After many years, Downtown’s historic El Portal Theater, which opened in 1928 and closed in the late 1970’s, will soon be a prime Fremont St entertainment spot once again. Recently-submitted plans for a Fremont St Arcade, a fun new spot for gaming and “simple but high-quality” food and drink, go before the Las Vegas Planning Commission tomorrow.
What Now Las Vegas spoke with Eli Gold, the man behind the arcade project, on Monday morning.
“It’s a prime location, but it’s a bit of a project,” Gold said, describing reasons why the building has gone largely unused for so long. “Rents are crazy, so you can’t really make any mistakes.”
The facility will offer an arcade, simple high-quality foods like pizza and hot dogs, and beer and wine, plus a commemoration of the space, which served as Las Vegas’s first theater. Located at 310 Fremont St, the building is a prime Downtown spot, part of the legendary Fremont St Experience.
“It’s a very personal project for me,” Gold said. “It’s a vision I’ve had for a long time… putting something creative in that great space. The Fremont St Experience is one of the best retail spaces in the country.”
No word is out yet on the when the Fremont St Arcade project is expected to open, but stay tuned for updates as this story develops.
