Have you reminisced on your Vegas memories?

First post since taking a hiatus from the board and Vegas itself a year ago...and it's just that reminiscing that brought me back here.

So many great memories, mostly because 90% of my trips since '97 were with Dad; Hoping to go with him again in the fall.

I am now my Dad's age when he first started taking me to LV!

The only regret is not bringing a camera on those early trips; it is so easy now with the cameras we all carry (that luckily also have other communication abilities built-in). The earliest photos I have are from 2006. Wish I had more pics of us and the town from the days of Boardwalk, Frontier, Riviera, Stardust, no Bellagio, no City Center etc...we essentially watched it change and grow...I love when other folks post stuff from 97-early '00's, I try to jog my memories.

We did Vegas so differently then...and likely will do Vegas differently for a little while longer again.

Scott

 

Bill, my old Vegas travel buddy would say when we got out of the cab at our hotel in the 80s, "Let's make some memories!" And by God, we did.

The back of my mind runs a continues Vegas event loop. • Finally getting my father to visit Vegas with me and walking the length of the strip in the heat just for fun. He was my age then and unexpectedly died three months later. • The first time that I played deuces wild was at Sam's Town and hit a 4-deuce progressive jackpot – while awaiting a hand pay, I hit another 4-deuce progressive jackpot on the machine next to it. • Taking my mother on the newly opened boat ride through the Luxor. … and so many more.

 

My first trip was in ‘82 and was immediately hooked. My best trips were the 80s and 90s and I do wish I had more photos from the earlier trips.

 

I go back and look at some TR's to remember. I wish I could find pics from my first trip (they're...somewhere), especially. I don't know if we knew to take pics or pay attention to details or any of that. I would love to see what the Sahorrible room really looked like or the two edible things we found at the buffet. I love reminiscing.

 

All the time... So many changes all around, and can’t wait to see what the future of Vegas holds. Some of my greatest memories involve Vegas, so it’s nice when something pops up or reminds me of those.

 

I think most of us fall under the obsess category and the rest of you are just afraid to ADMIT IT!!! Lol

 

Indeed. I don't think I have more than a dozen before the iPhone era. Now I have thousands.

 

I love when my Vegas trips come up on my Snapchat memories… seems there’s a lot of drunk documentation on there

 

My first trip was back in the 80s and I have no pictures of that, just a few scarce memories. Then as my daughter got old enough, we went together and I love looking back at those pics. But now I have my vlogs, and that was one of the reasons I first started vlogging them was to be able to go back and watch the videos!

 

Our upcoming trip to Vegas, I will be sure and take more pictures, for new memories. I usually don't take pictures while on vacation, but this time I will. Not being able to go to Vegas in over a year, has taken a toll. LOL

In the meantime, thinking I may paint a vintage painting of Las Vegas to get me by. LOL

 

I often reminisce about my trip in 97 for my second marriage. It was the perfect vacation, even though the marriage didn't last that long.

Stayed at the old Barbary Coast—loved that hotel/casino and once played blackjack with John Thompson and Mike Krzyzewski there: got married out at Red Rock with limousine service (champagne and a really cool driver who actually met us later that night for drinks and became a friend); played the Santa Anita Derby—Free House beat Silver Charm, although Silver Charm would go on to win the Kentucky Derby one month later; hit a Royal Flush for 25 cents at the bar at the old O'Shea's. Attendant brings out a grand. I tipped him 50 and 50 more for the bartender. Dinner at the old Rosewood Grille next to the Sands—each of us ate an entire lobster with all the trimmings—probably the best meal of my life. Wife loved it, too. But the marriage, not so much.

 

to reminisce on a memory - is that redundant? Sorry, I guess I get the a-hole grammar police award today...

Years ago when I was about a dozen trips in (now at 42) I started a spreadsheet to track winnings (mostly losses) and details of each trip. I was easily able to backtrack and fill in some kind of detail for each of the previous 12 trips (highlights, length of stay, hotel, etc.), then after each subsequent trip I updated the sheet. Now when I'm feeling nostalgic I'll click on the notes in the cell for a trip and I can bring up some of those details and spark memories of that trip. This way all my trips don't morph into one (without this I couldn't imagine remembering any details from those early trips when drinking was the focus) - I guess someday when I fully lose my mind none of this will matter but it's just a fun side thing I do to make my trips to my home away from home that much more fun... ex: I just clicked on the cell (I use Excel) for Dec 2005 - it says: Sean, NYNY, 3 nights, Shark Reef. That's the trip when I went with my nephew for his 21st, we went to sharkreef one morning, had a huge hangover that morning and was contemplating letting a shark eat me... lots of scary hangovers in those days, now they're mild or non-existent these days.

