15 Photos That Will Make You Wish It Rained Every Day in Las Vegas

By Scott Roeben, on December 02 2014
4 min read 8 comments
Downtown Las Vegas Las Vegas Las Vegas Casinos Las Vegas Hotels Things to Do in Las Vegas

We love downtown Las Vegas. We work there (at Fremont Street Experience) and, more importantly, we play there, and we have since we first stepped foot in Las Vegas.

Downtown has more neon per square foot than anywhere in Las Vegas and possibly the world. Downtown has character, and colorful characters, galore.

Rain in Las Vegas is rare, but when it comes, it somehow manages to make downtown even more beautiful. (Which might explain why they always water down streets in movies and car commercials.) The rain even manages to wash away some of downtown’s sad.

Here are 15 photos of Fremont Street that made us fall in love with Las Vegas all over again.

Fremont Street in the rain
We begin our trek on Fremont Street on the east end, at the SlotZilla zip line. Rain can make even Walgreens pretty. OK, pretty-ish.

Westward ho. On your left is The D Las Vegas, formerly Fitzgerald’s.

The D Las Vegas
A renovated Fitz opened as The D in the fall of 2012.

The rain tends to keep people off Fremont Street, giving photographers a clear view of their subjects.

The D Bar
At the D Bar, you can choose to be served by flair bartenders or go-go bartenders. Sort of a no-brainer on that one.

Next up, the 4 Queens and Fremont casinos.

Fremont Street
Fremont Street and the Fremont casino were named after John Charles Frémont. Yes, with an accent mark. They don’t use the accent mark in downtown Las Vegas because they don’t like to put on airs.

The 4 Queens opened in 1966, and was named after the casino builder’s four daughters, Faith, Hope, Benita and Michele.

4 Queens
One of our favorite things at Four Queens is the happy hour at Chicago Brewing. Read more.

The Fremont has some of the sexiest neon in all of Las Vegas. When the Fremont opened in 1956, it was the tallest building in Nevada, especially when it was wearing pumps.

Fremont Casino Vegas
We’re tempted to get it on with this building. Which is probably considered wrong in some states.

The rain brings with it a certain quiet to Fremont Street that you don’t witness too often. When the rain stops, we like to just stand in the middle of the street and take in the glow. This would probably not have been wise back when cars drove up and down Fremont Street.

Fremont Street
Fremont Street closed to vehicular traffic in September of 1994. That’s when, according to some people on the Internet, Las Vegas was ruined and we’re all doomed. Or something. They know what they mean.

Here’s another view of the Fremont, mainly because it thinks the other angle makes its butt look huge.

Fremont Street
There’s a really, really tired guy responsible for changing all those neon bulbs. We’d say the guy should rest, but that might have a negative impact on our photos, so hang in there neon replacement guy.

What next? Binion’s. Binion’s has so much history, if you laid all that history end-to-end, it would serve no purpose because history doesn’t really work like that. Anyway, let’s just say Binion’s was the place where we became a craps fan, and where you can find cocktail waitresses who got their first waitressing jobs during the American Civil War.

Binion's Las Vegas
At Binion’s, you can have your photo taken with a million dollars. This blog holds the record for such photos, though, so just deal.

Just across the street is Golden Nugget. The Golden Nugget was once owned by hotel mogul Steve Wynn. At the time, Wynn was the youngest casino owner in all of Las Vegas. Now, he writes Broadway-style stage productions. Long story.

Golden Nugget hotel
Steve Wynn once put his elbow through a $40 million painting. Because he could, that’s why.

What number are we up to? We are a blog, not an abacus.

Binion's Las Vegas
Yes, Binion’s again. Total attention hog.

Nearby is Mermaids. First, Mermaids sells one of the most popular junk foods in all of Las Vegas, deep-fried Oreos. Second, this is the most attractive you will ever find Mermaids.

Mermaids casino
When it opened in 1956, Mermaids had the first escalator in Las Vegas.

It appears we’ve reached the west end of Fremont Street. Here, you’ll find Golden Gate, the Las Vegas Club and the Plaza. All exceedingly moist at this point in our journey.

Fremont Street
On a really cold day, they should spray down this part of the street and see if it’ll freeze over for ice skating. Because drunk people and ice skating are a sight to behold.

The Golden Gate, of course, it the oldest operating casino in Las Vegas. It opened in 1906. Golden Gate had the first telephone in Las Vegas. The telephone number was “1.”

Golden Gate casino
Again, the flair vs. go-go dilemma is easily solved by having a brain in your head.

Turning around and facing back down Fremont Street, we get a final look at the rain-soaked promenade that has hosted millions of liver-damaged visitors from around the world.

Fremont Street Las Vegas
Before it was the Golden Goose, it was the Mecca Casino. Before that, it was Buckley’s Jackpot Club. Before that, State Cafe.

Getting a gig at Fremont Street Experience was one of the best things that ever happened to this blog, bar none. Every day, we get to help throw a party so people can have as much fun as we do in downtown Las Vegas.

We hope you’ve enjoyed these photos as much as we enjoyed taking them, especially because we got to use taking them as an excuse to leave the office early and nearly drink ourselves into a coma. Allegedly.

We’d like to give a shout-out to nimbostratus clouds for making all these Fremont Street photos possible. We’d love to see your shots of Las Vegas, so post a link in the comments section, or share one on Twitter or something.