It doesn't have the same ring, does it?
The reality is that most of what people think is Las Vegas is in fact not the case at all.
One of most common misconceptions about Las Vegas is that The Strip is within the City Of Las Vegas. The reality is that The Strip is actually within two townships called Paradise and Winchester. What is considered to be The Strip ends once you cross Sahara Avenue on Las Vegas Blvd. So many visitors to the Las Vegas area never even set foot in Las Vegas proper yet think they went to Las Vegas. This is a misconception that has gotten folks for years; even casino operators have fallen into this trap. Back in the early 1970s when Bob Stupak bought the property that currently is the site of the Stratosphere, he tried to claim his casino (Bob Stupak's Million Dollar Gambling Museum & Casino) was on the Strip because it was on Las Vegas Blvd.
Paradise and Winchester have their origins in an attempt by the City Of Las Vegas in 1950 to annex The Strip in order to expand the tax base for the city in order to help fund some projects as well as to pay down debt. Not surprisingly, the casino owners on the then-fledgling Strip (At the time, the Strip consisted of The Flamingo, the El Rancho Vegas, the Thunderbird, the Hotel Last Frontier, the Silver Slipper and the Desert Inn.) were none too happy of the city trying to muscle in on them. So a group of casino executives (led by Gus Greenbaum of the Flamingo) went to the Clark County Commission and lobbied for them to grant the area township status so the the City Of Las Vegas would have to get approval from the commission to annex the land. The commission approved this in December of 1950 setting the stage for the creation of "Paradise City" and setting a precedence for other similar unincorporated townships within Clark County as a way to prevent the City of Las Vegas, the City Of North Las Vegas and the City Of Henderson from annexing land and affecting the county's tax base.
So if The Strip is not within the City Of Las Vegas, why do they have Las Vegas mailing addresses?
I think that it boils down to marketing the region as a tourist destination. For example, if you were taking the family to Disney World, you'd say you're taking the family to Orlando and not Lake Buena Vista or Bay Lake (Which are the "towns" in which the Walt Disney World Resort lie within, and are the ultimate description of a "company town" since Disney effectively controls those towns.). The entire region is marketed to tourists as "Orlando" even though the main attraction for the region (Walt Disney World) is over 20 miles from Orlando. Even Walt Disney World even uses Orlando as their location.
So the marketers in Las Vegas have done pretty much the same way by referring to the entire area as Las Vegas (The entire region is often referred to as the "Las Vegas Valley" or "Vegas Valley".) even though the primary tourist corridor is not located within the City Of Las Vegas. Even the USPS has helped to maintain this illusion (Isn't that what Vegas is about, creating and maintaining illusions?)by not having a Paradise, NV or Winchester, NV ZIP Code.
I'm sure the fact that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police patrol The Strip adds to confusion as well since the majority of visitors have no idea that the LVMPD is actually a joint police force of the City of Las Vegas PD and the Clark County Sheriff's Department that has been in existence since 1973 (The creation of Metro was a pretty contentious issue back then and it's early years were pretty rough. A lot of this is covered in the book, "The Battle For Las Vegas. The Law VS. The Mob" by Dennis N. Griffin, as a lot of the internal conflicts within Metro factored into the Mob activities of the era.). Tourists see Las Vegas on the badge and on the shoulder patch on the uniforms and that probably adds to the confusion as well.
