Stay, Stray, Play and Feast: Freemont Street Experience: Dazzling Old Las Vegas Downtown (Fabulous Las Vegas Series 11)

Freemont Street Experience
Dazzling Old Las Vegas Downtown
(Fabulous Las Vegas Series 11)

After a night time tour at the
spectacular Las Vegas Strip,

…we headed to the old Las Vegas Downtown.

...for the famous Freemont Street Experience,

and indeed, it was an unforgettable experience.

While most cities in the world are trying to preserve

their old down towns by religiously restoring them to

their old glory days exemplified by the old brick

buildings in the Boston Commons, in Massachusetts,

…the French Quarter of New Orelans

… the lovely historic Gas Lamp District-

in down town San Diego, California,

…the impeccably preserved Gothic

structures in the Old Town Prague,

…the delightful San Francisco’s

old Victorian downtown,

…and even the famed Town Square

in Brussels, Belgium, to name a few,

…Freemont Street restoration did the unthinkable

that could probably raise eyebrows of some traditional

heritage buffs had it happen in a more conservative society,

…by reinventing the old, laid back Las Vegas

downtown with a gaudy twist of modernity.

The old Freemont Street in Downtown Las Vegas

that was a part of the iconic Route 66 was renovated,

…the old buildings were restored and refurbished,

…and the street was covered with a LED display canopy
that stretches from Main Street to Fourth Street.

Called Viva Vision, the LED canopy is
supported by 16 massive steel columns,

…with nearly 2.1 million Incandescent lights installed

and illuminated by more than 12 million LED lamps.

The Freemont Street was pedestrianized as it was

closed to vehicles, and turned to a Pedestrian Mall.

Music is played throughout the mall coming from about

220 speakers powered by 550,000 watts of amplification,

installed by its main corporate sponsor, LG Electronics.

Free nightly entertainment are also provided on

the three stages throughout the Pedestrian Mall.

The Freemont Street Experience also

offers the two- level SlotZilla Zip Line.

The lower line runs halfway through the Pedestrian Mall

while the upper level runs the entire length of the mall.

Not to be missed at the Freemont Street Experience

is the Light and Sound Shows that begin at dusk

presented on the Viva Vision video screen canopy.

The bright street side neon lights and signs

are turned off, the concerts are stopped,

and what follows is a spellbinding spectacle.

The LED Canopy lights up in an awesome conflagration

of multi- colored dynamic abstract shapes and images,

…entrancing the tourists to a state of visual euphoria.

It was and delightful experience of being engulfed
by the beat of a blazing rhythmic music on the
background, and a feeling getting high not because
of hallucinogens but by the feast of the senses,

...of being overwhelmed by the spellbinding

multicolored images floating endlessly above you.

Except for the dazzling play of multi- colored dancing lights
on the canopy everything came to a stand still, and the people
seems to have been on a state of suspended animation,