[Obamanation]

I'm a 20-something with college grad coming soon. Vegas interests me a lot due to my hospitality major and night owl sleep phase. A big issue I have with the city is its "newness" and seeming lack of historic neighborhoods. Especially in the way this affects nightlife and community authenticity.

For actual residents of the city, can you point me to bonafide nightlife/entertainment districts and neighborhoods of Vegas that the locals actually go to? In my research the only concentrated pedestrian-orientated areas I see are The Strip and Fremont/Downtown which is basically all tourist stuff. How about stuff like Ybor City in Tampa, SoCo in Austin?? Thanks people.

[rentmax]

There's a pretty cool festival that takes place on the first Friday of every month in the Art's District / Downtown to name one.

Pretty sure you won't find many tourists there.

[von949]

Not all of Fremont street is full of tourists. Just the west side half under the neon canopy. The other side(seedy side) is where some of the younger, artsy, grungy locals go. The Griffen and Beauty Bar are just some of the names of local establishents.

[Spraynard Kruger]

Obamanation, you simply won't find what you are looking for here.

We have a nascent arts district that is loosely connected. The nearest nightlife is located on the northern section of the Las Vegas strip and also on Fremont St. East, which is a good 1-2 miles away from the arts district itself. There are a handful of bars in this area that associate with the arts community but nothing in the way of a 6th St like Austin has.

Our nightlife is very good, but it is very corporate and spread out amongst the resort corridor. Smaller, free-standing venues have opened only to fail aganst the casino/resort nightclub's marketing prowess, not to mention the spaces themselves are unrivaled in terms of opulence. It's where people want to be when they visit Vegas and they take care of the local service industry as well. Thats just the way it works here.

The local scene botches and moans about the lack of cultural events, but we still have a few offerings, just nothing cohesive. I understand what you're looking for and its not to say that we dont have a good arts and music community, it's just much different here.

[Obamanation]

Well the Arts District looks pretty cool and it's good East Fremont has a non-tourist area. I'm a bit disappointed that Vegas hasn't developed some dense, urban neighborhoods with the bones for a full-fledged pedestrian and entertainment area.

Orlando has many parallels to Vegas in being fairly new and a tourist Mecca. Plus it's a far smaller city. Yet O-Town has plenty of authentic bona fide urban/entertainment neighborhoods. It's downtown is awesome, also see Thornton Park, Winter Park, and the Little Saigon district. Why did Vegas never develop such neighborhoods?? Also most cities have an established ethnic neighborhood full of that culture's atmosphere and cuisine; does Vegas have a West Tampa or Chinatown??

[johninvegas]

First off, you have to realize that a good portion of Las Vegas is less than 30 years old. Add to that is the fact that most of the West outside of the coastal area and Denver, and a few other cities, was developed after the auto and Levitt-town were invented. Suburbs are the rule here, not the exception. Housing tracts do not discriminate so there is no real ethnic areas, outside of Chinatown.

Vegas really doesn't have a culture of it's own, it takes from everywhere. For instance, I can't really think of a "Las Vegas" food, unless you want to consider the buffet. Buffalo has it's wings, Cincinnati has it's chili, Philly it's cheese steaks, New and Chicago pizza and other delicacies, etc. Vegas has all of it, but nothing really stands out as a Vegas brand.

Vegas's origins include the cowboy (yes, there were ranches in the area pre-gaming times) and, of course, the Mob influence. Let's face it, tourism is our business. Without the tourist, most of Vegas would dry up and fly away.

As time goes on, the Arts scene is improving, but due to the transient nature of the entertainment business in town, as soon as some artists come along, others are leaving. So it will take time to develop a "Las Vegas" style. Thirty years is too short for that to happen. Austin has been around for 150 years, Chicago and St. Louis for more than 200 years, the east coast cities have been around for up to 400 years. Give us some time and the arts scene will blossom and be great.

[airics]

Originally Posted by Obamanation

Well the Arts District looks pretty cool and it's good East Fremont has a non-tourist area. I'm a bit disappointed that Vegas hasn't developed some dense, urban neighborhoods with the bones for a full-fledged pedestrian and entertainment area.

Orlando has many parallels to Vegas in being fairly new and a tourist Mecca. Plus it's a far smaller city. Yet O-Town has plenty of authentic bona fide urban/entertainment neighborhoods. It's downtown is awesome, also see Thornton Park, Winter Park, and the Little Saigon district. Why did Vegas never develop such neighborhoods?? Also most cities have an established ethnic neighborhood full of that culture's atmosphere and cuisine; does Vegas have a West Tampa or Chinatown??

interesting, we have some Orlando people on this forum, that would never go back to the OTown.. I also agree that Orlando is garbage vs vegas

[RinVegas]

You've been misinformed Obamanation. Most young locals actually do hang out on the strip. That's what "industry nights" are all about. Industry nights are packed with young locals. On any given weeknight, you can choose from a handful of world-class nightclubs/bars that cater to the young local crowd. Not only is that a "bonafide nightlife/entertainment district", it is arguably the best place to party on earth.

I can't even dignify the comparison you made with Orlando, Tampa or Austin. This is Las Vegas. Instead of worrying about a vibrant nightlife for young locals, you should perhaps be worrying about how long you could survive this party scene.

[vamping]

Seeing as you used Tampa as a reference.... Look at downtown St. Pete which is just now getting its own scene together. Ybor was tourist-y to me. That's where I took friends who came to town, but not somewhere I necessarily went to as a local. Vegas is anything you want it to be. On any given night you can party with a huge cross-section of people in an endless variety of places. The great thing about being a local is that you can jump in and out of the craziness at any point.