Whether you’re looking for a fun place to take your children or a quiet space to grab a bite to eat, there’s a good chance you can find what you’re looking for along the Purple Line.
IndyGo’s latest project, which officially opened Oct. 13, is a bus rapid transit line running 15.2 miles through Indianapolis and Lawrence, and it shares several stops with the Red Line.
Use this Mirror Indy guide to the Purple Line to explore your city without the stress of sitting in traffic or trying to find a place to park.
Indianapolis Artsgarden
📍 110 W. Washington St.
🚍 Near the Statehouse bus stop
In the heart of downtown, the Indianapolis Artsgarden offers free exhibitions with works from Central Indiana artists throughout the year, as well as a full calendar of free concerts. If you’re riding the Purple Line downtown Oct. 20, you can hear a free concert from Indygaita, a Venezuelan music group who will perform traditional music indigenous to that country at 3 p.m.
Fonseca-Dubois Gallery
📍 1800 N. Meridian St., Suite 305
🚍 Near the 18th St. bus stop
Located inside the Indianapolis Liberation Center, the Fonseca-Dubois Gallery offers local art shows, exhibitions and programming, including quilt-making sessions and an exhibition of “revolutionary art.”
On Oct. 26, you can take an IndyGo bus to the Washington Street and Senate Avenue stop for a short walk to the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art to see the gallery’s vigil to revolutionaries at the museum’s Dia De Muertos event starting at noon.
Tarkington Park
📍 45 W. 40th St.
🚍 Near the 38th Street and Meridian Street bus stop
Adjacent to the Martin Luther King Center, Tarkington Park offers tennis and basketball courts, a playground and covered shelters for picnics. The park is also the site for the Tea’s Me Community Café and a splash pad for hot summer days. The best part? As an Indy Park, there’s no entry fee for the facilities.
East 38th Street Public Library
📍 5430 E. 38th St.
🚍 Near the 38th Street and Layman bus stop
There is much more than books and DVDs to pick up from the East 38th Street branch of the Indianapolis Public Library. Visitors can get free seeds for their gardens, work remotely with access to Microsoft Office and free Wi-Fi, or take their kids to a story time in the Donna D. Talley Story Theatre.
38th St. Eskenazi Health Clinic
📍 6002 E. 38th St.
🚍 Near the 38th Street and Arlington Station
With the Purple Line, you can see over 90 pieces of locally made artwork at an unlikely gallery: the 38th Street Eskenazi Health Clinic, which opened earlier this year. Over 50 artists with work in the clinic have ties to the city’s east side, including Karen Pope, Shamira Wilson and Beatriz Vasquez.
Little Haiti’s Cuisine
📍 8059 E. 38th St.
🚍 Near the 38th Street and Franklin Road bus stop
Nestled in a strip mall in Lawrence, Little Haiti’s Cuisine offers up Caribbean food in a cozy, intimate setting. Red snapper fish and Haitian vegetable stew are among some of the more popular dishes.
If you’re hoping to try more Haitian food and learn more about the culture, you can check out the Nov. 1 Ayiti in the Heartland celebration at Indiana Landmarks, which can be accessed by the Central Avenue and 13th Street bus stop.
Sports Page Lounge
📍 4603 N. Post Road
🚍 Near the Post Road and 42nd Street bus stop
If you can’t make it to Lucas Oil Stadium to watch an Indianapolis Colts game, you can enjoy a game among fellow fans at Sports Page Lounge. On Sundays, bartender Mary Orr said the sports bar is filled with blue jerseys throwing back the dive’s most common order: a Jägerbomb.
Mirror Indy reporter Breanna Cooper covers arts and culture. Email her at breanna.cooper@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @BreannaNCooper.
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