Just a quick note...seems like everyone visits and comments about the Strip and the Casino's and hotels on the strip! Never much comment anymore about the Casino's or hotels on Fremont Street...so for the record...I, for one love staying Downtown on Fremont Street...and I just love the feel of being there! Visited the strip on my first trip to Vegas...(I was an old first timer, as I had promised my son that we would take him to Vegas for his 21st birthday...and although I had been to Reno and Laughlin, and numerous Indian Casino's before his 21st Birthday...I kept my promise and did not visit Vegas until 6 years ago when he turned 21! Anyway, it was a warm August night and we were seeing all the sights and free shows on the Strip...going from Casino to Casino, while my daughter acted as tour guide since she had been to Vegas numerous times and we had to burn hours until my son turned 21...everything was so crowded...I felt like I was in a herd of Cattle...could not even find a place to stop except inside the Casino's...and while I know it is feasible and profitable for Vegas to try to attract vacationing families, by the end of the night I was pretty tired of fighting families of 5 holding hands and pushing strollers...even around the Casino's! We headed back to Fremont Street after a full day on the strip(about 8 hours) and I was thrilled to get back to Downtown! and there I'll stay!

That's why I like the slower times of year on the Strip - 2nd or 3rd week of December, low rates, low temps and low crowds!

SherrieB,
I'm with you! Downtown has a slower pace and a friendlier feel. When we take longer trips we always stay 2 or 3 nights on the strip at a fancy place, then head down town for 5 or six nights. After 2 nights on the strip, I've had enough and rarely return the rest of the trip. Drinks are cheaper, walking from casino to casino is quicker, machine service is also quicker and friendlier. We like the boyd properties, Main street station, California, and fremont. Where do you stay? While I've stayed at the nugget many times, I haven't stayed since the remodel.

I think downtown is an important piece of the package that makes Las Vegas so fun. It can't be all downtown, or all strip, or all side trips, or all 6 minute wonders, etc.

I'm still a bitter over the Fremont Street Experience. I don't like the big billboard overhead. My last class at the Springs Preserve was about Fremont Street. We had two families that had businesses on Fremont Street. One worked at the Sears which was located across from the El Cortez. One owned a store that was where Neonopolis is today. And we had a guy that was in the lounge band at the Golden Nugget. I think there is a line between progress and destroying history. Maybe some see it as a finer line or no line at all.

I go downtown at least once a month. I've been 3 times in the last 3 weeks. I enjoy the proximity of the casinos. I like to try a new dining experience there when I can. I like some of the bargains that can be had there.

I don't like those stoners that make spray paint art at the outside exhibits. That stuff is toxic in a really bad way. I find downtown customer service to be hit or miss just like the strip. I find parking just as inconvenient as the strip.

Well...to be honest with you we go to gamble and eat...so cheap rooms are a must...comfortable bed...shower and change and out the door for more fun and gambling! The room is not that important...clean and accomodating...our 1st trip was the Lady! It really hurts to look at her all empty and shut down..we had such a great time that 1st trip...then there has been twice at The Plaza..I know it gets bad reviews, but both rooms were clean, and large.. and check in was fast and the help was accomodating..never did well at the Casino there though....but enjoyed our rooms and would stay there again..but this trip, the Nugget had the best deal...and it is higher rated by far...so we will compare the supposed best to the supposed worst I guess in September...we wanted to stay at the 4 Queens, but couldn't get a very good price so the Nugget got our $$ this trip....3 nights mid week, and flight for $535 for 2...splits out to $267.50 each...and that is hard to beat! My husband is staying home to feed the dogs and it will be me and my best friend this trip...we are excited already...she went with me last year, and we stayed at The Plaza...and she liked it well enough that she is going back in June with about 8 other people...and they are all staying at the Plaza!

I like the Overhead canopy...I like the shade from the hot sun and I like the fact that the streets are not running up the middle...however, as a former Business owner, I feel for your friends who had to give up their businesses, and it would make me a bit bitter....as for the painters...well, i have watched them..it is sort of a Carnival like experience as are the lights, and the noise of the slot machines...going for a Vacation is different than going often or living there...I think I would be a lot more judgemental if I saw it all the time....but once a year it's a Vacation that I look forward to...I've seen several shows on the canopy..and like some better than others..but it is always enjoyable to me to watch it...the Patriotic one really got to me...I almost cried when I saw it! I just feel very safe on Fremont street....and like the fact that no matter what Casino I am in, when I get tired..in 5 to 15 minutes I can be in a shower and go to bed..If I was younger..I would probably enjoy the strip more...but at 57 I'll stay on Fremont Street...this year may venture to the strip for a day...$40 Cab ride to and from..is quite a bargain over staying on the strip at double the price per night versus Fremont Street.

