The Pigeon on Fremont Street

The Pigeon on Fremont Street

May 9, 2011

Walking down Fremont Street under the canopy in Las Vegas, I marveled at how much things had changed since our last visit.  The Plaza at the end of Fremont Street was closed and under construction.  A ride had been added near the other end allowing those brave enough to be suspended from a cable to ride along a portion of the canopy above the crowds.  Neonopolis on the east end of the canopy is virtually a ghost town.  All the little shops are closed up, the courtyard empty with the exception of transients.  The ideal of convincing families that Las Vegas is a great place for a family vacation appears to have disappeared.  The Golden Gate now has scantily clad dancers inside on mini stages between the tables and outside on the bar.  Wandering around Fremont Street are a multitude of the famous like Marilyn Monroe, Mike Myers and Michael Jackson.  Yours truly even had her picture taken with Beetlejuice!  Pigeons seemed to have full reign of the street, happily walking along with the tourists stopping to pick up whatever morsels they could.  A striking difference was the large number of transients and homeless on Fremont Street.

They provide a striking contrast to the merry making tourists.  In the past they had been strongly discouraged from loitering on Fremont Street with security pushing them to the side streets away from the canopy.  The reason for this was a combination of public safety and to prevent them from begging mainly to support their drug and alcohol addictions as well as solicitation.  There was a quiet form of begging as well as one organization asking for donations to help the homeless.  Blatant begging will draw attention of security who keep a rather close eye on the transients, always ready to move them away from the canopy.  The casinos on Fremont Street won't tolerate them inside at all.  When we first started going to Las Vegas I was shocked at the homelessness but now I have come to realize that this is a chosen lifestyle for many of them.

Garden Gnome
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