Downtown Las Vegas, where it all began, has launched an extravagant project to keep pace with the booming Strip. The multimillion dollar project is called "The Fremont Street Experience." The Nevada Legislature passed enabling laws in 1993 to make the project financially feasible and construction was started in 1994. The project is scheduled to be completed by September 1995.

The Jerde Partnership, a firm specializing in creating lively urban centers, plans to wrap the entire downtown area in light and sound. "The Fremont Street Experience" is a public/private partnership between the Fremont Street Experience Company - an entity owned and operated by a group of Downtown casino operators - and the city of Las Vegas.

The $63 million project consists primarily of a space frame that will rise nearly 100 feet and stretch approximately 1,500 feet along Fremont Street from Main to Fourth streets. Set into the inner surface of the space frame will be 1.5 million lights. The lights will come to life nightly in a multi- sensory show that will be combined with such theatrical effects as smoke, fog and robotic lights.

The Fremont Street Experience also calls for landscaping and patterned paving. Street performers will entertain patrons enjoying sidewalk cafes or viewing goods on festive pushcarts and kiosks. Enhanced security and cleaning will help contribute to a safe, enjoyable visit. Also planned is a Downtown parking building for 1,500 vehicles with an entertainment-style retail shopping plaza.

The Fremont Street Experience will become a center for festivals, holiday celebrations and live entertainment when completed, according to planners.

Fremont Street was officially closed to vehicle traffic Sept. 7, 1994. On Sept. 8, state and city officials, prominent Las Vegans and members of the Fremont Street Experience participated in a "cruise through history," in a line-up of classic cars from the Nevada Car Club Council that made the last vehicular ride down Fremont Street to celebrate the next step in the evolution of Glitter Gulch.

From the modest beginnings of Las Vegas, Fremont Street initially was in the forefront of the gambling industry. It became the city's first paved street in 1925, the first street to have a traffic light and it is the site of the first Downtown high-rise - the Fremont Hotel, built in 1956.