Las Vegas, Nevada - Fremont Street

We talk about "Main Street" a lot in this country. It's a familiar idea to Americans. After all, just about every city in America has a main street...even it it's not called "Main Street".

Many European and Asian cities have their versions of this, as well, but as so many interesting streets are found in many Cities of the World, it's sometimes hard to tell which street is "main"!

Well, you will not have that problem in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In Vegas, Fremont Street is it.

Of course, there are those who will tell you that "The Strip", an approximately 4.2-mile (6.8 km) stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada may argue the point. Visit Fremont Street and make up your own mind.

Just like New York City has Times Square at Broadway where the neon lights astound visitors. Las Vegas has Fremont Street.  While Paris is appropriately nicknamed the City of Lights, Las Vegas is unique...and awfully well lit itself. Nowhere outside Asia can you find such a dazzling array of sights and sounds, with crowds to match as you will on Fremont.

Housed under a permanent canopy, the casino-lined street has over two million lights and a state-of-the-art sound system. The combined effect is...well...electric! Under the $70 million canopy will walk a million visitors a year, if "walk" is the proper term.

After all, the Fremont Street Experience is many things to many people.

On many nights, for some, it's more like being the ball in a pinball game. Not that it's actually what you could call "overcrowded".  It's just that you spend so much time trying to take in all the sights, you have to bump into, and rub shoulders with, the other visitors fairly frequently.

Rubbernecking is understandable, as ninety feet above your head there are 12.5 million synchronized LED lights producing millions of color combinations, accompanied by animation and video. One second you may be seeing a TV broadcast, the next an indefinable kaleidoscope that pops your pupils. Among the better known signs is Glitter Gulch's Vegas Vickie, the huge neon cowgirl enticing passersby into the show which features many scantily clad women.  Vickie exemplifies everything that is Las Vegas. Kitsch, fun, sexy, carefree and silly.

Videos are projected onto the Fremont Street canopy, too.

Some last several minutes and run the gamut from 'The Drop', a psychedelic 'happening' ala the '60s, to 'Area 51', showing earthlings in battle with aliens. 'Above and Beyond' gives visitors a view of the Earth from outerspace, while 'Fahrenheit at Night' displays some of what Vegas is best known for...beautiful women.

Along the street, below the psychedelic pseudosky, there are dozens of shops where you can find everything from small indoor venues to free standing kiosks offering just what you'd expect - little trinkets that will break the first time your child goes to play with them. But, among the cheap geegaws, there is the odd interesting item here and there. At the very least you can grab a doughnut at the Krispy Kreme and enjoy the sights from the outdoor patio.

The canopy is 1,400 feet (about 1/4 of a mile), so you'll have plenty of opportunity to miss something interesting. Better plan to go twice, at least once when you're sober.

Fremont Street Experience
425 Fremont St.
Las Vegas, NV 89101
(702) 678-5777

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