Episodes

Saturday Dec 23, 2023
PCP - 360 Vintage Vegas - Aladdin
Saturday Dec 23, 2023
Saturday Dec 23, 2023
Patreon Content Preview
Patreon.com/360Vegas
At times the Aladdin has been called “The Vegas Jinx”. History has documented a long line of potential suitors who, when they took their shot, missed. In a town where the house always wins, it’s not only an anomaly when one doesn’t, it’s also a cautionary tale. It isn’t as simple as build it and they will come. Theme, location, timing and in some cases luck is needed to be a successful Las Vegas resort.
If your interested in learning more about the Aladdin, check out...
lvstriphistory.com
Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1956-1973
Dreaming the Skyline
The Strip
After-Hours Architecture
Pinterest
Battle Born Pins
Vintage Vegas Shirts

Sunday Dec 17, 2023
E-467: Extra Space
Sunday Dec 17, 2023
Sunday Dec 17, 2023
Random Vegas
Fontainebleau isn’t the first property to encounter financing problems causing the project to sit unfinished. That title goes to the Landmark who broke ground in 1961 but had to halt construction in 62 due to financing issues. So it sat, 80% done. During that time it was the tallest building in the state of Nevada. It sat dormant until 1969 when Howard Hughes bought it and finished building the property. The Landmark would eventually open July 1st, 1969 (Vintage Research)
Twitpic of the week
Festive isn’t exactly how you would describe Christmas in Las Vegas. Not that the city doesn’t try but the displays are usually in juxtaposition with existing signage and all easily overlooked if you aren’t paying attention. A perfect example of this is this week’s winner from @_GrandPaD showcasing Fremont St during the holidays, circa 1959. It isn’t easy to see upon initial inspection because Vegas signs are designed to draw your attention to them. However, if you look past the marquees you’ll seen garland strung across the street with some bells and whistles. Signage tangent, this picture shows Golden Nugget in a transitional period with the original signage still on display but with the addition of the steel framed roof sign, added in 1956. In just a few years, 1961, Kermit Wayne will add a giant bullnose shield on the corners with flanked animated signage on each side. This will come to be the properties most memorable incarnation of signage, aside from its current.
News
Fontainebleau History
Fontainebleau Details
Fontainebleau Players Club
Resorts World Faux Awards
Vegas Concert Venues
F1 Improvements
Luxor Dorito
Flamingo Plumb Signage

Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
360 Vegas Reviews - OPM
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
On our first Vegas trip as a couple, I swung for the fences.Determined to have a great time and convince her that her previous terrible Vegas experience decades prior was not the only way to do Vegas, I made sure to fill our days with fun and our nights with great entertainment. On that trip, we saw Brilliant at the Neon Museum, Fantasy, the Beatles Love, and finished off our final evening at Absinthe. It was wildly successful. The problem is, where do you go there?
You can have the top half.
Out of all our Vegas show experiences, we loved Absinthe the most. It was - and remains - a perfect Vegas mix of sequins and trash, of sexy and vulgar, of talent and spectacle. So when I booked our second trip for early 2019, we opted to check out Spiegelworld's newest show, Opium. At that time, I can honestly say that I didn’t love it. Opium paled in comparison to its big sister Absinthe. Later that same year, I saw Atomic Saloon shortly after it opened. I felt that Atomic Saloon was a strong, close 2nd to Absinthe, while Opium was a distant third. We recently all went to see Opium together, and I was curious to see how the show evolved in the 4 ½ years since.First, a history lesson: OPM (the show was retitled in 2021, probably to get around advertising restrictions) is the second “permanent” show created by Spiegelworld for Las Vegas after the wildly successful Absinthe. It opened in March, 2018 at the Cosmopolitan where it has remained until its closure at the end of this year.
Flingin' rings.
