Hello! I'm not dead! I wholeheartedly apologize for the sudden silence on my blogging. School all of a sudden became extremely busy for me so I opted to take a short break. I've had the pictures uploaded onto my flickr for quite a while now but I just could not for the life of me find the time to go ahead and write a decent post. School wasn't the only thing on my plate, I had family over as well and I kept busy hanging out with them and having fun. I found some time today to FINALLY get this post rolling so let's get on with it!
Two or so weeks ago (see, it has been so long I've forgotten when this actual adventure took place, lol) my first year seminar class, CFA 100, had it's second to last rotational and the objective of the day was to meet downtown. We were in the architecture rotational, so I guess it was only befitting we meet in an urban environment.
It's a bit embarrassing to say that of the 11 years I've lived in Las Vegas, I've only ever visited Downtown Las Vegas a minute number of times. See, Downtown LV gets a pretty bad rep for being a very dangerous and shady area and I don't blame them, the place is teeming with rather questionable folk; however, Zappos recently relocated to the area and took it upon themselves to reinvent Downtown.
We met up at the Downtown Design Center, but my friends and I were a bit too early for class so we had all gone to Fremont Street to explore for a bit. I didn't realize how close the famous Fremont Street was until I was there!
I explicitly remember having to go to the bathroom and once I saw a Starbucks I was so happy, until the sign said "restroom for paying customers only". One tall iced coffee later, my bladder had settled. lol.
You could go zip lining along the LED lights! Fremont Street is loads prettier at night. The gigantic LED roof lights up and plays videos and various other visuals.
We then stopped at this super cool toy store that sold all the vintage action figures, along with many new models. I had several pangs of nostalgia when I saw them selling Marvel Legends. When I was a kid, I collected a whole lot of them! They're still with me though, albeit in storage.
America, in a nutshell.
Saw these amazing spray painted works of art. I wonder how much these sold for? My friends and I adventured on for a little bit more until it was finally time to go back to the Design Center. We met up with our class and listened to the director of said center as he explained the importance of architecture in Las Vegas.
Found ourselves back at Fremont Street, hah.
Walked around some of the restaurants and such. Passed by Le Thai, one of my favorite Thai restaurants in all of Las Vegas.
The Ogden Building. Zappos C.E.O Tony Hsieh lives here! I took a field trip to his apartment back in Junior Year of High School.
One fashion aspect of this blog. I wore my Mihara Yasushiro x Puma sneakers for the trek.
Our professor then took us around some art murals, which I absolutely was in love with.
Apparently, this old motel complex used to belong to prostitutes and drug addicts/dealers. The people who bought this place out and turned it into an installation kicked all of them out to fend for themselves. There's a pretty sad documentary on it, I forget the title.
My favorite mural! I love the colors and the concept of a lioness vs an alligator.
This mural in particular took up the ENTIRE side of the motel. I fell in love with the concentration of detail on it!
"I gave her my heart, and she left me for---"
Left you for burritos.
Soon afterwards, class ended and our professor left us at the Downtown Container Park. It was my first time there and I wish I had spent a bit more time exploring! The place itself is small, but all the stores are made from refurbished storage units and all businesses are local.
Once you enter the Container Park, or before it I should say, you're greeted by this gigantic praying mantis that shoots fire. Sometimes it shoots fire to the tune of "Another One Bites the Dust".
We all went to this toy shop called Kappa Toys and I went crazy. The store was filled with the cutest stuff and had J-Pop blasting all over. I died.
Thought of Sara when I saw this! These lunchboxes were bloody expensive!
Dear Leader Tongue Scraper. Nothing like having the deceased leader of North Korea clean your tongue!
I thought of my friend Sabrina and her cat when I saw this.
Kewpie Doll babies!!
The love I have for this store is immeasurable. I need to go back, and bring my friends with me.
After we went around the store, it was getting pretty late already so we all opted to go back to the Design Center and go home. As we walked around the city, we saw our professor and he made us walk with him for another 15 minutes talking about stuff. I wanted to melt away and never evaporate ever. LOL
And that's a wrap on this blog! Stay tuned for the next ones! Thanks for sticking around, and thanks for reading.
.x
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