I had a dream last night, more of a nightmare really, and I want to tell you about it. Usually my dreams evaporate into thin air as soon as I wake up, but this one was very vivid and stayed with me.
I don't profess to understand dreams, I have always found them fascinating though. Somehow your subconscious mind takes over in your sleep and takes you places you have never been before. This spring I am unable to do my usual Vegas trip. I am assuming my subconscious is annoyed and chose to take me there anyhow.
In my dream I am out on Fremont Street trying to find the Fremont casino. I can't figure out why I am incapable of seeing that big, red, glowing beacon of neon. I am wandering up and down the street and everything looks different. I walked into various casinos and instead of them looking like the warm, welcoming, brightly lit places they normally look like, they all looked very clinical and antiseptic; like I had taken a wrong turn and wound up in a hospital ward. I was upset and confused.
Finally I spotted a huge facade of plywood and realized, to my horror, that the Fremont casino was behind that and that they were changing the neon sign. "Why change one of the most beautiful, recognizable signs in all of Vegas?" my mind was screaming.
In my dream I continued to walk down Fremont and I came to a new attraction. There was a large tent made out of green garbage bags and on the front there was a sign that said, "Be a Homeless Person for a Day!" I stepped inside the tent and found several persons huddled under filthy blankets attempting to sleep on the cold, hard cement.
Each new thing I encountered made me more dismayed. Where was the Fremont Street street I knew and loved?
When I woke up I couldn't stop thinking about my dream. I realized that if I did not visit Vegas for ten years and then returned, Fremont Street might be exactly like my dream! (Hopefully without the "Homeless" attraction.)
I understand that you can't stop progress and some things need to be modernized downtown. It would be my preference to have the hotel rooms updated but to leave the casinos with their old school, vintage charm. After reading people's Vegas likes and dislikes for so long I don't think I am alone in this feeling. Many people are attracted to places with history, casinos with old-Vegas ambiance. Often the Strip casinos are so cookie cutter in nature that you can't even tell which one you are in.
Visiting Fremont Street is like stepping back in time and I would love to see that preserved. As I watch hotels like the Las Vegas Club tumble to the ground instead of being renovated I can only assume that this will become the norm and that sooner or later all the historic, charming, downtown casinos will be gone.
It impresses upon my mind the urgency to enjoy Fremont in its current state as much as I can, quickly, before it becomes nothing but a distant memory.
Picture from Vegas.com
