I want to tell you about an epiphany I had last July as I interviewed Roxy Hendrickson and Jen Taler, owners of the recently opened Dustland. Kat Calma, Dustland’s bar manager, served me one of the bar’s specialty cocktails, the mezcal-based Amarillo—still my favorite—while explaining what compelled her to leave her Strip job for an unproven Arts District spot.

“Downtown is where everyone is. That’s where all my people are, who I want to serve,” Calma said. “So, finding out that Jen was in this partnership, I extended my hand and was just like, ‘Hey, if you need any consultation or anything like that, I’d be happy to help in any capacity.”

And I thought, wow, that’s so cool, these three women running this place together. (Hendrickson’s husband Logan is also involved, but hold up, let me cook.) In that moment, I realized that most of the small business owners and co-owners I’d met in the Arts District were women: Natalie Bigler of Dark Sister, Lisa Blanchard of The Good Wolf, Taylor Gardner Chaney of Dig It! Coffee, Danielle Crouch of Jammyland, Randi Garrett of Cork & Thorn, Angelica Govaert of Sin City Yoga, Jennifer Hunter of Atomic Style Lounge, Rachelle and Charlie Luster of The Analog Dope Store, Amy Ortiz of Cream Me Ice Creamery and Rockin Bettie, Marissa Pretkus of Horse Trailer Hideout, Taylor Rice of Alt Rebel … I went back to the office and began to make a woefully incomplete list, stopping just shy of 40 names.

The truly remarkable thing is that it simply happened. No specific program was enacted to attract women business owners; they went through the same process to open Arts District businesses as their male counterparts. “I think that women are just as assertive and aggressive and ambitious as men, but we look for our opportunities,” says Kim Owens of Main St. Provisions. “When the Arts District was first starting out, I pulled inspiration from Christina and Pamela Dylag, who owned Velveteen Rabbit. They came in here in their early 20s and just did something special.

“I think that, as a female entrepreneur, there aren’t enough opportunities for any of us,” she adds. “I don’t remember the exact statistics, but in the hospitality industry there’s a very small percentage of women in leadership positions. There are few opportunities in the corporate world, and this neighborhood inspires entrepreneurship.”

Even some of Owens’ neighboring business owners were surprised to learn of how many women were similarly inspired.

“I don’t even know if we collectively realized it until we started working together,” says Dustland co-owner Taler, who also runs the retail store Akin Cooperative. She cites her close relationships with the proprietors of several neighboring women-owned businesses—For The Love’s Emily Johnson, Spilled Milk’s Kari Cortez and Stylehouse Las Vegas’ Tinna Lee Farrell—with reinforcing her confidence in the neighborhood. (“Our group chats are great,” Farrell says, chuckling.) “And as more and more businesses keep opening here, they also just happen to be women-owned, too.”

One of those recent arrivals is chef Natalie Young, who ran the acclaimed breakfast and lunch restaurant Eat until a sustained period of road construction on Carson Street put the squeeze on her business. (Eat had a literal trench just outside its front door for a long time.) When the lease for the Eat space was up for renewal, she closed the restaurant and went all in on Echo, a beautifully designed Arts District listening bar combining craft cocktails, Young’s delicious small plates and an audiophile sound system playing jazz and soul records. Young didn’t come to the neighborhood because her neighbors were largely women, but it sure didn’t hurt.

“I think it’s just a coincidence, but how beautiful is it that we’re all empowered, and have the ability and the opportunity, to come down here and open these independent small businesses? How cool is that? Very cool,” she says. “We don’t know if we’re going to be here tomorrow. I want to spend today doing the best I can with the people that want to be around me, with creatives. … There’s enough bulls**t in the world right now. Let’s just create a beautiful, small space where people can come together, all kinds of people, and take a minute and just take a deep breath and enjoy themselves.”

That brings me to the reason why I love the Arts District. I don’t know if it’s because of the preponderance of women business owners in the neighborhood, but the Arts District has always seemed more peaceful, more carefully considered than other nightlife, retail and dining districts around the Valley; it emits an unmistakable “no a-holes allowed” vibe. Even the dude-owned businesses of the neighborhood are what they are because a woman creative is heavily involved: James Trees’ establishments are designed by his sister Amanda, and Ryan Doherty’s upscale bar Doberman is built around the masterful cocktail program of Juyoung Kang. The women of the neighborhood just make the dream work, IMHO.

“It is organic,” Owens says. “All of our visions are individualized, and they’re coming from the heart. Everything that I’ve done here at Main St. Provisions comes from my heart.”

Rose Signor Photo by: Louiie Victa / Courtesy

Rose Signor, who co-owns the Silver Stamp with her husband Andrew Smith, is at the heart of her establishment; I don’t think I’ve ever stepped foot in there without getting a beer recommendation from her, and she’s always right. Signor embodies that Arts District difference to me in her every atom: She’s a terrific, gregarious host (as is Owens and everyone else I’ve mentioned); a sharp businessperson whose inventiveness has won the bar awards and accolades; and also, it seems, a stand-up boss.

“We have great employee retention. There’s very little turnover here. I’m very proud of that,” Signor says. “Everybody here hangs out, outside of work. There’s really no drama here, which is odd. I’ve honestly never worked in a place where that hasn’t happened.”

She might be too good. But that’s cool with her. Signor wants to create opportunities for her people, just as Atomic Liquors owner Lance Johns once did for her.

“We have a few employees that are bartending, but they’re also doing some work in the office with us. We’re sort of grooming them for different roles here,” she says. “And I’ve said this to them from day one: ‘I want you guys to move on and open up your own spot. I want to invest in that. I want to do everything I can, and show you everything I know, so that you guys can go on and do your own things.”

Maybe some of those employees, floating away from the dandelion of the Silver Stamp, will become business owners themselves. Perhaps some of them will be women; perhaps some will land in the Arts District. But whatever the case, the women are already on the ground, doing the work. I still have that big Arts District list, and I’ll be watching that roster of women all-stars as they expand and develop their businesses into empires.

And even if they just stick with one or two Arts District businesses, that’s okay. As Taler says, at least they’re in the right place.

“If we’re able to navigate our lives in a positive way, let’s do it and enjoy where we’re at, because this is what we’re doing day in, day out,” she says. “I feel really fortunate to have who’s around me. That’s the women that I get to work alongside, who are also my good friends. … It’s good people who are a part of this and are experiencing it, which is awesome.”

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