Fremont Street Experience Las Vegas
The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) is a pedestrian mall and attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The FSE occupies the westernmost 5 blocks of Fremont Street and portions of some other adjacent streets.
The FSE was conceived in the 1990s as a way to draw more people to the ailing downtown gambling area. The FSE is a cooperative venture, owned and operated by a group of ten downtown hotel/casino companies as a separate corporation, with the ongoing involvement of the city since the FSE is considered a city park.
The attraction is a barrel vault canopy, 90 feet high at the peak, that covers four blocks or approximately 1,500 feet. It was the first Las Vegas project of architect Jon Jerde, who went on to design the facade of Treasure Island, the Bellagio, and other projects on the Las Vegas Strip. The underside of the canopy is covered with an LED display, referred to as "Viva Vision" and built by the LG Corporation, programmed to show periodic sound-and-light presentations after dark.
While Las Vegas is known for never turning the outside casino lights off, each show begins by turning off the lights on all of the building, including the casinos, under the canopy. Before each show, the streets that still cross the experience are blocked off for safety reasons.
Concerts, usually free, are held on two stages. The venue has become a major tourist attraction for downtown Las Vegas, and is also the location of the Neon Museum at the Fremont Street Experience and the city's annual New Year's Eve party, complete with fireworks on the display screen.
In 1994 Fremont street was closed and the ground breaking for the project was held. On December 14, 1995, the official opening of the light show was held.
In November, 1996 ihe Neon Museum at the Fremont Street Experience was opened. The museum features signs from old casinos and other business's displayed outdoors.
On June 14, 2004 an $17 million upgrade was unveiled.
The initial display contained about 1.9 billion lightbulbs controlled by 32 computers located in kiosks on the mall. The sound system, using speakers suspended over the mall was rated at a mind-blowing 350,000 watts. Strobe lights were added at some point to provide additional entertainment options on Disco Nights.
Displaying images that looked "real" took some innovation. New techniques were developed to make these curved, low resolution images viewable from the ground. One adjustment was to only move images slowly across the display to prevent blurring.
The 2001 upgrade to the sound system raised the power to an awesome 550,000 watts.
The 2004 features an upgraded 12.5 million LED display and more color combinations then the original display. The old control system was replaced by a central control room using 10 computers.
The Fremont Street Experience casino/hotel companies are:
Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel
Boyd Gaming Corporation:
Fremont Hotel and Casino
California Hotel and Casino
Main Street Station
Fitzgerald's Casino Hotel
Four Queens Hotel & Casino
Golden Gate Hotel and Casino
Golden Nugget Las Vegas
Las Vegas Club Hotel & Casino
Lady Luck Hotel Casino
See more Fremont Street Experience Las Vegas images at the Gallery >>