OPM follows the variety show format that Spiegelworld developed with Absinthe. The various acts you see don’t necessarily have a common thread, they are just loosely linked together, sometimes simply by a few words for a host or emcee. This is less-so in Atomic Saloon, which does make an effort to tie the various acts into the story; but as with all Spiegelworld productions those who attend looking for a compelling narrative will be disappointed. Spiegelworld’s strength is curation: the assembly of the fantastic, the weird, and the incredibly talented into a show that will simultaneously amaze, arouse, and confuse you. The way Spiegelworld designs their shows, they are also nearly impervious to personnel issues. Performers can take a night off, get sick, or simply move on to another gig, and the show won’t suffer because some other great act can simply be plugged into the show and no one will ever know the difference. What this also means is that the show we saw is not necessarily the show you will see. I’ve seen Absinthe twice and OPM twice, and all four experiences were different. Whether you catch OPM before it closes or one of the other fantastic Spiegelworld shows, I’m pretty sure that you will still have a great time regardless.
Andromeda is your hostess
Before I dive too much into OPM, I’ll say this: over the last several years, the show has improved. The quality of the various acts has stepped up a notch, and the too-absurd-to-care-about story-line has been abandoned.Ever see a Cirque show or a magic show? If you’re like me, sometimes when you’re watching the show your mind is reeling from all the amazing things you’re seeing, but after a while it becomes noise. Spiegelworld shows work well with my short attention span by continually switching up what I’m seeing, so mentally the entertainment never ends. In OPM, we saw a girl climb into a giant latex balloon, and two men turn giant throwing rings into spectacle. There was a pair of tumblers who terrified us as they launched each other towards the relatively low ceiling. Not everything works, though. A girl in a straitjacket lip syncs psychotically to “No One” by Alicia Keys while writhing in an audience member’s lap, but the bit never seems to have a payoff. A highlight for me was the “bubble-blowing guy,” who had the audience in the palm of his hands while making intricate creations with bubbles. It seems like a parlor trick, but I suggest finding YouTube videos of this act if you never catch OPM live. All of this cements OPM as the most eclectic collection of talent in the Spiegelworld catalog.
Bubbles is back in town and he wants your number
OPM’s absence is Vegas’s loss, but fortunately you can catch the show before the end of the year. The show is dark on Mondays and Tuesdays, but is available twice a night at 7pm and 9pm every other night. Tickets currently start at $72. If you don’t get a chance to see OPM, rest easy knowing that the Spiegelworld magic is still available in other places on the strip in the form of Absinthe and the Atomic Saloon Show.

Saturday Dec 09, 2023

Sunday Dec 03, 2023
E-465: Careless Love
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Random Vegas
Similar to the myth of Bugsy Seigel and the Flamingo, a popular myth has been told many times over about Howard Hughes and the purchase of the Desert Inn. The legend says Hughes overstayed his welcome because ownership wanted the penthouse rooms for high rollers coming in for new years. Instead of leaving, Howard bought the place. The real story about the Desert Inn purchase is that Howard kept holding up the deal with seemingly petty details. The two parties would agree in principle to a deal only to have Hughes find something else he wanted to address. The situation became so heated that the deal almost fell through and his right-hand man Bob Maheu threatened to quit if Hughes changed one more thing. That was enough to get Hughes to finally close on the deal, paying $13 million for the Desert Inn. (Book - Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years)
Twitpic of the week
No one has done as much with so little than Cosmopolitan. That resort sits on 4.4 acres, has a premium location next to Bellagio’s fountains and offers something no other property offers, balconies in the majority of their rooms. The closest is Cromwell which resides on 1.4 acres. Thanks to @MaverickHeli and Claytonhaam for sharing another stunning view via helicopter of an icon. Here’s hoping that MGM won’t fuck up everything at the property.
