6 places to spend an afternoon.
Fourth Avenue is a mile of independent everything. Wooden Tooth Records for desert psych and jazz with a staff who actually digs. Antigone Books - feminist bookstore on 4th since 1973, sharp selection, sharper politics. Food Conspiracy Co-op for local produce and bulk spices, community-owned since the '70s. Rialto Theatre on Congress for whatever's coming through town.
3 things to do, 3 shops, all in Historic Fourth Avenue.
Historic Fourth Avenue's culture stretches from the 1920 Rialto Theatre on Congress, plasterwork and Art Nouveau murals still intact, down to Sky Bar next to Brooklyn Pizza on 4th. Astronomy nights, touring bands, a co-op grocery older than most of the bars. The mile does its own programming.
Community-owned grocery co-op that's been part of The Ave for decades. Local produce, bulk spices, and prepared food that actually tastes like someone cared.
Opened in 1920 across Congress Street from Hotel Congress, with original Art Nouveau murals and restored ornate plasterwork still intact. Pollstar ranks it a Top 100 club venue worldwide, and local artist Joe Pagac paints murals of incoming acts on the west wall.
Solar panels power the open-air bar where Tony pipes pizza straight from Brooklyn Pizza Company next door, running on his grandfather's 1970s recipe. Order the Galactic Jungle Juice, then stay for Saturday nights when Kirk aims a rooftop telescope at nebulae and beams the deep-space feed to indoor monitors.
Shopping on Historic Fourth Avenue rewards people who actually read the spines and flip the sleeves. Antigone Books has held the feminist bookstore line since 1973, Wooden Tooth keeps the bins stocked for serious diggers, and Pop Cycle stacks its shelves with Tucson makers instead of imports.
Vinyl records warped into ruffled bowls, a canjo built from an old metal can, clothing stitched from dead T-shirts. Three sisters plus a photographer have run this Fourth Avenue shop since 2008, stocking two in-house lines beside work from 95 local makers who all favor found and junked materials.
Feminist bookstore founded in 1973, one of the oldest surviving in the country, now solar-powered and a 2024 finalist for Publishers Weekly Bookstore of the Year. Purple walls, hand-selected inventory, and three staff members who crowdfunded to buy the place in 2018.
Since 2015, Jake Sullivan and Kellen Fortier have stocked crates leaning hard into garage, punk, soul, and experimental, with B-movies and local labels crammed in beside the turntables. The downtown Congress Street outpost pours beer and wine while you dig, which is a dangerous combination for your wallet.
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The hotels worth booking in and near Historic Fourth Avenue.
Restaurants, bars, and cafes in Historic Fourth Avenue.