Fremont Street runs east from Main Street, where the Union Pacific depot stood, and the casino district on it was built outward from that corner over the following century. Walked west to east, the street goes from the oldest hotel in Las Vegas to the newest in two blocks, then past the canopy to the district the city built in the 2000s.
Main Street
The Plaza occupies the head of the street, on the site of the railroad depot. It opened in 1971 as the Union Plaza, with what was then the largest casino in the state, and the depot’s function was kept: Amtrak served the building until 1997. The hotel’s upper floors face straight down Fremont Street under the canopy.
Across Main Street is the Golden Gate, which opened in 1906 as the Hotel Nevada and is the oldest hotel in the city. It installed the first telephone in Las Vegas; the number was 1. The property has been expanded repeatedly, most recently with a tower in 2012, but the original structure stands at the corner.
Behind it, filling the block between Main and First on the north side, is Circa, which opened in October 2020. It was the first casino resort built from the ground up in downtown Las Vegas since 1980. Its sportsbook is the largest in the city by seating, and Stadium Swim, a six-pool amphitheater facing a 143-foot screen, operates year-round. Circa and the Golden Gate share an owner, Derek Stevens, who also owns The D.
Under the canopy
The Fremont Street Experience canopy covers the street from Main to Fourth. It opened in December 1995, a public-private project intended to arrest the decline of downtown as the Strip’s new resorts drew visitors away. The current screen, installed in 2019, runs light shows hourly after dark. SlotZilla, a zipline that launches from a tower at the east end, runs the length of the canopy beneath the screen.
North side, First to Third: the Golden Nugget, opened in 1946 and expanded under Steve Wynn’s ownership in the 1970s and ’80s into the largest and most upscale property downtown. It has been owned by Fertitta Entertainment since 2005. The Four Queens, next door, opened in 1966 and is one of the two downtown hotels that charge no resort fee.
South side: Binion’s, the former Horseshoe, where the World Series of Poker was first held in 1970 and where the 1932 Hotel Apache rooms reopened in 2019. The Journal’s history of the property is here. The D, at Third, was Fitzgeralds until Stevens bought it in 2011 and renamed it in 2012. The Fremont, owned by Boyd Gaming, opened in 1956 as the tallest building in Nevada.
Fourth Street
The canopy ends at Fourth. The Downtown Grand is a block north on Third, a 2013 rebuild of the former Lady Luck, owned by CIM Group. East of Las Vegas Boulevard the street becomes Fremont East, an entertainment district the city designated in 2007 and marked with restored neon signs. It holds most of downtown’s independent bars and restaurants. Downtown Container Park, at Seventh, opened in 2013 as a retail and food development built from shipping containers.
Sixth Street
The El Cortez stands at Sixth and Fremont. It opened in November 1941 and has not closed since, making it the longest continuously operating casino in Las Vegas. Benjamin Siegel and partners bought in during 1945 and sold the following year; Jackie Gaughan acquired the property in 1963 and his family’s connection to it continued for decades. The hotel tower was added in 1952. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. Its coffee shop occupies the same corner it has for most of that time.
Walked in the other direction, the same five blocks sort by price. The no-fee hotels and the El Cortez are the cheapest rooms on the street; Circa and the Golden Nugget are the most expensive. The distance between them is a ten-minute walk.