Downtown Las Vegas | |
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Coordinates: 36°10′18″N115°08′38″W / 36.17169°N 115.14382°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Nevada |
County | Clark |
Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming area was the primary gambling district of Las Vegas prior to the Strip. As the urban core of the Las Vegas Valley, it features a variety of hotel and business highrises, cultural centers, historical buildings and government institutions, as well as residential and retail developments. Downtown is located in the center of the Las Vegas Valley and just north of the Las Vegas Strip, centered on Fremont Street, the Fremont Street Experience and Fremont East. The city defines the area as bounded by I-15 on the west, Washington Avenue on the north, Maryland Parkway on the east and Sahara Avenue on the south. [1]
Perhaps the earliest visitors to the Las Vegas area were nomadic Paleo-Indians, who traveled to the area 10,000 years ago, leaving behind petroglyphs. Anasazi and Paiute tribes came here at least 2,000 years ago.
The area was named Las Vegas, which is Spanish for the meadows, in the 1800s because it featured abundant wild grasses, as well as desert spring waters for westward travelers.
The year 1844 marked the arrival of John C. Frémont, whose writings helped lure pioneers to the area. Downtown Las Vegas' Fremont Street is named after him.
Eleven years later, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chose Las Vegas as the site to build a fort halfway between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, where they would travel to gather supplies. The fort was abandoned several years afterward. The remainder of this fort can still be seen at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue at the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park.
Las Vegas was founded as a city in 1905, when 110 acres of land adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks were auctioned in what would become the downtown area. The first hotel in the area, the Hotel Nevada, was built in 1906; it is still operating as the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino. [2] [3] In 1911, Las Vegas was incorporated as a city.
The year 1931 was a pivotal one for Las Vegas. At that time, Nevada legalized casino gambling and reduced residency requirements for divorce to six weeks. This year also witnessed the beginning of construction on nearby Hoover Dam. The influx of construction workers and their families helped Las Vegas avoid economic calamity during the Great Depression. It was completed in 1935.
Key hotel developments serving tourists in Las Vegas included the El Cortez (1941) on Fremont and Last Frontier (1942) on U.S. Route 91, further south, later to be known as Las Vegas Boulevard/Strip. Following World War II, lavishly decorated hotels, gambling casinos and big-name entertainment became synonymous with Las Vegas. The first large casino in Las Vegas was built downtown, the Golden Nugget, completed in 1946.
In 1951, the first atomic bomb detonation at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, occurred. City residents and visitors were able to witness the mushroom clouds until 1963, when the Limited Test Ban Treaty required that nuclear tests be moved underground.
Meanwhile, Downtown and the Strip began competing for tourists, with the famous Vegas Vic waving cowboy sign downtown (1951) being answered by the opening of the tallest building in Las Vegas, the nine-storey Riviera on the Strip; the Riviera was trumped by the twelve-storey Fremont Hotel and Casino (1956) downtown. [3] By the late 1950s, most new casino-resorts were opening on the Strip, including the Dunes (1955), Tropicana (1957), Stardust (1958), Tallyho (1962), and Caesars Palace (1966), [3] in comparison, competing contemporary developments downtown included The Mint (1957), Lady Luck (1964), and Four Queens (1966). [4]
1955 also saw the opening of the Moulin Rouge Hotel just west of downtown, the first racially integrated casino-hotel in Las Vegas. Full desegregation of other Las Vegas properties followed in 1960, and during the 1960s, corporations and business powerhouses such as Howard Hughes were building and buying hotel-casino properties. Gambling was referred to as "gaming", which transitioned into legitimate business.
In 1989, entrepreneur Steve Wynn changed the face of the Las Vegas gaming industry by opening up The Mirage, the Las Vegas Strip's first mega-casino resort. [5] This strengthened the pull of visitors away from the downtown area.
In 1995, the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas's downtown area was opened. This canopied, five-block area features 24 million LED lights and 550,000 watts of sound from dusk until midnight during shows held on the top of each hour.