News
LV Sands buys Mavericks

Saturday Nov 25, 2023
E-464: The Holy Trinity of Podcasting
Saturday Nov 25, 2023
Saturday Nov 25, 2023
Random Vegas
Surprising no one, the sportsbooks at multiple properties reported record breaking action on F1 betting
Twitpic of the week
I know it looks like this at every F1 track but damn it looked cool in Vegas. Whatever you think of F1 and/or its impact on the city you can’t argue they know how to illuminate a track. That was captured magnificently on ESPN via helicopter, then shared via screenshot by @MeltzVegas. Many records have been reported as a result of the often-trolled event but it was the spectacle promised; and as usual, the Sphere impressed. Here’s to hoping our Wishlist of things to improve actually get addressed.
News
F1 2023 Results
Manhole Cover Accident
Vegas Starfish Fraud
Pedestrian Traffic

Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
360 Vegas Reviews - The Sphere
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
People will try to describe the experience you have at the Sphere but let’s start with saying it unlike anything you've experienced before. It doesn’t matter if you see the film or a live act, this will be different. Which is exactly what Madison Square Garden Company was going for with the Sphere. You’ll find a lot of comparisons to IMAX, Disney’s Soaring Attraction, 360 theaters but that’s only because how else do you describe something never done before. The Sphere is one of those rare attractions that lives up to the hype, not only breaking the technological ceiling set before it but creating a new form of entertainment. Let’s discuss some of the ways its unlike anything you’ve seen before.
First, the Sphere is located behind the Venetian convention center. It’s the largest spherical building ever constructed at 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide. The exterior also features 580,000 square feet of LED displays, making it the largest LED display in history. It cost approx. $2.3 billion to build and took 4 years to bring to life. Construction started in 2018 with a planned opening in 2021 but had to put the project on hold in 2020 due to supply complications brought on by the COVID pandemic. When progress resumed, materials and technology costs had increased causing the originally projected $1.2 billion dollar price tag to almost double by the time it was completed.
The Sphere is the most expensive music and entertainment venue in history. It seats 18,600 and with standing room accommodations that can handle up to 20,000. 10,000 of those seats have haptic technology incorporated into the seats. They work in conjunction with 4d features like scent and wind. At 160,000 square feet, the 16k resolution wraparound LED screen is the largest and highest-resolution LED screen in the world. The sound system comprises of 1,600 speakers installed behind the LED panels.
The experience starts the moment you enter the venue. The atrium is large enough to fit the statue of liberty or the Saturn V rocket. Inside, you’ll find five humanoid robots throughout the venue introducing you to the Sphere as well as interacting with patrons. While the technology is impressive, personally, I would best describe them as borderline creepy. That said, they are powered by AI and have the ability to react to those that interact with them.
The Sphere isn’t designed to host things like professional sporting events typically presented in the round. However, it would fit well with events like boxing, MMA, WWE, esports or even award ceremonies in addition to concerts and films. Today, we are going to discuss both the film and the concert experience.
The Film
Darren Aronofsky, probably best known for the films like Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan and The Whale, is the director of the first film ever captured in 18k. It’s called “Postcards from earth” and tells the story of a dystopian earth that humans have had to evacuate due to all the damage done to it. It follows 2 humans waking up from cryo-sleep after their journey to another planet that can sustain life. Darren uses this narrative to showcase what sort of film experience only the Sphere can offer. It can probably be best described as a love letter to the planet featuring some of the most breathtaking scenes ever captured on film. The film is 50 minutes long and ticket prices start at $89, increasing based on the better the seat location.
The Show
So a few of things to get out of the way:
First, I know this is a divisive band. People seem to love them or hate them. I happen to be in the “love them” camp, and I don’t really care if you’re in the “hate them” camp. Music opinions are entirely subjective and no one is going to change anyone’s mind. With that in mind, I’d like to ask those that aren’t interested to simply move on instead of voicing your distaste. It’s not that you can’t have an opinion, it’s just that I don't like K-pop, but I don’t mention that I don’t like K-pop everytime the subject comes up. What I’m saying is don’t yuck someone else’s yum, okay? Also, if you think U2 is the worst ever for putting a free album on your iPhone several years ago, but you continue to buy all things Apple, your opinion has no weight here.
