9 Shocking Secrets of Old Las Vegas – Fremont Street History Edition

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Fremont Street is known for its oversized light display and its somewhat loose slots is a major tourist draw. Bringing Millions of people downtown to try their luck and experience some old school Vegas fun. This small section of Las Vegas played a big part on the building of the gambling mecca that is today known as Las Vegas. It does however have some major secrets!

Here is a sample of the 9 historical shocking secrets of Fremont Street and Old Las Vegas

1 First State Bank

The northeast corner of First and Fremont streets was where the First State Bank building was located until the Mint Hotel expanded. The Mint Later was bought by and incorporated into Binion’s. This area was located very near the original gambling clubs, bars, brothels.

2. Golden Gate First

Now known as The Golden Gate Hotel and Casino and originally know as the Hotel Nevada then the Sal Sagav, Las Vegas spelled backwards, has been the home to many Vegas first!

3. Wall Whisky

On the site of what was most recently the Golden Goose Gentlemen’s Club and is now part of the expansion of the Golden Gate Hotel and Casio once stood both the Barrel House Beer Garden and the State Cafe. Since the State Cafe was opened during prohibition it was barred from serving alcohol.

4. Vegas Vic is a triplet

Outside of what is now a gift shop, on the former spot where the Pioneer Club was previously located during Freemont streets earlier days you will find Vegas Vic, a 40-foot-high neon cowboy who has been smoking the same neon cigarette for over 65 years. It would be hard to imagine Freemont street without this unique Vegas symbol.

5. Block 16

The largest collection of brothels in Las Vegas existed on this block from about 1906 till they were also eventually closed in the 1940’s when the US army put pressure on local officials to close them in a deal o bring more military facilities and hence more income into Las Vegas.

6. First Casino Hotel Concept

What rooms existed were mostly small motels structures in the area and were often used more for prostitution than legitimate lodging. That is until the building of the Golden Nugget. It is the first structure designed from the ground up to be a casino hotel. Under the leadership of Steve Wynn in 1972 to 1977 1900 hotel rooms were built all of them existing to this day.

7. Viva Vision

In 2004 Viva Vision was updated and the incandescent bulbs in the canopy were replaced with 12 million led lights, the sounds system was replaced and now boast 550,000 watts of power and the entire show is not run from one central location using only 10 computers.

8. The Mob ruled Downtown for years!

Like most of Las Vegas the casinos that exist now on Freemont street can almost all be traced back to the Mob when they ran Las Vegas before gaming corporations took over after organized crime were ran out of the gaming industry. Here are some examples….

9. El Cortez Hidden Suite.

The Jackie Gaughan suite is a tribute to the El Cortez’s former owner, Jackie Gaughan. He and his wife, Bertie Gaughan, lived in the two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom suite with living room, sitting room and kitchen for 25 years.

Credits:

Video: Copyright 2017 Screwy Monkey / 2XSCO.
Photos: Video: Copyright 2017 Screwy Monkey / 2XSCO or Public Domain
Music: Fair Use In Editorial Context.

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