The first casino on the east side of Las Vegas Blvd. after the Venetian is Casino Royale.
I respect the fact that this place doesn't try to pretend is something other than a casino. It does have 152 hotel rooms (at least some of which are located in the Travelodge next door), but it's upfront about the fact that it exists to allow people to gamble.
And I really like the old-fashioned look to the sign.
Next door is Harrah's. (We're walking south.)
This is over the entrance to Harrah's. The building comes right out to the edge of the sidewalk. You can see all the pedestrians walking by. There are multiple double doors that they leave open, and the air-conditioning just sort of spills out. It's all designed to entice you to just stroll right into the casino from the sidewalk, I'm sure.
This is the Imperial Palace next door. That's an area of tiny shops and kiosks out front. You find the same kinds of things for sale you'd find at mall kiosks, plus more touristy things like cowboy hats and tee shirts. There are also street artists and offers of foot massages. It's an interesting mix.
Then there's the Flamingo. Yep, that's the Flamingo of Bugsy Siegel fame.
None of the original buildings remain. This hotel has been through numerous changes since its opening in 1946. It's an interesting read. Check it out on Wikipedia. Although this was the first of the 'resort' type casinos in Las Vegas, it's pretty plain jane by today's standards.
On the same side of the street is Bally's.
That's a People Mover running through the tunnel, like the ones you see at some airports.
These are pretty common in Las Vegas, apparently. The Venetian has quite a few. I guess somebody figured out that people's legs get tired just from walking the strip, and they'd be more likely to get folks to come in if they did the 'walking' for you.
There are fountains running the length of the people mover. That's a channel at the top from which the water cascades down the sloped sides of the fountain to the pool below. It's shady under there, and this duck is right at home walking up and down the slanted side of the fountain.
Next is the Paris Las Vegas.
The Eiffel Tower is a half-scale replica of the tower in Paris, France.
The basket of the balloon is an electronic sign. Many of the hotels have this type sign. At least at the Paris they put it in attractive surroundings.
The Arc de Triomphe is also half-scale. You almost miss it, unfortunately, because it sits back from the street, and vehicles can park in front of it.
Looking across the street from Bally's you can see the new City Center being constructed. There's almost always some kind of construction going on the strip. This place is ever evolving.
Look at how many cranes are at work at the same time.
Here's a closer look at the work site.
Thrilling, I know. But now you can say you saw the City Center while it was still under construction.
This is an MGM Mirage project, and it will be different from anything currently on the strip. The main focus will be on high-scale living spaces--hyper expensive condos, if you will. If you want to see what the completed project is supposed to look like, click here.
After two days of walking at the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam, it was definitely time to give our legs a break, and lunch sounded like a good idea.
We ate at the Harley-Davidson Cafe. It was kinda fun. The decor is Motorcycle Deco. That's half of an oversized Harley bursting through the front of the building.
Inside there were motorcycles hanging from the ceiling. This classics was permanently mounted out in the center of the room. It's a 1957 FLH Panhead. To the right side of the picture you can see the front of a 2008 Harley. There were numerous new 2008 models rotating around the room suspended from what looks like a huge conveyor chain. It made for an interesting atmosphere. You can see the American flag in the background here. It's made from chains.
This is a VERY popular place with Harley-Davidson owners. Toward evening, the front lot started to fill with Harleys and their owners. If you are into these bikes, this is a not-to-be-missed place.
And the food is very good to boot. It's basically southern fare. (Although I gotta tell you, native Georgians do NOT eat sugared pecans ON their chicken salads. They gladly put my pralines in a bowl on the side for me.)
Next on the east side of the strip is the Showcase Mall. It houses the Coca-Cola store and M&Ms place, among other things.
We didn't go into either due to time and muscle constraints, but from what I understand, they are both fantasy lands, especially if you are a Coke or chocolate lover. You can see from the picture that GameWorks arcade is beside M&Ms. And there's a there's a United Artists theater in the mall, too--the only regular theater on the strip.
Then comes Planet Hollywood, the old Aladdin Hotel and Casino. The original hotel on this site is where Elvis and Priscilla were married in 1967. That structure was imploded in 1998, with the exception of the theater, and the new Aladdin reopened in 2000. In 2003 it was sold to Planet Hollywood.
Somehow, we entirely missed taking any pictures of it during the day. Here's a couple of nighttime shots.
They're slightly blurry, but considering that they were taken from a car moving at about 30 mph, I think they're OK. (More about that in the next post.)
Beyond Planet Hollywood is the MGM Grand.
This is the largest hotel in the world, I think, with over 5,000 rooms. It also houses the largest casino in Clark County, NV.
The MGM mascot, Leo, is a bronze statue weighing in at 50 tons. He's 45 feet tall, and sits on a 25-foot pedestal. This makes him the largest bronze statue in the U.S.
And then comes the Tropicana.
The Tropicana has been around since 1957.
The street that crosses Las Vegas Boulevard between the MGM Grand and the Tropicana is named after this hotel--Tropicana Avenue. This intersection is the first that was completely closed to pedestrian traffic. Partly because Tropicana Avenue is the main entrance into McCarran International Airport, there extremely heavy traffic at this intersection. Clark County's solution was to build elevated pedestrian walkways, and block pedestrians from crossing the streets.
You can see the walkway from New York, New York to the Grand in the background of this picture. There are escalators and elevators, as well as steps, on each corner to assist people up and down. This was obviously a workable solution, because the are numerous other intersections now that have the same kind of set-up.
We turned around at this point on the strip and started north on the west side of Las Vegas Boulevard. Across from the Tropicana is the Excalibur.
We didn't go over there, just shot it from a distance. All of us were having major issues with our legs by this point.
Next up the way is one of my favorite facades on New York, New York.
The back section of the hotel is modeled after the NYC skyline, with such recognizable buildings as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.
The portion of the hotel that borders Las Vegas Boulevard is faced with such things as the Whitney Museum of American Art, Ellis Island, and Grand Central Terminal. The Brooklyn Bridge is also on the strip in front of this section of New York, New York.
In lots of the pictures you can see portions of the roller coaster that's atop this section of hotel. It runs both inside and outside the hotel.
The portion of the property at the intersection of Las Vegas and Tropicana is a pool that resembles New York Harbor.
It holds a 150-foot, half-scale replica of the Statue of Liberty.
There's also a Harbor Fire Boat in the pool. Those appear to be working water canons, but I never asked anybody if they do shows with them or what, exactly.
After 9-11, New York, New York Hotel & Casino constructed a memorial to the victims, the heroes, and their families. It borders the pool, on the corner of the intersection.
Each of the frames you see holds shirts or plaques or emblems or pictures of police or fire units that lost members that day.
For me, viewing this fitting memorial was the most touching part of my visit to the strip. And I'm pleased to say that there were many very reverent people who lingered to view the entire memorial, even in this city whose focus is so different.
We left the Memorial, and walked back north across the Brooklyn Bridge......
.....pausing to sit for just a minute. (Those 'just a minute' pauses came as often as I could tuck them in by this point.) One of the funny things I noticed while sitting there is this huge sign on the side of one of the 'buildings' of NY, NY.
The funny part is that is that it's cattycorners across from the Coca-Cola shop.
The day was wearing on, and we hadn't been to the Bellagio, yet, so we hurried on north from this point. I've already put up the spread on the Bellagio, so this is it for our daytime visit to Las Vegas Boulevard.
We did go back Monday night to look at the lights, and we got a few decent pictures. I'll post those next time.
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