It’s summer in Tucson and everyone knows it’s hot but there is a side to summer that makes everyone happy: We get our city back. The students have gone home and the snowbirds are RV-ing their way north. That leaves us. Now what?
Downtown Tucson has an answer. Or lots of them. Congress, Broadway, Cushing, Alameda, Toole, Stone, Granada and every street in-between offers something fun, delicious and/or curious. The best part is as residents we don’t have to pack every activity into one 24-hour period. We can easily come back.
So with a filled water bottle at your side and a packet of electrolyte refreshment powder in your pocket, take a turn around our small and busy but safe Downtown.
Breakfast
Begin the day at JoJos, a counter restaurant that opens at 8 in the morning, just in time for breakfast. Diners order at a counter and may choose to sit in the casual dining room or outside in the shaded patio and be refreshed by all the live greenery. Breakfast choices include fresh baked goods (try the scones baked daily), burritos or a traditional egg, home fries and bacon platter.
Her most popular? It was once mocha shakes but now it’s nachos and tacos.
The restaurant is owned by Jo Schneider who made the decision to cut table service so she could lower diners’ costs.
“I’ve done the insane thing by lowering my prices,” she said. “I wanted to provide this community with a space people could afford in this beautiful environment with free music and I wanted to see if I could do it.”
It’s a gamble, she said, but Tucson has always turned out for her. She gave the example of when she bought the restaurant business. The patio needed a good deal of sprucing up so she put an ad in the paper asking for help. Pay was a meal. She expected 30, but more than 100 helpers showed up. It is one of the things about Tucson she loves: We show up to help when help is needed. “It was miraculous,” she said, “but I’ve always felt this way about the Tucson community. It has the best people.”
JoJos is tucked into the corner of Old Town Artisans so be sure to visit the warren of shops after dining. Also, there’s live music every evening.
History
After breakfast saunter over to the Pima County Historic Courthouse and Southern Arizona Visitors Center.
First of all, it’s comfortably cool inside. This first-floor museum gives an excellent overview of the history and culture of Tucson, from the first Tohono O’odham inhabitants to Spanish occupation to today. Running right down the middle of the museum and marked on the floor is a stripe that indicates where the wall of the original presidio stood. These days it’s part of what is called the Turquoise Trail, which connects more than 20 landmarks that highlight the city’s unique architectural and multicultural past.
On the other side of the museum is a very nice gift shop staffed by very nice people. Docents give free tours twice a day and it’s clear from the way they talk that they love their city.
“It’s so cool to me … when you wander around Downtown, there’s no McDonalds,” docent Randy Spalding said. “There’s no Burger King. It’s all family-owned stuff and it’s really, really great. I think that’s fantastic.”
According to Fletcher McCusker, chairman of Rio Nuevo, a tax increment finance district, much if not all the businesses on Congress Street were at least partially funded by Rio Nuevo. What that means is simple.
“Typically our state sales tax goes to Phoenix and Phoenix gets to do whatever they want to do with it but what I want Tucsonans to know is when they purchase something in the Rio Nuevo district that state sales tax today comes back to Tucson and invests in this district,” Crystal Moore, CEO and president of Downtown Tucson Partnership, said. “That’s not happening at La Encantada or Foothills Mall. That’s really preserving and supporting our local economy.”
There’s a fountain within the museum to fill water bottles and down an adjacent outdoor corridor there is a clean ladies room.
Help is easily available
The courthouse is fairly obvious from nearly all vantage points downtown. However, should a visitor or resident find themselves lost, do not worry. Downtown Tucson Partnership has your back.
What is DTP exactly? Downtown Tucson Partnership is the nonprofit Business Improvement District that manages and advocates for Downtown Tucson. The organization is involved in multiple projects that make Downtown better, such as the Haiku Trail.
At its head is Moore, who operates under the philosophy of leaving Downtown better than she found it so under her leadership, DTP has added Downtown Ambassadors, people wearing deep purple shirts who are happy to help out. These days there are more than 20. Around Tucson the Ambassadors are known as the “purple people” for their uniforms. Their work goes beyond what most people actually witness. If they see someone puzzling over a map, they will step up right away with directions. They handle maintenance, beautification, business support and safety. They’re a real part of the fabric of Downtown. According to Moore, some have been on the job for more than 10 years.
“They work here because they love their city, just like me,” Moore said. “I’m pretty sure most of them could have already gone on and done something different but they’re passionate about keeping Downtown clean and safe and merchants thriving and successful.”
Besides the Ambassadors, posted in windows and sidewalk structures are easy-to-decipher maps of Downtown so no one is ever really lost, just misplaced a bit.
Children are in charge here
Anyone with kids at home knows the difficulty of keeping them busy during the summer. That’s where the Children’s Museum Tucson is particularly handy. Located just steps away from Broadway, the 17,000-square-foot museum is all about kids and it doesn’t matter what their ages are. Even babies can find amusement here. On this visit, a mother was helping her laughing infant down a slide.
“What we do at the Children’s Museum is focus on accessibility and play,” executive director Hilary Van Alsburg said. “Everything we do is for kids and families. It’s an opportunity for kids to come and lead what’s happening.”
The museum is divided into large rooms with themes. There’s the community care exhibit that has an ambulance and cop car to crawl around in but the most exciting piece of equipment is the real-deal police motorcycle parked inside.
