than 100 of the area’s finest active professional painters, sculptors and printmakers. Some of those artists’ portraits will be included on a wall of history and legacy when the Carmel Art Association celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2027. Each time you visit, the gallery has three or four different exhibits on display, meaning there is something for everyone. BEST PHOTO GALLERY Center for Photographic Art San Carlos and 9th, Carmel (831) 625-5181, photography.org Carmel is the birthplace of West Coast photography and the Center for Photographic Art, housed in the Sunset Center complex, is now the most important space in the county for local and international photography. It offers regular exhibits, organizes contests, photography workshops and meetings with photographers, and in 2025 it launched a multi-day PhotoCarmel Festival. Run by photographers and for photographers, the center juries the work of its members, propelling them in their careers, connecting them to people and venues. It was founded in 1988 to carry on the traditions of the illustrious Friends of Photography created by Ansel Adams, Cole and Brett Weston, Wynn Bullock, Nancy Newhall, Beaumont Newhall and a group of like-minded photographers. BEST LOCAL ARTIST Erin Gafill eringafill.com There is a lot of artistic talent in Monterey County, but someone has to stand out in a field of talented artists—a bit like playing Where’s Waldo. Erin Lee Gafill is a landscape, abstract and still-life painter from Big Sur. Her work is colorful, reocgnizable, inviting. In 2008, she was honored as a Champion of the Arts by the Monterey Council for the Arts and the State of California; she is also a member of the Carmel Art Association and a storyteller. The great-great-granddaughter of painter Jane Gallatin Powers, she told Powers’ story in a book titled Jane Gallatin Powers: A California Modernist, and she is the author of the memoir Drinking from a Cold Spring: A Little Book of Hope. 40 BEST OF MONTEREY COUNTY® 2025 montereycountynow.com/bestof 701 Lighthouse Ave. Pacific Grove (831) 655-3311 SUSTAINABLY SOURCED SEAFOOD ’25 Thank you for voting us the Best Restaurant in Pacific Grove Dinner nightly from 5pm WINE DESTINATION BLACKJACK BONUS POINTS PAYS UP TO $20,000 SMALL TOWN BIG PAYOUTS! The Marina Club Casino ensures the safety and security of all guests and team members at all times, while providing exceptional service. 1-800-Gambler • GEAR-000383, GEAR-000376, GEAR-000375 ♦ 3 Card Poker ♠ Century 21st No Bust Black Jack ♣ Texas Hold’em ♥ FULL BAR! Where Monterey Comes To Play 204 Carmel Ave. Marina 831-384-0925 casinomonterey.com ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ Just minutes from Downtown Monterey
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