I love Las Vegas’s Vintage Neon Signs. They’re one of my favorite attractions in old downtown Las Vegas, which is located at the north end  of the strip on Fremont Street.  If you haven’t already been there, you must add it to your ‘to do’ list next time you’re in town. The scale of this area is much more human than the strip, with it’s mega casinos and hoards of tourists 20 deep on the streets. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still packed on Friday and Saturday nights with plenty of freaky folks to rival those on LA’s  Hollywood Boulevard. But there’s something old world and nostalgic about this area that keeps me coming back.

Named for John Charles Fremont,  it  dates back to 1905 when Vegas was founded, and became the city’s first paved road in 1925. Gambling was legalized in 1931 even though it was established well before then. The western end of Fremont Street was quite literally the picture of Las Vegas that was included in virtually every tv show and movie displaying the lights of Vegas…  think Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas 1964, or James Bond‘s Diamonds are Forever in 1971.

The road  to Glitter Gulch was closed to traffic in 1994, and the city embarked on construction of the Fremont Street Experience,  designed exclusively for  pedestrians. Imagine a metal canopy built 90 feet above the street that’s 90 feet wide and over  1500 feet long (4 blocks). Known as the Viva Vision Screen, it’s made up of 12.5 million LED lamps with a 550,000-watt sound system and plays 6 minute shows every hour beginning at dusk till 1:00 am. Recent expansion to the east, known as Fremont Street Experience East, features more of the refurbished vintage neon I’ve posted above and leads to several urban nightclubs.

If all of this isn’t enough to get you to old downtown Las Vegas, then go for the deep fried Twinkies and Oreos served at Mermaids Bar and Casino… that’s right, I loves me some junk food! Go big or go home. Honestly, it’s the first stop I make when I head to Vegas. However, it’s quite rich, so you might want to share an order with a special someone. But get there before midnight, because as I recently found out, that’s when they quit serving it.  I was ecstatic to get the very last order when I stopped in there a couple of weeks ago… and the twenty people behind me in line were groaning pretty loudly.   And let me tell you, there was a guy hovering near my table as he ‘waited for his wife’ who was using the restroom. He was eyeing the goods… but I wasn’t sharing. No way no how.