Being a local, I know that Las Vegas is full of many different and exciting things, but for some reason, I really wanted to write my blog about one of the most obvious ones, Fremont Street. I don’t make it down there very often, just because it is a hassle and full of big touristy crowds, but this assignment got me thinking about lots of places around here, and The Fremont Street Experience really stood out to me.
It is a small taste of old Vegas. Most, if not all, of the original hotels are still there. Granted they have slummed over the years, but if you think about it, Fremont is one of the bigger factors to how our city started. As I walked around with my friends I took a second to just look down the long row of flashing hotel lights and could only imagine how amazing it was all those years ago. I was seriously taking pictures left and right. Flickr.
When we first got there we walked straight into a crowd of people watching a cover band play ‘Word Up’ by Cameo. Fremont has a themed concert series every summer and they have concerts almost everyday of the week. This year their theme is ‘Nina Blackwood’s Absolutely 80s’. It was really awesome to watch people of all ages getting into it. Here is the schedule. As we made our way down the street we came across the common things you would expect to see on Fremont Street; the artist working on his spray paintings, lots of little kiosks selling the cheesy ‘I LOVE THE 80s' t-shirts, showgirls passing out beads, and of course a very large variety of tourists.
One of the newer things that I did notice were all of the random people dressed up as famous people or cartoon characters. They definitely weren’t hired by Fremont Street and you weren’t allowed to take a picture with them unless you ‘tipped’. I guess if you are that desperate for money it’s an easy and fast way to get some. Even with this recession, drunken people will pay for anything these days. I definitely had a great time people watching. It's starting to look like Hollywood more and more.
When it finally got dark enough the show above started. Everyone stopped where they were and just looked up. It was pretty amazing. The whole street literally went from a big cluster of people bumping into each other to almost dead silence. The theme of the first show they played was ‘The Doors’. I will admit though, the best part of my night was when the second show (‘Queen’) started playing, because that was when I ‘Flightlined’ right into it. If anyone has been thinking about trying the zip-line, I highly recommend it. It was the perfect ending to an interesting night of picture taking.