Well in the end, it's still Las Vegas regardless of whether you're hanging our on Fremont Street or kicking it on The Strip.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Vegas Notes 6/27/2012
1. Possible new names for the Imperial Palace uncovered?
Neon Dice posted a piece a few days ago regarding two trademarks recently registered by Caesars Entertainment, one for "The Quad" and another for "3535" (which happens to be the street address for the Imperial Palace. A quick check on the US Patent & Trademark Office's database confirms these registrations. Here's my thoughts on this:
I don't see these as being possible new names for the Imperial Palace. I see them as names of bars within whatever Caesars Entertainment will be renaming the property. The Quad sounds like the name of a sports bar sort of place and 3535 sounds like the name of a higher end sort of lounge. Renaming the Imperial Palace the 3535 Hotel & Casino just sounds like a.) The Borg Collective that is Caesars Entertainment can't come up with a name. b.) 3535 sounds more like the name of a boutique hotel property or hotel within a hotel (Like Hotel32 at Monte Carlo)and that really doesn't sound like something Caesars Entertainment would operate themselves (Case in point, the upcoming Nobu Hotel at Caesars Palace.). c.) Sounds more like a name one might have for an operating company (3535 LLC or something to that effect).
Speculation ever since the Linq project was announced was that the Imperial Palace was going to get the Horseshoe name put on it, but this seems to run counter to how Caesars markets their Horseshoe brand, putting it as one of their higher brands (Several years ago the rumors were that they would rebrand Bally's as a Horseshoe and do a major overhaul of the property.). I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to call it "The Carnaval Hotel & Casino" and tie it in closer with Carnaval Court at Harrah's.
2. A new restaurant from Gordon Bleeping Ramsay to replace Bradley Ogden at Caesars Palace.
It's been one of the worst-kept secrets in Vegas since word got out last year that Bradley Ogden was going to close (Rumors were it was supposed to close late last yeat and never did.) and with the praise heaped upon Gordon Bleeping Ramsay Steak at Paris, it probably put the wheels in motion to hasten the closure of Bradley Ogden (Somewhere I never ate at by the way, as I typically hadn't give the restaurants at Caesars Palace much of a thought.), which comes on August 5th.
I'm sure Bradley Ogden will resurface at another Las Vegas property not too long after his namesake restaurant closes. Perhaps he'll pop up over at Encore, as Switch will be closing on July 22, with an unnamed new restaurant to replace it come December.
3. Terminal 3 at McCarran opens today (6/27/12).
It doesn't affect me much, as Delta will still be at the D Gates and their ticketing and baggage will remain at Terminal 1 (United and Hawaiian will have their ticketing and baggage at T-3 but will operate out of the D Gates (United is still where they were on D and Hawaiian will be moving to D in August after a brief stay on the A gates along with Omni Air International, whose flights will move to B.). If you fly to Vegas on JetBlue, Frontier, Sun Country or Virgin America, those airlines will continue to operate from their current gates until July 31st, when they move to Terminal 3.
Some folks questioned whether they needed to build Terminal 3, especially after US Airways gutted their former hub operations there and the drop in travel in the wake of the ongoing economic situation. It was needed, as while the economy and travel are down, that's when it's best to build projects like this to meet expected demand down the road plus material costs and labor costs are lower as well. It gives a better first impression to international travelers than the old Terminal 2.
With several airlines that currently operate out of the D Gates moving to Terminal 3, there is likely to be some gate changes on D. United should be able to consolidate their operations in the wake of their merger with Continental. AirTran has already relocated to the B Gates with corporate sibling Southwest as they are slowly integrated into Southwest. There have been reports of US Airways moving to the D Gates as well and the A Gates being shuttered. If the A Gates do in fact get shuttered, and with Terminal 2 slated for demolition, perhaps that part of the airport gets a new A Gates facility five to ten years down the road. The proposed second Vegas Valley passenger airport at Ivanpah is probably shelved for at least another 20 years or more.