Second, I recognize that this isn’t 360 Vegas Album reviews, and I’ll try to keep that in mind as I discuss this show, but the Achtung Baby album is the center of this show, and it’s the genesis of my love for this band, so forgive me if I spend too much time discussing the virtues and nuance of the album.
And finally, I’m not going to have too much to say about the experience at the venue. Our seats were general admission, so we were standing room on the floor. They brought us in a separate entrance from everyone else who had seats, and we never saw the lobby or any of the concession areas. I wish I could comment more on the rest of the facility, but my experience doesn’t allow that.
Allright, so back to point 1. “Achtung Baby” made me a U2 fan. I came out at a time when I was looking for my own music and not just listening to the music my parents listened to. I always thought it was a brave album: U2 had won two Grammys for The Joshua Tree and came back four years later with Achtung Baby as if to say, “Glad you liked that, now here’s something completely different.” It’s an album about conflict and resolution; a result of recording in Berlin after the reunification, and during the time guitarist The Edge was going through a rocky divorce. I also think it’s a very “Vegas” album. It’s dark, it’s sexy, and it’s full of temptation references. There’s an arc through the album, and you can argue that it tells the story of a night out that goes a little too far, and the reconciliation that comes with the sunrise.
So all of that is to say that when I found out my favorite band would be performing my favorite album in my favorite city, I packed up my favorite person and made for the promised land.
Again, our tickets were General Admission, which is standing room only on the venue floor. We’ve done this once before; more than ten years ago. I waited in line all day to get us “close” to the stage, and always felt as though it was a one-time thing. When we bought General Admission tickets for this event, I made it clear to my wife that I was not going to spend a day in Vegas waiting in line. Thankfully, the event attempts to address this, somewhat successfully. If you have General Admission tickets, you can arrive at the Sphere between 8 am and 1 pm the day of the event to get a numbered wristband. Then you return to the venue around 5 pm, and they let you in based on the number on your wristband. It’s not a perfect system, though. We drove to the Sphere to pick up our wristbands, and they didn’t allow parking on the property for wristband pickup. So we had to park on a crowded side street and walk around a bunch of F1 fencing and bleachers to get to the part of the venue that was distributing wristbands. I understand charging for parking when there’s an event, but not even letting someone park to run in and get a wristband for 2 minutes is bonkers.
We stayed at the Wynn the night of the show, so we walked to the event in the evening. Getting there is easy, and there are signs through the Venetian directing you there. I thought we were going to end up taking the new pedestrian bridge that crosses over Koval from Venetian to the Sphere, but here again, they directed GA ticketholders out of the Venetian convention center building along Sands Avenue, where we had to cross Koval via the crosswalk. Then we had to walk along the north side of the building and enter via the “East VIP entrance.”
Here is another complaint about the venue. They have got to streamline their entrance procedures. I think about a venue like T-Mobile Arena, which has similar capacity to the Sphere. It takes less than 5 minutes to scan your ticket, pass through security, and be inside that place. Sphere needs more doors, and more Security people at the door to make that process a little smoother.
Once inside, we were directed down very dark, moody hallways toward the GA area. We stopped to use the restroom along the way, and I found the restrooms to be suitably massive. Excellent capacity for restrooms only intended for the GA crowd. There was also a bar/lounge, but we didn’t really check it out.
Upon entering the GA floor, we ran into a wall of people. I had seen in videos from previous shows that it seemed as though the stage left side had fewer people than stage right, and they literally dumped us out on the stage right side. We pushed our way over to the stage left side, and so despite getting there long after we should have with our wristbands we ended up about 10 people back from the stage. Not bad.
We sat on the floor because it was still about an hour and a half before the band was to take the stage. I was pleasantly surprised to see a whole herd of cocktail waitresses walking the GA floor and taking drink orders. I have never seen that on a General Admission floor before.
