The ‘Joe Downtown Show’ — The rebirth of Fremont East

Downtown’s Fremont East District is where much of the economy activity is happening in Las Vegas right now, and two people at the center of it are Kent Johns and Chris Curtis.

Johns is co-owner of the Atomic, a historic tavern at 917 Fremont St., and Curtis is a former Metro Police sergeant hired in a consulting capacity to oversee the Downtown Rangers, who walk a beat downtown assisting people, mostly with information and directions.

Both men have had their mettle tested by downtown’s growth — Johns in dealing with cab drivers refusing to give him rides and Curtis watching with dismay the growth of partying and drinking in the streets.

Both, too, are stunned and happy at what’s happening and how an area once left to fester is becoming a place that locals like to hang out.

They talked on the “Joe Downtown Show,” which broadcasts at 7 a.m., Wednesdays on 91.5 FM, The Source, about the changes they’ve seen.

Joe Downtown Radio

Liquor and law enforcement on Fremont Street

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Joe Schoenmann talks to Kent Johns, one of the owners of the Atomic and a commercial real estate broker, and Chris Curtis, the face of the Downtown Rangers and a former Metro Police Sergeant.

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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 building.

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