1. Enigma Garden Café
918 S. Fourth St.
For a brief moment in the '90s, Lenadams Dorris truly did create a haven in the city for the pseudo-bohemian in us all. Located right off of Las Vegas Boulevard, this was a wonderful place to observe tourists, students, hospitality workers and assorted strangers in the wee hours 'til dawn. No other place could capture the mellow, grassroots feel of Enigma, which was aided by Dorris' background in horticulture, which offered some stunning vegetation.
The food and drinks were also grabbers, most memorably the Bombay chicken salad (Cuban chicken breast and vegetables in a creamy curried sweet-and-sour dressing) and the Bananarama (seltzer, cream, banana and Swiss chocolate).
Now, a copy service center occupies the location. The sad irony is that for all the recent boasting of Downtown being a fashionable arts center, complete with coffee houses and other artful dwellings, none have the wit, sparkle or spontaneity of Enigma.
2. J-Mar Records
2620 S. Maryland Parkway
A treasure trove for those who enjoyed searching for a rare 45 or LP, J-Mar, started in 1982 by James and Mary Leitch, was truly the first, expansive used-record store in town. The Underground (which closed in 2001) was great for cheap alternative music, but J-Mar had a wonderful selection of classic rock, jazz, blues and even reggae.
Later on, it expanded to comics, old issues of Rolling Stone and even pop lunch pails from the '60s and '70s. Sadly, the owners were accused of accepting hot goods in 1999, and the cops confiscated a good portion of the store, despite the protest of the owners; they never really recovered and, sadly, closed the place for good around 2000.
3. Fortunato's Italian Restaurant
3430 E. Tropicana Ave.
Fond memories abound with this quaint Italian restaurant, which was a mainstay on the east side from the '70s through the doorway of the 21st century. It's not that we've lacked good Italian food over the years, but somehow Fortunato got all the additional elements right: the lighting, the music (just enough Sinatra and Dean Martin without being too obvious), the jovial wait staff—but in the end it really was about the food. Take your pick: the huge pizza-burgers, the mouth-watering calzones, the luscious gnoccis, the delicate cannolis—we gain weight just reminiscing about the menu.
4. Mad Dog's and Englishmen
515 Las Vegas Blvd.
Mad Dog's sprung up around the early '90s, and we dug it wholeheartedly for its awesome buffet of English food (c'mon, the Cornish pasties weren't that bad!), cheap Guinness ale and Blackthorn cider, and best of all, the superb atmosphere. Where else could we get rowdy with footballers rallying for teams such as Arsenal and Manchester United on satellite television? The location made it accessible to tourists and locals, and the red double-decker bus that drove around town for promotions and holidays was a real kick. Sadly, it closed shop seven years ago, but it's still sorely missed.