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Time Travel If you could?

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by fenway68, Sep 8, 2015.

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  1. fenway68

    fenway68 VIP Whale

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    If you could travel back to any era of Vegas, that you have either experienced or like me am too young even at 46 to have...when would you go?

    Wild West......30's-40's-50's-60's etc?

    What would you most like to have experienced that isn't available (like Elvis or Dean for example, or the Sands, The Thunderbird, etc) or is very different now?

    or---do you prefer all of what Vegas has grown into and continues to evolve...for you there is no looking back?

    Be as serious or sarcastic/funny as you like...
     
  2. wanker751

    wanker751 Dutch Rudder Enthusiast

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    Easy for me, I'd like to see Rat Pack era....hands down. I mean I like Vegas as it is now but I would have loved to see one of their shows.
     
  3. thecarve

    thecarve Misanthrope

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    No preference... as long as I can bring Biff's sports almanac along!

    I kinda liked the 2000's. It seemed like there was something new - and huge - every trip. I know most folks here feel that this was the time period when Vegas was destroyed. But I thought it was pretty cool. I don't get that same feeling of excitement today like I did back then.
     
  4. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    No brainer for me. The 70s. Sands, Dunes, Silver Slipper, Stardust, Frontier, DI. I loved that decade. The mob was still fully in charge and it felt like the safest city in the world even at 3 AM. No mega resorts.

    Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy Vegas today, but that decade holds a special place for me. I was still single and had my first good paying job which meant I had plenty of discretionary money.
     
  5. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

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    The 50's and buy as much property as I could!
     
  6. mrem3200

    mrem3200 VIP Whale

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    ^^This would be my first choice. My second choice would be November 1997. That was my first Vegas trip and I would be curious to go back in time to see what it looked like then and compare it to today. I have been back 14 times since the first trip so it has evolved slowly over those years so I'm sure there is a big difference and it would be kind of neat to see what those are.
     
  7. RPMCanes

    RPMCanes VIP Whale

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    Late '70s, early '80s, and stay at Caesars Palace. Dinner at Nero's or the Palace Court, Rodney Dangerfield in the Circus Maximus showroom, then all night high limit craps in the Olympic Casino!
     
  8. BlacklabberMike

    BlacklabberMike MIA

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    this...

    had a friend that was a horse trainer and actually raced at las vegas downs....told me back then he could have
    bought all the land he wanted at about a buck an acre....
    he did buy 500 acres but then sold it when it reached $5



    2nd choice would be like Joe

    70's mobbed up joints...though i did get to first go there at the end of that era.... mob junkets to the Dunes
    those were the days my friend... sign your name for everything including markers...just be ready to pay it off within 7 days of getting home
     
  9. iamsomedude

    iamsomedude High-Roller

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    I would go back to Vegas around the turn of the millennium, right after the Bellagio was built and before Wynn's properties were bought out by MGM. Around this time was when Vegas was very big into themed hotels, and even though it was superficial, I really enjoyed that aspect of it. My greatest disappointment with Vegas nowadays is that hotels are becoming more and more uniform, especially with the advent of CityCenter, and that it has shifted its focus from an awe-inspiring and grand vacation spot to a place catering towards nightclub-goers.
     
  10. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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    Probably the late 1970s. In all of my LV trips I've tried to relive my first trip.

    Hello Dr. Brown? Can I borrow the time machine, please? I promise I won't give the keys to Biff! :)
     
  11. Joe Strummer

    Joe Strummer VIP Whale

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    Gotta BIG laugh outta bringing "Biff's Sports Almanac" ...very funny, Carve !
    *
    I don't think I have a preference ?
    *
    I thought, if I went back to the 40' +50's --- might I find it a bit dull ?.....as in not too many casinos ?
    We're SO USE to the MEGA Strip........wouldn't we all find tumble weed blowing across The Strip...weird ?
    And alot of empty desert between casinos w/ a gas station here + there --- just kinda dull ?
    *
    When I first went to Vegas ---
    I could still see some "mob types" in some casino pits..... ( and I DON'T just mean Italian Americans -
    there have been other mob entities trying to get a foothold in Vegas )
    But they didn't seem a very interesting story - so I'm not so sure how much we fantasize
    about the "Good 'ol Mob Days."...and the reality of it ?
    *
    I do hate the Bean Counter mentality of the more "current" Vegas --
    But The Strip sure is alive these days !
    *
    And it just might be the most fun to go back to the days of my first Vegas Trip circa 1990.
    *
    Good topic !
     
