Kirkwood Avenue runs for about a mile from the courthouse square east to the Sample Gates of Indiana University, and it is the spine of Bloomington's public life. The street has the dense, walkable character that university towns either develop or never acquire: independent coffee shops, a vintage record store, a cooperative food market, several bookshops, and a variety of restaurants reflecting the international mix of the university community.
The avenue is at its best in the morning and evening. Breakfast at one of the diners, a walk through the IU campus, lunch somewhere along the strip, and evening drinks at a bar — this is the natural rhythm of a Bloomington day. The Friday Farmers Market on the courthouse square draws locally grown produce and food vendors from across the county.
The neighbourhood immediately south of Kirkwood, known as the Near Eastside, has some of the Victorian-era residential streets that give Bloomington its residential character — worth a walk on the way to or from campus.