360 Vegas

PCP - 360 Vintage Vegas - Del Webb & the Sahara

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The Sahara used to be referred to as the start of the strip, when the strip began to develop.  During that time, people talked about the strip like they do off strip properties today, too far from the action.  Turns out what people really wanted was more options and the development of the strip over the years has been nothing short of remarkable.  The question is, does the strip have a limit to the number of properties it can support, or do the struggles facing places like Sahara fall directly on the shoulders of the properties experiencing them.  Give the people what they want and they will come.  If you follow that sentiment then the question has to be asked, do people not want what Sahara has to offer?  Is that why they are struggling?
 
For more information regarding Del Webb and the Sahara, check out...
lvstriphistory.com 
Del Webb: A Man A Company 
Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930-1955 
Viva Las Vegas: After-Hours Architecture 
The First 100: Portraits of the Men and Women Who Shaped Las Vegas 
Pinterest 
Battle Born Pins 
Vintage Vegas Shirts 
 
 

E-462: Confrontentional

Random Vegas
The office of Sam “Ace” Rothstein and the Tangiers sports book in Martin Scorsese’s Casino was filmed on the site of an unopened casino at the Jockey Club (@summacorp)
Twitpic of the week
One of the reasons Vegas is like no other place on the planet is the wide array of architecture it has on display.  It has a mixture of traditional, themed and many in a category of their own.  Unfortunately, the creativity that brought us the likes of Caesars Palace, Paris and Excalibur, shared here by @las_when,  seems to have been forgotten or at least abandon.  The situation leaves those that appreciate them to desperately fear that the themes that make the city so unique are now the targets for redevelopment by those who thought an office park on the strip was something visitors wanted.  The only constant in life is change so rather than lament the inevitable we should try to just enjoy what we have while we have it.
News
F1 Vegas Eve
Venetian Grandstands
Mirage Mountain
Trespassing Jackpots
Wizard of Oz Escape Room
Naked Crimes
Hooker Gone Wild
Sphere Struggles
The Continental Returns
Palms billboard sign
Cosmopolitan to Vdara
Canteen Food Hall
The Family Plan

360 Vintage Vegas - Kenny Epstein

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.
 

E-461: Easily Offended

Random Vegas
The music video for U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, filmed in downtown Las Vegas in 1987, was done in one take, shot in less than 3 hours with a skeleton crew and an unsuspecting cast of extras. All the stuff in the video really happened.  The music video is credited with introducing, or in some cases re-introducing, Fremont St to the masses and creating a demand for the area that it hadn’t had in a long time. This would go on to spark the need to renovate the area with an attraction that would draw people to it.  Today, we know it as the Fremont St Experience.  (RJ.com)
 
Twitpic of the week
The rebranding of a property must be an inexpensive process.  Consider how quickly Caesars Entertainment rebranded Imperial Palace into the Quad, shared by @MeltzVegas, only to rebrand the property less than two years later into the Linq.  Naming aside, we’ve been a fan of the properties transformation from what was considered by most to be one of the worst properties on the strip when it was Imperial Palace into what we have today.  I can’t emphasize enough that Keren wouldn’t step foot in Imperial Palace and since the transformation, we’ve not only spent a considerable amount of time at the property but we’ve spent the night at more than once.  The Linq is proof concept that you can make a discount version of Cosmopolitan.
 
News
Valid Form of ID
Sphere Impact
Golden Tee Championships
Arte Museum
Street Performance Art
Fertitta Strip Resort
Particle Ink
Vegas Advantage Craps Games
 
 
 

E-460: Human Cholesterol

Random Vegas
Roughly 26 international destinations are reachable from Las Vegas (@lasvegasweekly)
Twitpic of the week
In Las Vegas, perspective is everything.  While some may look at gambling losses as a negative, those that love the city understand its part of the dance that leads to a win.  This week, @luckytraveling shared a POV that reminds one that even when passed out on a casino floor one can still find beautiful imagery.  Captured is a view of the Cromwell hallway from the floor up to the chandeliers and while it doesn’t feature anyone on the floor, its easy to make that leap in a monologue.
News
Street Vendor Ban
G2E 2023
Voltaire Residencies
High End B&E
Palms sign Refurbishment
Las Vegas Monorail Deals
F1 pop-up experiences and exclusive culinary events
 