Around 7:30 or so, a DJ started playing. He was DJing from this modified car that slowly moved around the GA floor. When I heard the band chose a DJ for the opening act, I was really hoping that it wouldn’t be “oonce-oonce club music,” and it turns out that I had nothing to worry about. This guy knew his audience, and was playing rock and pop hits from the 80’s and 90’s. The crowd was really getting into it and singing along with songs like “Livin on a Prayer.” It was a great fit.
At about 8:40, the lights went down and the crowd got loud. Slowly, the band took the stage. Bono started singing a sort of short acapella song that I have not heard before, then the drums kicked in and the band launched into Zoo Station, the opening track of Achtung Baby. I don’t want to spoil what happens, but I’ll say that the way the band uses the screen here to kick off the show is really cool. If you think you might want to see the show, I’d recommend staying spoiler-free about the intro. It’s really fun.
The band played 7-8 tracks from Achtung Baby. They did not play them in exact album order, but in this first section, they played songs from the first 2/3rds of the album. Then they shifted gears a little and played a few other songs, mostly acoustic. This was the day after the Hamas attack on Israel, so this was mentioned, followed by I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Pride (In the Name of Love), and MLK.
Then Bono announced it was “time to wake the Baby up,” and the band went on to finish Achtung Baby. This was probably my favorite part of the show for a couple reasons: 1) It’s later in the show, so fewer people had posted photos and videos of this portion, so there were more surprises and 2) it’s really the emotional emotional climax of the album, so I’ve always felt those songs hit pretty hard.
After finishing the 2nd Achtung Baby section, the band said goodnight, but of course returned for their encore. The encore was kind of a greatest rocking hits section, where they did songs like Elevation, Vertigo, Where the Streets Have No Name, Beautiful Day, and of course, their new Vegas anthem Atomic City. I won’t spoil Atomic City either, but it had some of my favorite visuals of the show.
Let's talk about some of the visuals. We were concerned that where we were sitting, we would be so close to the screen that we couldn’t appreciate the whole thing. There were times that we found ourselves looking around and above to take everything in, but I don’t think we missed out on anything by being so close. There was another concern about getting dizzy. Some people get Vertigo (ha!) in Imax theaters, and the Sphere is like Imax on steroids. We only felt a little dizzy at one point, and that was during “Even Better Than The Real Thing.” So during this song, it has maybe the most impressive and complicated graphics of the entire show. They are structured like a moving monument to Elvis and Vegas, and they slowly and steadily move downward. I was looking up at these graphics and following them down with my eyes. When my eyes got to the fixed point of the stage, it felt like the stage was tilting up from the back and we were about to all fall over. They don’t really use any flying or moving visuals that might convey motion from the viewer’s point of view, so there weren’t any other times I felt dizzy or motion-sick.
At the end of the day, I think if you don’t like the band - if they just rub you wrong no matter what they do - you’re probably going to stay away, and that’s fine. If you like a few of their songs and want to see a rock concert unlike anything else you’ve seen, it’s worth checking out. And if you call yourself a fan, then you really shouldn’t miss out on this experience. I think a band or artist could be intimidated by this venue and this space, it would be easy to be afraid of being upstaged by the visuals and the scale of everything, but I think U2 is the perfect group to launch this facility. 25 years ago they were touring with (what was at the time) the biggest video screen in the world, so these are guys who know how to utilize large scale visuals in their shows and embrace the technology.

Sunday Nov 19, 2023
E-463: Infalable
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Random Vegas
The Westward Ho was advertised as “The World’s Largest Motel”. It had 777 rooms and closed in 2005. When demolished they had to take down 27 total buildings. (@las_when)
Twitpic of the week
What else can you say but wow? Here’s hoping Vegas properties will take notice that you can do so much more with LED signage than just running commercials. If the Sphere hadn’t already endeared itself in the hearts of the locals it did with this display showcased during F1 practice, shared by @kerrybilicki. Featuring elements of the Flamingo, classic Sahara, googie stars from Stardust’s glory days and a lot more all represented on this global display of Vegasy goodness. Salud to much more of this.
News
FUF1
Downtown Ban
Encore marquee signage