Due to years of revitalization efforts, 2012 was dubbed "The Year of Downtown". Projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars made their debut at this time. They included The Smith Center for the Performing Arts and Discovery Children's Museum, the Mob Museum, the Neon Museum, and a new Las Vegas City Hall complex. [6] [7]
In 2018, plans for a new downtown expo center were announced, replacing and expanding on space previously provided by the Cashman Center. [8]
Fremont Street is home to most of downtown's hotels and casinos. These are the original casinos of Las Vegas, which existed before the more famous Las Vegas Strip. The Fremont Street Experience is a canopied street of the downtown area where casinos have been connected to the street and to each other in a unique visual manner. An audio-visual system consisting of more than 2 million lights and a sound system allows for nightly shows. A variety of events also occur at the Experience, including several live concerts. Various entertainment and dining options are also located in the area. [9] [10]
Property and business owners have been working to redevelop Fremont Street just east of the Fremont Street Experience. In 2002, the city of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency joined with Fremont East property and business owners to create a business improvement district, as well as pay for a $5.5 million streetscape improvement. This area is called the Fremont East Entertainment District. [11] It features an eclectic mix of bars, clubs and restaurants. Centered on Las Vegas Boulevard on Fremont Street, this three-block renovation includes pedestrian-friendly street redesign, landscaping and retro-looking neon signage. [12] [13] [14]
Officially called 18b, The Las Vegas Arts District – named after the 18 blocks the district originally encompassed [15] – this area is home to the city's arts scene with its mix of art galleries, studios and stores. Many arts district stores offer antiques, vintage clothing, high fashion, and mid-20th century furniture/furnishings and other collectible items. [16] Centered on Main Street and Charleston Boulevard, the area hosts the popular First Friday festival every month featuring art, music and other performances. [17] [18]
Symphony Park is a mixed-use urban district being built on the land to the west of Fremont and Main streets. It will eventually feature a mix of retail, medical, hotel and residential developments. The city of Las Vegas is undertaking the development on 61 acres (25 ha) of land purchased from the Union Pacific Railroad in 1995. This is a major project for the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency and the city. [19] Projects that have been completed and are currently operating at Symphony Park are the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, [20] The Smith Center for the Performing Arts [21] and the Discovery Children's Museum. [22] [23]
Business and government leaders have begun working on a plan to expand downtown's Las Vegas Medical District (LVMD) from its current 200 acres to at least 680 acres. While currently offering the largest concentration of health-care services in the Las Vegas valley, an expanded district would allow for additional health-care services and opportunities. Areas for planned expansion include the Charleston Boulevard corridor to Valley View Boulevard, along Martin L. King Boulevard and in Symphony Park. The centerpiece of this expanded district will be the 260,000-square-foot UNLV School of Medicine, which will include an educational building and library. The school was granted preliminary accreditation in late 2016 and can begin accepting students for its 2017 charter class.[ citation needed ]
Centered on Bonneville Avenue and Casino Center Boulevard, most of this area is filled with office and government buildings. With several court buildings located here, there are many judicial-related businesses such as law firms in the immediate area. The financial district is home to the Las Vegas City Hall building, the Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse and several bank buildings such as Bank of America. The Clark County Marriage Bureau is also located here at the Regional Justice Center. [10]
Downtown is a hub for arts and culture in the metro area. The main venue for performing arts is the Art Deco-inspired Smith Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to The Smith Center and 18b, The Las Vegas Arts District, there are a number of educational facilities in the Cultural Corridor, located just north of the immediate downtown area. They include the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, the Neon Museum and Boneyard and the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park. [24] Also in this area are a number of neon signs from former Las Vegas casinos and landmarks, which have been restored and installed on several streets around downtown, as well as throughout the Fremont Street Experience. A famous neon icon of downtown Las Vegas is the Vegas Vic sign, also located at the Fremont Street Experience.
