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Downtown Las Vegas
Since the advent of the Strip in the days of Bugsy Siegel the Downtown area of Las Vegas has always seemed almost like a poor relative in comparison. The two areas have always competed for visitor dollars and Downtown has several premier properties such as the ever-popular Golden Nugget, thought by many to be the only Vegas establishment with real ‘class’. Today's Downtown also has a good selection of lower key casinos, showrooms and theatres that are often cheaper than their flashier rivals on the Strip. For food, this part of Vegas has some very good deals, much like the Strip used to have in the days when casino restaurants subsidized food costs. For example the San Francisco Deli in the Golden Gate Hotel (the first ‘modern’ hotel in Las Vegas) serves a mammoth-sized shrimp cocktail for a very low price.
Much of Downtown has been turned into a pedestrian mall affectionately known as ‘Glitter Gulch’. The latest and most impressive attraction to Downtown is the new Fremont Street Experience. It is as a 90 foot steel-mesh canopy that covers the street for four blocks. Embedded in the canopy are 2.1 million lights, and various video and laser features including moving pictures in neon. This has the effect of making everything in the street appear as if it is under one immense and very colourful roof. Thirty-five different computers and very advanced fibre optic technology control the system.
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