Episodes
Saturday Nov 04, 2023
360 Vintage Vegas - Kenny Epstein
Saturday Nov 04, 2023
Saturday Nov 04, 2023
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
E-458: Drunk Tony
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
Random Vegas
Because they used the shell of the Marina Hotel, the entire MGM Grand project was considered a remodel rather than new construction. Therefore, property taxes were set at the value when the Marina was built. (@AStotland)
Twitpic of the week
While it may be hard to wrap your head around, motels used to dominate the Vegas strip and beyond. They must have seen the writing on the wall when hotel towers became the future of hospitality but that didn’t stop properties like the La Concha from continuing to try and compete in the market. In 2001, the property was approved to build a 520 foot tall hotel tower, a 645 square foot condo tower and a shopping mall. In 2004 the La Concha was closed and demolished to make room for the new project. The iconic concrete shell lobby was carefully dismantled and donated to the Neon Museum who reassembled it and use it as the attractions lobby. The signage, shown here by @Las_when, is on display in the neon boneyard to this day. The project was ultimately canceled for reasons unknown and the property has been sold multiple times. It is currently owned by the Siegel Group and trust me, you don’t want these people opening a hotel/casino. Think Circus Circus, Imperial Palace and Excalibur at their worst but strip out the themes.
News
Saturday Jul 24, 2021
PCP - 360 POV: Lucky You
Saturday Jul 24, 2021
Saturday Jul 24, 2021
PCP = Premium Content Preview
The movie Lucky You, reminds us of a time in Vegas, when people thought the only limits the market had, were the limits of the imagination. While it isn’t a period piece in the traditional sense, at least not yet, or intentionally, one of the truly fun things about Las Vegas, is how often it changes. Unlike major cities all around the world, whose landscape typically just expands over the years, Vegas can look radically different from one decade to the next. That’s, what we get to explore, with Lucky You, to see, just how different, the city looks, from the way it did in 2005, when the movie was being filmed, compared to today, less than 20 years later.
Saturday May 22, 2021
PCP - 360 Vintage Vegas: Jackie Gaughan & the El Cortez
Saturday May 22, 2021
Saturday May 22, 2021
*Premium Content Preview
There are a collection of men who helped build the city of Las Vegas during its formative years that didn’t have colored pasts. Their origins are not linked to organized crime and their stories aren’t the sort of things people make movies about. However they would become the shining examples that the gaming industry could not only exist without the Mob but could continue to grow. A fact that was established in 1941 and continues to endure to this day. The El Cortez is the city’s oldest hotel casino to continuously operate under the same name and only the 2nd casino ever added to the nation’s historical preservation list. It’s also the only casino on that list still open to this day. This is the story of the people and the properties that shaped Downtown Las Vegas.
Saturday Feb 20, 2021
PCP - Bob Stupak, Vegas World and the Stratosphere
Saturday Feb 20, 2021
Saturday Feb 20, 2021
Today, Bob Stupak is considered just another colorful character in the history Las Vegas and properly credited as the visionary behind Stratosphere. His tacky taste, public antics and wacky persona are all just part of his legend. The truth is, Bob embodies everything negative you've ever been warned about gambling and the industry. He didn't want to just take your money, he wanted to make you look foolish while he did it. His nickname might as well have been "fine print Stupak” because just about everything he did had a catch to it or a technicality he hoped you would miss so he could exploit. He preyed on those that didn't know better. But what's wrong with that? Most people know there is a mathematically proven way to play some games and yet willfully choose to ignore them in favor of strategies that increase the odds already stacked against them. Some people believe the earth is flat. The fact is we all have access to the same information, especially in the Internet age. The only disadvantage one person has over another is self-imposed. An intellectual isn't discourage from using their acquired knowledge so why is gambling any different? Morality, you say? Well, as Canada Bill Jones said, it's immoral to let a sucker keep his money. I’m pretty sure Bob just thought it was fun.