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Streetwise: Heart of Hendo

Change is fluid on Henderson’s Water Street

There may not be an eccentric millionaire terraforming downtown Henderson into an animal-shaped urban hepscape — but the area is changing anyway. Amid some empty storefronts, new places are joining older businesses in a process that feels a little like potential.

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1. BERWICK’S URBAN LOUNGE

Newly opened on the ground floor of the three-story Pinnacle Building, this cozy restaurant and bar has an easygoing white-collar feel, damn good cheeseburgers and live entertainment. Water Street’s needed a place like this. 203 S. Water St., (702) 826-3122

2. THE DOWNTOWN SEWING MACHINE COMPANY

Anything your sewing passion requires — Pfaff equipment, thread, workshops — store manager Carrie McDonald can help you with. “Water Street is tough,” she says. Lot of tenant changes in the building and along the street, and not much walk-in traffic, though the opening of Berwick’s has helped. But if you’re a crafter, this place is your bliss.
155 S. Water St., # 130, downtownsewingmachine.com

3. RAINBOW CLUB

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The centerpiece of this small casino is Images restaurant — there’s something enjoyably David Lynchian about its aura of small-town swank (wall draperies, video screens cycling beautiful scenery), and you couldn’t spend $40 on dinner for two if you tried. You may not have to fend off the foodies, but the comfort food goes down just fine. Next to Boyd Gaming’s Eldorado Casino. 122 S. Water St., rainbowhenderson.com

4. CITY LIGHTS ART GALLERY

Visual-art co-ops can be hit-or-miss qualitywise, but the atmosphere is genial and there was some definite talent on the walls when we visited. 3 E. Army St., citylightsartgallery.com

5. THE COFFEE HOUSE

This space, next to a vaping lounge, has changed hands several times. In its latest incarnation, it seems less like a creative-class hang spot than a pleasant eatery with sandwiches, crepes and windows opening onto the laconic pageant of Water Street. Tip: Bring your French-English dictionary, as the new owners are still learning the lingo. 117 S. Water St.

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6. COO COO'S GOURMET COFFEE CAFE

The name is bigger than the place — but so is the menu. What Coo Coo’s lacks in seating capacity, it makes up for in versatility. From breakfast items to sizable sandwiches to wraps and frappes, this tiny kitchen overachieves. 19 W. Pacific St., coocooscafe.com

7. BOOK BOUTIQUE

This little bookstore shares a building with Coo Coo’s. It usually yields surprise finds — after eight years, owner Shereen Hale knows what she’s doing. “You just get a feel for the right books,” she says. 19 W. Pacific St.,
facebook.com/nvbookboutique

8. ROBERT BECKMANN MURAL

The keynote of a long-ago “city of murals” project, Beckmann’s brawny five-panel depiction of Henderson’s earliest years feels throwbacky in more than subject matter — it owes no debt to trendy street art. But that just gives its storytelling a timeless feel. Intersection of Pacific and Water streets

9. CHEF FLEMMING’S BAKE SHOP

There aren’t enough synonyms for “drool-worthy” to adequately describe these pastry cases. Individual bread puddings? Yes. Frog-shaped treats? Yes. Tarts, cookies, cupcakes? Yes, all quite drool-worthy. So are the breads — try the onion-walnut, if there’s any left. Before his 16 years at the Golden Nugget, Chef Flemming Pedersen came from Denmark, where pastry-making utilizes a lot less sugar. A sweet addition to Henderson. 7 Water St., chefflemmings.com/index.html

Scott Dickensheets is a Las Vegas writer and editor whose trenchant observations about local culture have graced the pages of publications nationwide.