This Refurbished Vintage Motel Is A Quirky Downtown Las Vegas Hub For Coffee, Shopping, And Live Music

Like many Las Vegas locals, I'm always happy when I find a fun hangout spot that's off the Strip. Don't get me wrong, I love the occasional evening at a big casino, but sometimes you want to go somewhere that feels less frenetic and ostentatious. The shopping and dining plaza Fergusons Downtown, or "Fergusons," as locals call it, is located in downtown Las Vegas, within walking distance of the tourist corridor yet far away enough that you'll feel like you've stumbled upon "real Vegas."  Because Fergusons was once a Route-66-style motel, it has a vintage vibe that makes it feel more grounded in history, and more authentic, than many of the fancier, more upscale shopping areas on the Strip. While the motel's parking lot has been replaced by a grassy lawn and the front desk area is now a bar, the motel's rooms remain, refurbished into freestanding boutiques, art studios, or salons.

Though Fergusons is well-known among locals as a popular place downtown to shop, sip coffee, and listen to live music, it's not as well known among the tourist crowd. The bars and restaurants along East Fremont Street are about as far as most visitors to downtown get, but if you walk just a few minutes further east, you'll discover the cactus-lined entrance of what the Fergusons Downtown website refers to as a "diverse and inviting community that fosters creativity and passion."

Fergusons is small and many of the vendors are local artisans or small business owners — The #ShopLocal movement is strong here — but this is part of the appeal. Discover why Fergusons is the ideal place to go if you're looking to experience a quieter, quirkier side of Sin City.

One of the first things you'll notice as soon as you get to the front entrance of Fergusons is the 42-foot-tall upside down big rig truck that sits in in what was once a parking lot. The art installation is called Big Rig Jig and was created by the artist Mike Ross for the 2007 Burning Man.

Fergusons was once a 59-room motel that first operated back in the 1940s, but it sat shuttered for years before a local neighborhood revitalization project purchased and refurbished the motel into an airy, indie retail space in 2019. Some of my favorite stores to browse have a vintage theme, such as the fun and funky A 90s Kind of Vintage and Pinup Alley, located next door at Gather House.

Fergusons Downtown is in Downtown Las Vegas on East Fremont Street, a short walk away from a number of historic "Vintage Vegas" attractions, such as the Mob Museum, the Golden Gate, Las Vegas' oldest casino, and Atomic Liquors, the oldest bar in Vegas, which serves Cold War cocktails in a cozy bar or neon-lit patio.

While several beloved Fergusons restaurants have come and gone over the past few years, currently Fergusons has just two options for food: Eddie Bo's, a burger and sandwich pop-up, and Mothership Coffee Roasters, a popular local Las Vegas cafe chain. While hopefully more restaurants soon return, Fergusons is still one of my favorite places to grab a coffee or a cocktail, listen to some local live music, and just chill, especially on sunny spring days. 

While people may come to Fergusons to shop or grab a pre-game craft beer at F the Bar, Fergusons is also a fun place to go for some relaxed un-Vegas-y workshops and events, like a watercolor painting or needle point class, or a roller skating workshop. Of course, because this is still Vegas, many of these classes also include wine or cocktails (except maybe the roller skating workshop). For a full list of events, check out the Fergusons Downtown events page.

After you're done exploring Fergusons, you can head over to the popular Downtown Container Park, which is just a one-minute walk through what locals say is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Las Vegas. Container Park is a shopping and dining plaza made from 43 refurbished shipping containers. In the middle of the park towers a massive treehouse, which is a popular place for kids (and the occasional inebriated adult) to climb and explore.