DAILY MEMO: Culture:

Why not have a walkable arts cluster? We do, sort of

Downtown offers a lot, but people will still wonder, ‘What if …’

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Culture

Pinball hall's move will put it closer to where the tourists are (6-21-2009)
Pinball Hall of Fame owner wants to ring Elton John’s bell (4-16-2009)
One planet, under pinball (4-1-2008)

Archive of Sun art stories

When word spread a few months ago that the Pinball Hall of Fame would be moving to a spot across the street from the Liberace Museum, the responses were similar:

“How perfect. Two American pop culture venues within a reasonable proximity of each other.”

“The Star Trek Experience should move over there.”

“Revive the Elvis museum, plop it down. Clustered together, we’d have synergy, a place where unique local attractions aren’t 20 strip malls apart.”

Why stop there?

Wouldn’t it be something if the city’s contemporary galleries, artist studios and boutique stores were clustered in one area? Add a coffee shop, a book store, maybe a restaurant and, wow, imagine the possibilities. All the elements are there. Just put them in one place and call it an arts district. The city could invest a little money and designate the area, create lamp post banners, invite business and gallery owners into the storefront spaces and work with them on permits.

There’s the Aerial Gallery that runs along Las Vegas Boulevard downtown. Why not move it to Charleston between Main Street and Las Vegas Boulevard?

That would say so much. People would realize that life is stirring within those seemingly dilapidated buildings, that something is going on. Marketing is everything, you know.

But would it work? Hard to say.

Vegas has an arts district, but it is shabby and fragmented. Within its 18 blocks, the district has a cluster of antique shops, a vintage furniture store (Retro Vegas) full of midcentury modern goodies culled mostly from Las Vegas homes, a Mexican restaurant, the Contemporary Arts Center, Trifecta Gallery, a yoga studio, low-rent artist studios and art and design businesses. Paymon’s Mediterranean Bistro opened this week in the Arts Factory, where Valentino’s Zootsuit Connection, which sells glamour vintage clothing, will relocate. Up the street from the Arts Factory is the Fremont Entertainment District, home to Beauty Bar, the Downtown Cocktail Room and the Don’t Tell Mama piano bar. Around the corner from there is Henri & Odette, a gallery and coffee shop, next to a neighborhood grocery store.

On paper, downtown Las Vegas is rich with culture. Galleries open and close, and that will continue. So will the conversations on how to build and keep momentum in the arts, and the battles with the city on permits and codes. There is the endless sputtering of “if only.”

“If only there were a bar in the arts district ...”

“If only there were a coffee shop ...”

“If only people would leave their homes and not just on the closing night of a gallery or to go to the downtown First Friday festival ...”

Unfortunately we lost some great galleries and boutiques in the area. But Paymon’s and Valentino’s should draw some foot traffic.

How perfect.

If only the Onyx Theatre, home to alternative, original and absurdist plays and dance events, could move into the arts district, then things would take off — especially with the Samuel Beckett Festival happening each year in the Mission Building behind the Arts Factory.

If only people knew they could eat lunch on a Saturday at Paymon’s or Casa Don Juan, then walk across the street to Retro Vegas, then to Gypsy Caravan antiques, then walk up Colorado Avenue to the Arts Factory and look at exhibits at Trifecta Gallery and the Contemporary Arts Center. Wouldn’t that be great?

After that they could get in their cars (because that’s what we do best) and drive over to Henri & Odette for coffee or any one of the new local taverns for a drink.

How perfect.

Discussion: 7 comments so far…

By qq49h

6/24/09 at 7:56 a.m.

Suggest removal

media used for good!! keep interesting local-info art-articles coming
By jrc5288

6/24/09 at noon

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I just moved here form LA and I have to say ... it is interesting. A lot of people complain but no one really wants to do much about it. As a now resident in the Arts District. I have to say its a little great community. I think there needs to be more people, a closer co op of businesses and fellow artists .... it also needs to be more then every first Friday. More then 1/2 of all the places down here are only open on weekends. I just opened up S P A C E ~ open floorplan offices for creatives. Next to Gaia flowers on Charleston & Main. I'm looking forward to helping this area grow.
By HeidiKyser

6/24/09 at 3:24 p.m.

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We just moved into a building at 4 Charleston Blvd., home of the former Moda mid-century furniture gallery. A photographer is renovating the space next door to make it a creative studio space. A painter from San Francisco is moving in two doors down, also to make an open, collaborative studio. Alex Rivas, who used to occupy one of these spaces, has moved around the corner on Main into a fantastic and much larger shop for custom upholstery.

