Despite very unpromising beginnings, Main Street Station has turned into one of the principal downtown success stories of the 1990s. It started out in 1991 as an offshoot of the money-spinning Church Street Station development in downtown Orlando, but the Florida formula of paying a single admission fee to gain access to a complex of nightclubs and entertainment venues failed to transfer to Las Vegas. An unpromising location, two blocks off Fremont Street, did nothing to help, and Main Street Station went broke within a year.
Confusingly, Main Street Station is not part of what's known as the Stations chain, whose casinos are scattered across outlying neighborhoods of Las Vegas.
Once it was acquired by the Boyd Corporation, however, and brought back to life as a conventional hotel-casino in 1996, Main Street Station 's distinctive and tasteful design began to pay dividends. The general concept is intended to evoke New Orleans in the 1890s, with an abundance of authentic antiques ranging from wrought-iron fences to Teddy Roosevelt's private railroad car and even bronze chandeliers from Buenos Aires. Thanks to the very high ceilings and natural lighting, all that period detail is never oppressive, and a well-thought-out array of good-value, down-to-earth restaurants and other facilities have put Main Street Station firmly on the tourist map. The Triple Seven Brewpub is a particularly good spot for a downtown drink.
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