 

I actually do the spreadsheet thing too, mostly to keep track of when, where, and why I went. Especially because after the first few trips of bouncing around, I settled in on Mandalay Bay, and then Aria, so I couldn't tell you for the life of me which trip was which without notes. My favorite note is "Taylor Spite Trip", because my law school friend asked me what I was going to do for the rest of winter break after NYE. I said, "I don't know, I'm thinking of going to Vegas", and he responded, "You're not going to Vegas, you're too lazy for that". And so the next day I was in Vegas.

I think for me it was really the second trip that hooked me. Not that the first trip wasn't great, but it was my best friend and his dad, pretty standard Vegas stuff. The second trip came on the heels of the guys and I staying in a crappy Montreal hostel, for $8/person/night, so for six of us, $48/night. A few months later, we packed all six of us into an Excalibur room for $30/night. Certainly wasn't the MGM Mansion, but two per bed, one on the couch, one on the floor (we rotated), with a pool complex, nice-enough restaurants right downstairs, a casino, and Excal isn't the top of the Vegas hierarchy but it's far better than the Best Western Kent Narrows in or a hostel room with cinderblock walls. That was really where I thought to myself, "This Vegas place is pretty good."

 

I reminisce on my honeymoon in May of 1968 which was my first road trip. We drove from Youngstown Ohio and were excited to drive Route 66!
I was 21 and the first time not living at home! The trip was glorious! What an exciting trip to the Tropicana. I didn’t know anything about gambling at the time, except I knew how to play poker. We saw Jimmy Durante, Jerry Vale, Lanie Kazan, and Frank Gorshin. I wouldn’t see the Folies Bergere because the dancers were topless - I was such a naive prude back then! LOL.

 

First trip was in 2008, and have been to Vegas a total of 30 times (so far). With the exception of my first trip, I have written a TR for every trip. I always write them in Word, so I do go back and read through them every now and then when I need a Vegas fix, and my next trip is far away or not planned yet. When the pandemic started, I did start to piece together a TR from my first trip from vague memories and pictures, but still haven't finished it. Maybe one of these days!!!

 

I guess I never really answered the question: Yes, we talk about trips/things we did over the years -- hand pays, great meals, funny shit, parties at Huntington Press, things we've hosted, shows, places we've visited, family get togethers, rooms grand and never-again, all the stuff we did researching what became three books about Vegas and who knows how many articles, and with the guys there is a lot of talk about antics noble and idiotic during scores of rounds or over gobs of calories, just hanging around together in Vegas, our evolving room standards, whatever.

 

I hate that LVA message boards got dumped.....always did a trip report there and would read over them when I really started jonesing for a trip to vegas.

 

We're not supposed to "comment" on other web resources but I'll risk it: A lot of us are here because the LVA boards turned to shit and the Enterprise forgot that "customer" and "service" do go together, and I say that having written two books for them and contributing (paid) to the web page and newsletter for years. And being an overactive chat board participant.

 

LVA is part of my Vegas reminiscing - using their message boards, coupon book, briefly chatting with Anthony Curtis and browsing literature at Huntington Press.

 

My first real trips were in the early 80s, (80-84) and I have very fond memories of most of them!
My version of the strip was mostly the north strip - Stardust, Riviera, Westward Ho, Frontier, Desert Inn, Silver Slipper, Sahara, & yeah - even Circus & Slots-A-Fun! $5 Double-deck & 4-deck 3:2, S17 with DAS was everywhere. The "comp" system was manual - and pit-bosses had nearly 100% discretion. Cigarettes were comped everywhere, even for $5 players. Meal comps were nearly automatic, for the asking, so long as you were giving them a decent amount of play.

Keno girls were everywhere - every restaurant, lounge & bar - and I'm convinced that they only hired girls who were 18, 19 or 20, and gorgeous.

Say what you will about how much better the food quality is in the 2000s, but the $5 steak & egg breakfast at the Westward Ho coffee shop was phenomenal, and the surf & turf at Toucan Harry's was a dinner-time staple...and there was just something special about being allowed to have that after-meal cigarette with a cup of coffee right at the table.

There was no tunnel back then, so 'long-hauling' wasn't even really a thing. If you got in a cab to go downtown, the driver would typically ask, "Do you want fast or cheap?" & you knew they meant "Freeway or surface streets?"

The FSE canopy wasn't even a dream yet, and Fremont Street really was a sea of neon - 'glitter gulch'. It really was beautiful (in its own way).

And the Stardust Sports Book & the Sigma Derby right next to it? It was like a party in that area every single afternoon/night if there was football on...and it was incredibly fun.

I could go on, but those who never experienced Vegas back then will never really get it, and those who did, already know!