Iowa City's downtown pedestrian mall — the Ped Mall to everyone who lives here — is a three-block brick-paved square ringed by independent bookshops, bars, restaurants, and the Englert Theatre. Closed to cars since 1979, it functions as the town's living room: pickup chess games in summer, jazz at the corner of Dubuque and Washington, kids climbing on the iconic playground.
The best time to be here is a warm Friday evening when the patios at the Mill, Joe's Place, and the Bread Garden Market all spill into the square at once. It is small but it is genuinely lively.