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500th post! YAY!
Here's the downtown casinos:
The area of Fremont Street from Las Vegas Boulevard to Main Street has been made over into a strictly pedestrian zone (well, not exactly -- if I remember correctly Casino Center Boulevard cuts through it) known as the Fremont Street Experience. Some may remember Fremont Street used to allow vehicles once as a two-way street (see Diamonds Are Forever and Vega$), later as a one way street until the mid 1990s. There is an overhead canopy loaded with all kinds of light bulbs that do an hourly sound and light show.)
El Cortez -- Technically outside the Fremont Street Experience area, but considered a Glitter Gulch casino. Old, ratty-looking hotel catering to lower-income locals.
Fitzgerald's -- Big, cramped, stuffy casino, relatively cheap rooms -- the equivalent to the Irish dive casino/hotel.
Sam Boyd's Fremont -- Older casino, not bad.
Four Queens -- Decent casino.
Golden Nugget -- Before Steve Wynn made it big with the Mirage, he turned a dump into a really nice upscale casino. If you stay downtown, recommend this hotel/casino.
Binion's Horseshoe -- The original and best; originally a straight gambling hall with only a few rooms until Benny Binion bought the Mint casino next door for the rooms. Unless it's changed since the last time it was there, the only place where you could play full table baccarat for $5 a hand. (Most places offer only mini-baccarat (baccarat layed on a blackjack table) for $5 a hand; if you want full table baccarat, be prepared to fork over a minimum of $100 a hand.) Home of no-limit gambling. One time a gambler went up to one of the craps tables at the 'Shoe and brought a briefcase loaded with about $200,000 in cash. Benny Binion accepted the bet -- and lost. He paid up.
All the other casinos are mostly sucker joints with tight slot machines except for the Golden Gate. This is where my younger brother got his start as a craps dealer 13 years earlier. The GG has a good (and cheap!) shrimp cocktail.
Union Plaza -- Also home to Las Vegas' Amtrak station. The area ain't the greatest and the hotel looks old. Next door is the bus station and it's a dump.
Las Vegas Club -- Small casino, big on baseball theme.
Main Street Station -- North of Fremont near 95 -- First known as the Park, and originally one of the spinoffs of Orlando's Church Street Station, the hotel was bought out by the Boyd Group and is an overflow hotel for the California across the street.
California -- Caters to the Hawaiian/Asian clientele; the local Hawaiian community has a luau there in one of the upstairs lounges once a month.
Lady Luck -- Not bad, but could be better. Lousy surroundings, though.
__________________
ASF
Causa latet vis est notissima - the cause is hidden, the results are well known.
Alpha Alpha (University of Oklahoma) Chapter, #814, 1984
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