Historic Districts
Within a ten-square-block area are three historic
districts that provide fine walking tours. The best place
to start is the Convention and Visitors Bureau, at 130 S.
Scott Ave. There are maps of the historic districts here,
as well as material on other Tucson-area attractions. The
information center is located in a 1928 building,
originally the Thomas-Davis Clinic. Bordered by
Pennington, Granada, and Speedway, the El Presidio
District includes several original buildings from the
Spanish colonial period, in addition to buildings
constructed by the earliest European leaders of Tucson
society. El Presidio Park was the site selected by
Lt. Col. Hugo Oconor (actually Hugh O'Connor, an Irishman
working for the Spanish Army) for the new frontier
presidio, called Plaza de las Armas. The Vietnam
Veterans Memorial is in this park. North of the park is
La Casa Cordova, one of the oldest buildings in
the city. It has been restored as a Mexican heritage
museum.
The exhibits in the Tucson Museum of Art
include pre-Columbian artifacts, Spanish colonial art and
furniture, and modern works. Around the corner on Main
Street is the Janos Restaurant. This buildings
called the Stevens Home, and the Fish House (the El
Presidio Gallery) at 120 N. Main are two more early
homes. The Steinfeld House, at 300 N. Main, is a
brick/stucco Spanish mission&endash;style home and a fine
example of a Tucson mansion from the turn of the century.
The Barrio Historic District, south of Cushing
St. and the Tucson Convention Center, includes the
Cushing Street Bar and Restaurant, named for Army
hero Howard Cushing. The building combines the original
Joseph Ferrin home and country store, built in the 1880s.
The shrine at the corner of Simpson and Main Streets is
listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
There are two art centers located in the adjacent
Armory Park Historic District. The Temple of Music
and Art was built in 1927 as a stage and movie theater
and is now the home of the Arizona Theater Company. It
includes a main theater, cabaret, gallery, and
restaurant. It's located at 330 S. Scott St.
The Tucson Children's Museum (200 S. Sixth
Ave.) is a 1901 structure that was the Andrew Carnegie
Library. As with several other buildings in the area
(including the Steinfeld House), it was designed by
architect Henry Trost. El Fronterizo, at 471 S. Stone
Ave., was the printing plant for the Spanish language
newspaper founded in 1878 by Carlos Y. Velasco.
There are two buildings lying outside the official
historic districts that nonetheless are fascinating to
history buffs. The old Southern Pacific Railway Depot
(419 Congress St.) is now a Carlos Murphy's restaurant.
The State Building is across the street at 416 Congress,
a striking pink adobe building with an inlaid tile
mosaic.
Parks and Gardens
For a city lying on the flat southern desert, Tucson
has an amazing variety of natural places that offer
superb outdoor rambles. Nearby mountain ranges and hills
provide scenic beauty and a habitat for cacti and other
desert plants. Man-made gardens in the city range from
commercial cactus farms to the city's botanical garden.
Saguaro National Park -- East
The finest stands of the saguaro cactus in Arizona are
found in the two sections of Saguaro National Park, lying
beyond the eastern and western edges of the city. The
larger (and older) portion is located east of town at the
end of Old Spanish Trail in the Rincon Mountains. Cactus
Forest Drive, an 8-mile loop road, winds through an
extensive saguaro forest. The loop begins near the park
visitor center and leads in a clockwise direction. A
sideroad leads off the loop route to a picnic area at
Mica View.
For those who wish to have a walk through the saguaro,
a trail leads from the north side of the loop (past the
Mica View road) to the visitor center. Nearby, there is
the shorter Desert Ecology Trail, which offers a
self-guided introduction to desert life. A second picnic
area is located on the Javalina sideroad.
The park is perfect for longer hikes, with more than
75 miles of trails leading through the desert and
mountain landscape. Several longer hiking trails climb
into the mountains, where the landscape changes from
desert scrub and grassland to oak and pine woodlands
and&emdash;at the top&emdash;to a mixed evergreen forest.
Backcountry camping is permitted, but only at
designated campsites, and permits must be obtained at the
visitor center in advance of an overnight trip.
Ranger-led programs are offered during winter months.
There is a shop with books and park guides for sale, and
a slide show about the saguaro, the Sonoran Desert and
its wildlife.
Saguaro National Park -- West
This portion of the national park is located next to
Tucson Mountain Park on Kinney Road, in the
vicinity of the Old Tucson Studios (theme park) and
the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The easiest way
to get to Saguaro West is to take Speedway Blvd. from
downtown Tucson. The road crosses the Tucson Mountains,
after becoming Gates Pass Blvd. Turn right onto Kinney
Blvd. and the park is two minutes' drive from the
intersection. Another route into Tucson Mountain Park
leads from southern Tucson via Ajo Way (Highway 86) and
Kinney Road.
