Saturday, October 19, 2019

E-317: One of those two statements is correct

Random Vegas
The signs you see in the center of Fremont East, the martini glass, Las Vegas Oldsmobile logo and the Silver Slipper are NOT restored signs.  That are all “inspired” by Vegas signs of yesteryear…and Silver Slipper is just a rip off of the restored sign out front of the Neon Museum.  They are originals created for Fremont East, installed in 2007 (vital Vegas)

Twitpic of the week



There is something to be said about signage so large, like the 65 Thunderbird frontage shared by @_GrandPaD, it reminds one just how small we all are in the grand scheme of things.  Typically, massive signage is displayed at elevated heights, but when hotel casinos were really motel casinos, resorts simply weren’t as tall as they are today.  Taking inspiration from its neighbor across the street, the Stardust.  in May of 1965, the Thunderbird began renovating its exterior frontage into a 700-foot-long sign, the biggest sign in Vegas history at the time, 3 feet longer Stardust and featuring 12-foot-high letters.  However, the new signage came at the expense of the room views in the south wing because the sign was placed directly in front of the guest room windows; replacing a view of the strip with one of circuit boards, 20 miles of electric wire and the buzz of 15,000 volts per tube.  To address complaints, management installed blackout curtains.

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Saturday, October 12, 2019

E-316: Facebook Plus


Random Vegas
Original plans for the Stardust included a train stop at the back of the property (after hours architecture)

Twitpic of the week



It looks like a yearbook photo, if Vegas signs had yearbooks and reflected on their glory days at class reunions.  A sentiment poignantly made by Boyd Gaming’s removal of Stardust letters in the Electra Jag font to be replaced by the more subdued Helvetica.  Once you’ve soaked that in, take a look at the rest of the image, shared by @_GrandPaD.  It’s like a who’s who of the Neon Boneyard.  None of these properties exist today, except in the Boneyard, where they’ve all been put out to pasture, to a farm where they can run and play with other signs all day.  If you attempted to recreate this image today, it would look like the Riviera, La Concha, Morocco, Silver city and Stardust were all just photoshopped out, replaced with parking lots and desert landscapes.  Think about that!

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Saturday, October 5, 2019

E-315: FUAWK KEEYAW


Random Vegas
John C Fremont, the man who created Las Vegas, ran as the Republican candidate for president of the United States in 1856, losing to James Buchanan.

Twitpic of the week


Truly an idealized version of the Luxor frontage.  The photo, shared by @classiclasvegas, shows us what it must feel like to see a mirage of an oasis in the desert.  In the early 90s, everyone was still making the effort to offer signature free attractions.  Luxor’s contribution to that end utilized this water feature to put on a laser light show. Holograms would project from the Sphinxes eyes onto the water element located in front of it, right on the strip.  Today the water feature has been turned into a parking lot.

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360 Vintage Vegas - The Landmark









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The Landmark existed for 34 years, 1961-1995, and during that time, sat empty and unused for a 3rd of its life.  Make no mistake, the Landmark was a great idea.  It just never had the support it needed to reach its potential.  It resembles everything that is great about Las Vegas.  Any grand idea can live here, if only here.  Want to build Paris in the desert, sure; Recreate ancient Roman decadence, why not; put a casino in the sky, give it a shot.  The sobering reality is it takes much more than a visionary idea to succeed in Vegas and there are many examples to prove that.  Rather than lament it’s passing we should celebrate the fact that it had a chance. There are literally dozens of visionary projects planned for Las Vegas that never make it beyond the concept phase.  Currently north strip is home to 3 of them in various stages of incompletion.  Regardless of it’s inability to become a financial success, the Landmark was able to literally live up to it’s name, establish itself as one of the most memorable properties in the landscape of Las Vegas history.Hughes FingerprintThe PoolGalaxy HotelFall of a Landmark

For those of you interested in more information on the Landmark, I can’t recommend the Marc Wagner book “Above the All- The story of the Landmark Hotel and Casino” as well as their companion site www.landmarkhotelmemorial.com.  Possibly the best documentation of a single property I’ve ever seen.  Others sources include