Downtown Ann Arbor
Most of the shops and restaurants line State (http://www.a2state.com/), Liberty, and Main (http://www.mainstreetanna...) streets, with the quality becoming more upscale as you approach Main. The other popular student hangouts are along South University (http://www.a2southu.com/) street. A few blocks north of downtown is the historic Kerrytown district (http://kerrytown.org/), full of remodeled old homes and pleasant shopping.
Michigan Theater
A restored 1928 cinema, complete with two organs, one of them a vintage 1927 pipe organ. The theater shows mainly independent and foreign films, with special classic-film showings throughout the year. The organ is often played before performances, and during the Michigan Theater's special silent-film showings. The main auditorium also hosts other events throughout the year, particular musical groups and comedy shows, many fairly well-known.
State Theater
An art-deco cinema from 1942, the State Theater works in conjunction with the Michigan Theater, and often plays films that have stopped showing at the Michigan.
The Ark
A nonprofit, intimate music club with 400 seats, which usually hosts folk/rock performers.
University Musical Society
The University Musical Society annually presents a series of concerts by world-renowned artists at Hill Auditorium, the Power Center, the Michigan Theater, or Rackham Auditorium.
If you want to know what's going on in town, the best guide to the entertainment scene in Washtenaw County is the Current, 212 E Huron Street, â +1 734 668-4044, (http://www.ecurrent.com/). There's information on music, films, dance and theatre events, poetry and novel readings, lectures, art exhibits, festivals, and more, as well as restaurant reviews, general information about the town, and so much more. If you're interested in the Ann Arbor arts scene, this should be one of the first things you pick up; one easy spot to find copies is outside the Michigan Theatre on E Liberty Street.
Museums
Cobblestone Farm Museum
An 1845 two-family home, notable for its façade made of cobblestones in herringbone rows, now restored and interpreted to give a view of past rural life in Washtenaw County.
Kempf House
A restored Greek Revival house museum from 1853; once home to Reuben and Pauline Kempf, prominent Ann Arbor musicians, now offering guided tours and a glimpse into Victorian life in Ann Arbor.
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum
Nine galleries with more than 250 interactive science demos and exhibits, on topics from physics to health to nature to mathematics. Kids will like it a lot; adults will be fairly entertained.
Artrain USA
A traveling art museum, housed in vintage rail cars, that tours the nation but is based in Ann Arbor. Each exhibition tours the country for three to four years, offering creative partnerships with local artists at each stop along the tour.
Leslie Science Center
50 acres of fields, woods and prairie, featuring outdoor, hands-on and discovery-based educational programs. Features an environmentally-friendly Nature House; a Critter House with frogs, turtles, snakes, and rabbits; live birds of prey, including owls, falcons, kestrels, hawks, vultures, and a bald eagle; and a mile-long trail through the Black Pond Woods.
Public art
The Cube
A 15-foot-tall, 2400-lb glossy black cube created by Tony Rosenthal; there's an identical one in the East Village of New York City. The Cube spins on its axis when pushed.
The Wave Field
Created by Maya Lin best known as the artist who designed the Vietnam Memorial Wall (1981 in Washington, DC, and the Civil Rights Memorial 1989 in Montgomery, AL), the Wave Field 1995 is an earth sculpture, 90 feet by 90 feet square, consisting of a series of fifty grass waves in eight diagonal rows.
Ann Arbor has a number of public sculptures and murals that can be viewed both on campus and downtown. Of these, several are particularly well-known:
Alley mural
The alley mural began as a one-man project in the 1980s and became a popular spot for graffiti artists. The city took the spot over in 1999 by hiring artist Katherine Tombeau Cost to paint over the original mural and graffiti with a new 5,000-square-foot mural. The graffiti artists haven't entirely relinquished their claim to it, meaning that Cost's mural has been partially defaced with large bubble lettering, but it's still an interesting and out-of-the-way sight. Be sure to seek out the "trippers'" bubble gum wall toward the back. During warmer weather, you'll often find musicians or dancers putting on solo performances in the alley entrance, hoping to glean donations.
Bookstore mural
Painted in 1984, when the corner location was still occupied by David's Books, this mural depicts the five authorial visages of Woody Allen, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Hesse, Franz Kafka, and Anaïs Nin.
Painted fixtures
Fire hydrants and transformers, painted in bright colors by local artists and schoolchildren.
Fairy Doors
Keep your eyes near the ground for fairy doors-- miniature colorful doors through which fairies can enter local businesses. According to Jonathan B. Wright of urban-fairies.com (http://www.urban-fairies.com), the doors began appearing around town in the early 1990s.
Parks and gardens
Nichols Arboretum
"The Arb" comprises 123 acres of hilly woodland along the Huron River, with collections of North American plants interspersed throughout. Peony garden, prairie, constructed wetland and Appalachian plant collection. At night you can see all of Ann Arbor from the top of the hill.
Matthei Botanical Gardens
A 300-acre site with outdoor display gardens, a 10,000-square-foot conservatory filled with tropical plants, and miles of nature trails.
Gallup Park
A 69-acre park along the Huron River and Geddes Pond, and Ann Arbor's most popular recreation area. Walkways with pedestrian bridges over the water, two playgrounds, picnic areas, open fields, over 3 miles of asphalt trails. Canoe, kayak and paddleboat rental canoes can also be taken from the Argo Park livery, 1055 Longshore Drive, +1 734 668-7411, to the Gallup livery.
Buhr Park
A 39-acre park with picnic areas, children's play area, softball diamond, soccer fields, outdoor tennis courts, 25-yard swimming pool, children's wading pool, outdoor ice arena for public skating and ice hockey, cross-country ski center, and snowmobile trails. Skate rentals available.
Ann Arbor has 147 city parks, ranging from less than a block wide to over 100 acres. Some of the more prominent ones include: