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More Downtown Progress

Discussion in 'Downtown Hotels' started by ValerieJo, Sep 18, 2013.

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  1. ValerieJo

    ValerieJo High-Roller

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  2. romstric

    romstric Tourist

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    First I've heard of it. I love to stay at the Cabana Suites, it looks close. I like the vibe of East Fremont. Sounds like a great addition. I'll be there in November - hope it's open.
     
  3. Vegas Insight

    Vegas Insight MIA

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    i'd read about it once before, forgot about it until i read that this morning. will be interesting to see it when it's finished. i didn't have much confidence it would be open by halloween.
     
  4. FXT

    FXT VIP Whale

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    Seems a lot like the Neonpolis complex no? They have a pretty hard time trying to draw the tourism dollar into there. Having a hard time seeing how another complex further away from the canopy plans to do what Neonpolis isn't able to.
     
  5. Vegas Insight

    Vegas Insight MIA

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    it smells to me like a low-rent way for businesses to get a foot in the door, so to speak, and i didn't get a sense that this is driven at the tourist. i'm sure the tourist is part of the business plan, but i didn't sense it was intended to be a tourist trap. perhaps i'm wrong. i've been wrong twice already this year.
     
  6. makikiboy

    makikiboy VIP Whale

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    we shall have to see if this will be a bust or not. Unfortunately the place isn't sheltered from the elements so it might be too cold for the winter/early spring months (dec - march) and way too hot for the summer season, they really will need to have a/c's for summer and heaters for the winters.

    Like the Neonopolis, I will probably visit the place once but doubtful I would make this place a regular visit whenever I vacation in vegas. One plus is the opening of the downtown grand, hopefully that will bring in more people to downtown who can visit the place.

    wonder if they are going to charge for parking, that is one thing that might scare away the locals. Then we will have to see if the noise from the music and the place will affect the cabana suites, the EC is already innundated with noise from the clubs certain times of the year.
     
  7. marksind

    marksind VIP Whale

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    Downtown Update

    Got back Thursday from five days, four nights downtown, staying at the Golden Nugget. I made a point of trying to check out a variety of things I've seen posted over the past month or so. Here are a few observations (forgive me if some of this has already been noted by others!):

    Lady Gogo is no more. The west end stage had a couple of dancers who looked like they were borrowed from the Golden Gate. No crowd involvement, just the "table top" dance stuff. Checking out her Facebook page I see she announced in mid-August she'd be leaving Fremont Street. Sad to see her go. She was a great entertainer. They'll need to come up with something better than what they had last week!

    The bums, homeless, beggars, etc. were very noticeably present. They didn't bother us other than the generic "spare a dollar?" stuff, but there sure were a lot of them.

    The costume beggars (to me, anyway) are getting so numerous they seemed at times to almost equal the people milling around Fremont. Wish they could do something about them, but apparently not.

    Buskers also were present in numbers I hadn't seen. Puppeteers seem to be the new rage.

    All in all, my wife found the quantity of the three categories above to be almost overwhelming. She's a more marginal fan of downtown than me, and her enthusiasm has definitely waned.

    Porn slappers were also present, but not slapping and widely spread out. We never saw more than three at a time along the FSE. It wasn't "running the gauntlet" like on the strip.

    Workers were finishing painting Slotzilla. No lines hung yet, but the main structure appears to be about finished. And boy is it ugly! Also, it really destroys the view to the east of East Fremont and beyond, which to me was always a great night time vision (the restored neon signs, fading to just the streetlights beyond). It almost seems to close off the FSE from East Fremont. I wonder if that's intentional?

    The free internet was working well (strong signal) while outside. But we couldn't sign in. You get a FSE home page which gives you options, including going to the internet, but choosing that always circled back to the FSE home page. Maybe they're not ready to crank it up yet.

    The Downtown Grand is almost done. We walked down and peered in the windows. Tried to get inside but understandably they wouldn't let us in. They are in the final stages, touching things up, cleaning the glass, installing fixtures, etc. Machines have already been installed in the casino. The place looks nice from the outside. Workers said it's opening before the end of the month.

    Went into the Gold Spike and were met by the ever-friendly and youthful Zappos contingent that runs the place. They call the main area the "living room" now, and that's kind of what it looks like. They said the hotel rooms are being used for Zappos employees, but they are considering opening up a floor for general rental again. Also walked by the new headquarters, which is discretely identified as Zappos. The parking garage was well occupied, so they must have moved a lot of employees in at this point.

    Also wandered down the the Container Park across from El Cortez. It's almost finished. It appears events are already being held there. Tony Hsieh's vision is so different from typical Las Vegas. There was a list of educational seminars, meditation and dance classes being held that week in various containers. It'll be interesting to see how this all eventually melds with what's already downtown, or if an artificial border will develop.

    Outdoor bars along the FSE seem to encroach ever more into the pedestrian area. They were getting ready for Biker Week when we were there, and Binions had put up a temporary extension to their outdoor bar that stuck way out. It can be a pain to dodge them, the kiosks, the beggars, costume characters, buskers, etc. when things get crowded.

    The Four Queens has two good offers right now. The first is easy. Just show your player's card at the player's club along with your card from another casino and get $10 of free slot play. The other is called "Football Match Up." On Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays before 10 pm they will match your Chicago Brew receipt with free play (min $20, max $50). They also give you a $10 match play coupon for table games. Binions has the same offer for Benny's Bullpen receipts. I think this is what some others have posted re: the Four Queens giving free play for Chicago Brew receipts.

    Here are a few observations/comments about the Golden Nugget:

    The pool closes at 5. Seems way too early, but the upstairs pool is free after 5 and open until 2 am.

    Is the Carson Street Cafe gone for good? Sure looks like it. They've taken away any mention of it, and it's been so well boarded up you'd never know it existed.

    For the first time we scored the free upgrade with our Landry's card. My reservation was through Hotels.com, so I wasn't expecting it. I asked anyway and the nice woman at check in obliged. Got a Gold Tower room with a pool view. Can't say the room is much different than the Carson Tower, but the elevators are never crowded and it's more convenient to everything. I also got the coupon book by asking for it. I've noticed that they don't appear to offer these outright, but they've always given me one if I ask. That's been the case whether my reservation included one or not.

    We gambled at The D a few times during the day. The music just seems to get louder. I played blackjack for an hour or so but couldn't take it even though I was winning. Everyone at the table was complaining. The dealer said she hears it all the time during the day, but "he doesn't listen to me."

    The D used to have a Pai Gow table that was $5 during the day. Now it's Pai Gow Mania. Same game with two side bets instead of one. Silly, because it makes the game even slower. But great for those of us who want maximum alcohol per dollar lost! Now the limit fluctuates depending on how full the table is. They raise it to $10 whenever it fills (those playing get to stay at $5) and lower it when it empties. Kept me from playing a couple of times when there was a free seat.

    Played video poker for awhile at the Boar's Head Bar at Main Street Station based on the comments of other board members. You all are right - the bartenders are great and they have decent pay tables at the bar. We had good luck while drinking good craft beer!

    It didn't seem very busy during the week. Even the pool at the Golden Nugget wasn't too crowded, and the weather was great (highs in mid-80s). I hope things really are picking up downtown, because there needs to be more regular folk to dilute the elements that seem to be on the increase.

    Different topic - we always go to The Palms during our visits to take advantage of the SlotPlayCoupons.com offer ($40 of play for $25). The Palms has great video poker pay tables at the $.25 level (Bonus, Double, DoubleDouble, 9/6 JOB). They also have a very good and cheap lunch buffet (something like $6.99 for Player's Club members). And they serve Sam Adams on the floor, which only the California does downtown. It's a nice change of pace, and we always seem to come out ahead there.

    This was a good low-roller trip for us. Won about $600 the first day, got massacred the second and third days, and won a couple of hundred the final day to finish a little ahead on our gambling. Always makes you want to go back when you win!
     
  8. Jane42

    Jane42 Low-Roller

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    marksing - thanks for the walk through Downtown - good to know what is happening! We are heading there at the end of November!
     
  9. mraudit

    mraudit I wear this on the plane!

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    Awesome little report there. Glad you had fun. I hate to hear about all of the costumed people bothering people to have their picture taken with them for tips. Last October I thought there were way to many, and it sounds like there are even more now. I really do wish something could be done. Couldn't they just have them all move down to in front of the new SlotZilla?
     
  10. ValerieJo

    ValerieJo High-Roller

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    Marksind. We were there Thursday to Sunday. Your report was spot on! My observations about downtown are basically a mirror of yous.

    Really sad to see Slotzilla blocking such a great view of Fremont East.
     
  11. marksind

    marksind VIP Whale

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    ValerieJo,

    Sounds like you got to be there for the biker weekend! Were you riding your Harley? I've actually found those folks to be an OK lot. A couple of years ago we ended up being there during the event (didn't know it til we were there), and talked with quite a number of bikers during our visit. They were all regular types. Didn't see any of the notorious gangs represented though.
     
  12. ValerieJo

    ValerieJo High-Roller

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    It was a coincidence that we were there on Bike Weekend. However, there were absolutely no issues with the bikers. For the most part they were an older group just enjoying downtown Vegas like everyone else.
     
  13. brandi.boots

    brandi.boots Low-Roller

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    Marksind, I just wanted to say Thanks for all that info! As I will be there at the end of the month, it kinda helped me make some decisions on what to do. Thank you again.
     
  14. marksind

    marksind VIP Whale

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    brandi.boots, glad you found it useful. I get a lot of helpful info from these forums, so it's nice to be able to contribute as well. Hope you have a great time.
     
  15. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    That was a great update Marksind. You managed to cover a lot of ground with that report. :beer: Thanks for the great info. :thumbsup:
     
  16. GrtWitHntr

    GrtWitHntr Low-Roller

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    Marksind, great re-cap, good info. Thanks for taking the time to write it up :beer:
     
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