Why I can't contain my appreciation for Downtown Container Park

Las Vegas is famously known for the Strip on Las Vegas Boulevard, but there’s another part of the city that I always find myself wanting to go back to.

I was stoked about a year ago to visit Downtown Container Park, a shopping, dining and entertainment center made with 43 repurposed shipping containers. It opened up in late 2013, so it’s still relatively new and absolutely worth checking out.

While I’m not huge on heavy shopping or dining, as an environmental enthusiast and someone who typically prefers to explore less hyped destinations (not that I’m against popular spots), I couldn’t help but fall in love with Container Park, which is away from the famous Strip. A center made of recycled shipping containers + recycling bins throughout the place? I’m all about doing what we can to reduce what we throw away, so this place is perfect in my book 🙂

I recently visited Container Park again to grab a beer and small sandwiches with some friends. With temperatures in the 100s during the summer months, we opted to go during the late afternoon/early evening one weekday when temps were in the 90s.

Although I can’t really comment in detail on all the establishments in the center, there does seem to be an eclectic variety of restaurants, bars and shops. They’re fun to observe from the outside and/or window shop at (which I did), even if you don’t end up buying anything (which I also did).

One of the funnest things to do at Container Park is to go inside the Treehouse, a playground where both adults and kids can play 😀 Walking across the bridges, climbing up the stairs, and going down the slide are all pretty fun, no matter what age you are.

Also great about the center is that there are frequently free events, including move nights, live music and concerts.

Some of the other features to look out for at Container Park are found outside of it: an enormous grasshopper that spits out fire loudly into the air every couple of minutes after sunset, a heart-shaped cluster of locks, and the view of Downtown Las Vegas right out on the corner of 7th and Freemont.