360 Vegas
Episodes
Saturday Nov 04, 2023
360 Vintage Vegas - Kenny Epstein
Saturday Nov 04, 2023
Saturday Nov 04, 2023
Most of you probably don’t know who Kenny Epstein is, but you should. He’s the owner and CEO of El Cortez. Much more than that, he’s the guy that made the conscious decision to not remodel the property but to refresh it while retaining the vintage feel the property permeates. Kenny understands what El Cortez does so well and sees the value in continuing to service those customers. So instead he upgraded just about everything in the property, all without changing the esthetic. This year, the El Cortez, and Kenny, celebrate their 80th birthday. So we took the opportunity to talk history and the El Cortez with the man himself in the first ever 360 Vintage Vegas Interview.
Saturday Mar 19, 2022
360 Vintage Vegas PCP: Tony Cornero and the Stardust
Saturday Mar 19, 2022
Saturday Mar 19, 2022
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While many architecture academics have criticized Las Vegas for its lack of substance, there may be no better example of this elitism than the scorn directed towards the Stardust. For better or worse, history points to the Stardust as the defining moment when Las Vegas no longer required a jacket and tie to gain entrance to. Instead of celebrating the brilliance in the Stardust’s minimalism, it was trashed for focusing more on the exterior signage and façade, wrapped around a building that was little more than a massive, non-descript warehouse. Whether inadvertent or by intention, it seems each time Vegas has successfully evolved to appeal to more diverse tastes, that success is met with opposition; Slut Shaming those who dare to find things appealing like neon signage, themed resorts or anything deemed inferior to "intellectual" tastes. But the glory that is Las Vegas is knowing that judging people for what appeals to them has never made converts, it alienates; even if supplying that demand is more financially motivated than cultural. When the majority doesn't see things the way you'd like them to, that doesn't mean they're wrong, it means you don't get it. The Stardust got it, in a big way.
Saturday Jul 24, 2021
PCP - 360 POV: Lucky You
Saturday Jul 24, 2021
Saturday Jul 24, 2021
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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 Jun 19, 2021
360 Vintage Vegas PCP: Tropicana LV
Saturday Jun 19, 2021
Saturday Jun 19, 2021
Tropicana is the kind of property in Vegas that everyone knows about but most don't spend much time at, which is a real shame. Its contribution to the experiences available in the market is a unique blend of classic intimacy and affordable luxury. Many properties in Vegas seek to transport you from everyday life to a personal version of paradise but the use of bright spaces gives it a feeling of warmth and carelessness. Without excessive ornamentation or theming, Tropicana has succeeded in what can best be described as that happy place on a beach people can retreat to when the stressed of life reaches levels requiring such a place. A truly transformative experience, all with the convenience of virtually any other imaginable adventure available just outside, brought to you as only the Las Vegas strip can.
Saturday May 22, 2021
PCP - 360 Vintage Vegas: Jackie Gaughan & the El Cortez
Saturday May 22, 2021
Saturday May 22, 2021
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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.
Saturday Jan 23, 2021
PCP - 360 Vintage Vegas: The Great Consolidation of Las Vegas
Saturday Jan 23, 2021
Saturday Jan 23, 2021
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Since the creation of modern day Las Vegas, there have always been people lamenting the good ole days, whatever that means to that individual at the time. Determining what is considered “good” is about as subjective as subjective can be. Most people today will point to the time before the strip was primarily owned by 2 companies, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment. While the benefits of consolidation are obvious, potentially the best thing about it is the story of how it all happened. To do that, we are going to have to trace back to how these assets exchanged hands before finally ending up in the corporate portfolio that are currently a part of. To keep the story clean and the timeline defined, we are only going to focus on the majority owners and only their moves in Las Vegas. We’re calling this, the Great Consolidation of Las Vegas
Saturday Dec 05, 2020
PCP - 360 Vintage Vegas: Billy Wilkerson and the Flamingo (Remastered)
Saturday Dec 05, 2020
Saturday Dec 05, 2020
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History hasn’t been fair to Billy Wilkerson. For years, a myth has lived in romantic Hollywood lour that Bugsy Siegel is the father of modern Vegas. When in truth, the idea for the Flamingo was stolen and ruined by the notorious gangster who caused the project to cost 6 times more than its original projections. When it finally opened, it was a disaster of such catastrophic proportions that his partners in the mafia had him killed. Now it is time to set the record straight about the real man behind the Flamingo.