Al and Barbara Garvey

Al and Barbara Garvey are an American artist and tango dancing couple known for catalyzing hot tub culture in California in 1966. While living in Fairfax in Marin County, California, the Garveys built their own hot tub in which they could soak with friends. The practice spread into a cultural phenomenon throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

The Garveys are both artists, with Al known as a painter, screen printer and woodworker. In 1972, Al was a founding member of the Baulines Craft Guild, a society of master artists willing to teach apprentices. His artistic doors and doorways have brought him praise. Barbara collaborated with Al on a screen printing commission titled We Are the Wall Itself in 1974. Barbara co-founded Folkwear Patterns with two other women in 1976, which continued as a pattern-making company under new ownership.

In the 1990s, the Garveys began to teach tango dancing in the San Francisco Bay Area, after leading a resurgence of interest in tango dancing inspired by the musical Tango Argentino. In 2004, the Garveys moved to Puerto Vallarta in Mexico and continued to build a tango community and create art.