The 18b Arts District sits just south of downtown along Main Street and Casino Center Boulevard. Once warehouses and antique shops, the area has slowly turned into the city's most credible non-Strip food and drink scene: cocktail bars in old neon-sign warehouses, breweries, vintage shops, vinyl record stores, and a clutch of well-reviewed restaurants of which Esther's Kitchen is the standard-bearer.
First Friday is the monthly street fair that put the district on the map — galleries open late, food trucks line Main Street, and the whole strip turns into a block party. The rest of the month it is quieter and more local, with mid-morning brunch crowds and laid-back patio hours.
Useful daytime stops: The Arts Factory (an art-studio building open to the public), the Velveteen Rabbit cocktail bar, and the constantly-rotating window installations along Main between Charleston Boulevard and Wyoming Avenue. About a 10-minute Uber from the central Strip.