Phoenix
The Southwest’s signature metropolis is a precisely gridded, one-time hay-shipping hub north of the historical Salt River.
What is Downtown?
City officials are fond of using the term “between the 7s” to describe the Downtown core – everything between Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue, with the Warehouse and Roosevelt Row districts as its south and north boundaries, respectively.
90 City Blocks in All
Population Boom
Fueled by 14 mid- and high-rise builds in 2018-2019, the number of people living “between the 7s” nearly doubled in three years.
According to city planners, Downtown currently boasts 33 active or in-development mid- and high-rise builds – structures five stories and up.
Other Central Phoenix ’Hoods
Though often clumped together with Downtown, these nearby districts have their own unique identities.
Midtown: The neck of CenPho stretching north on Central Avenue from McDowell Road. Includes the Phoenix Art Museum, the Clarendon Hotel and the revitalized Park Central.
Uptown: Everything north of Indian School, roughly to Bethany Home. Includes Clever Koi, Uptown Plaza and the new ARRIVE Phoenix hotel.
Grand Avenue: Technically northwest of Downtown, the diagonal drive has assumed the mantle of “Downtown arts district” following the gentrification of Roosevelt Row.
South Phoenix: With a light rail route coming soon, this long-neglected borough south of Downtown has its own renaissance in the works.
3 Questions with Devney Preuss
As the president & CEO of Downtown Phoenix Inc., the advocacy org that runs the city’s popular street ambassador program, among other things, Preuss lives and breathes Downtown.
You work in CityScape (pg. 73).What makes it unique among the Downtown neighborhoods?
Well, it brought amenities to Downtown that didn’t exist before – Lucky Strike Bowling, the Hotel Palomar and now the grocery store. It’s really been a catalyst for all Downtown.
What is Downtown Phoenix’s best-kept secret?
Thanks for the softball! Margaret T. Hance Park is 32 acres of open green space in Downtown, and it’s wonderful, part of our growing urban lifestyle. We’re working to raise money for a master plan for the park, to improve it, which will be a $42 million effort and lift up all the nonprofits and amenities around there, like Japanese Friendshp Garden and McDowell Mountain Music Festival.
Downtowns everywhere were doing so well before the pandemic. Do you see them coming back?
Absolutely. The concept of live-work-play still holds a lot of appeal for people, maybe more than ever. And I was reading recently [about] why dense urban living is so important, post-pandemic: You need to walk more, connect more, and the community is really your living room. That’s what Downtown offers.
Downtown Spotlight #1:
Warehouse District
Perfect for: Tech startups, edgy wedding planners, launch party maestros
Past & Present
Not long ago, the only reason one would venture below Jackson Street was to get a replacement passport. No longer. Formerly the nerve center of the Valley’s produce-shipping yesteryear, and home to Phoenix’s Chinatown until the 1950s, the Warehouse District has been revived by a wave of creative-class investment, resulting in a fleet of cool event spaces (The Icehouse, The Croft Downtown) and tech and design firms (Web PT, R&R Partners). Our point of demarcation between the west and east sections of the district: The Duce, that irresistible boxing gym/bar mutant event space on Central Avenue and Lincoln Street.
A Day in the Warehouse District
First: Rent a GR:D bike at one of the many bike share depots scattered around Downtown. This is a big district and you’ll need the wheels. gridbikes.com
Next: Fuel up with your refreshment of choice at The Duce, which boasts 20,000 square feet of indoor-outdoor chill space, plus cool gift and boutique options. theducephx.com
Then: Go on a peddling tour of vintage warehouse signage and murals, including the iconic Feed & Seed Warehouse (pictured) on Second Street south of the tracks.
Finally: Finish up with Korean fried chicken and cocktails at The Larry (thelarryphx.com), one of the district’s adaptive-reuse gems, set in a 1920s-era warehouse. If it’s post-pandemic, catch a show at Last Exit Live (lastexitlive.com) the district’s resident indie music venue.
