Fremont Street Downtown

Some people have been to Las Vegas countless times, and yet never stepped foot Downtown. I am not one of those people. What started off as shitty version of the strip, has since morphed into a must see day trip on every Vegas trip. Well, a day trip for the likes of me. I prefer my casinos grandiose, gigantic and overly themed. Some people yearn for the Vegas of old. And Fremont street delivers just that!

What was once seedy and run down, has now become kitsch with a "what once was old in now new" trend that has swept over the entire Fremont street area. Gone are most of the pawn shops and casinos that smell like piss (well mostly gone, some are still plenty stinky) and in are coffee shops, bars, and refreshed resorts!

So lets take a tour starting with the farthest point. This is where you will be dropped off at if you take the Deuce bus from the strip.

My first trip to Downtown was with my Dad back in late 1999. I didn't like it at all. Bums and beggars everywhere, I just wanted to get back to the Disneylandesque strip. But as I got older, and wanted more bang for my gambling buck, I started to head to Fremont street. After all, that's where all the "real" gamblers go. No club kids with their douchebaggery, or Gucci stores for me to walk by and never go in. Downtown is "my kind of people". Except some of "my kind of people" are a little dirtier than I prefer.

Sure, you still have beggars and bums, but they are no longer wondering free in the casinos. I used to be afraid to light up a cigarette, since it would attract the homeless like flies to shit. "Hey buddy can I get a smoke?" "Nope I don't smoke". "But I see you smoking, you're smoking right now!" "No I'm not". "Sure you are, you are even blowing smoke rings!" "Look leave me alone or I'll kick you in your face!" That's how it used to be when I'd travel down here. Now, not so much.

Below is a random look at my time on Fremont in the summer of 2012. Most of it is the same now, but some is completely different.

Fitzgerald's was being converted to the D. Mermaids and La Bayou still existed. And people once actually shopped in the Toy Shack.