Neon Dice posted a piece a few days ago regarding two trademarks recently registered by Caesars Entertainment, one for "The Quad" and another for "3535" (which happens to be the street address for the Imperial Palace. A quick check on the US Patent & Trademark Office's database confirms these registrations. Here's my thoughts on this:
I don't see these as being possible new names for the Imperial Palace. I see them as names of bars within whatever Caesars Entertainment will be renaming the property. The Quad sounds like the name of a sports bar sort of place and 3535 sounds like the name of a higher end sort of lounge. Renaming the Imperial Palace the 3535 Hotel & Casino just sounds like a.) The Borg Collective that is Caesars Entertainment can't come up with a name. b.) 3535 sounds more like the name of a boutique hotel property or hotel within a hotel (Like Hotel32 at Monte Carlo)and that really doesn't sound like something Caesars Entertainment would operate themselves (Case in point, the upcoming Nobu Hotel at Caesars Palace.). c.) Sounds more like a name one might have for an operating company (3535 LLC or something to that effect).
Speculation ever since the Linq project was announced was that the Imperial Palace was going to get the Horseshoe name put on it, but this seems to run counter to how Caesars markets their Horseshoe brand, putting it as one of their higher brands (Several years ago the rumors were that they would rebrand Bally's as a Horseshoe and do a major overhaul of the property.). I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to call it "The Carnaval Hotel & Casino" and tie it in closer with Carnaval Court at Harrah's.
2. A new restaurant from Gordon Bleeping Ramsay to replace Bradley Ogden at Caesars Palace.
It's been one of the worst-kept secrets in Vegas since word got out last year that Bradley Ogden was going to close (Rumors were it was supposed to close late last yeat and never did.) and with the praise heaped upon Gordon Bleeping Ramsay Steak at Paris, it probably put the wheels in motion to hasten the closure of Bradley Ogden (Somewhere I never ate at by the way, as I typically hadn't give the restaurants at Caesars Palace much of a thought.), which comes on August 5th.
I'm sure Bradley Ogden will resurface at another Las Vegas property not too long after his namesake restaurant closes. Perhaps he'll pop up over at Encore, as Switch will be closing on July 22, with an unnamed new restaurant to replace it come December.
3. Terminal 3 at McCarran opens today (6/27/12).
It doesn't affect me much, as Delta will still be at the D Gates and their ticketing and baggage will remain at Terminal 1 (United and Hawaiian will have their ticketing and baggage at T-3 but will operate out of the D Gates (United is still where they were on D and Hawaiian will be moving to D in August after a brief stay on the A gates along with Omni Air International, whose flights will move to B.). If you fly to Vegas on JetBlue, Frontier, Sun Country or Virgin America, those airlines will continue to operate from their current gates until July 31st, when they move to Terminal 3.
Some folks questioned whether they needed to build Terminal 3, especially after US Airways gutted their former hub operations there and the drop in travel in the wake of the ongoing economic situation. It was needed, as while the economy and travel are down, that's when it's best to build projects like this to meet expected demand down the road plus material costs and labor costs are lower as well. It gives a better first impression to international travelers than the old Terminal 2.
With several airlines that currently operate out of the D Gates moving to Terminal 3, there is likely to be some gate changes on D. United should be able to consolidate their operations in the wake of their merger with Continental. AirTran has already relocated to the B Gates with corporate sibling Southwest as they are slowly integrated into Southwest. There have been reports of US Airways moving to the D Gates as well and the A Gates being shuttered. If the A Gates do in fact get shuttered, and with Terminal 2 slated for demolition, perhaps that part of the airport gets a new A Gates facility five to ten years down the road. The proposed second Vegas Valley passenger airport at Ivanpah is probably shelved for at least another 20 years or more.
I'm A Lazy Sod......
I've never really been that good about blogging. I get some ideas for one yet never put digital pen to digital paper to do so. But I'm now planning to make a concerted effort to be a bit more productive in regards to this blog.
I've decided to jump feet first into the Vegas Blogosphere so to speak and while I'm not planning on being a breaking news blog or a source for such news, I do intend to give my own opinions on what's happening out there even though I'm nearly 1800 miles away.
I'm going to try to do at least one entry a week, possibly two; but my track record doesn't support that idea. I post a lot of my thoughts and opinions on Vegas topics on a daily basis on a few sites and what I post will not be a cut and paste of that content posted elsewhere.
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