  12. failsafe

    failsafe Low-Roller

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    Late 70's to early 80's when Dan Tanna was crime busting in his red Thunderbird.
     
  13. ruralhipster

    ruralhipster High-Roller

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    Late 90s would be my choice. Strip was still driveable and had lots of mid level casinos. Good odds, decent slot payback, good value on food from diners to high end steakhouses. Downtown was a little less sterile and had a bit of a seedy underbelly once you left the canopy. Starbucks was far less ubiquitous and the spot the hooker game was easy.
     
  14. mattjs33

    mattjs33 Low-Roller

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    My first visit to Vegas was in 1993. I was passing through on a road trip so unfortunately I only stayed one night at Ceasars. I was a complete neophyte to Vegas then, and only walked up and down the Strip a bit. Today, I sure wish I had gone into Stardust and Sands, just to say I had been there. I think Frontier was still open when I went in 2007, again I didn't go in.
     
  15. C0usineddie

    C0usineddie VIP Whale

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    I dont really have much interest in the rat pack days. they are ok but to hear people talk, everyone got comped and treated like a king just for walking in the place. If everyone is a king then is it really a big deal to be one?

    of course people never post here who lost their savings and got a 2.99 steak for their efforts or got nothing and went home with their hat in their hand as i am sure 90% of the people did in reality.

    Also dont think that many people saw the actual rat pack shows and out of the ones who did, there were actually people who didnt like them. Like walking in the sun a mile or so between casinos in a suit or gown. be my guest.

    Just sayin.

    I would like to go back to the old days when downtown was the only place and just getting gambling legalized. You know like like the early 30's, before the mob came and there were just workers and brothels and saloons and the like.

    Way before they ever considered comps or suits or cheap buffets.
     
  16. Aces and Eights

    Aces and Eights VIP Whale

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    If you owned most of the property which is the Strip today, unless you developed it yourself, the Strip might be somewhere else in the Las Vegas area. Or if you had the property that they wanted to develop, how much mob influence would cause you to sell it to the developers for cheap?

    But I like Carve's idea of the "Back to the Future" almanac idea. You just can't go too far back to the mob days, and you can't win too much money all in one place and all at one time. Raise no suspicions.
     
  17. dernsky

    dernsky Low-Roller

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    las vegas march 1986 hagler- mugabi fight!! outdoors at caesars palace. pointer sisters sang the anthem, playing black jack with mugabi's corner men.back then free cigarettes at every table lol..movie stars all over caesars. stayed at the holiday inn showboat. would love to that again!! best couple of nights you could ask for
     
  18. Electroguy563

    Electroguy563 Vegas Joker

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    Set the clock back to 2005. Then break the clock so time does not move forward. Heaven.
     
  19. vegasvette

    vegasvette High-Roller

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    The early 70's and early 80's were perfect training grounds. It made no sense to walk from the MGM (now Bally's) all the way up to the Trop. Only the Aladin and Maxim were in between. I miss the Pink Thunderbird outside the Silver Slipper, that one could win on their 10 cent slots. Funny tho, no one ever did. It was awesome having cigarettes in a tray for you at the BJ tables. Little did we know.

    Hearing the coin droppers, stacking the metal $1 chips at the tables, ah the memories. The Castaways instead of The Mirage. The Stardust instead of dirt. I miss the Thunderbird, the Landmark and The Frontier. I won't even mention the Dunes instead of Bellagio, or the Sands instead of V/P, or The DI instead of Enwynn.

    No roof over downtown, so I miss the arm on the neon Pioneer guy. I miss driving up Fremont Street at night. i miss golfing at The Dunes.

    All of those are memories now, but good ones for the most part. The reality if 2015 Vegas is still awesome, or most of us wouldn't be here
     
  20. Breeze147

    Breeze147 Button Man

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    1974, because I would be 25 and still able to get pussy.
     
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