PCP - 360 Vintage Vegas: Jackie Gaughan & the El Cortez

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There are a collection of men who helped build the city of Las Vegas during its formative years that didn’t have colored pasts.  Their origins are not linked to organized crime and their stories aren’t the sort of things people make movies about.  However they would become the shining examples that the gaming industry could not only exist without the Mob but could continue to grow. A fact that was established in 1941 and continues to endure to this day.  The El Cortez is the city’s oldest hotel casino to continuously operate under the same name and only the 2^nd casino ever added to the nation’s historical preservation list.  It’s also the only casino on that list still open to this day.  This is the story of the people and the properties that shaped Downtown Las Vegas.

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Book - The Players: The Men Who Made Las Vegas

PCP - 360 Vintage Vegas: Steve Wynn

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Steve Wynn is probably the biggest name in modern gaming.  He’s definitely one of the biggest in gaming history.  Like Walt Disney before him, Steve Wynn saw the way things were and dreamed of how they could be better, then brought them to life.  He’s a visionary with a gift for promotion, a legacy of world renowned landmarks and a charm that can make him instantly likable.  This is the story of an icon.

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Running Scared

Winner Takes All

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!

News

Caesars Increases Resort Fees

Nevada Opens a Pot Lounge

Golden Nugget Restaurant Remix

Able Baker Opens

Neonopolis Evolution Continues

E-282: O'Sphere Irish Bar

Random Vegas 

Gary Loveman was the perfect fit for CEO in the Harrah’s business model, offering a quality experience at a reasonable price.  Despite the wealth he acquired from his various business successes, Gary and his family didn’t live like millionaires.  True, they did have a vacation home on the beach in North Carolina and at one point Loveman did have a Ferrari but he ended up selling it because he said it wasn’t practical.  Not wanting the invasion of privacy, the Loveman family even elected to clean their own home ever Saturday rather than hire a housekeeper.  It was reported that one of the weekly choirs the CEO of Harrah’s had was to clean the toilets.  (Jackpot - Harrah's Winning Secrets to Customer Loyalty) 

Twitpic of the week 

Creedence Clearwater Revival.  3 words I would have never thought would find their way into a Twitpic of the week monolog.  But every time I look at this week's winner from @vegasphotograph, the phrase "I see a bad moon rising" comes to mind.  Not just because it features a brilliant oversized moon hovering over a collection of properties but because it's a fitting metaphor for what's happening to the market and the danger it finds itself in.  Unlike any time before in Vegas history, the market is experiencing a slump that has nothing to do with the economy, it's the current experience available at fault in this case.  Resort fees, Pay for Parking, CNF charges and the likes have taken the record breaking attendance the city has seen over the last few years and given all those first time visitors an experience that won't encourage them to return.  

When Vegas was growing up, even the mafia understood the most important thing to establish with the customer is that the game is fair.  The house already has the advantage so there is no reason to build in scams to cheat the customer out of their money.  That philosophy developed a trust that has lasted over a millennia and made Las Vegas the #1 tourist destination in the world.  Today, that trust has been broken and the market has lost its integrity.  Visitors now need to keep a vigilant eye out for the metaphorical shell game that does exists around every corner.  You're room doesn't cost what it was advertised to cost, your meal is more expensive than the price of your food and the things that made Vegas different from every other place on the planet are falling away one by one.  Uninspired industry leadership like Jim Murren are succeeding in turning the Las Vegas experience into one that can be had in every other major city in America.  And with gambling becoming legal across the country, if the Vegas experience is no different than the one available back home, why go.  There was a time when people would ask me what they needed to do during their first visit to Las Vegas.  That response used to always start with "There's so much to do it just depends on the experience you want to have".  Today, it begins with "Beware." 

News

Golden Nugget/Caesars Merger

Stratospheric Activity

Fremont Expansion Plans

On The Record

Sports book Plans for the Stevens Group

E-250: Kevin Spacey's Little Darlings

Random Vegas
While in the developmental stage, the Dunes project was originally named the Araby

Twitpic of the week

Westward Ho is a property that I never had the opportunity to experience.  According to our parallel timelines, the property was open in 2004 when I first basked in the glory that is the strip.  However this is one of the few times I question the validity of documented facts.  During that initial trip, I made a concerted effort to visit every casino on the entire Las Vegas Strip and the surrounding area, going so far as to walk all the way down to the Hard Rock and back.  I find it highly unlikely that I would have somehow accidentally walked right past it on my way to Slots O Fun and Circus Circus after checking out the Stardust.  Regardless, intelligence won't let me truly believe that facts are wrong so I'm forced to come to another logical conclusion, the property must have been in such a state of disrepair that it didn't appear to be open. If that is truly the case, then I celebrate the fact that it lives in my mind in the idealic state I imagine it to be in, as glorious as those exterior umbrella lights, elegantly showcased this week by @NeonMuseum

News

M Resort Robbery
Palms Face Lift 
Golden Nugget Hippy Bar
Bonnano’s Expands Ability to Disappoint
Las Vegas Stadium Breaks Ground
LVCVA Real Estate mismanagement 2.0
Moulin Rouge Resurrection...part 17
MGM Resorts Vegas Reinvestment
Neonopolis Announces Big Plans