If you start in downtown Little Rock, and drive a few miles down Cantrell Road, a neighborhood called the Heights will greet you. With streets lined with quaint homes and other streets lined with houses converted into stores, the area looks like a Meg Ryan chick flick movie scene. The Heights is a little different from your average neighborhood, as there seem to be 2 areas of this neighborhood to tour. Little Rock, for the most part, is not a walkable city, but the Heights does offer some good places to park your car and explore. It is a very family friendly, dog friendly part of town. We did not bring Kona, and immediately regretted it, as there were dogs of all sizes out and about. The houses are super quaint, mixtures of mid century styles to Victorian-esque. Walking around seeing all the old buildings, strollers, and dogs almost made me desire a home with a white picket fence…Almost.
While the on again/ off again rain made it challenging to tour these areas, we were determined! Umbrellas in hand we made a day of it. I am sure we only saw about 1/2 of what we would have on a nice day, but the lack of lines on tax free weekend was nice!
Things we checked out:
–Mylo Coffee Shop:
We went in for breakfast, and I would definitely recommend arriving early for the biggest selection of breakfast items. The place was hopping, and the selection was getting smaller as we waited in line. While the internet classifies this place as a brunch place, I would classify it more as a coffee shop that serves up some breakfast and pastries. Dustin and I each chose an egg item, and shared a classic aman. Perfect start for a day filled with snacking.
–Hillcrest Farmers Market:
The market is set up along the sidewalk of Kavanaugh, and feels like a scene from a movie. There was 1 food truck there while we were shopping, but I have heard from friends that this farmers market sometimes has quite a few food trucks on any given weekend.
m.facebook.com/Hillcrest-Farmers-Market
Vendors we liked (but there were many more):
- Little Rock Urban Farming: littlerockurbanfarming.com
- The variety of herbs, flowers, and vegetables made me want to run home and revive our failing herb garden!
- Geek Eats (Hummus): www.facebook.com/GeekEats
- The samples were amazing, and we chose 2 (black bean & rosemary and pesto). Narrowing it down was hard, so come with a decisive attitude or just enough money to buy them all.
- Sidney and Son Bread Company: www.facebook.com/Sidney-and-Son-Bread-Company
- The bread smelled amazing! At just the idea of taking home those delicious carbs, our will power was failing. We did not buy any, but I promise we debated!! They have specialty bread called Jalapeño Chedder. It literally has pounds of cheddar cheese baked in, so you might want to chase it with some Exlax!
–Le Pops:
Snack time came and popsicles was the game. This place had so many choices, that I was thankful there was no line. With all the time to choose I went with old faithful: Strawberry. Totally worth it, but I contemplated an Oreo covered one too.
-Domestic Domestic:
This store is our new favorite store in Little Rock. If you visit or live here: CHECK IT OUT! I think we spent an hour in here checking out all the merchandise. If you love american made products, anything Ron Swanson would like, and all things awesome; this is the place for you. Point in case- I bought some amazing cards including one that said:
” I’m slowly coming to terms with liking Taylor Swift. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers during these times.”
Seriously great store, great staff who didn’t judge us as we took forever to shop and laughed every 6 seconds.
They had everything from wallets, books, unique/hilarious cards, many beard grooming items, manly smelling candles (which are my weakness), and awesome outdoor gear. Dustin was really into the ax selection to which I asked: Why do you need an ax? Basically his response was: Why not?
-Box Turtle:
This house converted into store held a lot of unique gifts, things for the house, clothing, and jewelry. Another must check out. The clothing was interesting, jewelry was cool, and we loved the quirky vibe of the gifts. There was a friendly puppy to hang out with that would roll over for a belly scratch if you even looked his direction.
-Bella Boutique:
www.facebook.com/bellaboutiqueintheheights
My favorite part of this store was the super low profile, minimal jewelry. I am not a big “bath stuff” person, but it smelled really good in there.
-Eggshell Kitchen Co:
www.eggshellskitchencompany.com
This reminded me of a homegrown Williams Sonoma. Since Dustin does the majority of the cooking in our home, he was more enthusiastic about the things this store had to offer. However, I did eye a crepe pan that had me over the moon, dreaming about all the things Dustin could make!
-Heights Taco & Tamale Co. :
We did our big meal of the day here. It was really good! Plus the atmosphere is again very trendy. Fun date night or girls night spot!
Cat: Grilled Cheedilla Tacos
The neighborhood is filled with so many other stores/ shops, galleries, and restaurants. To add them all would make this post forever long and everyone would hate me. So, below are some more places to check out in the area:
– Restaurants:
- Sushi Cafe (Try the Heights Roll!!!!): sushicaferocks.com
- Zaza (Pizza and salads are yummy): www.zazapizzaandsalad.com
- Cupcakes on Kavanaugh (I mean the website name… awesome!): www.eatacupcake.com
– Shops:
- The Toggery (Children’s store. Cute but $$$): www.toggerylr.com
- White Goat (Home goods): www.whitegoatstyle.com
- Doggy Daddy (Pet store and pet adoption location): www.doggydaddystore.com
- Ozark Outdoors (For all your extreme outdoor activity needs): ozarkoutdoor.com
Ozark Outdoors has been a favorite of Dustin’s for years. It is a mini REI with all of it’s climbing, camping, kayaking, “outdoorsy sports” selection. It really seems to be one of the only places in town for that stuff, at least that isn’t a chain. Dustin’s trip to Colorado in September, will probably be preceded by a trip to this store…
– Art Galleries:
- Local Color Gallery
- L&L Beck Art Gallery (They also have classes to teach you how to paint.)
We had fun, despite the rain. Looking forward to hearing your recommendations from the neighborhood!
Cat
Very interesting read!!! Looks like y o u guys had a fun filled day!!! love ya’ll!!! mom!
Good to know! I’ve only really ventured into ZaZas and sushi cafe. I feel like everything is just so expensive down there :/. Are the stores you mentioned reasonably priced?
The stores have a pretty broad range of pricing. Some stuff is pricey but some stuff I felt was a good price for what it was!