BGuthrie Photos: NV -- Las Vegas -- Fremont Street Experience

NV -- Las Vegas -- Fremont Street Experience:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. FREMON_140714_090.JPG: Atomic Testing: After World War II, and during the early stages of the "Cold War" with the Soviet Union, the United States began above ground atomic testing in the South Pacific. The decision to move testing to Nevada was made primarily for national security reasons. The area had a small population and was already owned by the federal government. The first test at the Nevada Test Site was conducted on January 27, 1951. The test site was a boon for the Las Vegas economy, providing thousands of jobs and international publicity. Many locals and tourists traveled to Mount Charleston to better view the blasts. The mushroom cloud became a symbol of the times. Atomic hairdos, atomic cocktails, and Miss Atomic Bomb contests became part of the Las Vegas culture. Testing moved underground in 1963, after a treaty was signed by the US, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. Controversy arose over the issue of the "Downwinders," who were exposed to radiation, including soldiers who participated in the tests, are a tragic by-product of the era. The last underground test was September 23, 1993. A portion of the site, Yucca Mountain, is currently being developed for storage of nuclear waste.
2. FREMON_140714_096.JPG: Sunglasses were recommended for viewing the blasts by a 1955 Atomic Energy Commission booklet
3. FREMON_140714_100.JPG: The mushroom cloud over Fremont Street
4. FREMON_140714_108.JPG: Neon Neon lighting, introduced in Paris in 1910, offered a brilliant, and efficient, alternative to the incandescent light bulb. In the United States, neon's popularity soared, used to advertise motels, restaurants, theatres, and it even appeared on the Goodyear blimp. The spectacular signs of Broadway's "Great White Way" became the ultimate neon display. Then, just as quickly, its popularity faded. After World War II, skilled neon craftsmen retired and were not replaced; less expensive, mass-produced plastic signs became common. As the use of neon declined around the country, it found a new, unexpected life in Las Vegas. The first neon sign in Las Vegas was built in 1929, probably for the Oasis Cafe at 123 Fremont Street. The 1940s and 1950s saw the birth of the Las Vegas Strip and "Glitter Gulch" downtown. The hotels raced each other for the biggest, tallest, and brightest casino sign. Las Vegas wanted to project an image of lights, glamour, and excitement, and neon played a large role in creating that image. the signs dwarf the very buildings they are advertising; at night in Las Vegas, the signs themselves become the architecture. Neon has gaiety, joy, and pageantry. The canvas is the night.
5. FREMON_140714_113.JPG: The bull-nose sign at the Golden Nugget
6. FREMON_140714_114.JPG: The Mint sign, before the hotel was absorbed by the neighboring Horseshoe Club.
7. FREMON_140714_116.JPG: The Dunes sign towereed above the southwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road.
8. FREMON_140714_118.JPG: View of many neon signs along Fremont Street, 1940s
9. FREMON_140714_133.JPG: Note the zip-liners
10. FREMON_140714_169.JPG: Fremont Street During the 1940s, Fremont Street exploded with neon as signs became larger and more innovatively arranged, battling to catch the consumer's eye. Modern streamline styles appeared in sign design and many casinos featured lighted overhead canopies and large, rounded, ever-flashing bull-nose corners. The height of signs kept increasing, with the famous Las Vegas Club sign rising 120 feet above the sidewalk. Open frame signs appeared on rooftops, and combined with large marquees, they created neon "wraps" that covered the entire building facade with dazzling light. The most spectacular "wrap" was created at the Golden Nugget in 1956. In the 1950s and 1960s, the introduction of high-rise towers forever changed the scale of Fremont Street. Casinos expanded, absorbing neighboring businesses, exemplified by the Horseshoe Club's takeover of the Boulder Club and later the Mint. Wild West imagery remained popular, personified by the 1951 "Vegas Vic" sign, which waved at visitors with a friendly "Howdy Podner" from atop the Pioneer Club. True to its roots of spectacular lights, the biggest big-screen on the planet, Viva Vision, dazzles of 25,000 visitors nightly with free light and sound shows, and has become the signature attraction of the Fremont Street Experience. This canopy was built in 1995 and contains over 12 million LED lights and has a 550,000-watt sound system. Even with all these profound changes over the past 100 years, much of the history of Las Vegas still exists under the layers of neon at Fremont Street.
11. FREMON_140714_174.JPG: Fremont Street Experience
12. FREMON_140714_187.JPG: Binion's $1,000,000.00
13. FREMON_140714_253.JPG: At this site the first TELEPHONE was installed in Las Vegas
14. FREMON_140714_284.JPG: Fremont Street Standing on Fremont Street today, it's hard to visualize the canvas tents with hand-painted wooden signs that lined this dusty street and served as hotels, saloons, shops and banks in the early 1900s. During the transition from a frontier town to a neon-lined gambling extravaganza, Fremont Street, named after explorer John C. Fremont, has remained at the heart of downtown Las Vegas. For many decades, Fremont Street was where residents shopped, teenagers cruised, and tourists played. Early on, canvas tents were replaced with wood, brick, and concrete block buildings in the Romanesque, Victorian and Greek Revival styles. Like a typical western town, wide arcades and broad canopies with carved balustrades extended from high false fronts over the boardwalk. Corner buildings had angled entrances to take advantage of the busy intersection. The most historic survival of this era is the Golden Gate Hotel & Casino (then Hotel Nevada), which opened in 1906 at One Fremont Street. The hotel was built using concrete as the primary building material by John F. Miller, who bid successfully on the corner lot at the 1905 land auction that created the new town of Las Vegas. The sudden influx of tourism triggered by the construction of Hoover Dam and the legalization of gambling in the early 1930s fit perfectly with a "Wild West" theme that Las Vegas promoted, attracting thousands of visitors. Soon "sawdust joints" with wooden swinging or sliding glass doors replaced most of the smaller businesses along Fremont Street. Businesses had names like the Frontier Club and Hotel Apache, with signs rising above the rooftops with ornate western lettering and bright contrasting neon colors.
15. FREMON_140714_287.JPG: This is the view of Fremont Street that greeted visitors disembarking from the railroad depot.
16. FREMON_140714_289.JPG: Early Fremont Street
17. FREMON_140714_362.JPG: I liked the "Nacho Daddy" fast-food restaurant name
18. FREMON_140714_423.JPG: 1956 First downtown high-rise, Fremont, opens
19. FREMON_140714_448.JPG: The Original There's no substitute for experience. Sure, it's easy to toss up some neon and call it a day. But it's another thing to have built your legacy through the decades. To have stood shoulder to shoulder with Vegas icons from Bugsy to Frank, and to still be standing. We're the longest continuously-running hotel and casino in town. And we know what it is to be "Vegas." It's who were are and we won't apologize for it. That's why we're the original. If you want gimmicks and glitter, head down the street, where it's packaged and sold to the uninitiated. If you want to visit the real Vegas, you come to the El Cortez, our prestige is our pedigree. Walk through our door, and you've feel it. The history. At the El Cortez, the truth is in the cards. It's in the subtle perfection of a gin martini and the sizzle of a prime steak. When you're at the El Cortez, you know that you're part of something special. You're a guest. You're a rock star. You're the kind. Us? We're the Original El Cortez
20. FREMON_140714_599.JPG: El Portal Threatre "The Gateway" Built 1927-28 Architect: Charles Alexander MacNelledge Opened June 21, 1928 The building was Las Vegas' cultural center for many years. Its 700 seat auditorium and elegant Spanish motif lobby were used for films, plays, music recitals, vaudeville shows, high school graduations, and other social events. 310 Fremont Street.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Fremont Street Experience
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) is a pedestrian mall and attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The FSE occupies the westernmost 5 blocks of Fremont Street, including the area known for years as "Glitter Gulch," and portions of some other adjacent streets.

