Thriving neighborhood: Downtown Las Vegas

We were moving by Uber to another (cheaper) hotel on Thursday morning: The Strat. Not really fancy, but, well ,,, since two events are taking place this weekend, it was hard to get a room for a decent price anyway.

After moving, we walked (!) to downtown, over 30 deg C already in the morning. With a stop at the post office and on a constant search for good coffee, we came into a neighborhood we haven't explored before, along Fremont Street, far East, out of downtown. That was, where Las Vegas was "born", where in the 1930ies the first hotels and casinos opened up. On the way, we saw a lot of shut-down motels, often with the old neon signs and in the old style, flat buildings around a courtyard (see pics). 

 

One of them, The Fergusons Downtown (pictures below), was transformed into a nice shopping/dining/event place, and even offers some green and some seating! Wondering, whether there are similar plans for other motels?

 

After lunch break at a taco place in the Container Village closeby Fremont Street Experience (pic above), we visited The Mob Museum (below), situated in the restored former U.S. Post Office and Courthouse from the 1930s. It's large and unique and all about organized crime, "the mob", and, about law enforcement, including an "Underground Speak-easy" and a distillery, Firearm Training Simulator and an Electric Chair.

Checked out the new Circa Resort & Casino next, the first newly built hotel in Fremont Street since 1980. The property was previously occupied by three other casino-hotels, of which we still know the Mermaids and the Glitter Gulch Strip Club.  Unique is the three-story "Sportsbook" arena with huge screens. 

 

Ended up in downtown's Brewery Row, in the Able Baker Brewery, and with an IPA in hand, we sat outside and called it a day. Oh, BTW: nothing is inexpensive in Vegas anymore. The time of cheap buffets and cheap drinks is long over. Most is overpriced here nowadays. Workforce seems to be in short supply as well, COVID may have had an important influence on that. But,,, beer became much better.

We walked back in the dark. The photo below shows the new illuminated, over 25 m high Las Vegas arches - a gateway to downtown Las Vegas, in front of our hotel, replacing the old "Welcome to LV Downtown" sign.