Future PWD
• Light rail expansion: Valley Metro’s new South Phoenix line, due for completion in 2024, will dive directly through the Warehouse District to Baseline Road, connecting the neighborhood to the rest of Downtown.
• San Francisco-based JMA Ventures is in the midst of building a new 278-unit apartment complex called The Battery, located just west of Chase Field. It will include an adaptive reuse of the red brick 1928 Gerardo’s building.
Get Your Bearings
Spanning the entire width of Downtown south of Jackson Street, the Warehouse District can be visualized as East Warehouse and West Warehouse.
3 Questions with Riette Bartlett
As the event concierge at Warehouse 215 @ Bentley Projects, the tourism pro is tasked with luring party-planners Downtown.
What kind of events do people typically throw downtown?
I would say 80 percent of our business are private parties like weddings and proms. Then we get launch parties, photo shoots and things like that. Warehouse 215 has a lot of different looks and spaces, and is great for distancing.
How has the Warehouse district changed in the 10 years you’ve worked here?
When I started, people were like “I can’t go Downtown. It’s scary!” I hear a lot less of that now, as more people have come down here and understand what it’s all about. And I have to say, I’ve never felt unsafe once here in the entire 10 years.
How would you like to see The warehouse district evolve over the next 10 years?
Well, we’ve come a long way. The tech businesses, the design companies, it’s all great. And it’s really encouraging to see all those ASU students moving Downtown, which definitely helps us. But if there was one thing the Warehouse District is lacking, it’s a thriving residential neighborhood. That would put us over the top.
Downtown Spotlight #2:
Monrovia
Perfect for: Live music junkies, boutique hotel habitués, subterranean bar goers
Past & Present
When Phoenix was a mere 320-acre townsite, the Downtown area around Central Avenue and Monroe Street represented the northern extremity of human Downtown habitation. According to historians, the earliest structures along Monroe were adobe row houses used to board prostitutes from nearby saloons. Builders began to stretch out from the Jackson Street area in the late 1920s into “northern” Phoenix with a series of ambitious skyscraper builds, including the Professional Building on Central and Monroe. Today, the resurgent micro-hood is part theater district, part burgeoning hospitality hub.
A Day in Monrovia
First: Nosh on the Valley’s tastiest gyro salad at Crazy Jim’s Downtown. The only thing crazy about it are the portions. crazyjimsaz.com
Next: Peruse the fine fermented goods at Hidden Track Bottle Shop, Downtown’s leading indie beer and wine purveyor, located in the lobby of the high-rise on 111 W. Monroe Street. hiddentrackbottleshop.com
Finally: When the time is right, hit Charlie Levy’s Downtown-defining trio of indie music venues: The Van Buren, Crescent Ballroom and Valley Bar (statesidepresents.com). If nothing on the musical bill suits your taste, go anyway: Crescent and Valley Bar have great food-and-bev programs.
Fun Fact!
Gracie’s Tax Bar owner Grace Perry was the lead singer of influential Valley death-metal band Landmine Marathon. The bar remains closed pending state coronavirus policy.
Get Your Bearings
Monrovia glides westward along Monroe Street from Central, with Van Buren and Washington as its north-south boundaries.
Parking Tips
If a parking garage isn’t in your future, try the metered spaces north of Van Buren Street.
Future Monrovia
• Phoenix Forge: Gateway Community College is bringing a first-to-market makerspace to a historic warehouse building at Sixth Avenue and Van Buren Street.
• A surface parking lot at Second Avenue and Adams will soon be home to a new Hyatt Place hotel. Currently under construction by Mortenson Development, the eight-story hotel will feature 240 rooms.
• Downtown Phoenix Inc.’s Urban Ale Trail will be virtual this year, taking place the first week of October and include chances for free merch, beer specials and more. dtphx.com
4 Questions with Craig Dziadowicz
“The rent was really inexpensive, to be honest with you,” says the Hidden Track Bottle Shop owner of his daring decision to open in Monrovia in 2015. Downtowners are glad he did.