There’s an electricity room with safe exhibits that light up, funded by nearby TEP, and a playroom with a small theater where kids can perform. There are even spaces to crawl into if a kid gets overstimulated or just want to be tucked away somewhere.
Look for science and engineering exhibits and “lots of art (and) things that get kids excited about what they can grow up and be.”
“I would love for everyone to recognize that the Children’s Museum is a value to treasure for families and for generations,” Van Alsburg said. “It’s really the only place that’s dedicated 100% to children. It was built for them and it’s about them.”
That includes children who might be differently abled.
“It’s the children’s museum for all children, for every child,” Van Alsburg added. “The biggest message we have is that this is your children’s museum and we want all families to feel welcome here.”
It doesn’t matter if funds are short. From 5 to 7 p.m. every Thursday, the museum is open and admission is free. There are discounts for foster kids and military kids. Families on SNAP or WIC can get in for half price. Title 1 schools can come for free, including the chaperones and the museum will even pay for the bus.
Murals, murals everywhere
Maybe young children aren’t in the picture but maybe teens or other adults are. In that case, take a turn around the city in an air-conditioned trolley and see the many murals that grace Downtown walls.
Tom Heath, a charming man with a fun sense of humor, gave this tour. He shared background about the artists and details in the murals that might not be obvious at first glance. For example, in Desert Colossus, a 153-foot-tall mural of the iconic saguaro cactus that overlooks the Presidio, the hummingbirds that are depicted are 8-feet tall. The artist is Joe Pagac, who was assisted by his wife, Lenka Vašíčková.
Just up the street from Colossus is Los Tres Amigos by Ignacio Garcia. It celebrates 100 years of La Fiesta de los Vaqueros and showcases three tough hombres. To soften them just a teeny bit Garcia gave each of the men a butterfly. Those butterflies are so well camouflaged that finding them will take a lot of staring unless viewers have the advantage of a knowledgeable guide like Heath.
At least one of the mural tours can take up to three hours. However, tourists will see more than 50 murals. The tour ends at the Gallery, a shop featuring plenty of compelling pieces created by local artists. Look for a few Tucson souvenirs, too.
Lunch
When it’s time for lunch, there are plenty of places to eat, all of them good. Try the Monica for example, where the extensive menu includes but is not limited to pizza, wings, burgers, sandwiches and a chef’s charcuterie board. Entrees include cedar-roasted salmon, tortellini pasta and sage and seared ahi tostada. There are a bar and an outdoor patio. It’s a popular place so it can be a bit noisy.
Across the street, next to the Fox Tucson Theatre is Perche No, an Italian restaurant that offers plates such as pollo marsala or parmesan. The menu lists ravioli alfredo and mac and cheese with crab meat. Check out the salads on a hot day and try the delicious Caesar salad with grilled salmon or the red beet salad with grilled chicken.
After lunch it would be very nice to sneak away to a theater to watch the most recent production put on by the Arizona Theater Company. This is a professional, union company that performs at the Temple of Art and Music, also steps away from Broadway. Kasser Family Artistic Director Matt August begins planning productions easily nine months ahead. Unfortunately, this season has closed but will open again on Sept. 27 with “Proof.” Even if some never loved theater, this company will win hearts over.
Supper
There are more than a couple of places to get supper.
Try the newly remodeled Hub Restaurant and Creamery, a dark, intimate place where a couple can be alone even in a crowd or a group of friends can be together to savor good food and drinks and laugh. The restaurant offers what they call elevated comfort food such as a pastrami Reuben sandwich, calamari, short rib ravioli and chicken pot pie but try the prime rib fries, which are to die for. Top that meal off with a Ferrero Rocher. It’s akin to the chocolate tidbit we all love but bigger, big enough to share. If it’s hot, which it is, get a scoop of the Hub’s house made ice cream.
Just down the street is Los Milics Vineyard – Downtown Tucson. It differs from the Hub in that the space is light (big windows) and open and airy. They offer what they call “refined yet approachable cuisine.” On a hot day a salad goes well and they serve it with a grilled chicken thigh for the flavor.
Los Milics is not just a restaurant. It is also a tasting room featuring Los Milics wines from their vineyard in Elgin. They specialize in wine flights, food and wine pairings, wines by the glass and bottle service.
Getting dark
After dinner take a walk down the street to Hotel Congress where an unobtrusive door opens to a longish, narrow room filled with world-class music. It’s The Century Room, a kind of throwback to times when we went to smoke-filled clubs, tossed back sophisticated cocktails and listened to hip jazz music. There’s no smoke anymore but there is still hip jazz and cocktails. This club actually specializes in mezcal so be ready. Also available are NA cocktails and soda.
Although there is a house band patrons will find lots of variety in the musicians who come nearly nightly. Most nights there is more than just one show. It pays to check the website, buy tickets early and then expect some great music.
Sleep
Finally, after that full day feel like this is a real vacation by spending the night Downtown. For that there’s the AC Marriott. Here is a puzzle: How do you hide an eight-story hotel Downtown? The hotel is right on Broadway but the elegant entrance is on a side street.
The rooms are spacious and comfortable but be sure to relax and rejuvenate in its rooftop pool that overlooks our surrounding mountains. There’s a bar there, too.
It’s worth the (very little) effort to stay at the AC. If the rooftop pool/bar doesn’t appeal there’s a very pleasant bar in the lobby if more partying or a quiet drink to top off the evening is in order.