Mill Avenue Shops — Attraction in Tempe

Mill Avenue is a street in the city of Tempe, AZ that runs north/south about four city blocks long. But, the most infamous section is the northern terminus that stretches two blocks from University Drive north towards the Salt River where the area is dominated by bars, chain and local restaurants, movie theaters, shops and everything in between. Part of the street also borders Arizona State University to the west, so simply put, it's a fun, young, energetic, happening spot in town. When I lived in Mesa back in '95/'96, I was still too young to drink but we'd cruise through on the weekends via automobile, lol.

Enter present day, my spouse and I were in the city overnight after a weeklong vacay in Puerto Vallarta. Wanting to see the area again and show it to my spouse, we made a special Uber trip from our hotel in Phoenix to Mill Ave. to take in the sights and have cocktails before dinner back in the city.

It wasn't as hopping as I remembered, but was still lively nonetheless and felt very safe. Numerous parking areas are peppered throughout the area. We ended up at Fat Tuesday where we had amazing cocktails and apps!

OVERALL: Entertaining, lots of dining choices,...

First time visiting, cool things to check out. But after 4 years of living here, nothing has changed really other than shops closing their doors and the ones maintaining business is because they have good stuff. They should really bring in something new, cost friendly to keep students and other folks around and coming back for more fun. It's rather boring now. Only thing worth going is for our Fat Tuesday...

I wonder if many people walk right by the entrance on their jaunt down Mill Ave and don't realize the eclectic shopping experience being missed out on.

I highlighted the entrance in green in the photo from the other side of Mill Ave. It's a little North of the NW corner of Mill and 5th St.

As an aside, I used to get inexpensive accessories in a shop that was here in 1988 on the...