We love your neighborhood-branded wines: Coronado, F.Q. Story, roosevelt. What’s next?
Encanto! It’s Cab Franc and a touch of Merlot, and sourced from Willcox. [Artist Brad Towsley] just finished the label. Hopefully it will be available in [early August].
Are you doing curbside and delivery?
Yes, and socially distanced in-store. No in-house or in-person tastings yet, unfortunately. We converted to a virtual tasting with Zoom, hosted with a guided interview with influencers. People can pick up different bottles at the shop that we’ll be drinking that night.
Has the pandemic hit you hard?
Oh, definitely. We typically had 400 people a day come through the lobby of this office building. Now, it’s 20 if we’re lucky.
Downtown was doing so well before the pandemic. Do you see it coming back?
I’d love to hope that would be the case. My gut feeling is it might not go that way. People [are] getting out of San Francisco, LA and a bunch of different areas. But maybe Phoenix is different. It’s not like you can escape COVID.
Downtown Spotlight #3:
Roosevelt Row
4 Questions with Garrett Mitchell
After graduating from ASU, the Arizona Republic social media producer scored a flat on the west side of RoRo that dates to 1912. So what does he think of being a resident?
First off: The name “roro.” obnoxious or OK?
I personally do not use that. The only acronym I ever used was “RoPo,” during college, for Roosevelt Point where I lived.
Is Roro a true arts district anymore?
Well, there are art galleries still. But I’ve lived here since 2012, and it’s not quite the same as it once was, in terms of affordable spaces to live, and galleries. The artists have moved toward Grand [Avenue]. There’s not even a record store anymore. I do deeply miss Revolver Records.
What are the pros?
I like that I can walk anywhere–Cibo, Gracie’s, Fez – and meet new people and old friends and have variety. There’s more of a selection of places to go with the food, drinking and nightlife. Though I’m certain that the DeSoto Building is cursed.
What is Roosevelt still missing?
There are great enclaves in the area, art house film at Film Bar, etc. But the more I hear what Downtown used to be like, the more I think about gay nightlife. Everything has been relegated to Melrose… so we’re missing a true queer space.
Perfect for: Student apartment-dwellers, craft beer consumers and kinda-sorta art fans
Past & Present
A “vital mixed-use area from the earliest days of the establishment of Phoenix,” according to Roosevelt Row advocates (rooseveltrow.org), this ascendant arts district is now ground zero for the the Valley’s only true gentrification debate: to “improve,” or not to “improve”? A wave of apartment, condo and hotel development has erased many of RoRo’s galleries and classic buildings. The upside: a groundswell of independent restaurants, breweries and shops.
A Day in RoRo
First: So much to do! Start with some liquid fuel at The Grand, a florid, gothic structure that once housed legendary LGBTQ bar Amsterdam. thegrandaz.com
Next: Go on a mural hunt. Roosevelt boasts the Valley’s most lavish collection of street art, including a temporary Black Lives Matter mural by six local artists. muralsofphoenix.com
Then: Moisturize your parched palate at Greenwood Brewing, RoRo’s newest brewpub, which boasts two breezy patio areas for safe imbibing. greenwoodbrews.com
Finally: Make your RoRo excursion an overnighter. Book a room at one of the nifty boutique hotels serving the district: FOUND:RE (temporarily closed during the pandemic, foundrehotels.com), Cambria Hotel (cambriahotelphoenix.com) or the grungy and fun Coronado Hotel.
Bet you didn’t know
Roosevelt has become an oasis for distaff business owners (The Farish House, Elevate Yoga, Made Art Boutique, GenuWine Arizona) and black-owned businesses (the Larder + the Delta, Trapp House BBQ, Bilbo Sportswear).
Parking Tips
RoRo parking is still relatively easy, with plenty of meters south of Roosevelt Street.
Future RoRo
• Punch Bowl Social: The Denver-based entertainment and restaurant concept will soon open in a renovated building on the southeast corner of Second and Garfield streets.