E-459: Like A Period

Random Vegas
Advertising at the Sphere costs approx. $450k for a one-day campaign, $650k for a week.  For comparison, traditional billboards cost $20k a month, Mekka Walgreen’s is $65k a month and a 30 second spot during the 2024 SuperBowl will run you $7.5 million. Pricing for the Sphere does include production development of the ad.  (VitalVegas & News3lv.com)
Twitpic of the week
Barbary Coast, in all her chasing lights glory, shown here by @las_when as she was originally introduced to the market, with a white exterior.  Even better, this picture was taken before the pedestrian walkway was installed.  This was Fremont quality exterior lighting, not found on the strip in too many places these days.  While we prefer the property it is today, Cromwell, we will always prefer this signage.
News
Tupac Arrest
Room Fraud
Rio Renovations 
Rio Players Club 
Rouge Roulette
Area15 Expansion
Sphere Parking
Westgate Halloween Suite 
Killer's "Your Side of Town" Music Video
 

E-458: Drunk Tony

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
360VV14
More Vegas F1 Casualties
Venetian Loves Locals
Strike
Vegas WebCams
Casino Hopping
Palms Sign Restoration 
Westin Signage 
U2 Atomic City 
Netflix - Obliterated 

360 Vegas Reviews - Blue Man Group @Luxor

Who farted?
 Do you have that one piece of media that you would like to check out, but never seem to get around to it? Like, you’re scrolling through Netflix, and there’s that one movie that you’re interested in checking out, but not this time. Or the next time, or the time after that. It’s always there, and you’re interested, but not interested enough to dive in at the moment. That, my friends, is how Blue Man Group was for me until recently.I’ve known who the Blue Man Group was for over 20 years now. I remember there was an Intel Pentium TV commercial that they starred in, and a little Googling tells me that was in the year 2000.  Sometime after that, I borrowed their album - yes, they have albums - from a friend, because I really liked the unique sound they had. And when I took my very first grownup trip to Vegas in 2002, I stayed at the Luxor, where BMG has had their Las Vegas home off and on since the year 2000.
Men beat their 'bone, live on stage!
I’ve never been one to mince words in my reviews, so I’ll say up front that I liked Blue Man Group. But I’m having a hard time describing Blue Man Group.  I left the theater thinking, “I don’t know what the fuck I just saw, but I’m pretty sure I liked it.” Kind of like a donkey show in Tijuana, but a little more family friendly.So the Blue Man Group itself goes all the way back to 1987. Created as a sort of performance art by three friends in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the group started with street performances which gradually grew to full on stage productions.  People in New York like weird artsy shit.  Gradually it became a phenomenon, with worldwide tours, 3 albums, and more blue latex than any person should have access to. The Blue Man Group brand was sold to Cirque du Soliel in 2017, another Vegas mainstay.So what the hell is it? The show is kind of a techo-surreal experience.  Three Blue Men guide the audience through various experiences, like making music, art, and marshmallow tossing.  Without spoken words, the show manages to explore themes of science and technology, information overload, and cultural norms.  The characters have a sort of naive curiosity in their behavior. It can come across as mime-like in its execution, but there’s more to it than that. The characters seem like visitors from another world, and their experiments and explorations address our assumptions about the world around us.
 
Chest-hole.
 
Imagine colored paint leaking out of a member’s chest hole onto an under-lit drum that flashes brightly when struck, showing colored drops of paint splattering through the air. If you are thinking that this seems weird as fuck, you’re right, but there’s a sort of mystical coolness about this when BMG does it on stage.  Watch as they play wild instruments custom made from PVC pipe and create songs that are absolute bangers.They play songs that the group has created themselves, along with well-known classics like Beethoven’s Fur Elise, pop songs like Bad Romance, and even tease a little Freebird.Audience Fuckery Factor:Minimal, but they do go out in the audience looking for volunteers. They look for people raising hands, so don’t raise your hand if you don’t want to go onstage.And just like a trip to Sea World, avoid the first several rows if you don’t want to get splashed.  I think they hand out plastic rain ponchos, because I saw several people with them.The show plays with light (you may be blinded by the lights during the show) and sound (I highly recommend ear plugs).
This could be you!
The theater is nice. It has a capacity of 830 people. There is a low slope on the house floor, so you may have people blocking your view.  I recommend row AA if you don’t want anyone directly in front of you, but you also don’t want to be splashed or singled out.
Shows are 2 - 3 times /day everyday of the week.  Tickets start at $49.  This is a great value show.  I also think it works well as a family show, or show to take the in-laws to when they decide they want to join in Vegas because you’re always going there.