Joe Downtown - Las Vegas Sun News

Bartender J.C. Kelley pours a couple of colas about an hour before the doors closed for the final time April 14, 2012, at Gold Spike casino in downtown Las Vegas. The Gold Spike is reopening Monday, May 6, 2012, as a bar and restaurant.

Joe Downtown: Former Gold Spike employees seek jobs with other casinos, Downtown Project: April 16, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Nearly 50 former employees of the Gold Spike casino/hotel seeking jobs after the property's sale and closure showed for interviews with five different businesses or agencies Tuesday morning.

Downtown Project partners purchased the 65-unit John E. Carson Hotel building at Sixth and Carson in April 2012 for about $2.1 million.

Joe Downtown: Learned lessons being applied in relocation of John E Carson Hotel residents: April 12, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Some 43 residents of the John E Carson Hotel, purchased by Downtown Project investors to be transformed into a multistore retail, food and beverage facility, will get free rent for a month and be moved into a different hotel at the investors’ expense.

The 18b Arts District sign, made by YESCO for the RTC's Gold Line, was installed at a transit shelter in downtown Las Vegas on Casino Center Drive Friday, November 20, 2009. 18b refers to the original number of city blocks that made up the Las Vegas Arts District.

Joe Downtown: Ceremony to honor Arts District neighborhood pioneers: April 12, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Under the leadership of new president Marc Abelman, the Las Vegas Arts District Neighborhood Association will honor pioneers of the growing district at a ceremony Thursday. Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Councilman Bob Coffin, who represents the area, will attend the ceremony, which begins at 6 p.m. in Boulder Plaza, 1046 S. Main St., and will be open to residents.

Joe Downtown: Taxicab Authority ready to investigate ride-snub complaints: April 12, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Stories of cab drivers refusing potential customers who need relatively short rides aren’t limited to downtown Las Vegas.

Joe Carrera, left, and Brandon Edmon of San Pedro, Calif. play Texas Hold'em with an animated dealer in the Gold Spike's remodeled casino floor in downtown Las Vegas Monday, Aug. 17, 2009.

Joe Downtown: Downtown Project adds Gold Spike to its property holdings; casino to close Sunday: April 11, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; The Gold Spike hotel/casino will reopen again but its casino days are over. It might not even be named the Gold Spike. The Siegel Group Nevada announced Thursday the sale of the property to Downtown Project investors, who already held the note to the property. Terms were not disclosed.

Downtown Las Vegas business owner Michael Cornthwaite, pictured in 2012, said a taxi driver wanted to refuse him a ride Thursday night to his house from downtown, telling him, "People that look like you, they don’t pay me!” While Cornthwaite was on the phone lodging a formal complaint with the Nevada Taxicab Authority, the driver relented and took him home.

Joe Downtown: Cabbie picks on wrong fare to refuse ride: April 11, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Complaints about cab drivers refusing to give people rides for relatively short distances are fairly commonplace downtown. Just try getting a cabbie to drive you from Fremont Street at Las Vegas Boulevard to Soho Lofts at Charleston and Las Vegas boulevards.

The Gold Spike casino and hotel, seen from Fourth and Ogden streets, in downtown Las Vegas.

Joe Downtown: Want a room at the Gold Spike? You might try booking it through Zappos: April 10, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Though Tony Hsieh doesn’t want to get into the casino business, sources say, he and a partnership of downtown investors now hold the note to the Gold Spike. A local commercial real estate developer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that means the Gold Spike’s owners, Siegel Group Nevada Inc., now make loan payments to Hsieh and his partners.

Andrew Crump of Bluefields.com is dealing with visa issues when he could be focusing on development.

Joe Downtown: For one startup, staying in Vegas might be more trouble than it’s worth: April 10, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Screwy immigration regulations are weighing down British app developer Bluefields.

Garrison and Alison Buxton of Londonderry, Vt., add the finishing touches to a mural on the rear of the Huntridge Theater in downtown Las Vegas. The mural of a phoenix gives rise to suggestions the theater may be undergoing a rebirth.

Joe Downtown: Does phoenix mural signal rebirth for landmark Huntridge Theater?: April 9, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; A colorful phoenix spray-painted onto the back wall of the defunct and decaying Huntridge Theater has led to a welcomed slowing of northbound traffic on Maryland Parkway the past few days.

Joe Downtown: Overheard at The Beat: April 9, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Overheard Tuesday afternoon at The Beat Coffeehouse, Fremont and Sixth streets, across from the El Cortez.

Lowell Kay, a technology consultant, installs media production equipment at the fremont east studios in downtown Las Vegas Thursday, April 4, 2013. The video and audio studios are scheduled to hold a grand opening on April 9.

Joe Downtown: Video production studio focuses on downtown Las Vegas action: April 8, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; A video production studio dedicated to creating content based upon the happenings and people of downtown Las Vegas is set to open this week. Called fremont east studios, it brings state-of-the-art production technology to a 9,000-square-foot building that once served as the base for shows produced by and about city programs and politicians.

Downtown Project snapping up apartment building, other parcels: April 8, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; A group purchasing property all over downtown is close to finalizing a deal for the 360-unit Mayan Plaza apartment building on Alta Drive, next to the new Metro Police headquarters.

Signs from Las Vegas's past are seen during the grand opening of the Neon Museum Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012.

Joe Downtown: Neon Museum extending weekend hours: April 5, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Downtown Las Vegas’ popular neon sign graveyard, The Neon Museum, is extending weekend hours to meet demand. Tours will now be offered Sundays, every half hour, beginning at 10 a.m.

Workers put together the geodesic dome that will top the Downtown Project's Container Park at Seventh and Fremont streets.

Joe Downtown: Skeleton for dome arrives at Container Park construction site: April 4, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; The skeleton of the geodesic dome that will be able to project an array of images on its interior walls with state-of-the-art digital equipment is finally going up in the Downtown Container Park at Seventh and Fremont streets.

Ames, Iowa, residents Nancy Levandowski and Steve Keller, wearing identical "We go together like eggs and bacon" T-shirts from Denny's, are photographed before boarding a flight to Las Vegas. On Wednesday, April 3, the two will be married at the Denny's on Fremont Street, the inaugural wedding at the restaurant's chapel.

Watch live as the first couple ties the knot at Denny’s wedding chapel: April 3, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Nancy Levindowski and Steve Keller from Ames, Iowa, are set to make history as the first couple to get married at a Denny's wedding chapel. The Sun's Joe Schoenmann will be streaming the wedding live below as it takes place.

Joe Schoenmann doesn’t just cover downtown, he lives and works there. Schoenmann is Greenspun Media Group’s embedded downtown journalist, working from an office in the Emergency Arts complex.

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