• Biotech giant TGen will open a 225,000-square-foot satellite location near Roosevelt in 2021.
• The final phase of Portrait on the Park will bring 209 residential units to the north end of Hance Park.
• Fiesta Bowl Play at Hance Park: The 20,000-square-foot sports playground will open this December in conjunction with the Fiesta Bowl’s 50th anniversary season in December 2020.
Fun Fact!
Veteran artist Tato Caraveo (pictured)painted this mural, and is the arts and entertainment curator at Best of the Valley Editor’s Pick The Lost Leaf.
Get Your Bearings
Sprawling RoRo effectively begins south of the I-10 deck-park tunnel, stretching south to around McKinley Street.
Hot in the City!
Clockwise from upper left: Striking a pose at the Hotel San Carlos in Monrovia; biking in RoRo; glowing neon at Valley Bar; skating responsibly at Melinda’s Alley in the theater district
Downtown Spotlight #4:
Theater District
Perfect for: Song-and-dance people, adolescent science hounds, fans of tall buildings
Past & Present
Encompassing historical Heritage Square and nearby streets, Downtown’s present-day theater district was, quite bluntly, the rich part of town during its early years, with Victorian homes, art deco highrises and, arguably, the Valley’s premier piece of Judeo-Christian eye candy: St. Mary’s Basilica.
A Day in The Theater District
First: Sadly, during the pandemic, there is no theater. But you can still take a pleasant stroll or ride past Herberger Theater Center and ogle its fine menagerie of life-size bronze statues. herbergertheatre.org
Next: Cold step to the art deco Hilton Garden Inn and sweet-talk the concierge into letting you visit the 1930s building’s 13th floor patio deck. It affords absolutely the coolest view of the Downtown highrise core anywhere. hilton.com
Finally: Grab a people-pleasing nosh at Cornish Pasty Co., set in a cavernous high-rise storefront that does as good an impersonation of a bona fide British pub as we’ve found in the Valley. cornishpastyco.com
Get Your Bearings
The Theater District is everything from Central east to 7th Street, and south of Van Buren to Washington.
Photo Op!
Grab a selfie with the erudite robot on Monroe and Third streets.
Downtown Spotlight #5:
CityScape
Perfect for: Bowling enthusiasts, craft cocktail addicts, apartment-dwelling retirees
Past & Present
Before RED Development unveiled Phase 1 of this $900 million mixed-use behemoth in 2010, the area comprised a few parking structures, a bit of Patriot Square Park and a whole lot of nothin’. Historically a housing district supporting the train yards of old Phoenix, CityScape is today, arguably, Downtown’s only true self-contained neighborhood, as it boasts the area’s lone supermarket – a Fry’s that opened to much fanfare in 2019.
A Day in CityScape
First: Pick up some java at Serafina Coffee Roasters, located in the magisterial Luhrs Building just a quick jaywalk away from CityScape across Jefferson Street. serafinacoffeeroasters.com
Next: Check into your room at the Kimpton Hotel Palomar, Downtown’s first purpose-built boutique hotel. Grab a swim at the Lustre rooftop pool and bar. hotelpalomar-phoenix.com
Then: Feeling peckish? Find the Valley’s preeminent Nashville-style fried chicken at Monroe’s Hot Chicken, from Lo-Lo’s comfort-meister Larry White. monroeshotchicken.com
Finally: Need a laugh? Book a ha-ha at Stand Up Live at CityScape (standuplive.com), Downtown’s lone comedy club. Socially distanced September shows include Jesus Sepulveda and Gary Owen. Then grab a nightcap at nationally renowned Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour (bitterandtwistedaz.com).
Get Your Bearings
Though CityScape proper occupies just the two blocks straddling Central Avenue, its brand includes the immediate surrounding vicinity
Parking Tip
It used to be a cinch scoring a metered space south of CityScape on First Avenue or Madison Street. Now you’re better off just beelining to the CityScape parking structure.
