{"id":206070,"date":"2024-02-15T07:10:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T07:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/15\/15-surprising-awkward-things-you-didnt-know-about-downtown-las-vegas\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:21:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:21:51","slug":"15-surprising-awkward-things-you-didnt-know-about-downtown-las-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/15\/15-surprising-awkward-things-you-didnt-know-about-downtown-las-vegas\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Surprising, Awkward Things You Didn’t Know About Downtown Las Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n By Scott Roeben<\/a>, on February 14 2024 <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Downtown Las Vegas is a world all its own. We worked there for several years, and it\u2019s been our go-to place to gamble and carouse for two decades.<\/p>\n

Our obsession has given us an intimate knowledge of the business and culture of downtown, along with access to things you may not know, many of them surprising and awkward.<\/p>\n

Below are some of our favorites. If we turn up missing, you\u2019ll know why.<\/p>\n

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Something something about Fremont Street not being representative of all of downtown blah blah, along with a perfunctory mention of the Arts District or whatever.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. Costumed characters are often sex offenders.<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s a low bar to \u201cperform\u201d at Fremont Street Experience (FSE). Fremont Street is a public street, so Fremont Street Experience has virtually no control over the buskers. A while back, law enforcement did a sting and found many of the costumed characters (often appealing to children) were registered sex offenders. Yes, Fremont Street Experience gets a variety of complaints about buskers. Would Fremont Street Experience be better if they were able to curate all the performers on the street? Of course. But privatization of a public street would take consensus among all the business and property owners along the street, which is never going to happen. On the bright side, Fremont Street Experience has started posting notices tipping is voluntary, despite the increasingly aggressive behavior of some of the buskers.<\/p>\n

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Props to Fremont Street Experience for informing visitors that tips are optional for buskers, despite what these panhandlers (“showgirls,” costumed characters) claim and often aggressively badger unsuspecting tourists into paying. (pic via J. Cortez, Fremont Street Las Vegas\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/LpO8RJ93Zu<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) January 6, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

2. The people responsible for the maintenance of Vegas Vic suck.<\/h3>\n

Vegas Vic is an icon, and often neglected due to absentee owners of the Pioneer Gift Shop, Schiff Enterprises. Schiff avoids its obligation to maintain Vegas Vic until it\u2019s badgered by the City of Las Vegas (and us on social media). It\u2019s an ongoing battle.<\/p>\n

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Closer look at Vegas Vic so you can see his wink and smoke in action. @yesco_signs<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/QbNicNkjzt<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) May 21, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

3. Neonopolis management is impossible.<\/h3>\n

Neonopolis is a shopping mall that\u2019s struggled for years, all while being the butt of jokes about its seemingly random collection of tenants and high churn rate. Neonopolis lost Banger Brewing, Fremont Arcade, Krave, Telemundo and others, often because of questionable decisions by developer Rohit Joshi, who had a string of failed projects<\/a> before his tenure at Neonopolis. Coming up, CrashNBurn<\/a>, a name that tempts fate, but we\u2019re sort of looking forward to it.<\/p>\n

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Removing this mural was the worst decision Neonopolis ever made.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. The owner of Heart Attack Grill was accused of sexual harassment.<\/h3>\n

It didn\u2019t get a lot of news coverage, but certified oddball Jon Basso, owner of the Heart Attack Grill, was accused of sexual harassment<\/a>. Resolution unknown, but where there\u2019s smoke.<\/p>\n

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New seating and menu items at Heart Attack Grill. pic.twitter.com\/ur55fhiWK2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) May 12, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

5. Public officials turn a blind eye to fake weed store scams.<\/h3>\n

One of the biggest scams in Las Vegas is fake weed dispensaries, and Fremont Street has at least two. Real dispensaries (selling cannabis with THC, the chemical that gives people a \u201chigh\u201d) aren\u2019t permitted on Fremont Street, but fake dispensaries are happy to prey upon unsuspecting tourists who don\u2019t know any better. The City Cast Las Vegas podcast did a good job discussing this disgraceful scam<\/a>. Councilman Cedric Crear (currently running for mayor) represents Ward 5, the north side of FSE. Councilwoman Olivia Diaz represents Ward 3, the south side. The awkward part is the City of Las Vegas is aware of this fraud, yet the businesses continue to operate.<\/p>\n

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Cannabis IS legal in Las Vegas but could you spot a fake dispensary? \ud83d\udeab<\/p>\n

Here are 3 easy ways to spot them.<\/p>\n

-Dispensaries must be at least 1,500 feet from any casinos. This is a really easy way to rule out any shop that is located near a casino.<\/p>\n

-We recently passed laws to\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 City of Las Vegas (@CityOfLasVegas) August 18, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

