| These casinos are truly everything that the new Las Vegas is not. "Low roller" does not begin to describe them. That means that you can play a lot without much money, and maybe meet people who don't ever make it to strip hotels. Do be aware, the staff and patrons are aware that rich white liberals find it amusing to go "slumming," and they don't appreciate the condescension. |
| THE MORGUE... 5,000 cheap hotel rooms have passed on in the past year or two... (hotels have a way of exaggerated their # of rooms, but you get the idea...) |
| LAS VEGAS...beyond the Strip |
| ATTRACTIONS |
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| Ever wonder what happened to the old resorts of the rat-pack days? This website is devoted to the development of Las Vegas. (This is NOT my site.) |
| WESTWARD HO...1963 - 2005. 777 rooms. Can the strip ever be the same without their phallicly and gastronomically obscene 3/4 lb hot dog or humungous strawberry shortcake? Go ahead and click! There's a tribute website and a link to the original Westward Ho site. |
| The BOARDWALK 1976- 2006. 654 rooms. Who, by default, wins the titile of the worst buffet in town? |
| Golden Nugget is the only "4-star" hotel downtown, but if staying at a 4-star is important to you, you won't like downtown. If you like to spend your money on a swanky place and then go slumming, this is perfect. |
| Between the now-closed Lady Luck and the Fremont Street Promenade, the street is dotted with restored vintage neon signs from extinct Vegas businesses. A bigger "museum" is planned for old signs...the "Boneyard" of the museum is collecting and restoring more signs. |
| The EL CORTEZ is another landmark marking the downtown turnaround.. But still, the casino has low limits, supposedly high payouts, and rooms are cheap. Especially walk-up rooms from the smoky casino. Nicely furnished but barely big enough for a queen bed, you can get them for as low as $30. DON'T WALK NORTH, SOUTH OR EAST OF HERE! Downtown hasn't improved there yet. |
| MAIN STREET STATION (no relation to MainTainStation.com) is about two blocks north of the Plaza Hotel. It's very well kept with a 19th century train station theme. Despite its name, It is NOT part of the "Station" casino chain. Its major tourist attraction is for men only though: one of the restrooms has a big chunk of the Berlin Wall inside, with urinals mounted to it. (Really.) |
| east of Strip / BOULDER HIGHWAY |
| Two of the properties are high class: Red Rock is over the top and is comparable to Bellagio. Green Valley Ranch competes with Hard Rock and Mandalay Bay. The other Station Casinos are perfectly acceptable off-strip properties with all the necessities, hotel rooms, slots, video, tables, keno, movies, buffet, fast food and entertainment. The one exception is Wild Wild West, that caters to interstate truck drivers. For others, staying at 3W is penny wise and pound foolish. |
| SAM'S TOWN is Vegas for those that don't need to be intoxicated by the hypnotic strip. See the all-American (mostly middle-aged) crowd, enjoying a huge casino, lovely hotel, spectacular indoor atrium with laser light / water fountain show. This would be the utlimate culmination of Vegas if Roy Rogers and Jeff Foxworthy had built Vegas instead of Bugsy Siegel, the Rat Pack, and Steve Wynn. If you love the fun of Vegas, but hate the posing...the convertibles, the noxious hip-hop blaring out of schoolbus-yellow Hummers driving up and down the strip, and the LA hussies in spaghetti-string miniskirts getting hilariously sh*tfaced, falling off of their high-heel FM shoes, and yelling "c'mon, b*tch! I'll kick your ass you slut!" at other groups of girls, you'll find your blissful escape here: eating, drinking, gambling and bowling at Sam's Town. Elitist snobs will hate it. BEWARE OF ADD-ON FEES TO QUOTED ROOM RATES! |
| OUTSKIRTS |
| If you're driving in from California, you can't miss it with the 255 ft roller coaster and glaring lights. You'll wonder how Exit 1 supports 1000's of hotel rooms, but if you venture into the Fashion Outlet Mall, you'll want to stay another day just to shop. |
| 40 MILES FROM VEGAS, Terrible's purchased the Primm Casinos from MGMMirage for $400M. Ouch! Now the company is having trouble paying for it. |
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| Hoover Dam Museum, still only $2 |
| WAL-MART 3075 East Tropicana Avenue Las Vegas 89121 5 miles East of the airport |
| TARGET 4001 S. Maryland Parkway Las Vegas 89119 runs parallel to the strip about 2-3 miles east |
| Cheap Show Tickets: both open at noon...available shows posted at 11:30 AM. Available shows are NOT posted online-you must show up to find out. My experience: Tix4 has more selection than Tickets2. There is a $4-$5 service charge per ticket. |
| Tix4Tonight Branches at the Polo Towers, Fashion Show Mall, Next to Peppermill's, Downtown. |
| The WESTERN is a classic down-on-your-luck casino, this side of safe, but with a outskirts-of-society ambiance. There's a parking lot in the back; don't walk here. I wouldn't stay here either, if you have a choice in the matter. |
| The GOLD SPIKE is another classic low-budget haunt horror,, north of Fremont Street, with a smoky, run-down casino preferred by serious but lower-limit gamblers. Stay here only if you're broke! It's pretty gnarly. Me? Stayed here in July 04...never again! And that's from someone with no qualms about sleeping in his car. |
| KEY LARGO CLOSED JANUARY 18, 2005. 314 rooms. Hi rise condos were planned, but fell through long ago. The property's casino permit has also lapsed, making it more difficult to rebuild the property as a hotel-casino. |
| The CASTAWAYS (formerly the Showboat) hotel tower on Boulder Highway by Fremont Street was imploded in January 2006. |
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| LADY LUCK 700 rooms 1966-2006. Was supposed to close for a one-year remodel, but two years later it remains shuttered. |
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| 166 rooms. Formerly the Shenandoah,once owned by Wayne Newton. |
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| THE STARDUST 1958-2006 -1,500 rooms The most significant hotel closing in many years. The 32 story hotel tower opened in 1991 was imploded in March 2007. |
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| Behind the Tropicana, it became HOOTERS Hotel & Casino in 2006. It's not doing too well, and may be sold again. Being adjacent to the Tropicana on the strip, this land is worth plenty. |
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| Fitzgerald's is a good bet for cleanliness and comfort downtown. The rooms are nicer than the exterior suggests. Free parking for hotel guests, although the garage is not for the timid. It's like a Wild Mouse roller coaster ride with parking places. |
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| STATION HOTELS ADD A $5 - $20 PER DAY "RESORT FEE" TO PUBLISHED HOTEL RATES. |
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| THE NEW FRONTIER 1942-2007 -800 rooms Once one of the prime strip properties, the Frontier was long neglected and few tears were shed when it closed. |
| Four Queens was bought by LA "Canyon Club" owner Terry Caudill, and it's starting to shine under the new ownership. He is also in the process of buying Binion's. (Reopen "The Mint" and revitalize that beautiful hotel tower!) Downtown is turning around and it's started at the 4Q. |
| INDOOR SWAP MEET Fri-Sat-Sun 10AM-6PM 1717 S. Decatur, at Oakey (sounds like a thrift store to me) |
| World's largest wig store Serge's Wigs 953 E Sahara Ave, LV 89104 |