The attraction is a barrel vault canopy, 90 ft (27 m) high at the peak and four blocks, or approximately 1,500 ft (460 m), in length.

While Las Vegas is known for never turning the outside casino lights off, each show begins by turning off the lights on all of the buildings, including the casinos, under the canopy. Before each show, one bidirectional street that crosses the Experience is blocked off for safety reasons.

Concerts, usually free, are also held on two sound stages. The venue has become a major tourist attraction for downtown Las Vegas, and is also the location of the Neon Museum at the Fremont Street Experience and the city's annual New Year's Eve party, complete with fireworks on the display screen.

History:

Fremont Street is rich in history. It held many Las Vegas "firsts," including first hotel (the Hotel Nevada in 1906, present day Golden Gate), first telephone (1907), first paved street (1925), first Nevada gaming license — issued to the Northern Club at 15 E. Fremont St, first traffic light, first elevator (the Apache Hotel in 1932), and the first high-rise (the Fremont Hotel in 1956). The Horseshoe was the first casino to install carpeting, while the Golden Nugget was the first structure designed from the ground up to be a casino.

For many years, the western end of Fremont Street was the area most commonly portrayed whenever producers wanted to display the lights of Las Vegas. The large number of neon signs earned the area the nickname "Glitter Gulch."

The Fremont Street Experience was conceived in the 1990s as a way to draw more people to the ailing downtown gambling area. The FSE is a cooperative venture, owned and operated by a group of downtown hotel/casino companies (comprising 10 hotel/casinos) as a separate corporation, with the ongoing involvement of the city since the FSE is considered a city park.

It was the first Las Vegas project of architect Jon Jerde, whose firm was paid approximately $900,000 by the City of Las Vegas to create a show concept for the downtown area. Jerde's planning design was a floating sky parade which was to be suspended from the canopy. The concept was accepted by the Fremont Street Experience as well as the City of Las Vegas. Ultimately Jon Jerde's concept was scrapped.

