4 Places to Hang Out Around Tucson

By Zy Mazza

Here in Tucson we have a saying: “what do you wanna do?” You usually respond with, “I dunno…what do you wanna do?” And, as they say, so it goes. Tucson is a charming little city, but it’s not exactly bustling all the time, so sometimes you need a little help to figure out what to do.

Here are some ideas to get you started…

4) Walk around on 4th Ave.

4th Ave. is basically our cultural hub in this little city. There’s a wide variety of thrift shops, overpriced boutiques, restaurants, and every other establishment is a tattoo parlor.
Occasionally there’s a fair here where vendors peddle their goods. It’s affectionately known as the Fourth Avenue Street Fair, and it’s probably the most exciting thing to happen to us all year.

On the second Saturday of every month, there’s basically a smaller version of the street fair downtown we call Second Saturdays, because Tucsonans are a lot like pirates when it comes to naming things.

3) Go see a movie at The Loft.

The Loft is neat because it’s a local business, and everyone loves supporting those, but also because they play a lot of movies that aren’t in theatres anymore.

They play a lot of indie movies, a lot of foreign films, but also a lot of classics. Here’s the best part: if you’re into that sort of thing, they have the Rocky Horror Picture Show once a month.

While dressing up isn’t technically mandatory, if you don’t show up as a transvestite, you’re the weird one.

2) Go hiking

In Tucson, if you’re broke, you can always go for a hike. We have a lot of nice nature trails here. You can go up into Gates Pass at the southern part of town. Up north there’s Sabino Canyon–and sometimes there’s water up there! You can climb the A over at A Mountain (I’m telling you, we’re pirates), or you can climb up Tumamoc Hill which is exhausting.

If you do go hiking, try to go at night or sunset. Tucson has amazing sunsets and our city lights look really nice at night.

1) Check the Tucson Weekly event calendar

If you’re at wits end because you’ve done everything on this list “like, a thousand times,” congratulations! You’re now a Tucsonan. Every now and then the Tucson Weekly event calendar will have fun things you didn’t know about that are almost always temporary.

The Tucson Weekly reports on well-known events like the Winterhaven Festival of Lights (which is definitely worth going to), but they also let you know about obscure things like events at the Tucson Botanical Gardens or Desert Museum.

In Tucson, there’s not a whole lot to do without spending a bunch of money or getting completely wasted, but there are some things. If, in your time here, you come up with some other things to do, please tell me. My friends and I are always looking for more things to do. Seriously. Please.

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