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# Cosmé Cordova and the Long Road to Division 9
- URL: https://www.raincrossgazette.com/cosme-cordova-and-the-long-road-to-division-9/
- Published: 2026-11-05T13:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-05T13:00:02.000Z
- Description: The gallery owner is credited with helping grow Riverside’s art culture, a love he traces to his mother and grandmother in Mexico.
- Author: Maxen Olvera
- Tags: Culture, Arts, #herald-40def165-d2ee-81eb-85f3-f8a34167b264

Cosmé Cordova is a Riverside arts legend often credited with the inception of the Riverside ArtsWalk and Riverside’s Day of the Dead celebration. He is also the owner of the Division 9 Gallery. Cosmé was born in San Pedro de la Cueva, Mexico, and moved to Riverside when he was around five years old. He grew up in the Arlanza area attending school in that neighborhood. He developed an artistic interest at a young age in Mexico. He credits his mother and grandmother for exposing him to the magic of art. His grandmother would create artwork from palm leaves for Palm Sunday. Both his mother and grandmother made clay pots and cups that he used throughout his childhood. Cosmé fell in love with the necessity of art at a very young age and saw it as an important layer to his livelihood.

Nowadays, Cosmé owns and operates Division 9 Gallery on Lemon Street, in the center of Downtown Riverside. It’s right next to Crooks Skate Shop and Riverside Community Association. Division 9 didn’t sprout up overnight; it traveled a long, winding road through the city of Riverside. In 1997, Cosmé was offered a spot to display his artwork in the Americore at Bobby Bonds Park. His first art show was in the basement of Americore at Bobby Bonds Park.

After his featured artist showcase ended, he got a personal studio deep in the Life Arts Center. During his time at the Life Arts Center, he asked if there was space in the building for a gallery. Luckily, the center’s basement was open after a band used it and trashed it. The basement was a mess, and the owners thought it was unsalvageable. With a little help from his friends and a lot of determination, Cosmé completely gutted the basement. The team took out carpets and repainted the punk-show-stained walls. The demolition process gave him the name Division 9.

A piece of damaged drywall in the basement read “Div 9.” The number 9 has always shown its face within Cosmé’s life. He always gravitated towards calling a gallery cloud nine. The drywall was the final sign that pushed him into calling his gallery space Division 9\. Division 9’s first showcase happened in 1999 in the basement of the Life Arts Center. This first showcase featured Cosmé and his artistic pals, who took turns showing their art in the space. It was a great spot for local artists like Cosmé to meet with his peers and discuss the complexities of their work. “At the time, there was no one representing my culture and my friends. You had museums, but they didn’t represent what I was going through. It was really cool to showcase artwork that was relatable to me.” Cosmé said. Cosmé would put on art shows in the basement space that connected so many people to local artists.

His basement shows allowed him to meet countless artists from all around Southern California. He met one artist from Pomona who invited him to attend their monthly ArtsWalk event. Cosmé had never heard of an ArtsWalk, so he was excited to check it out. He was amazed by Pomona’s art event and came back urging Riverside officials to put on their own ArtsWalk. Unfortunately, nobody was game to participate. Cosmé decided to devise his own ArtsWalk. He saw the perfect opportunity when RCCA asked him to do a solo art show for two weeks. On opening night, Cosmé showed his art at the RCAA and, at the next stop, let his friends show their art at his Division 9 gallery. In 2001, the gallery-sponsored event served as Riverside’s first ArtsWalk. The event amassed around 150 people moving from gallery to gallery. After the opening, RCAA got inspired to organize an ArtsWalk for the city of Riverside. From the two galleries, they moved the art to the street in front of Pixels. The area proved to be too small for the number of people attending. The city allowed the ArtsWalk to happen in the parking lot across from Division 9\. Today, the ArtsWalk takes place on Main Street, which was Cosmé’s goal.

The ArtsWalk soon became an event that brought together the community’s finest creative minds. Cosmé can also be credited with bringing the Day of the Dead festival to Riverside. Inspired by the Palm Desert art scene’s Day of the Dead celebrations, he brought it to Riverside in the fall of 2004\. The first Day of the Dead event in Riverside had only two altars, one food vendor, three artists selling their work and one band performing. The event attracted 350 people to celebrate Day of the Dead, and a lot of them were born in Mexico. “The emotion I felt at that time felt like something big happened and I didn’t know how big it was gonna become,” Cosmé said. For the first seven years, he handed out a pamphlet he had written about the meaning of the holiday. At first, people thought it was cultish, but they soon realized it celebrated life’s beauty. This year, it takes place on Saturday, Nov. 7 and Sunday, Nov. 8, with festivities starting at 1 p.m. It will be on Market Street (with a full street closure from University to 14th), White Park, and the area around Division 9 Gallery. It is a free, family-friendly event that usually attracts 50,000 people. The festival has a new stage called the Detour Stage, which will host [The Voodoo Glow Skulls](https://www.raincrossgazette.com/p/d3953ea6-9602-4606-85b8-05a574799ddc/) at 8:30\. Cosmé invites people to enjoy 80 altars featuring car show altars, a lucha libre wrestling ring, three stages featuring seven bands and 24 Inland Empire cultural dance groups.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/11/cosme-cordova-and-the-long-road-to-division-9.jpg)

Crowds fill downtown Riverside during a past Day of the Dead celebration. Cosmé Cordova, owner of Division 9 Gallery, brought the festival to Riverside in 2004\. | Pablo Puma