Downtown
The Bard’s New Digs
William Shakespeare may be a big part of the future of Downtown Las Vegas. How do you build a fresh home for a timeless classic?
April 24th, 2013
The decades-long effort to revitalize Downtown Las Vegas (it didn’t start with Zappos, kids) has had its Shakespearean twists: good intentions gone awry, virtue unrewarded, high hopes, deep funks and soaring ambitions. So the area is an appropriate new home for the Las Vegas Shakespeare Company, which moved to the erstwhile Reed Whipple Cultural Center and is spearheading its $45 million expansion. Read more »
Character Study
Meet Downtown's Ambassador of Good Chill
As head of a new Downtown watch, ex-cop Chris Curtis is ready to make sure we all keep it cool
April 9th, 2013
When we heard that the Fremont East Entertainment District was getting a Downtown Project-sponsored patrol called the Downtown Rangers and headed by an ex-cop, we imagined nothing short of a jackbooted paramilitary unit, armed with tasers and brass knuckles, marching up and down Fremont to popular indie rock and forcibly instigating “serendipitous interaction.” Read more »
Morton's La Comida Names Chef
March 29th, 2013
Pablo Sanchez-Ortiz will bring traditional preparation methods to the new Downtown Mexican restaurant. Read more »
Three Questions
Three Questions: Downtown Redevelopment
March 27th, 2013
Nobody in the Nevada Legislature knows Downtown Las Vegas redevelopment better than Assemblywoman Heidi Swank, who’s played her own part by rehabbing her mid-century modern home in the Beverly Green neighborhood and steering civic groups dedicated to community-building and preservation. Read more »
What a Concept: Accessible Fun, in Vegas
March 6th, 2013
This week’s responses to the announcement that Genting is building a themed, family-focused property on the site of the failed Echelon project got me thinking that maybe moving Las Vegas back on track isn't as hard as we think. Read more »
The New Center of the Neighborhood
Gay & Lesbian Community Center expands reach in new home
March 6th, 2013
The best thing about the redevelopment of downtown Las Vegas is that it’s begun to make a place for every cultural institution that’s needed one, from a gallery district to a performing arts center. The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada, which until recently operated out of a 6,000-square-foot storefront, has desperately needed such a place. Now, it’s got one. Read more »
Fest Watch
Life is Beautiful fest names chef board
February 28th, 2013
The exact dates for Downtown’s Life Is Beautiful Festival have yet to be announced, but the board of culinary advisors that will guide the two-day music, food and arts event to tasteful completion this fall was announced last week, and it’s impressive. Read more »
Scene Stirs
Brown Spirits, A Cocktail Fest, and the Velveteen Rabbit Lives
February 21st, 2013
• Ealanta, the newest private-edition release from Glenmorangie, rolled out in Las Vegas on February 13 at an invite-only tasting in the Laundry Room, the speakeasy at Commonwealth. Read more »
Cocktail Culture
The Velveteen Rabbit Lives
New Downtown craft beer and cocktail bar is set to open in March
February 18th, 2013
A visit to Downtown’s Velveteen Rabbit confirmed for this concerned cocktailian that while owners Pamela and Christina Dylag missed the slated late-January opening, all is well in hand. The diminutive craft beer-and-cocktail bar at 1218 S. Main Street is on track for the end of March, and judging by the look of things, it will be worth the wait. Read more »
Art
Cultural Entrepreneur
Zesty public arts administrator Richard Hooker opens a private gallery Downtown
February 7th, 2013
For 13 years, Richard Thomas Hooker served as senior cultural specialist for the City of Las Vegas. During that time, he played an instrumental and collaborative role in a series of projects that transformed Downtown. He co-chaired the Vegas Valley Book Festival; spearheaded the Aerial Gallery (which stretched along Las Vegas Boulevard); secured the first of historic signs that comprise the Neon Museum Boneyard; wrote a NEA grant that branded the Arts District; and helped develop the city’s involvement in First Friday during its first 10 years. Read more »
