360 Vegas

E-470: Sorry, Not Sorry

Random Vegas
One day of running a 90-second ad intermittently on the Sphere is $750k (Vital Vegas)
Twitpic of the week
Magical…well, to someone like me this is magical.  To the layman this is an old picture of Caesars Palace,  shared by @Summacorp, before the retheming in the late 90s/early 2000s.  This is so mesmerizing because you don’t often see pictures of Caesars during this time, in this case 1982 and without the lights turned on.  This was a time before I knew Vegas so to me, it’s like a magic trick.  I can still visit this property even though it doesn’t look like this anymore, with the Sarno blocks.  Sarno blocks are affectionately named after Jay Sarno who introduced them to the market with Caesars Palace.  Those are concrete blocks replicating latticework that allows the frontage to look uniform as well as back lit.  This style of block is still in use today at Circus Circus, mostly on Industrial Road.
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360 Vegas Vacation 14 
More Vintage AI
Firearm Jackassary
Copperfield Appearance
Coming in 2024
Las Vegas Sign bobblehead
Play Playground
Mandalay Bay/Delano Exterior Paging 
Bird Bar space

E-469: List of Sodas

Random Vegas
About one in 3 U.S. Adults said they thought the tipping culture “has gotten out of control,” according to a survey conducted in May 2023 (Review Journal)
Twitpic of the week
The photo by @Las_when doesn’t date the picture but this is how the Stardust looked when I got the one and only chance to visit the property in 2006, just months before it closed its doors on Nov 1st.  The lamentation of properties lost has a long tradition in Las Vegas.  However this move has gone down in history as the worst move made by Boyd gaming’s well documented history of brilliance, hindsight being 20/20.
News
360 Vegas AI
F1 Impact
3D LED sign
Ramsay’s Kitchen

E-468: Meth to Monkeys

Random Vegas
Allegiant Stadium generated $2.29 billion in economic impact to the city of Las Vegas including $128 million in tax revenue (@mickakers)
Twitpic of the week
Following last week’s holiday theme, @_GrandpaD out did himself with a collection of various Vegas locations themed for the holidays.  Everything from Stardust’s Aku Aku tiki statue with a giant Santa hat on to more views of Fremont St with decorations strewn across the street.  Our favorite this week was the view of Stardust’s original marquee anchored with Christmas decorations, full sized which only further gives perspective to just how large the sign was in its day.  As is common in Vegas signage, if you aren’t paying attention, you might miss the decorations, although not in this photo.
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SuperBowl Accommodations
Blackbook Addition
BLVD Details
Paris/Horseshoe Versailles tower
Venetian Sala 118
 

PCP - 360 Vintage Vegas - Aladdin

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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 

E-467: Extra Space

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 

360 Vegas Reviews - OPM

 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.

E-466: Sophie’s Choice

E-465: Careless Love

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.
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LV Sands buys Mavericks