Peterson missed all this and more of the vibrant renaissance that's going on in the Arts District in her column. Those of us who are working very hard and investing a lot into rebuilding this area don't appreciate her snarky, down-the-nose look at our "shabby and fragmented" area.

I gather it may have been her intent, with the "If only..." refrain, to poke fun at people who are unaware of or unwilling to learn about what's going on here. Unfortunately her lack of a current, comprehensive view of the district makes it seem like she falls prey to the same unsupportive and unadventurous attitude which she seems to be criticizing in others.

What would really help us is if everybody would stop lamenting and take a walk down here, come inside some of these great new places and see what's really going on.
By Ginger_Bruner

6/24/09 at 7:12 p.m.

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How interesting that 2 people who have moved into (possibly) the same bulding could have such different responses to this story. jrc5288 on the positive and Ms. Kyser, not so much.

I have been involved in the arts for a long time in Las Vegas, and my family has been involved since the late 40's, so I've seen a lot.

The Arts District has come a LONG way in the years of its official existance, and is being constantly improved by business owners, both new and established. Unfortunately, it is still somewhat in Ms. Peterson's words "shabby and fragmented", but a hell of a lot less so than in the past.

Ms. Peterson is correct. We are just lucky that we have a much improved area, and things are looking up thanks to new business owners. Ms. Peterson is one of the few to actually report on the Arts in Las Vegas, and therefore someone to be thanked, not reviled.
By beta_1

6/24/09 at 7:54 p.m.

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@ heidikyser

another fine example of biting the hand that feeds you. in fact, i think kristen peterson knows quite a bit about the las vegas arts district. perhaps you may know less about ms. peterson's work? just a thought...
By bbrummel

6/26/09 at 5:59 p.m.

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Heidi is absolutely correct. Half a horse isn't better than none at all. Since the news that Naomi Arin was leaving town and since the Las Vegas Art Museum has closed, Peterson's articles have become fewer and farther between. There IS still much going on downtown and about town and instead of focusing on that news she chose to once again write about a mythical "what if". We need full and unabashed support of what is if it is to thrive. Furthermore, I think it's a pity that if anyone outside of the clique makes a negative comment they are immediately shot down. Kristen Peterson is the assigned arts writer for the Sun and rules the roost, so to speak. Apparently if it doesn't get her uniquivocal stamp of approval it's not worthy to note and anyone who has a differing view point is simply ignored. What we need is a new voice or two.
By TheMissionLV

6/27/09 at 4:50 p.m.

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I appreciate Ms. Peterson's views on the arts scene in Las Vegas. As a board member of the 18b Arts District Neighborhood Association and the Downtown Las Vegas Alliance, I do acknowledge that we still have a long way to go.

As a relative newcomer to the area, I saw (and continue to see) the vast potential of our Arts District. Beginning January 2010, the new ACE Gold Line will finally connect the 18b Arts District with virtually all of the Downtown attractions, the entire Las Vegas Strip, the Las Vegas Convention Center, and McCarren International Airport. This investment in transportation infrastructure by the Regional Transportation Commission will single-handedly put the 18b Arts District on the map and make it accessible not only to the creative class living locally in Las Vegas, but to anyone visiting town for business, leisure, or pleasure.

The ACE Gold Line is what brought me to town to develop THE MISSION LAS VEGAS, which will be located directly adjacent to the 18b Arts District bus station at Coolidge and Casino Center. THE MISSION is being designed, programmed, and developed in response to the feedback and input I have been receiving from stakeholders from throughout the Las Vegas creative communities. Over the last two years, I have been networking with artists, writers, poets, musicians, performers, critics, Las Vegas city officials and planners, and others within the creative class of Las Vegas who want to see more arts and culture and who want the walkable arts cluster that Ms. Peterson also yearns for.

The results of what I've learned from the local stakeholders is incorporated into the framework of THE MISSION, the first phases of which will be completed in 2011. "The mission" of THE MISSION is to nurture, cultivate, and promote art, music, culture, sustainability, community, and non-profit organizations in Las Vegas. A mixed-use campus of boutique, artisan retailers and specialty restaurants will also feature art galleries, a live music experience nightly on Boulder Avenue, creative offices, and banquet event space. THE MISSION will be looking to bring a First Friday atmosphere to the 18b Arts District on a daily basis. The staff at THE MISSION will also be stewards of the 18b Arts District by providing information and walking maps of other local attractions.

THE MISSION will be located directly across from THE ARTS FACTORY on the city block bounded by Boulder, First, Coolidge, and Casino Center at the ACE Gold Line Stop #6. For more information, check out www.themissionlasvegas.com.

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