Fremont Street is a road full of mixed signals, a lot like the guy by a pawnshop down there who hit me up for change while carrying a Starbucks cup.

You don't know what's inside the cup, but it looks better than a brown paper bag.

So does the fact that ticketed entertainment has multiplied on the street of missed opportunities.

The Golden Nugget, traditionally the flagship of Fremont Street, invested in a new theater and two shows, "Simply Ballroom" and "Cover Girls," as part of a larger overhaul of the casino.

And the Plaza again dusts off its vintage showroom, this time for the quirky, retro-'60s dance revue, "Shag With a Twist."

Of course, the Golden Nugget has always stood as its own island on Fremont Street. A Strip hotel that happens to be downtown, as you might hear management say. But it's also said the resort's shows sell no more than 3 percent of its show tickets to downtown hotel guests.

"Shag" is no stranger to working to build an audience. The Plaza can't be tougher than trying to get straight people into gay-friendly Krave nightclub, where it was one of four hard-to-find shows.

"I'm really impressed with the synergy between all the properties," says producer John Good. "There definitely seems to be a shared interest in attracting people here."

It takes a bullish entrepreneur to sift the positive signs around Fremont.

On one side of Third Street, Celebrity nightclub promises shows you'd see in a big downtown, such as Suicide Girls, the punk-rock-girl burlesque revue, on Nov. 11.

But on the other side sits the Lady Luck, supposedly being remodeled by the developer of the Third Street bars, but stalled in a dormant, gutted state.

The urban renewal project Neonopolis is mostly empty. Rescued neon signs such as "5th St. Liquor" have an ironic context never intended. Jillian's, the most viable enterprise in the failed mall, on Wednesday had its last of the all-ages concerts that kept the place busy in the past four years.

But for older music fans, the Beauty Bar heralds the promise of Fremont East, the redevelopment name for the noncanopied stretch of the street between Las Vegas Boulevard and Eighth Street. Prospects include fabled New York punk club CBGB and Emo's, an Austin, Texas, institution announced for a bland building once used by the Metropolitan Police Department at 601 Fremont St.

Brian Saliba, who booked the Jillian's concerts, offers the key to downtown's prosperity in a nutshell: "All you have to do is offer a viable product," he says. "You find a niche and offer something the public wants."

Something they will come downtown for.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 383-0288 or e-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.