We spent the past several days back in Las Vegas doing our bit at the Pulte/Sun City interior design center. Charlie did a good job working with our helper, Alyssa, to come up with a plan to make the new house look nice. I’m sure it will. Our new kitchen will have black granite countertops and white cabinets.
We spent a few nights at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in downtown Vegas. Gee, that place has really grown. Since we were there last, a new wing of the hotel has been built with a brand-new nightclub (Troy) and a 26-floor hotel tower (Rush Tower).
I’ve been coming to downtown Las Vegas since I was a kid (late 50’s). The Golden Nugget has always been there, but there were a lot of other places on Fremont Street that have come and gone. Those were the good old days, when actual coins would come clanging into the tray when you won a jackpot at a slot machine. Those silver dollars made an impressive sound!
There used to be a big casino downtown (across the street from the Golden Nugget) called The Mint that was owned by Del Webb, the same guy who became a housing developer. For example, “Sun City Mesquite”, where we will be living, is a Del Webb (now owned by Pulte Corporation) project.
The Mint later became Binion’s Horseshoe, famous for its World Series of Poker.
Another of our haunts was the Fremont Hotel and Casino. Charlie loved the slots there, and I played craps. On this trip, we did a bit more, lost a few bucks, but had fun.
Across from the Fremont is the Four Queens. They have a nice restaurant in there called Hugo’s Cellar.
The north end of Fremont Street used to look like this:
The entire west side of Fremont Street, from the Golden Nugget to Main Street, was evidently purchased by the the Golden Nugget owners forty years ago. The Troy/Rush Tower add-on is where the Pioneer Club used to be.
Downtown got pretty trashy in the 70’s and 80’s; joints going into disrepair, declining patronage, lots of bums, etc. The Fremont Street Experience (i.e. covered pedestrian mall, light show, etc.) was designed to bring folks back…and it has.
However, the north end of Fremont Street was still pretty trashy, with lots of strip joints, cheesy casinos, cheap gift shops, etc..
Some big bucks developer has wiped all of that out on the east side of the street; there is now an “under construction” fence, essentially from Binion’s to Main Street, where a humongous hotel/casino is going up. It’s pretty exciting to see that kind of money pouring into downtown. I’m anticipating something that will give the Golden Nugget a run for its money.
The opposite end of Fremont Street has experienced somewhat of a resurgence since we were last here. The “Experience”, i.e. the video screen canopy/light show gimmick, ended at Las Vegas Boulevard. From that point eastward toward the old El Cortez Hotel and Casino, things were pretty untidy, to put it mildly. Some might have called it a slum. But, it appears that the area is becoming gentrified, with nicer bars and such dotting the street. Lots of cool neon signs, from the Old Downtown salvage lot…
… beautify the streetscape now. I like it.
Charlie and I decided to check out the El Cortez for dinner, as my parents used to take me there back in the day.
Actually, the El Cortez is the oldest, continuously operating hotel/casino in Las Vegas. It used to be owned by Bugsy Siegel, the gangster.
Mr. Siegel did so well there back in the late Forties that he talked some of the mob brass into investing in his dream project, the Flamingo Hotel and Casino, the first hotel on the Las Vegas “Strip”. Unfortunately, spending on hotel construction got out of hand, Bugsy lost a ton of money, the wise guys weren’t amused, and he was assassinated in Beverly Hills.
The Flamingo still stands, the only original Strip hotel/casino that hasn’t been bulldozed, I think.
We had a nice dinner and walk back to the Golden Nugget. Along the way, I was impressed how the area east of the “Experience” has come back. Lots of neon, people having fun, fewer dives and bums, etc. Very encouraging for this part of town!
Right around Las Vegas Boulevard, there is a weird restaurant called the Heart Attack Cafe. It is a gimmicky joint, serving up greasy comfort food, with a neon sign that says, “Over 350 pounds…you eat free!” Inside, all customers are obliged to wear hospital gowns over their clothes, and the waitresses are dressed up as nurses. Everybody seems to be having fun in there. Of course, their cardiologists would be appalled about the Triple Bacon Cheeseburgers, Turduckens, and such.
The Fremont Street Experience pedestrian mall/light show canopy deal used to be pretty cool. However, now they have a zip line within the mall that tends to dominate the interior; I think it has ruined the place. However, it is quite popular, and lots of fun-loving people pay to fly over the crowds like Superman.
Fremont Street, to me, is New Orleans’ Bourbon Street without the vomit.
In addition to the throngs of folks walking around with 32 oz beers in hand, there are merchandise kiosks, street performers, and beggars with signs like “Kick Me In The Nuts” (for a donation), “Fuck You” (but, do you have any spare change?), and “Alcohol Research Study…Buy Me A Beer”. We also saw strippers selling photo ops, two naked guys showing off their shortcomings, Kiss impersonators, and a midget with no arms playing the drums (quite well, actually!).
It’s blue collar entertainment, yes, but not quite up to Bourbon Street standards; i.e. the college rowdies, the beads, and young, drunk girls taking off their blouses.
Las Vegas is supposed to be fun. Downtown is all about that.
When I started trips to Sin City with my parents back in the Fifties, it was Route 66 all the way, with one lane in each direction. Way back then, my Dad had one of those burlap water cooler bags hanging in front of our car’s radiator. It helped cool the engine and could be used for drinking water in case you got stranded out in the desert.
On our Vegas trips up and back on I-15, Charlie and I almost always stop at Peggy Sue’s Diner in Yermo. I love their Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs breakfast…what a meal! Food doesn’t get any better than that.
Peggy Sue’s is a friggin’ gold mine; no matter when you show up, there’s a crowd. It has expanded a number of times since 1987; it can now handle hundreds of customers at a time. Our waitress on Thursday told me that, on that “slow” day, there were 18 employees in the kitchen and 21 waitresses and bus boys.
Years ago, Charlie and I were heading back to L.A., coming down the Baker grade, when we saw a guy in a pickup truck hauling a travel trailer, going northbound, veer off the highway, roll the truck, and the travel trailer basically vaporized before our eyes. I ran across eight lanes of freeway to render aid. Luckily, the driver and his wife escaped injury, and had an exciting story to tell their grandchildren.
Another time, we were heading home and just about a half-mile north of the (now extinct) Nevada Landing casino off ramp when the pickup truck ahead of us made a hasty exit, going too fast. The truck went off the ramp, flipped, disappearing in a giant red dust cloud. And, then, we saw a human body, like a rag doll, somersaulting through the sky, above the dust cloud, maybe 100′ in the air, and then falling out of sight. We raced over there, ran to the accident scene, and found two Hispanic guys, one shredded up pretty good, and the other one gushing blood from his mouth, dying. There were fifty beer cans strewn on the ground where the pickup had emptied the contents of its bed. Pretty sad way to end a Vegas weekend.
That no-mans land out there where the Nevada Landing used to be (about 15 miles north of Stateline) is pretty close to the state prison where O.J. spent a number of years atoning for some of his crimes.
Hotel Simpson, as we called it, was a pretty dreary looking place. We always cheered when we drove by.
(O.J. now lives in Florida, where he spends most days on golf courses, searching for the real killers of Nicole and Ron. It’s rumored that President Trump is considering him for a Cabinet post.)
Nowadays, there are six lanes in each direction on I-15, four in some, and the average speed (midweek) is about 80 mph. A trip from our home in Murrieta, even with stops for gas and lunch, is about five hours. On the weekends…fuggetaboutit!! It once took us ten hours…bumper to bumper for 300 miles.
We have solved that problem by purchasing a home in Mesquite, 70 miles north of Vegas. We’ll only be about an hour away from the fun.