For years, one of the main reasons tourists would make their way to San Nicolas, a quiet coastal town on the southern tip of Aruba, was Charlie's Bar.

Opened in the 1940s, the legendary establishment is something of an informal museum, every square inch of its walls and ceilings plastered with a random assortment of memorabilia including license plates, photographs, quirky artwork and an odd collection of cast-off items from everyday life.

Begun by scuba divers who would hang their underwater discoveries on the walls, the display is just one of the attractions at Charlie's. For those in search of a far more local, less touristy version of Aruba, Charlie's, is the place to go.

Opened by Charlie Sr. and Marie Brounds nearly 80 years ago, during WWII, seamen, refinery workers and harbor men were Charlie's prime customers and made the bar famous.

Aside from this colorful local watering hole (which is also known for its seafood offerings), the town of San Nicolas, located 12 miles beyond Aruba's capital of Oranjestad, is a largely undiscovered outpost.

Over the past three years, however, San Nicolas has been fostering the development of a vibrant artist's community. And these days, evidence of the burgeoning art scene is visible at nearly every turn.

Transformational Street Art

For one week each September since 2016, artists from around the world have been converging on San Nicolas to take part in an international art festival that fills its streets. And before the event comes to a close, artists have covered walls throughout the community with a new batch of vibrant, inspired murals. The street art can be found on the sides of houses, businesses and abandoned buildings. Artists have even begun covering benches throughout the town in stunning works of mosaic tile.

"I invited artists from all over the world to cover San Nicholas and turn it from a ghost town to an art town," explains 33-year-old Tito Bolivar, the creator of the annual fair, as he walked along the streets of San Nicolas on a recent afternoon. "The murals are the gift we leave behind after the festival."

San Nicolas is now home to 36 such murals, and word has begun to get out. Tourists have begun trickling in with increasing frequency and can be seen walking along the community's quiet streets, either on their own or as part of small walking tours designed to showcase the unique display.

Bolivar says the annual art festival, which attracts nearly 150 artists, has been transformational for struggling San Nicolas. The reception Bolivar has received from community residents serves as an anecdotal example of this transformation. Leading up to the very first festival, Bolivar was repeatedly robbed while working to get the event up and running, but in the second and third years, community members have come to him seeking to help with the festival and now they want to be part of it.

Artists representing 50 nationalities now come to San Nicolas each year, and the murals they leave behind have grown to be a stunning open-air museum representing cultures and artistic styles from around the world.

"Look around you, this place was empty before. But now we are slowly seeing businesses open and planning to move here," says Bolivar proudly.

Growing Museum Culture

Yet another example of the rebirth taking place in San Nicolas is the recent inauguration of the Museum of Industry, a fascinating offering where exhibits trace Aruba's history from a small island that was considered largely useless by the Spaniards to a major tourist destination, including covering the five distinct industrial chapters of the island's history in between.

Museum exhibits, assembled mostly from government archives and private collections owned by longtime residents on the island, begin with Aruba's early gold rush era, which was kicked off in 1824 when a local boy accidentally discovered the valuable commodity. By 1912 the search for gold on the island was replaced by the cultivation of Aloe Vera plants.

"One-third to two-thirds of the island was covered in aloe cultivation," explains Renwick Heronimo, the museum's creator, who spent a year researching and amassing the collection and speaks passionately about the island's history. "Postcards from Aruba in the 19th century mostly show the aloe industry and industrial scenes."

Phosphate mining created the next wave of industrial activity on Aruba and then, by the mid-20th century, Aruba's primary business became oil refineries. During Second World War Aruba's refineries were among the top suppliers.

Eventually, automation spread through the oil industry and in the late 20th century the refineries shut down leaving Aruba searching for a way to survive. That's when tourism was developed and created the Aruba we know today.

"The island initially had not perceived itself as something that would be attractive for tourism. But, by the end of 1950 there were two small hotels here and that was the beginning of a new kind of island. New postcards were developed and the rest, as they say, is history" says Heronimo. "By end of the 20th-century tourism represented the largest part of the local economy."

It's a part of Aruba's story that few tourists ever hear. But Heronimo and others are working to change that.

The Museum of Industry is just one of the example of the ongoing efforts. Heronimo is also developing other smaller museums in San Nicolas designed to reveal still more of the island's unexplored narrative, its music, and its ways of living.

There's also a massive government archive in San Nicolas (open to the public) showcasing the everyday items that filled people's homes over the course of the island's history - from dishes and paintings, to antique musical instruments and furniture.

Shopping and Art Boutiques

Beyond the murals, the museums, and Charlie's, San Nicolas is home to a handful of stores, snack shops and notably, a new artists' collective, Cosecha Aruba, which sells locally made art.

Products found in Cosecha have all been certified with a national seal of craftsmanship established by the government of Aruba to recognize locally handmade products, allowing them to be distinguished from the imported, mass-produced, tourist items.

"The name Cosecha means to harvest. We are basically harvesting local art," explained 23-year-old store employee D'Andre Maxwell, an artist himself. "The local art community here is really growing because they're appreciated more now."

Cosecha also offers workshops for tourists, (which can be booked through the store's Facebook page) allowing visitors to spend time working side by side with local artists.

For visitors in search of authentic Aruba, something beyond the crowded resorts, casinos, and beaches surrounding Oranjestad, San Nicolas is a refreshing alternative experience. It's a place to explore a version of Aruba that showcases the island's past and its vibrant, eclectic present.

"There's a lot of little restaurants here now and people are now starting to stay at the smaller hotels here. A lot of businesses are coming back and slowly but surely, we've begun attracting creative people, so it has become more of a bohemian area," says Heronimo "Our efforts are working on many levels."

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