Cheech Marin celebrated his 80th birthday with a little help from his friends in Riverside.
A fiesta in front of the downtown Chicano art museum that bears his name marked the occasion.
Cheech Marin celebrates his 80th birthday Sunday, July 12, 2026, at the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum in downtown Riverside. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
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Cheech Marin celebrates his 80th birthday Sunday, July 12, 2026, at the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum in downtown Riverside. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
The hours-long, free celebration Sunday, July 12, boasted a fandango, live music and entertainment, activities, food trucks, vendors and a performance by Cherry Bomb Revival.
Marin, a Southern California-based actor and comedian who founded the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, even cut slices of a birthday cake.
The Cheech museum opened in 2022 as a collaboration with the Riverside Art Museum that displayed part of Marin’s personal art collection. It has since evolved into an extensive collection of Chicano art, including paintings, sculptures, photography and video art.
Most recently, the museum housed in the city’s former main library welcomed a new exhibit “We the People: Chicano Art in the USA” that opened in June.