Several buildings of architectural significance exist downtown, although being founded in 1905, Las Vegas lacks the number of historical buildings of older cities. Exceptions include the Historic Fifth Street School, built in 1936 in the Spanish-mission style and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Also listed is the Las Vegas Post Office and Courthouse, which currently serves as home to The Mob Museum [30] and is one of the few historical neoclassical buildings in the city. Built in 1930, the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies and Performing Arts is the city's best example of Art Deco architecture. The Morelli House, built in 1959, is a notable mid-century modern design. The building that formerly housed the Las Vegas City Hall, and now is home to the corporate headquarters for the online retailer Zappos.com, is a notable example of 1970s modern architecture. [31] [32] [33]
As Las Vegas boomed, more recent buildings tended to take inspiration from a variety of styles. The Clark County Government Center has a red sandstone exterior invoking a desert motif. The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, opened in 2012, is a more modern example of Art Deco design. Architect Frank Gehry designed the building for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health building in deconstructionist style. [34] It was completed in 2010. [35]
Downtown serves as a main center for government services in the Las Vegas Valley. Government offices for the city of Las Vegas and Clark County are located here, as well as the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and several courts.
Some former government buildings have been turned into attractions, such as the old Las Vegas Post Office and Courthouse becoming the Mob Museum.
Two major freeways—Interstate 15 and Interstate 11/U.S. Route 95—cross in downtown Las Vegas. RTC Transit is a public transportation system providing bus service throughout Las Vegas, including the downtown area.
A bus rapid transit link in Las Vegas called the Strip & Downtown Express (previously ACE Gold Line) with limited stops and frequent service was launched in March 2010. It connects downtown Las Vegas, the Strip and the Las Vegas Convention Center. It stops at the Bonneville Transit Center. Completed in 2012, the transit terminal serves as a central transfer point for downtown and features 16 vehicle bays for buses and 100 bike racks. [36]
The Downtown Loop is a free shuttle servicing many attractions in downtown Las Vegas. The Loop runs continuously during operating hours and arrives at each stop every 20 minutes. The hours of operation are Monday through Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Friday through Saturday: 3 p.m. to 12 a.m.; Sunday: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The AAA Free Self-Driving Shuttle is a pilot program that provides rides in the Fremont East Entertainment District Nov 2017 – Nov 2018. The pilot program is a partnership with Keolis, the city of Las Vegas, and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada. The shuttle runs Tuesday – Sunday 4:30pm – 8:30pm, with the main station stop at the Downtown Container Park. Shuttle service is suspended during the month of August.
The economy of downtown Las Vegas has been primarily based on gambling and entertainment, as is the case in the greater Las Vegas Valley. However, the smaller downtown casinos earn revenues that pale in comparison to the mega resorts on the Las Vegas Strip further south. As of 2014, there have been major renovations of several downtown resorts such as The Plaza, Golden Gate Hotel, Golden Nugget, El Cortez Hotel & Casino, the D and the Downtown Grand. [37] [38]
Downtown Las Vegas also houses some corporate offices, as well as the World Market Center Las Vegas, a frequent host of trade shows and conventions. Recently, the opening of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the arrival of the new Zappos headquarters downtown has started to attract new medical and technology-oriented businesses to the area.
The downtown area in recent decades has played second fiddle to the larger and more famous Las Vegas Strip, which is located a few miles to the south. The city has been working on revitalization efforts to entice more visitors and residents to the downtown area.
World Market Center Las Vegas consists of three giant buildings, with a total of 5.1 million square feet, in a facility designed by Jon Jerde. It is home to semiannual trade shows for the furniture and furnishing industries. This is one of several entities that are helping to diversity downtown Las Vegas's economy and job base. [39]
The square footage of World Market Center Las Vegas is greater than both the Willis Tower in Chicago and the Empire State Building in New York City.