Thanks Sherrie, that's a really good explanation. Here's a story on how it all feels like one big casino to me.

Last week, I was to see a comedy show, upstairs in the Fitzgerald's showroom. I got there a couple of hours early, had a quick meal at the El Cortez and wandered down under the canopy. I was in and out of a few casinos, found a 5 cent video poker machine that was being nice to me and did really well. I was watching my clock and knew it was just a 3 minute trip up the escalators to the showroom. So I kept playing until 10 minutes to showtime, got my ticket out from the machine, cashed out and went to find the escalators and couldn't find them. I walked all around downstairs, to the parking garage, to the hotel check in, up front, and then realized I was in the 4 Queens. So I dashed next door and got to my show with seconds to spare.

It was a cheesy cruise ship type show. I asked the guy at the door where the ticket office was, he said that he was the ticket office. He checked me on the comp list and showed me to a reserved table. The show started a few minutes late. The lights went down, and a recording welcomed the first comedian. The first comedian came out. While he was doing his routine, I thought he looked familiar. At the end of his skit he said that he might look familiar because he was the ticket taker, but he also does the lights and sounds. Sure enough, he wasn't kidding. After the show, he came on and thanked the main comedian and asked everyone to stay in their seats while he goes up to the light booth and turns on the lights.

I have fun everytime I go downtown.

Glad to hear you all like Downtown Las Vegas.

I was fortunate that I grew up through part of its history and have a lot of fond memories of those good old days.

To the best of my recollection, I've stayed at every Downtown hotel/casino except for the Golden Gate and I do intend to book a room there very soon just to say "I've done 'em all!".

Even the worse Downtown hotel/casino offered a very clean room although it was very dark with a very small window, but the elevator went right from the casino to my
$15 a night bed. I'm sure most of you remember this place - The Gold Spike - one of the only casinos in town where the Pit Boss hit a customer who actually deserved more than what he got.

I visited the "Spike" this past weekend and it's all so different now - all cleaned up and looking for new type customers. They are happy enough to see you there that they give all the players "Gold Spike" T-shirts with a hearty. "Thanks for coming in!".

I've seen all these downtown joints go through births and growing pains and eventually the passing of quite a few - the saddest of which was the "death" of Mr. Binion and the casino that carried his name.

Harrah's owns the place now and is actually doing its best to get it back on its feet but the days of Mr Binion are long gone and will never return no matter what they do with the Horseshoe.

Yea, Fremont Street brings back many fond memories! I'm talkiing about them good old days when the downtown characters would come into town on donkeys laden with camping gear and digging phariphenalia, tie up there "steed" to the posts provided by the welcoming casinos, and head right on over to the nearest twenty-five cent craps table, throw down a five or ten, and just about brighten up the room drinking that first, welcomed bottle of ice cold beer.

Those were the days when an old time desert dweller by the name of Annie would come into the casino at sunrise, hit the craps tables and with a bosom full of ones, and fives, and tens and more often than not she'd leave with a bigger bosom just before the sun began to set.

If she left with no bosom at all she'd simply say, "Hell it don't cost me nothing to sleep beneath God's beautiful stars at night!"

And then there all all those great old time that I'm tending to forget ....

Was it really Mickey Rooney that entertained us so graciously in the Golden Nuggat when they had sawdust covering the floor

And did Loui Prima and Keely Smith really sing to me while I was having some alcoholic concoction compliments of Keely that unforgettable night I turned 21?

ANd what ever did happen to Thor - God of Thunder and that great put-together group that played in those free lounges all over town? Even mystery-eser - what ever happened to those free lounges?

I think the last was behind the bar on the east side of the Four Queens casino floor.
It soon died - shortly after the ultra great lounge in the Pioneer which is now some T-shirt shack.

The Gaughans, the Binions, the Boyds, the old time prospectors, the real Las Vegas characters ..... They are either gone or settled down somewhat, so those good old days can never be repeated.

Some will try - but simply "trying" ain't really good enough for someone who has witnessed the genuine articles who created it in the first place.

You kind folks who love it today, did not know it when it really offered the people and the places and the events that really deserved that "love".

But maybe someday, some of you will look back through the years and recall how it is today, and feel the same as I do now.