Stories of Vegas past....

After reading a thread earlier about how Vegas used to be and the things I was too young to see would be pretty cool. If anyone has stories of going out to Vegas anytime prior to the turn of the century there are alot of us on here that would love to hear them. Ive only been going about 10 years or so, so I cant even really begin to tell any stories.

Coolest story I have is the day I was sitting in the Stardust and had no idea it was shutting down. There were people packed in there and they made an announcement that we had X amount of time left before they were shutting down. Was a very odd feeling, especially since I had no idea what was going on, I was such a Vegas noob back in then lol!

 

One of my favorite vegas stories is somewhat related, in that we were caught totally unaware of what was going on.
I believe it was 1995-96? when I and some friends were slumming it at Silver City. Great little dive casino at the time.
After being in there a couple of hours, we went to leave and were told we had to go out the back, the strip entrance was closed for the filming of a movie, Mars Attacks. We went out and around,only to discover the entire strip was closed and completely dark!
Weirdest sight I've ever seen in Vegas, complete darkness!
We watched for about an hour, with not much happening,so much for the excitiment of show business.

 

To many to share, I remember being there the night Tupac was shot, we were right down the road when the shooting happened. I was there during the filming of Con Air and had no clue what was going on, thought it was odd that with all the desert that a plane that was about to crash was circling the Strip (You could see only one engine running). Remember going to the Westward Ho and enjoying the life at that end of the strip, yes those were the days when the strip truely went over 4 miles

 

I remeber going to Vegas for New Years and being downtown before the Canopy was over Fremont Street. They had TV cameras setup on scaffolds in the street for the Dick Clark New Years show. At 8:45pm they announced they wanted everyone out on the steet counting down New Years right at 9:00 pm so they could show it back east i guess. So everyone is out in the steet doing a Fake New Years countdown, toast , etc...

 

Years ago, 9:00 PM was New Years in Las Vegas. There was some celebration at midnight but the main party was at 9:00 Vegas time. We used to get a balcony room at the Union Plaza that was facing Fremont every year. It was cool standing on the balcony with the helicopters and their TV cameras showing the HUGE crowd. We had to book the room in March in order to get one of those great rooms.

 

Speaking of the Union Plaza

Our first LV trip in the early 80's, we saw a show there called Nudes On Ice ,I remember it cost less than 20 bucks and included a prime rib dinner and two drinks. The show was good also ,besides the jugglers and comic they had the feature skater who was on the Canadian Olympic Team. She did a great skating routine topless,what more do you want?

 

Great stories guys, love it! I would have loved to been able to go out on the balconies at the Plaza, what year did they officially close them off? New Years at 9pm then midnight, wow double the fun!

 

I love Tupac, and if I would have been there when he was shot I would have lost it! By far my favorite rapper ever, still gives me eerie chills when I drive down byFlamingo and Koval!

 

Off hand, one of the most bazaar things I saw happen was in the early 70’s while playing BJ at a downtown casino. I think it was at the Pioneer but I’m not sure of that. Anyway, the guy sitting next to me nudges me and with his head he nods towards the cashier’s cage. It looked like all the employees that worked in the cage walked out a few feet and faced away from the cage. Then a minute or two later this guy comes out with a briefcase and walks out the door of the casino, seconds after that the employees file back into the cage and start working like nothing has happened.

Later on, I asked the floorman or pit boss what was that all that about. He then looked at me with this funny look on his face and said “I didn’t see anything and I have no idea what you’re asking me about.” It was a couple of years later when I first heard the word skim that I realized what had happened.

 

Gotta pay the bosses, Don!

 

Wow, great story!

I can barely remember when there was nothing but coin slots, coin buckets everywhere, and $200/day was more than adequate for my gambling habit. Also, all the cocktail waitresses at the Lady Luck pushed around little carts and made drinks for you on the spot. Those were the days!

 

This is a neat story and wish I'd been there as well to see that!

