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| - It is with great trepidation and humility that I compose this review of a place that I have been known to literally curse ever since 1995 when that obnoxious gagillion lightbulb canopy was installed over Fremont Street and the street was officially closed to traffic, converting it instead to a pedestrian-only walkway. I tend to consider myself a Old Vegas loyalist, reminiscing about how things used to be while just treading the line between warped, frustrated old man and nostalgia junkie (yes, the former is a random reference to Mr. Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life"). Having said that, the wife and I used to seek out the Strip for random nights on the town and occasional one night staycation's. Moving to Vegas in 2004, it really wasn't until 10 years later in 2014 that we really started hanging out Downtown. Right around the time when I started volunteering as a docent (tour guide) at the Neon Museum, we started to call Downtown Las Vegas home, and I'm happy to say we truly love it there, and the Fremont Street Experience is certainly something worth checking out.
This is a place that will conjure up emotions of love, hate, fear, disgust, and everything in between. There are certainly things I love about Fremont Street (history, people watching, gambling value, food choices) and things I detest (street performers, beggars, homeless, Child Trafficking protesters, overpriced sidewalk bars), but yet I'm still drawn there as often as possible with the wife and occasionally the kids for an entertaining night on the town.
I'm not a fan of the stages, the slotzilla Zipline, or the street performers/beggars, but I do enjoy the eclectic mix of every kind of Vegas freak you can imagine that all descend on Fremont Street nightly. It's a mix of disgusting degenerates, Midwestern tourists, lost Europeans, and Vegas locals, with most of each category listed wandering around in a drunken stupor.
Overall, I look at Fremont Street as a faux-modernized time capsule. It tries to be hip and cool, but reality is that it is just a collection of old school casinos that cater to those that can't afford the Strip and those that appreciate a lower middle class and drunken degenerate low brow experience. Plus millions of dazzling LED lights. Lest we forget that. Enjoy!
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