Saturday, January 27, 2024

E-473: 90s Food Bites

 Random Vegas

The Caesars Palace marquee has caught on fire twice.  In both cases, Tom Jones was the featured artist on the billboard at the time (LasVegasSun)


Twitpic of the week

Ever wonder what it looked like when your Grandparents were on vacation in Vegas.  Well, thanks to @_GrandPaD, we can relive that moment poolside at the Stardust in the 1950s.  How do I know it’s the Stardust, you say?  Easy, look at the top of the building.  You can see the unmistakable outline of the original Stardust marquee, at least the back of it.  Something about the idea of my grandparents chasing each other around like I chase my wife gives me an ear-to-ear grin, as it should.

News


Saturday, January 20, 2024

E-472: Preoccupied

 Random Vegas

In Vegas history, 3 signs have been knocked down due to high winds.  The first was the Silver Slipper in May of 1978.  The second, in May of 1991, was Bob Stupak’s Vegas World sign.  The third was the Hilton sign, the tallest free-standing sign in the world at 365 feet, had the top portion of the sign collapse in July of 94.  The incident caused designers to be questioned how a sign designed to withstand winds of over 100 mph fail at 70 mph.  The sign was repaired, then totally replaced in 1997 with the sign they have today at Westgate, the current tallest free standing advertising sign in the world at 279 feet high. (News3lv.com)

Twitpic of the week

When installed in 1967 the Frontier, formerly the Last Frontier and, for a time, the New Frontier, was the tallest sign in the world at 184 feet tall.  It had 16-foot-tall letters and a giant 30 foot tall “F” logo resting at the top.  The sign contained more than a mile of fluorescent tubing, a mile and half of neon and more than 23,000 light bulbs.  In Dec of 2008, after the property had closed and was being prepared for new construction, Wynn paid to have the signage be taken down for the opening of Encore across the street.  This week, @summacorpshared that moment in time.  The Neon Museum sought to save portions of the sign but exactly what they were able to retain from the pylon marquee is unknown.

News

Friday, January 12, 2024

E-471: Dick Doesn't Make Sense

 Random Vegas

A typical arcade game makes about as much per day as a typical slot machine (Vital Vegas)
Twitpic of the week
Here @summacorp shares a time before the Golden Nugget consumed all of its western casino competition to acquire the Fremont footprint they have today. It was also the initial incarnation of their greatest exterior façade with the bullnose corner of Fremont and 2nd St, known today as Casino Center Blvd. Knowing what it would become it looks kind of cute. Especially next to what was, for a time, the tallest sign on Fremont St at Lucky Casino standing at 153 feet high. Beyond that you can see the adorable Californian club ending the block the Nugget absorbed. If you really want to, you can also see Vegas Vic at the Pioneer Club and the Golden Gate marquees in the distance. All that to avoid looking at the high waisted gentleman in the foreground.
News

Friday, January 5, 2024

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.


News