Friday, July 16, 2004 | 9:26 a.m.
Once a red light district lined with pornographic book stores, Las Vegas' blighted Five Points East -- the area at the nexus of Eastern Avenue, Charleston Boulevard and Fremont Street -- has got a new coat of paint.
It's an eye-catching mustard yellow hue on the exterior of a restaurant -- a refurbishing project for which the city of Las Vegas helped foot the bill.
Pepe's Tacos No. 2, financed in part with $21,000 in city redevelopment funds, opened Thursday at 2490 E. Fremont Street.
City officials are banking on it creating a rippling effect that will revitalize an area dotted by failed projects, including the shutdown Castaways hotel and the historic, but now-boarded-up, Green Shack Restaurant.
City officials say Pepe's is the first business to go through the process of a new strategy that targets small companies to receive redevelopment funds. In the past, the city has concentrated on assisting multimillion-dollar, high-profile projects including Neonopolis and the Fremont Street Experience.
Jose "Pepe" Ceja, who invested $801,000 of his own money to buy and renovate the 34-year-old building -- a former International House of Pancakes restaurant -- said he chose the particular shade of yellow simply to attract passers by.
"It grabs the eye," Ceja said. "I wanted this site because five major corners in the city come together here. It is a great location."
The roof over the restaurant's entrance also features a brightly painted opened-armed Virgin of Guadalupe welcoming patrons.
It is a far cry from the 1980s when the strip mall next to the restaurant was filled with neon signs to attract crowds into places such as The Talk o' the Town adult book store and similar businesses.
But, with the closing of those adult-oriented businesses in the early 1990s, spearheaded by federal authorities sending to prison the Talk o' the Town's late owner, reputed porn czar Ruben Sturman, the area has drawn little interest -- mainly small storefronts and a Super Pawn adjacent to Pepe's.
"Small businesses is what America is all about," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said as he dined on fried talapia, a fresh-water fish popular in Hispanic and Caribbean dishes, and washed it down with a Diet Coke at Pepe's opening Thursday.
Goodman said revitalization of the area includes bringing in a mix of residential and business projects, noting that other proposed area projects include upscale residential units at Bruce and Fremont streets.
City Councilman Gary Reese, in whose ward Pepe's is located, said he too expects the area to grow soon, including the addition of a Hispanic-themed shopping center on a vacant lot across from Pepe's.
As a result of the Pepe's investment, the city says it will introduce next week its Commercial Visual Improvement Program to offer grants to retail or commercial businesses for making exterior improvements to their properties.
Reese said he also would hope that revitalization of Five Points East would stretch a couple of buildings down to another unusually painted structure, the historic Green Shack, which opened on Christmas Eve 1929 and has stood idle and decaying since late May 1999 when it closed.
The tiny, pale green stucco supper club at 2504 E. Fremont St., which sold fried chicken and bootleg booze to construction workers en route to the then-under-construction Hoover Dam, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
"If someone wants to do something with it (the Green Shack) we'll look at that too," Reese said.
Ceja hopes to return some of the charm and popularity to the area that the neighboring Green Shack once brought when its patrons included mobster Bugsy Siegel and entertainers Frank Sinatra and Liberace.
"I want to show the people of Las Vegas that if you do something the right way you will get good businesses in the area," Ceja said as he treated all opening-day ceremony patrons to free meals and provided entertainment from the eight-man Mariachi Colima band of Las Vegas.
Ceja, in 1999, opened his original Pepe's at Decatur Boulevard and Vegas Drive, where it continues to operate today.
Ceja's longtime friend Ashley Hall, the former Las Vegas city manager under whom redevelopment began in the 1980s, said the opening of Pepe's demonstrates the diversity and growth of the area.
"This is an area of transition," Hall said. "And these are (tax) dollars being invested for the good of the community. Hopefully we will see a rippling effect that will improve the whole area."
The new Pepe's advertises that it will be open 24 hours just like its other location at 1401 N. Decatur. The Fremont eatery employs nine full-time employees. City officials estimate the new business will generate $3,000 a year in property tax revenue.
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