The Red Hills Information Center is open daily,
offering guided walks during winter months, as well as
books and brochures on the park attractions. The 6-mile
Bajada Loop Drive passes through a magnificent
forest of saguaro, interspersed with other cacti and
desert bushes. This unpaved road begins 1/2 mile from the
information center and leads in a counter clockwise
direction (although portions of the road have two-way
traffic). Near the beginning of the route is the Sus
picnic area.
The Valley View Trail provides a 3/4-mile (one
way) walk to a viewpoint where the Avra Valley stretches
before you. The loop road continues until it meets Golden
Gate Road near Apache Peak. Turn left and you'll soon see
a sign for the Signal Hill Picnic Area. This area
was used by the prehistoric Hohokam people -- probably
the ancestors of the Papago Indians. Their petroglyphs
are found on rocks near the picnic area. The loop drive
continues via Kinney Road, returning to the starting
point with the visitor center another two miles on.
Desert animals are often seen, even in the vicinity of
the visitor center. Park wildlife includes the abundant
kangaroo rat, gopher and coachwhip snakes, the
diamondback, javalina (the collared peccary), and
varieties of birds including quail, Gila woodpeckers
which live in the saguaro, and thrasher. There are two
desert garden areas with interpretive trails close to the
visitor center, and longer trails lead into the
foothills, where there are several old mine sites, and
higher up the mountainsides. Camping is not permitted in
this section of the monument.
Sentinel Peak Park
The finest panoramic views of the city and surrounding
mountains are seen from several viewpoints on top of the
peak called A Mountain for the whitewashed "A" provided
by students at the University of Arizona. To see the
views (superb day or night), drive 2 miles west of the
city on Congress Street and take Sentinel Peak Road. The
road loops around the mountain.
Tucson Mountain Park
Much of the Tucson Mountains is included in this
county park, which features stands of saguaro and other
desert plants. There are picnic areas, hiking and riding
trails, and a campground. The park is 8 miles west of the
downtown district via Speedway Blvd. There is no entrance
fee. The park is reached by taking Speedway Blvd. west
from Tucson, north of the downtown district. From the
south end of the city, take State Route 86 west from
Interstate 19 and turn north into the park.
Inside Tucson Mountain Park is one of the finest
wildlife museums in the country, the Arizona-Sonora
Desert Museum. More than 200 species of desert animals
and birds are housed in realistic settings, and the
museum includes pathways that connect botanical gardens
filled with desert plants. There's a fine picnic area
sheltered with ramadas, in addition to a snack bar and
gift shop. For information, call (520) 883-2702.
Old Tucson, a Wild West theme park also used by
many studios for filming movies, TV series and
commercials, burned to the ground in a spectacular night
time fire in April 1995. The false-fronted streets of Old
Tucson has long been a favorite family attraction, and is
just as attractive to tourists today than it was before
the fire morer than 10 years ago.
Coronado National Forest
This superb area of forest-clad mountains sits
northeast of the city, offering several recreation areas
that include campgrounds. Narrow Sabino Canyon has a
marvelous display of desert vegetation beside a creek
that cascades down the hills of the Catalina Mountains. A
day can easily be spent in the canyon; to get there, take
Tanque Verde Road from the city and turn onto Sabino
Canyon Road. Visitors park next to the visitor center.
From here, you walk, cycle, or ride a horse into the
canyon, or take the shuttle train, for which a fee is
charged. There are picnic areas and swimming places along
the 4-mile paved roadway. There's also a trail that leads
for about 12 miles to the top of Mount Lemmon.
There's an exciting driving tour available in this
same area, leading to and through the Mt. Lemmon
Recreation Area. A paved road climbs the Catalina
Mountains to the 9,000-foot level, through a range of
ecological regions -- from cactus scrubland to mixed
conifer forest. There are turnouts near the top that
offer fine views of the basin and city. There are picnic
areas, campgrounds, and hiking trails along the route,
and skiing during winter months. This is said to be the
most southerly ski area in the U.S., although the folks
at Cloudcroft may object. To get there, drive east from
the city on Broadway Blvd. and take Catalina Highway.
Tohono Chul Park
Nine miles north of the city, at Ina and Oracle Roads,
the park has displays of several hundred varieties of
desert plants, with nature trails winding through the
demonstration gardens. There are galleries, a cafe, and a
gift shop. For information, call (520) 742-6455.
Tucson Botanical Gardens
Located at 2150 North Alvernon Way, the botanical park
features a Tucson-area garden, tropical greenhouse, and
displays of iris, herbs, and wildflowers, as well as
North American vegetables. There's an admission fee and
the gardens are open daily from 8:30 am to 4 pm
(520-326-9255).