 

My family did a road trip out west visiting Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce and stopped in Las Vegas. I believe it was 68 or 69. At that time, us 5 kids were not even allowed in the casino. (no idea what casino it was) I remember a big white line painted at the wide entrance and my Mom, had a roll of nickels for each of us that she played at the closest machine to that darn white line. Our antics did grab the attention of security and this big (well, big to a 10 year old) security guard stood by us. I kept inching my foot more and more on the white line and right before we ran out of nickels, I remember him looking down at me with a scowl and then winking at me! Thus I blame my parents for all of my degenerate gambling habits over the years!

 

This relates to my first trip to Las Vegas back in 1975. I was standing on the street corner in front of the Fremont casino in the middle of the afternoon. All of a sudden a sherrif's squad car with sirens blarring screeches to a halt accross the street in front of Binions. The officer jumped out of the car, pulled out his pistol and RAN into the casino. I immediately hurried back into the Fremont to watch the trauma unfold at a safe distance. The funny thing was that about half a dozen gawkers followed the cop into Binions...they would have made great bullet stoppers. The cop and a couple of "suits" came out of the casino about 5 minutes later, talked briefly at the curb and then he got into the squad car and drove off. The "suits" calmly walked back into the casino like it was business as usual. I never did find out what the commotion was all about.

I then strolled down to the Golden Gate, sat at the bar and had a shrimp cocktail and a bottle of Coors for a buck....living the high life.

 

Playing blackjack at Binions for a dollar. My wife said let's get something to eat! I said ok. While coloring up the dealer suggested the Johnny Holmes dog next door. It was over a footlong and loaded. (?) My wife turned all colors and we passed on the suggestion. However, it made the trip as for humor I would ask "Who IS this Johnny Holmes guy? Someone you knew from back home?" It is still funny today.

 

When I first read this, I thought you were crazy asking for stories from someone that old. I mean what are the chances they'd be on the internet?

Then I realized that you meant the other turn of the century. And that makes me feel old

 

I was chatting with an old-timer up here in northern Nevada who worked for many years for Bally's. He says he tried through several people at the Stardust to sell a new slot machine they'd just produced. He was told he needed to meet directly with Lefty and that any and all such decisions for the property were made by him. A few weeks later, he secured the meeting and in the middle of making his "pitch', he says Lefty stood-up and asked my friend to walk with him. He says they went to an elevator and the two of them got in and started down. He says Lefty pushed the STOP button and the elevator stopped... he said he was ready to crap his pants when Lefty said something to the effect of, "Look... I'm well aware of your new product and I want 50 of 'em, but I'm not paying you... you're gonna pay me!" I don't remember the specifics of the amount, but Lefty told him the Stardust would demo the machines for $X/per machine/per month and that the exposure of these new machines at the Stardust would cause every other casino in the state to want them."

My friend stated, he wasn't authorized to make such a deal and that he would have to check with the main-office, to which Lefty angrily replied that, "Bally's better never send anyone else again to his businesses who's not authorized to make a deal or they'd be off the floor forever." My friend, made the deal and Lefty started the elevator up again. He said nothing else and when the door opened, my friend knew he was to exit... Lefty closed the door and went back up. My friend had some explainin' to do back home, but the executives of Bally's understood and congratulated my friend for keeping his cool and making the deal.

 

After the last one, my story is boring. They were filming The Gambler with James Caan and I was in there with my brother and they said we could stay as long as we were playing. In one scene, he and Lauren Hutton walked into a downtown casino (Binions I think). I had to stretch out my nickels for a long time. I turned up in the movie and in one of the trailers. If you are bored, you can see me at the 2:29 mark of this clip

 

I have watched several movies being filmed in Vegas. I watched movies being made on Fremont St from a window seat at “Top of the Mint” several times. I watched them wet-down Fremont so the cars could slide in a car chase. I watched them shoot an inside the car scene. They had a car with no body, just seats and a windshield. I watched a car fire scene get out of control and set fire to a canapé on the Golden Nugget. I stood 30 feet from a bomb that sent a stunt man flying through the air. I was on the sidewalk when they closed Fremont from The Plaza to First St. to film the “Stand”. I was in the Rivera while they were filming “Casino”.

 

lol, I guess I should have been more precise on the dates!