Downtown Mob Walk
Themed tour 20 discoveries Audio narration
Union Plaza illuminated at night, with Golden Gate’s sign in the foreground. The creator describes the view as around 1991; the file also records a 2006 scan date.
Plaza opened on July 2, 1971, as Union Plaza, at the western end of Fremont Street. Its original name referred to the Union Pacific railroad depot whose site the new hotel and casino occupied. That railway connection gives the property a history that reaches beyond casino development to the place where downtown’s street grid meets the railroad corridor.
The railroad and the casino
The railroad connection continued after the casino opened. Plaza’s historical accounts describe an Amtrak station and ticket windows connected to the hotel, with Desert Wind passenger service continuing until 1997. The hotel and the station were related uses at the site; the casino was not simply a renamed railroad building. The original gaming owners included Sam Boyd, Jackie Gaughan and Frank Scott.
A growing hotel and a changing dome
In the 1980s, a second tower and convention center enlarged the resort. The prominent glass dome facing Main and Fremont streets also changed use. The operator’s history describes a pool setting before its later restaurant phase; the dome became home to Oscar’s Steakhouse. The same recognizable frontage could therefore frame quite different experiences in different decades.
Renovating the continuing Plaza
Later work renewed the property rather than replacing it with a separate resort. Guest rooms were refurbished during a property-wide renovation completed in 2011. A further 2019 project created Luxe rooms and suites on upper floors of the north tower. These projects belong to the continuing Plaza, not to a succession of casinos with unrelated identities.
Main Street changes
By its 2025 media kit, the operator described another completed transformation along Main Street: Carousel Bar, Pinkbox Doughnuts, Oscar’s rooftop patio and a separate smoke-free gaming space. Those venues explain changes around the dome and street frontage without changing the resort’s 1971 origin. The kit also identifies Tamares Las Vegas Group as owner and PlayLV Gaming as operator and licensee, a dated ownership description rather than an original ownership claim.
Reading the old name and the present site
Nevada’s June 30, 2026 report still lists Plaza as a downtown casino. Union Plaza and Plaza refer to phases of this same property. The older photograph preserves the Union Plaza sign before the Fremont Street Experience canopy; the main illustration depicts the Plaza tower and entrance from the supplied reference. The map marks the present complex, not the exact former depot or a historical station entrance.
Read the full historySources and context
Plaza: 50th anniversary historical account
February 16, 2021 release, page 2, Editor’s Note: July 2, 1971 opening as Union Plaza at the Union Pacific depot site; connected Amtrak station and Desert Wind service until 1997; second tower and convention center in the 1980s; completed 2011 renovation and 2019 Luxe rooms. Promotional superlatives and size claims omitted.
Plaza: 2025 media kit
2025 media kit, pages 1–2: Tamares owner and PlayLV operator/licensee; original owners; dome’s earlier pool and restaurant uses; completed Main Street venues. The disputed sole-ownership transaction year is omitted.
Plaza: present hotel and address
Current operator hotel page, introductory paragraphs and 1 Main Street footer, read October 19, 2026. Confirms depot-site context, hotel renovation, present casino and Oscar’s setting. No current price, room count or access guarantee adopted.
OpenStreetMap contributors: Plaza current complex
OSM way 33967431, version 17, full geometry inspected October 19, 2026. Existing point 36.1715877, -115.1470854 lies inside the roughly 204 by 147 metre current building at 1 South Main Street. No former depot outline inferred.
Nevada Gaming Control Board: June 30, 2026 report
June 30, 2026 nonrestricted report: Plaza Hotel and Casino, location 01696-03, Downtown Las Vegas. Separate sportsbook location 26240-02 is not counted as another casino.
Wikimedia Commons: Plaza in March 2022
Exact Commons file Summary, Licensing and file history: Missvain own-work photograph, March 12, 2022, CC BY 4.0. Selected 960 by 1280 pixel derivative visually inspected.
Wikimedia Commons: Union Plaza historical photograph
Stuart Seeger’s Flickr Plaza Gate photograph, explicit CC BY 2.0 reviewed by Commons in 2011. Creator describes the scene as around 1991; 2006 Date/EXIF records the scan. Original 1365 by 2048 pixel file inspected; Golden Gate’s foreground sign is identified separately.
The sources identify the former railroad depot site but do not establish an exact depot-building footprint here. No precise demolition date or original station entrance is asserted.
The older photograph is described by its creator as around 1991, while its Date/EXIF fields show a 2006scan. The scene is not assigned the scan date.
Union Plaza and Plaza are the same continuing property. No separate predecessor casino is created from the shorter name.
