When the Arts District was established in 1998, it was just a handful of small studios run by local artists.
Back then, it was dominated by the Arts Factory, a large building with several small studios inside.
Today, it’s grown into something else entirely.
The center of the district is Main Street and Charleston Boulevard, and in the past five or so years, Main Street has transformed. Where there were once auto shops and furniture outlets, there are now trendy bars and antique shops.
And the district is still growing. The New York Times recently featured an article about the district, detailing how different the area is compared with what most people think about Las Vegas.
Derek Stonebarger is the owner Rebar, a bar that doubles as an Antique shop on Main Street. He said a real community is being built in the Arts District.
"There is a lot of cool stuff in the Arts District and it's a community," he said, "and it's made not just for locals but tourists."
Becky Miller, the owner of Main Street Mercantile, agreed. She has worked in the Arts District for more than 20 years. She started going there when she agreed to help a friend who owned property collect rents and find tenants for buildings.
"When I first started, it had fallen into a decline," she said. "There were actually quite a few vacancies in the area. Being able to keep a set of buildings occupied was quite a challenge."
Miller said she has seen cycle after cycle of efforts to revitalize the area. She said people would get really excited, buy a property, try to turn it into something, but run into issues from city regulations to finances and the plan would fall apart.
"There have been a lot of hopes that get dashed and then the cycle starts all over again," she said.
However, Miller said it has changed, especially over the last three years, as property owners decided not to let buildings stay vacant. Instead, many owners made efforts to find tenants.
"I believe we are now on a very big upswing that I think will stay with us," she said. "Having properties with viable unique businesses in them really starts to bring people down."
Stonebarger believes there would be even more businesses setting up shop in the area if the city's rules weren't so onerous.
"It is just kind of difficult to do business in this town at times," he said. "As the Arts District president and as someone who has done my own build-outs, it's frustrating. But it is also just great to know that there is a real community being built in downtown Las Vegas if you can navigate these hurdles.
A monthly event that started years ago to highlight the artists working and living in the Arts District is still going strong. Corey Fagan is the director of development for the First Friday Foundation.
She says when the weather is warm tens of thousands of people come to the Arts District to enjoy the live performances, food trucks and art featured at First Friday.
Fagan dismissed the idea that the City of Las Vegas is only giving lip service to artists by supporting First Friday and not really providing incentives for artists to live in the area. She said a vibrant arts district needs both businesses and artists to work.
"I think our goal for First Friday is to support the arts and give that platform to artists so they can come out and be seen, (and also) bringing the people down into that area so they can experience all the other things that are going on."
Fagan said a lot of people come down for First Friday and discover the interesting restaurants and bars then continue to come back to the area even when the event is not going on.
One of the biggest issues that can come with the revitalization of a neighborhood is gentrification. New businesses make the area more desirable and the price of rents goes up, pushing older residents out.
In this case, artists have complained about being priced out of the Arts District.
Miller disagreed that Las Vegas Art District has become unaffordable. She pointed out that rents in the area are still much less than in some place like Summerlin.
"I don't really think that we have gentrified the neighborhood past the point of people being able to live there," she said.
She also pointed out that safer streets with better pavement and more lighting cost more money. Miller said it is a problem that could be solved by people in the community supporting local artists and buying their artwork.
"I think that the best way that the public can help prevent the gentrification of an arts' area is to actually support the arts with their own money and their own time and their own effort," she said.
All three people agreed that parking in the area continues to be an issue and the city is working on the problem. They also admit that safety can be an issue but it also something they're working on.
In fact, Stonebarger said businesses in the Arts District will soon be launching a neighborhood partnership for security in the area.
Derek Stonebarger, president, 18b Las Vegas Arts District; Becky Miller, owner, Main Street Mercantile; Corey Fagan, director of development, First Friday Foundation