Fourth Avenue is the eight-block strip between downtown and the university that has been Tucson's bohemian commercial heart since the 1970s — vintage shops, used bookstores, Mexican restaurants, tattoo studios, head shops, and a steady supply of college bars. Many of the buildings are converted late-nineteenth-century houses.
The Fourth Avenue Street Fair, held twice a year in March and December, takes over the whole strip with hundreds of artisans and food stalls. Coffee at Epic Cafe, beer at the Surly Wench, vegetarian Mexican at Tucson Tamale — the avenue rewards a slow afternoon.