For decades Phoenix had almost no downtown to speak of — the city was famously a place where everything happened in the suburbs. The picture has changed in the last twenty years. The light rail line that opened in 2008, the relocation of the Arizona State University Downtown campus, and a wave of residential conversions have made the core a place where people actually live and walk around.
Downtown is roughly bounded by McDowell Road to the north, the Salt River to the south, 7th Avenue to the west, and 7th Street to the east. Inside that grid you'll find Chase Field, Footprint Center (where the Suns play), the Convention Center, Heritage Square, the Symphony Hall and Orpheum Theatre, several museums, and an increasing density of bars and restaurants. It's still small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes. Hot summer afternoons are best spent inside; evenings, even in July, come alive.