As a celebrated criminal defense attorney, Oscar Goodman represented heavyweight personalities that have included Mike Tyson, Don King and some of the leading wiseguys in “Sin City.” As three-time mayor of Las Vegas (1999-2011), he was a passionate advocate for the revitalization of downtown.
With his wife Carolyn now in office—the only known instance of one spouse succeeding another as mayor in the U.S.—Goodman, whose autobiography Being Oscar hit bookshelves last month, reflects on the downtown of yesteryear and its return to glory.
“When Carolyn and I arrived in Vegas in 1964, $87 between us, we headed straight downtown,” he says. “That’s where the action was—casinos flashing with neon, cars cruising Fremont Street, tremendous energy in the air. Over time, though, the glitz and glamor faded away, with the lawyers, bankers and business owners leaving the area like rats off a sinking ship.”
In 1999, when Goodman became mayor, he vowed that downtown would experience a renaissance, and that vision has come true.
“Downtown Las Vegas is now the most exciting place in the valley,” Goodman says. “We have a world-class performing arts center, a mob museum, an interactive children’s museum and more. Casinos are renovating, while smaller non-gaming venues dot the street. New businesses are moving downtown, too, spurring residential development and new commercial ventures. There is even a new restaurant named after me, Oscar’s Steakhouse at the Plaza Hotel and Casino overlooking Fremont Street.”
According to Goodman, the new energy is drawing a critical mass of people downtown, many tech-savvy, many who may be proof of a “creative class.”
“As Vegas continues to be one of the world’s leading tourism destinations, investment in entertainment remains paramount, but we can sense the beginning of a new, diversified economy,” he says. “The Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, for example, is generating medical tourism in its efforts to understand neurological disorders. Is the glitz and glamor back in downtown? You bet it is.”
