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City AreasThe downtown area, covering a
roughly 2-mile radius emanating from Fremont Street and Las Vegas
Boulevard, has long been a center for courts, banks, government and, of
course, casinos. On the edge of downtown is the Gateway District. The area
is emerging as a central arts district, with the Arts Factory on
Charleston Boulevard as its cultural hub. A converted warehouse, the
Factory houses an array of arts organizations and businesses.
Neonopolis, a $99
million retail and entertainment complex opened in 1999, is a
20,000-square-foot nongaming complex will employ 550 people and
includes 14 movie screens, a half-dozen restaurants, several fast-food
outlets and more than 30 shopping opportunities.
While the legal eagles and public workers still tend to congregate
downtown, businesses and residents are moving ever outward. The migration
began to the south and east in the 1950s. Boulder Highway, the main
southeastern road running out of downtown, became a bustling thoroughfare
in those days. Today, Boulder Highway is, for the most part, a 24-mile
stretch of faded and ramshackle buildings, many of them vacant. Casino
owners along this stretch, however, have dubbed it The Boulder Strip.
Indeed, a half-dozen casinos already flank this new "Strip," and
more undoubtedly will follow.
Similarly, the near-west and south-central sections of the city have
the look of mean streets. These are low-income, high-crime areas notorious
for drug dealing and violence. The pocket between downtown and The Strip
is locally known as the "Naked City" for its proclivity to
prostitution and other vices. While legal in the rural counties of Nevada,
prostitution is prohibited in Clark County.
Despite ongoing redevelopment efforts, newcomers have steered clear of
these areas. Many commercial enterprises have set up shop north of the
city and south near McCarran International Airport. Light industrial
companies stretch south along the frontage roads and railroad tracks
paralleling Interstate 15.
The fastest-growing residential section of the city is the northwest,
where suburbia now stretches 20 miles toward the foothills past U.S. 95.
This has made for ever-worsening rush-hour traffic jams, as legions of
workers commute 20 or 30 miles south to The Strip. The crush has spurred
robust new neighborhoods in more accessible areas beyond the city limits,
such as the southeast and the southwest valley. In general, the valley is
split along an east-west line, with The Strip serving as the divider. A
patchwork of incorporated and unincorporated areas, the East and West
valleys are similar in many ways. U.S. 95 bisects each of them.
Increasingly, these regions share the same types of shopping, dining and
residential offerings. Chain-operated stores tend to place equal numbers
of outlets on each side of the valley. Yet as the region's population
sprawls--and travel times lengthen--residents increasingly identify
themselves as westsiders or eastsiders. Leisure and entertainment
activities tend to coalesce accordingly. It may not say much about a
distinguishable lifestyle, but it puts people on the map.
And casinos? Well, they're spreading in virtually every direction.
Despite efforts to confine their presence to the existing "resort
corridors," the city and county have allowed exceptions. This has
yielded a proliferation of gaming establishments throughout the valley,
ranging from corner bars with a handful of slot machines to full-service
casinos with sports books, keno lounges and hotel rooms. Indeed, things
have come a long way since 1906, when the Hotel Nevada opened at Main and
Fremont streets.
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