The local Architect of Record, the firm of Mary Kozlowski Architect, Inc., cited the following as problems with Jon Jerde's concept:

1. Perspective: The view of the parade from below made the concept unworkable — to properly view the project would require that visitors stand at a raised elevation such as a third or fourth floor vantage point.
2. Wind: The addition of the canopy over Fremont Street would create a wind tunnel causing a dangerous condition for people on the floats who would be trapped. Also the potential for harmonic motion as the floats swung back and forth in the wind potentially resulting in massive structural failure of the canopy and fatalities.
3. Sand: The combination of desert sand and the mechanical systems of the sky parade would be difficult to maintain.

A new concept for the show was necessary quickly as funds were already available and the overall schedule was set. The concept for the show as it now exists was conceived by architect Mary Kozlowski who had grown up in Las Vegas and knew and loved Fremont Street. It was a light show on the underside of the canopy — the world's largest and most spectacular. Peter Smith, vice-president of Atlandia Design, recognized the beauty and practicality of the concept. Jon Jerde, FSE and the City of Las Vegas embraced the concept.

Kozlowski's concept was to use a combination of four colored light bulbs per "light" which allowed a full spectrum of colors. The Young Electric Sign Company assisted in creating the test panels and in the final installation. After the Fremont Street Experience opened, the light bulbs were checked nightly to ensure that all were functioning properly. To accomplish this massive undertaking, the length of the canopy was divided into panels. Each panel was checked by separately turning on each of the four colored light bulbs. A maintenance worker on a lift would then replace any bulbs that were out. The most expensive bulb costs nearly $15 to replace.

On September 7, 1994, a five-block section of Fremont Street was closed and the groundbreaking was held on September 16. After that, the digging up of the street and the installation of the support poles continued into December. On February 15, 1995, the space frames were brought in and the roof began to take shape. The last piece was installed in July 1995.

The official public preview was held in conjunction with the Nevada Symphony. The light show was opened a bit later on December 14, 1995. The first New Year's party was held on December 31, 1995.

The Neon Museum at the Fremont Street Experience opened in November 1996 with the Hacienda Horse & Rider sign being lit at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street. The museum features signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors. For many years, the Young Electric Sign Company stored many of these signs in their bone yard. The signs were slowly being destroyed by exposure to the elements. The museum is slowly restoring the signs and placing them around the FSE.

Permanent stages were added in the early 2000s, eliminating the need to bring in temporary stages for every event. The sound system was upgraded in June 2001.

On June 14, 2004, a $17 million upgrade was unveiled that would feature a 12.5-million LED display and more color combinations than the original display, which was composed of incandescent lighting.

Major Features:

Viva Vision:

The LED display "canopy", runs along the Fremont Street Experience promenade from Main Street to Fourth Street. Holding the canopy aloft are 16 columns, each weighing 26,000 pounds and can hold up 400,000 pounds, and 43,000 struts.

A section comprising one fiftieth of the total canopy equals the size of the world’s current largest electric sign. Originally, nearly 2.1 million incandescent lights were housed in the canopy. With the completion of the $17 million upgrade, more than 12 million LED lamps illuminate the overhead canopy. The new LED upgrade was designed and engineered by LG Electronics, who is also the primary corporate sponsor of the canopy. Within the canopy itself are 220 speakers capable of producing 550,000 watts of sound.

Light and sound shows:

Light & Sound Shows are presented nightly beginning at dusk. The number of nightly shows was increased during the 2004 upgrade. Some of the most popular shows include the "Lucky Vegas" show which pays tribute to some of the most well known Vegas icons. "Smoke, Speed and Spinning Wheels" gives visitors an inside look at the sport of race car driving. "Area 51" is a show that pits humans against a swarm of alien invaders. "American Freedom" serves as tribute to the United States while "The Drop" takes visitors on a journey that begins with one drop of water.

Pedestrian mall:

Created when Fremont Street was closed permanently to vehicular traffic in September 1994. When the light and sound shows are not being presented, music is played throughout the mall.

The parking plaza:

The parking plaza is located at the eastern end of Fremont Street. It is a 1,430-space parking structure built to accommodate an increase in visitors to downtown.

Neonopolis:

Neonopolis, forming the east end of the pedestrian mall, where Las Vegas Boulevard South meets Fremont Street, is a $100 million open-air restaurant, shop and entertainment complex with a 14-screen Galaxy Theaters movie theater. It is home to the Poker Dome Challenge.

Technical details:

The initial display contained about 2.1 million lightbulbs controlled by 32 computers located in kiosks on the mall. The sound system, using speakers suspended over the mall, was rated at 350,000 watts. Strobe lights were added at some point to provide additional entertainment options on Disco Nights.

Displaying images that looked "real" took some innovation. New techniques were developed to make these curved, low-resolution images viewable from the ground. One adjustment was to move images slowly across the display to prevent blurring.

The 2001 upgrade to the sound system raised the power to 550,000 watts.

The 2004 upgrade features a 12.5-million LED display and more color combinations than the original display. The old control system was replaced by a central control room using 10 computers.
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