Good things about Downtown Vegas

Maybe I overthink these things.  As long as a hotel room is clean and the shower is hot I can be pretty comfortable in a hotel room, but after probably too much hemming and hawing, I have a hotel room booked for my April trip to Las Vegas.

I'll be staying at The D Hotel  on Fremont Street downtown. 

I had originally planned to stay on the strip, where most tourists stay, but the prices were higher than I expected.  So I kicked around some options and ended up at the D.  Some people hate downtown, but I've stayed there a few times and have been perfectly comfortable. 

Here are just a taste of random things to like about downtown Vegas:

• Cheaper.  Everything in downtown is cheaper.  The hotels, the restaurants, the booze, the gambling, everything.  I suspect the hookers might be cheaper too, but outside my expertise on that one.
• The Fremont Street Experience light show is cheesy.  It's also pretty cool, and something that you won't see again.  So go see it.  Really.  My favorite is the American Pie show, especially the later shows, when the drunk and tipsy sing along with the last verse.
• The Fremont East district has really taken off, it seems.  The new bars have brought the young and hip to downtown.  Being neither young nor hip, I don't know too much about the area, but I remember when the walk from the canopy to the El Cortez Casino was downright scary.  It isn't anymore.  Well, not so much.
• The Mob Museum - Where else would it be?
• The Shipping Container Park - OK, so this one isn't open yet.  It looks pretty awesome though.

Just a few random thoughts for now. 

Thanks for reading, and have a nice day.

BTW, not sure why, but I haven't been able to load pictures here lately.  Sorry, I'm trying.

I Want to See What's Up at the D

In downtown Las Vegas there is a hotel and casino that used to be Fitzgerald's, now it's "The D."  Kind of a lousy name for a hotel/casino, but apparently it's now a "resort".  As in "The D Resort".  Still a lousy name.

I liked the old place just fine, it had a fake/creepy Irish theme and a nice balcony bar upstairs that looked out on the Fremont Street Experience.  It was a fun enough place, good dealers at least.  I stayed there once years ago, the rooms were fine enough in a Howard Johnson-type way.

Last year, Fitzgeralds was bought out by the guys that own the Golden Gate.  I haven't been there since, but these guys did a great job fixing up the old Golden Gate, so I'm optimistic here.  They built the Long Bar, supposedly the longest bar in Nevada (and who am I to argue), which looks like a pretty cool place to hang out in the pictures.  I'm also excited about Sigma Derby and "vintage" gaming on the second floor (Vegaschatter.com  tell you what sigma derby is).  If nothing else, the news coming out of the place makes me damn curious.

Oh, and Vegaschatter also reports that The D is hiring 100 party pit dancers.  Which also makes me curious.

But I think I'll still call the place the Fitz.