Downtown Casino Center, Las Vegas, Bella Ladies V-Neck Tee

Description

Everyone knows and loves the classic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, but how many know about Downtown Casino Center and its sign? In 1959, Las Vegas launched “Downtown Casino Center” as a bold branding campaign initiative for the Fremont Street business and gaming district—not a single property, but rather an identity meant to concentrate the neon energy of old Las Vegas into a name visitors could remember and which covered the whole of what was then referred to as “Glitter Gulch.” The title came from a “Name Downtown” contest that awarded $500 (an amount equal to $5,550.65 in 2025 dollars) to the winning entry, a civic push to position Fremont Street as a destination distinct separate and away from the rising Strip. Then Mayor Oran Gragson quipped he wasn’t sure he loved the Casino Center name—but conceded it beat Glitter Gulch. To sell the idea, the city installed a dramatic electrified roadside sign on the Strip reading “Downtown Casino Center → 10 Minutes,” crafted by Western Neon with artist Betty Willis—the same team behind the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. A second directional neon was mounted closer to downtown at 230 Las Vegas Boulevard. The message was clear: the fast route to classic Las Vegas lights, loosened slots, and close-packed casinos was straight ahead. Geographically, the Casino Center concept orbited the crossroads of Fremont Street and what would soon bear its name: Casino Center Boulevard. That intersection—anchored by the Golden Nugget, the Horseshoe (now Binion’s), the Fremont, and (later, in 1966) the Four Queens—became the postcard view of Downtown’s dense, walkable casino canyon. Today it’s often called the “four corners,” a reminder of how tightly clustered the action was in the district’s heyday. The branding culminated in 1965 when the city renamed Second Street as Casino Center Boulevard, embedding the campaign directly into the map. Though the Casino Center label faded in the 1970s as marketing shifted and the Strip’s megaresorts grabbed the spotlight, the street name endures—one of the most evocative place names in Las Vegas for those chasing the glow of vintage Fremont. Seen in context, Downtown Casino Center was less a casino or even a building than it was a promise: that within a few blocks, you could stroll from marquee to marquee—Golden Nugget to Horseshoe to Fremont to The Mint and more—under a ceiling of neon and a soundtrack of dice, nickels, and late-night lounge sets. It was a brand for an experience, and in 1959, it perfectly captured the essence of classic Downtown Las Vegas. Amazingly, 66 years have since passed and that very same concept persists to this day in the Fremont Street Experience.