New Orleans has Bourbon Street. Key West has Duval Street. Chicago has Rush street. State street is Madison's equivalent to those. A half-mile magnetic river of humanity that draws you in and doesn't let you go without some culinary, shopping or people-watching experience.
State street is so many things. While Madison has a street named Main Street, State Street is the real main street, and a nice long corridor of delights connecting the impressive State Capitol with the heart of the UW campus. Think the place you should go if you are looking for that "downtown" of Petula Clark fame. You may not find "somebody kind to help and understand you," but you will definitely not be alone. Students, parents, locals, local youths, and the diversity which Madison celebrates. It's often more like an international mall, and most unlike your standard small town Wisconsin Main Street,which often has a Twilight Zone episode feel, devoid of people, traffic, or human activity. State Street Madison is just the opposite- a happier, busier kind of twilight zone episode.
There is a wonderful concentration of eating places and taverns, and just a handful of chain restaurants or shops. Instead, you find the throwback hippie clothing shop, a Ragstock, ethnic restaurants a plenty: Himalayan, Mediterranean, Peruvian, Chinese,and Greek just to name a few. A good choice of taverns of course, with the University crowd, sports bars, indoor and outdoor. Lots of collegiate beer and pizza. On a personal note, 40 years ago I lost my gyros virginity at Parthenon Gyros, and the place is still there in all its college town glory.
Along with the small town main street feel comes an urban scene: street musicians, panhandlers, philosophers, and street performers, adding a little "gritty" feel. If you're a homesick New Yorker, you'll find a stroll down State Street downright therapeutic.The other big city thing is the second story businesses up a narrow stairway-a little hard to find or easy to pass up. Places you equate more with Chicago or New York.
Don't forget the Orpheum Theater for musical and other shows, and the Overture Center for classical music and Broadway shows and the adjacent Art Museum, bring more of that urban culture to the mix. No visit would be complete without a stroll on this famous and stimulating street. If you want State Street all to yourself, I'd suggest getting bundled up during Christmas break on one those below zero days, and heading out into a quiet and frosty Twilight Zone.