Las Vegas - Freemont Street Experience

Freemont Street is an interesting example of Las Vegas as the Post Modern city as it embodies numerous characteristics such as the flattening of space and a themed environment. 

 

Firstly Freemont Street the original strip is now separate from the main part only accessible by car from the well known casinos and therefore a prime example of the erasure of space. Freemont Street through being represented on television invokes nostalgia for James Bond and gambling through is original neon lights. Now as the strip continuously changes appearance through casinos being remodelled, the reused lights on freemont street invoke the original image of Las Vegas. As various images of Vegas would have you believe the Strip and Freemont are not connected but give the appearance through the architecture of buildings being the same, a classic example of the flattening of space as argued by Edward Soja . Soja's analysis relates to the edge city or the exopolis which one could argue with its nostalgic neon lights and growing light show Freemont street is becoming the exopolis of the strip. Freemont strip has almost broken free from the strip with having its own centre of business ( casinos) which do not detract from that available of the strip. Las Vegas as a whole is clearly a fragmented sprawl and if Freemont street continues to grow so does the fact that Las Vegas has no real centre.

 

For those more knowledgable freemont street is different from the strip but to the naked eye like all themed cities freemont street looks exactly the rest of Las Vegas in particular the strip.  Full of signs and simulations it is ‘hyperreal’, and in particular attempts to suggests that one is visiting the real original Las Vegas, but this is only implied from the recycling of the original neon casino lights.

 

Interestingly Las Vegas despite being overtly postmodern through the casino it attempts to combat the death of the city as a meaningful centre, as a place of pleasure, opportunity, culture and economic value. However as with the rest of Las Vegas it only combats this on the surface and simply simulates culture through imitation of other cities (mini Eiffel tower, empire state building) and billboards of winners that one can have pleasure but it is valid only for the duration of their short stay and is not available on a permanent basis.