Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

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CHAPTER 5 . WHERE TO STAY
parking. Amenities: Casino; 4 restaurants; small rooftop pool; video arcade; tour desk; shopping arcade; limited
room service; laundry service; dry cleaning; nonsmoking rooms. In room: A/C, TV w/pay movies, safe.
El Cortez Hotel & Casino This small hotel is popular with locals for its casual,
oh, and let’s just admit it, dated Downtown atmosphere. Rooms offer nothing
except a place to rest your head and not get lice. And there is no room to swing a
cat, dead or otherwise, in the bathrooms. But on the other hand, said rooms supposedly
do not cost more than $40 a night, so really, whaddaya want for next to
nothing (by Vegas prices)? The nicest accommodations are the enormous minisuites
in the 14-story tower. Some are exceptionally large king-bedded rooms with sofas;
others have separate sitting areas with sofas, armchairs, and tables. Local calls are
just 25¢. Note that although this place is but 2 blocks from Fremont Street, these
are probably not 2 blocks you want to walk at night. Rumor has it that the company
that bought the other hotels from the family who still owns the El Cortez has
an option on it as well, and that all of them are destined for the wrecking ball.
Under the same ownership is Ogden House, just across the street, with rooms
that go for just $18 a night. And that’s everything you need to know right there.
600 Fremont St. (between 6th and 7th sts.), Las Vegas, NV 89101. & 800/634-6703 or 702/385-5200. Fax
702/474-3626. www.elcortez.net. 428 units. $25 and up double; $40 minisuite. Extra person $5.AE, DISC, MC,
V. Free self- and valet parking. Amenities: Casino; 2 restaurants; nonsmoking rooms. In room: A/C, TV.
Fremont Hotel & Casino When it opened in 1956, the Fremont was the first
high-rise in downtown Las Vegas. Wayne Newton got his start here, singing in
the now-defunct Carousel Showroom. Step just outside the front door and there
you are, in the Fremont Street Experience. Rooms are larger, more comfortable,
and more peaceful than you might expect. (Though up until midnight you can
hear, sometimes all too well, music and noise from the Fremont St. Experience
show. But then again, if you are in bed before midnight in Vegas, it’s your own
fault.) The hotel encourages environmental awareness by changing linens only
every other day; upon request, it can be more often, but why not help out the
earth a bit? For that matter, why not help out your wallet a bit and stay here?
The Fremont boasts an Art Deco restaurant called the Second Street Grill,
which is reviewed in chapter 6 along with the buffet. Guests can use the swimming
pool and RV park at the nearby California Hotel, another Sam Boyd enterprise.
200 E. Fremont St. (between Casino Center Blvd. and 3rd St.), Las Vegas, NV 89101. & 800/634-6182 or 702/
385-3232. Fax 702/385-6229. www.fremontcasino.com. 452 units. $35 and up double. Extra person $8. Children
under 12 stay free in parent’s room. AE, DC, DISC, MC, V. Free valet parking; no self-parking. Amenities: Casino;
5 restaurants; tour desk; car-rental desk; free shuttle to Sam’s Town; limited room service; laundry service; dry
cleaning; nonsmoking rooms. In room: A/C, TV w/pay movies, fridge, coffeemaker, hair dryer, iron and board.
Lady Luck Casino Hotel Today’s Lady Luck opened in 1964 as Honest
John’s, a 2,000-square-foot casino with five employees, five pinball machines,
and 17 slots. Today, that casino occupies 30,000 square feet, and the hotel,
including sleek 17- and 25-story towers, is a major Downtown player, taking up
an entire city block. What it retains from earlier times is a friendly atmosphere,
one that has kept customers coming back for decades. Eighty percent of Lady
Luck’s clientele is repeat business.
A ton of dough was recently dumped into this venerable facility (by a national
riverboat-owning chain), which means that while it doesn’t look shockingly different,
it has been given a face-lift that makes it, like a 60-year-old showgirl, a significant
bit fresher. Nothing is special, but with these prices, it’s well worth considering
as a Downtown alternative. However, that same riverboat-owning chain has, at this
writing, put the old gal up for sale (is there no end to the indignities of time and