The city is also working to attract events to the downtown area. Recently held events include Helldorado [40] and the Life is Beautiful festival. [41]
In 2012 several new downtown projects were completed. The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, the new Mob Museum and a new City Hall building opened. The Discovery Children's Museum opened next door to The Smith Center in 2013. [42]
The Las Vegas City Hall now operates out of a new building, which, along with the Bonneville Transit center, can serve as an anchor tenant for new development along Main Street. [43] In addition, Main and Commerce streets in downtown Las Vegas are undergoing major beautification efforts, which started in mid-2014. [44]
Online retailer Zappos made major renovations to the old Las Vegas City Hall, and moved into the building in late 2013, which now houses its corporate headquarters. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh had taken a personal, as well as a professional, interest in the urban area and contributed $350 million of his personal wealth toward a multifaceted revitalization effort called the Downtown Project, with businesses like The Writer's Block included among its investments. [45]
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-largest in the Southwestern United States. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife, with most venues centered on downtown Las Vegas and more to the Las Vegas Strip just outside city limits. The Las Vegas Valley as a whole serves as the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had 641,903 residents in 2020, with a metropolitan population of 2,227,053, making it the 25th-most populous city in the United States.
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about 4.2 mi (6.8 km) long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits in the unincorporated towns of Paradise and Winchester, but is often referred to simply as "Las Vegas".
The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area is coextensive since 2003 with Clark County, Nevada. The Valley is largely defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a 600 sq mi (1,600 km2) basin area surrounded by mountains to the north, south, east and west of the metropolitan area. The Valley is home to the three largest incorporated cities in Nevada: Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas. Eleven unincorporated towns governed by the Clark County government are part of the Las Vegas Township and constitute the largest community in the state of Nevada.
Robert Edward Stupak was an entrepreneur who became a Las Vegas casino developer and owner. He was also a poker player, winning titles at the World Series of Poker and the Super Bowl of Poker. He also competed on the World Poker Tour, and various other tournaments, as well as cash games, including High Stakes Poker on GSN. He once played a computer for half a million dollars and won.
The Fremont Hotel & Casino is located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It is part of the Fremont Street Experience, named after American explorer and politician John C. Frémont. The casino is operated by the Boyd Gaming Corporation.
The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) is a pedestrian mall and attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The FSE occupies the westernmost five blocks of Fremont Street, including the area known for years as "Glitter Gulch", and portions of some other adjacent streets.
Las Vegas Boulevard is a major road in Clark County, Nevada, United States, best known for the Las Vegas Strip portion of the road and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S. Route 91 (US 91), which had been the main highway between Los Angeles, California and Salt Lake City, Utah, it has been bypassed by Interstate 15 and serves mainly local traffic with some sections designated State Route 604.
The settlement of Las Vegas, Nevada was founded in 1905 after the opening of a railroad that linked Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The stopover attracted some farmers to the area, and fresh water was piped in to the settlement. In 1911, the town was incorporated as part of the newly founded Clark County. Urbanization took off in 1931 when work started on the Boulder Dam, bringing a huge influx of young male workers, for whom theaters and casinos were built, largely by the Mafia. Electricity from the dam also enabled the building of many new hotels along the Strip. The arrival of Howard Hughes in 1966 did much to offset mob influence and helped turn Las Vegas into more of a family tourist center, now classified as a Mega resort.
The Golden Gate Hotel & Casino is located at One Fremont Street in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. A part of the Fremont Street Experience, it is the oldest and smallest hotel on the Fremont Street Experience.
Fremont Street is a street in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada that is the second-most famous street in both the Las Vegas Valley and in the state of Nevada, after the Las Vegas Strip. It is named in honor of explorer and politician John C. Frémont, who was the coordinator of the Sacramento River massacre of 1846. Located in the heart of the Downtown casino corridor, Fremont Street is today, or was, the address for many famous casinos such as Binion's Horseshoe, Eldorado Club, Fremont Hotel and Casino, Golden Nugget, Four Queens, The Mint, and the Pioneer Club and the longest-running casino in Las Vegas, Golden Gate Hotel and Casino.