6. Fremont Street Experience, the entity, is weird.<\/h3>\n

We worked at Fremont Street Experience for six years, and we can confirm it\u2019s weird. It\u2019s a group of casinos, competitors, working together to promote downtown. What\u2019s weird is not all the casinos on and around Fremont Street are members of the Fremont Street Experience. Plaza, Downtown Grand and El Cortez aren\u2019t members. There\u2019s a story behind each. Even weirder is Circa, The Cal and Main Street aren\u2019t technically members, although the owners of Circa also own Golden Gate and The D, and Boyd owns Fremont casino. Fremont Street Experience members have \u201cshares,\u201d and the owner of Binion\u2019s and Four Queens, Terry Caudill, has the most. That\u2019s right, Derek Stevens and his brother, Greg Stevens, own three casinos on Fremont Street (and the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center), Caudill owns two, but Caudill has more votes on the Fremont Street Experience Board. Downtown definitely needs a reality show. They tried, sort of, \u201cThe Downtown Vegas Reality Show,\u201d but flushed $1 million on it (the huckster producer allegedly tried to extort more money from FSE to get the underwhelming series finished, it\u2019s unlikely to ever see the light of day, as it featured the underwhelming former president of Fremont Street Experience, Patrick Hughes). Another item for future \u201cawkward facts about downtown\u201d lists.<\/p>\n

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Glad to see FSE getting some use out of these excellent photos for the shuttered “Fear the Walking Dead” attraction. The other thing nobody talks about? The million dollars FSE’s former president flushed on a reality series that will never see the light of day, “The Downtown\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/jWTItnNF7n<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) October 28, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

7. The SlotZilla zipline pays for everything.<\/h3>\n

Speaking of Fremont Street Experience, member casinos used to collectively contribute $5 million a year to the organization, its marketing arm. Once SlotZilla opened, all that changed. Fremont Street Experience is self-sustaining, and most of the people who ride the attraction say it\u2019s the main reason they visited downtown. How is this awkward? We actually forgot that is the premise of this story. It\u2019s sort of awkward when people pine for the days when there was no zipline on Fremont. You know who those people aren\u2019t? Casinos. The zipline is a customer delivery system.<\/p>\n

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Surprising and awkward: Yes, Steve Wynn flew on SlotZilla. Yes, we took this photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8. The mayor of Las Vegas has no say in anything related to The Strip.<\/h3>\n

The mayor of Las Vegas, Carolyn Goodman, is mostly the mayor of downtown, and has no say over anything on the Las Vegas Strip. This distinction is largely lost on members of the public and media, as evidenced by coverage of the mayor\u2019s recent thoughts about the A\u2019s relocation. Proclaiming \u201cLas Vegas Mayor Thinks A\u2019s Should Stay in Oakland\u201d like the mayor speaks for Las Vegas as a whole is very awkward<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Las Vegs is complicated.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

9. The mayor still has lots of power.<\/h3>\n

The mayor may not have much power on The Strip, but she and her husband, former Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman, have lots of pull downtown. The view from Oscar\u2019s Steakhouse at Plaza used to look at the back of the zipline landing platform. When Fremont Street Experience wanted public money for its renovation of the digital canopy for its light shows, the mayor signed off, but only if the project included more appealing visuals to enhance the view from Oscar\u2019s Steakhouse. When funding was needed for a promenade between Fremont Street Experience and Downtown Grand, the money appeared because the enhanced walkway created a better view and more accessibility from Fremont Street to the Mob Museum, a project championed by (wait for it) Oscar Goodman. We love them both. That\u2019s just how Las Vegas works. Catch us on the Plaza podcast<\/a> for more details.<\/p>\n

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The SlotZilla landing platform got a video screen, Las Vegas sign and other flourishes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

10. The Strat is part of downtown.<\/h3>\n

While The Strat is philosophically part of the Las Vegas Strip, technically, it\u2019s part of downtown. That\u2019s because it\u2019s in the City of Las Vegas, Sahara Ave. is the point of demarcation.<\/p>\n

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Yes, Strat is downtown, but every known fridge magnet of The Strip says it\u2019s part of The Strip. Awkward.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

11. Downtown\u2019s slots are tighter than The Strip.<\/h3>\n

We were as shocked as anyone, but it\u2019s true. Gaming revenue reports show that at some point, the \u201chold\u201d (the percentage casinos keep) on downtown\u2019s slot machines surpassed those on The Strip, which are notoriously tight. As the popularity of downtown has increased (our fault, sorry), the holds have been pushed up, too. We still consider downtown a great value, but the awkward numbers don\u2019t lie<\/a>. In 2023, the casino win percentage on slots was 7.5% on The Strip, and 8.5% downtown. Everything else downtown is half the price compared to The Strip, but just know what you\u2019re up against.<\/p>\n

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You thought we\u2019d do an entire story without A.I. depicting one of our ex-girlfriends reacting to losing on a slot machine or perhaps seeing us naked? Do you know this blog at all?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

12. Las Vegas Club was acquired because it was going to become a CVS.<\/h3>\n

Everyone plays nice downtown, but there\u2019s a lot of drama behind the scenes. The former Las Vegas Club, owned by Tamares Group (the same folks who own Plaza), was suffering, so Tamares decided to rent out a good portion of its ground floor to CVS. The thought of a CVS Pharmacy opening at the casino reportedly didn\u2019t sit well with Derek Stevens (understatement of the century), so he bought the casino. Las Vegas Club was demolished and is now the location of Circa Las Vegas. Behold, our former drone skills, or possibly skilz.<\/p>\n

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