In the past I've made no secret that I prefer heading to Downtown Las Vegas over anything the Strip has to offer.
Yes, it's not as fancy, but it's also not near as expensive, the vibe is different, and while there's always the risk that you could get rolled, I've found it to be fairly safe, if not exactly inviting. I take some small measure of comfort knowing that someone realizes that they have to have you around to keep the bills paid, but isn't going to feel the need to fake unending enthusiasm about you showing up in their favorite place to play.
Fremont Street is where Vegas gambling started, and it's origins have, at this point, been romanticized to the point that the actual, ugly, reality has been white washed from existence. Early casinos were rough places, sawdust joints with Faroh tables, some Black Jack, craps, Roulette, and probably a poker game going on in the corner. Early justice was frontier justice, and if you were caught cheating the house getting trespassed was probably the least of your worries.
It was smoky, dirty, smelly and not at all a place you would want to take your family. Even after Benny Binion came to town from Texas it was pretty much the same, he just added carpet to his joint, but kept the games, and the frontier justice. Pretty soon things got regulated, the downtown area did what most downtown areas do and started to decay. It was dicey, at best. You were just as likely to be mugged and rolled in certain parts as you were to have a winning trip. Tourists avoided the place, and locals and deviants moved in.
A funny thing happened though, it (partially) rebounded. Casino owners like Steve Wynn moved in (to the Golden Nugget) before moving on to bigger (but not necessarily better) things, and ultimately corporations such as Boyd Gaming and Landry's took over. The Fremont Street Experience was built, and Tony Essilah of Zappo's fame made it his mission to revitalize the downtown district.
Then the Stephens brothers moved in, most publicly Derek Stephens, who transformed the struggling Fitzgerald into The D (horrid name, great place), bought and refurbished the old Golden Gate, and purchased the Las Vegas Club, demolished it, and recently announced the arrival of Circa, billed as the first downtown casino with Las Vegas Strip amenities. Will it work? Time will tell. But the outlying result is that Boyd just announced a planned renovation to the Fremont, transforming some rooms to suits which will include doubling their size, the Plaza just underwent a renovation which has improved the place, Golden Nugget continues to remodel and refocus under Tilman Fertitta, and the Downtown Grand continues to surprise, despite having trouble getting casino traffic.
The 4 Queens and Binions continue to chug along, with the 4 Queens currently being my favorite place downtown to play video poker. This includes the Long Bar at The D, which is still my favorite place to hangout. I'm also partial to El Cortez. It's by no means fancy but the customer service is excellent and the odds are fair. Their "Cabana Suites" (we use the term suites loosely) are my favorite rooms downtown. It also helps that the detached building has it's own desk clerk, and a security guard at the door 24/7, making it one of the most secure buildings on Fremont.
Downtown is a mixture of Vegas and inner-city blight. Because of that it has it's rules, and you have to learn to follow them. The buskers do get out of hand and there are places I wouldn't want to be caught late at night. But overall I've never felt threatened there, but I have been on the periphery of things that were not....good.
I'm not sure the slots are any looser than the Strip, but the video poker sure is, and to be honest that's probably what's bumping up their hold percentage. The Table games have lower limits as well, and it's still (just) possible to find a 3:2 $10 denomination Black Jack game offered at any time of the day.
Of course there's the zip line, which is fun, and you can dine well downtown, with the Triple George Grill, Andiamo's Steak House and Vic & Anthony's being high-end options. But they also have mid-range choices, including Binion's on the Roof, Hugo's Cellar at 4Queens, Pizza Rock near Downtown Grand and many Landry's options. In a class of it's own is Oscar's, possibly the best overall dining experience downtown.
But where downtown shines is in their value options. American Coney Island at the D, Magnolia Grill, Main Street Station and their pan roast, Bar B Que trucks and (still) ninety-nine cent hot dogs to cure that late night craving. You can, once, eat at Heart Attack Grill because you should, and Neonopolis has a selection of window-service street-food for when you don't really want something good, just something filling. Fast food and Starbucks and grab-n-go, it's all downtown.
Maybe my favorite non-casino restaurant in the city is downtown as well, just after you leave the Fremont Experience and right across the street from El Cortez is the Smashed Pig. I'm not kidding when I say that I was served the best fish n' chips of my life there. If you want a cocktail I recommend, without reservation, the Downtown Pimms.
Speaking of recommend, if you've never been to Oak & Ivy in Container Park go there, get one of the four seats on the inside, order a whiskey drink and watch the show, then enjoy one of the best cocktails anywhere in Vegas.
It's brilliant and trashy all at the same time, but there are signs that the cancer that is PGP is starting to creep in.
First it was Golden Nugget installing drink monitoring systems, adding to their already poor video poker odds. I'm not opposed to these systems on principle, but they don't even provide a come-in drink and your first 2-minutes sitting at the bar will be taken up with a rather surly bartender informing you that you haven't turned the light green yet and they cannot comp you a drink. It takes a special type of person to be a GN bartender, and they seem to have cornered the market.
Even El Cortez has a light system now, but you turn it green on your first hand. and their bartenders are much, much nicer about it.
The biggest problem downtown is the arrival of 3-zero Roulette at the 4 Queens, and the complete and utter destruction of the B-Connected Loyalty card at Boyd properties. I've already discussed the 4 Queens situation on a previous post, so I'm going to talk about B-Connected and it's problems here.
For one, their changes have made it impossible to earn comps unless you have moved to a higher level, and for video poker they have all but made the program useless. Like all companies, the rolled it out to great fanfare and advertised it as a boon to players, but the public saw through it and is now taken to calling it B-Conned. It's that bad. They've taken a once decent loyalty program and removed all value except at the highest tiers, of which they've decimated. This is too bad because Main Street Station, the California and Fremont are fun places to play. The only reason to play at Main Street Station now is for the scratch-cards you get on VP when you get a 4OAK. The California is good for people watching, but the Fremont is in wait and see mode until after their renovation.
Hanging over everything however is the opening of 18 Fremont, now called Circa. What the Stephens brothers are announcing sounds awesome, including the pool and the sports book, but it's unclear whether or not this is going to be a viable gambling destination, although early returns are not all that promising. The Stephens brothers are mimicking the Golden Nugget on their gambling, and that's not a good thing.
Tighter slots, worse VP odds, 6:5 (or even money) black jack and high table limits show that at least some of the current casino operators aren't correctly reading the room. People go to the Strip to party, they go downtown to gamble. If that proposition goes away, where do gamblers go?
Thoughts on that next time.
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