The Plaza Hotel & Casino is a hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It currently has 995 rooms and suites, an 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) casino and more than 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) of event space. The Plaza Hotel also has a showroom, rooftop swimming pool, fitness center, bingo room, restaurants, a sports bar, and Oscar's Steakhouse, named after the former Mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman.
The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, features signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors on 2.27 acres (0.92 ha). Efforts to establish a neon sign museum were underway in the late 1980s, but stalled due to a lack of resources. On September 18, 1996, the Las Vegas City Council voted to fund such a project, to be known as the Neon Museum. The organization started out by re-installing old signage in downtown Las Vegas, to attract more visitors to the area.
Vegas Vic is a neon sign portraying a cowboy which was erected on the exterior of The Pioneer Club in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA in 1951. The sign was a departure in graphic design from typeface based neon signs, to the friendly and welcoming human form of a cowboy. The sign's human-like abilities of talking and waving its arm received an immediate acceptance as the unofficial welcoming sign, reproduced thousands of times over the years and all over the world. The sign can still be found at 25 E Fremont Street, where it has been since 1951 on the exterior of what used to be The Pioneer Club but is currently a souvenir shop. The trademark is currently owned by Pioneer Hotel, Inc., which owns and operates the Pioneer Hotel and Gambling Hall on the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. Laughlin has a twin of the Vegas Vic image on another large sign referred to as River Rick.
El Cortez, a hotel and casino, is a relatively small downtown Las Vegas gaming venue a block from the Fremont Street Experience and Las Vegas Boulevard. Slots, table games, and a race and sports book occupy one floor of the main pavilion, at this historic casino. It opened on Fremont Street on November 7, 1941, and is one of the oldest casino-hotel properties in Las Vegas, along with the nearby Golden Gate Hotel and Casino. Primarily Spanish Colonial Revival in style, it reflects a 1952 remodel when the façade was modernized. On February 22, 2013, the structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
State Route 582 (SR 582) is a major 15.392-mile-long (24.771 km) highway in the Las Vegas Valley. The highway is the former route of U.S. Route 93 (US 93) and US 95 before they were moved to the current freeway alignment shared with Interstate 11 (I-11) formerly Interstate 515 (I-515). Known primarily as Boulder Highway, the route connects Downtown Las Vegas with Henderson and Boulder City to the southeast.
Pioneer Club Las Vegas was a casino that opened in 1942 and was located in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, at 25 East Fremont Street. It ceased operating as a casino in 1995, the same year the Fremont Street Experience was completed.
"Downtown Las Vegas Area" is the name assigned by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) which includes the Downtown Las Vegas area casinos and the The Strat casino tower which is located 2 miles (3.2 km) from Fremont Street. The city of Las Vegas uses the term Downtown Gaming for the casinos near the Fremont Street Experience. The land is part of the 110 acres (45 ha) that were auctioned on May 15, 1905 when the city was founded.
18b The Las Vegas Arts District is located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The district includes art galleries, clothing and antique stores, restaurants, bars, and breweries.
The 1950s was a time of considerable change for Las Vegas. By the 1950s, there were 44,600 living in the Las Vegas Valley. Over 8 million people were visiting Las Vegas annually in 1954, pumping $200 million into casinos, which consolidated its image as "wild, full of late-night, exotic entertainment". The population grew dramatically from 8,422 during World War II to over 45,000. From 1952 to 1957, through money and institutional lending provided by the Teamsters Union and some Mormon bankers, they built the Sahara, the Sands, the New Frontier, the Royal Nevada, the Showboat, the Riviera, the Fremont, Binion's Horseshoe, and finally the Tropicana. Gambling was no longer the only attraction by the 1950s; the biggest stars of films and music like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Andy Williams, Liberace, Bing Crosby, Carol Channing, and others performed in intimate settings and brought a whole new brigade of Hollywood film stars and others in the entertainment business to the city. In 1957, the first topless show "Minsky's Follies" was started here.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.