The compact grid of pedestrian-friendly streets between Indian School Road and Camelback Road forms the historic core of Scottsdale: adobe storefronts, hitching posts, Western-themed bars, and a high concentration of art galleries that thicken every Thursday evening during the year-round ArtWalk. The Civic Center plaza at the south end has a public sculpture garden, a small museum, and free parking.
Old Town is the only part of Scottsdale you can actually walk through, and it is at its best in the cooler months from October to April. Come in the morning for the galleries and again after sunset for the bar scene; the heat between makes both unpleasant for half the year.