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The Fuglification of the Las Vegas Strip

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by Funkhouser, Sep 18, 2014.

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  1. Funkhouser

    Funkhouser In Charge of the Big Door

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    I can't help but think, with all the push to bring retail and shopping strip side these days, we are seeing the Fuglification (Yes that's a real word I made up) of the Las Vegas strip era.
    Sure we have guys like Wynn and his team who push new design, and even the Linq is way better than the Carnival Court / IP mess. But look at the other projects under construction.

    The ever erroding of TI facade, which has become a playbook for bad design, the updates to the Fashion Mall Cloud area a multi-tier turd fest, Bally's Grand Bazzaro Shops , and the Rock in Rio fairgrounds make me think we are going to see the strip evolve into an ugly street side shopping mall with hotels and casinos attached. It's almost as if the planning commision folks will pass anything that looks to increase the tax base.
     
  2. Joe Strummer

    Joe Strummer VIP Whale

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    Man.....it's been 3 yrs now...since my last Vegas trip !
    And Funkhouser --
    I'm not up to speed on the last 3 changes you mentioned.
    I guess, next trip I'll be surprised !
    Rio fairgrounds ?
    What happenned at Fashion mall ?.......I did get a laugh outta "Turd fest" !
     
  3. VegasGroove

    VegasGroove VIP Whale

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    Nice! LOLOL!!!!!!!
     
  4. matguy

    matguy High-Roller

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    Well, the Rio isn't on the strip...
     
  5. gradytripp

    gradytripp High-Roller

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  6. PSM

    PSM High-Roller

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    All I can say is that a shopping mall with no themed atmosphere and limited gaming (especially odds worth playing) will not be a place to which I want to fly and spend my vacation time / money.

    I spend a day here and there off-Strip at other casinos when I'm in Las Vegas, but sitting at one casino or bar all day doesn't keep me interested. I like to wander through miles worth of different casinos, bars, atmospheres, etc while throwing money at random machines and tables here and there. It's the whole vibe and atmosphere of the Strip as a gambling/drinking/sight seeing destination all wrapped up in one that draws me. That's something I can't do at home or really anywhere else.

    I can shop pretty much anywhere in the country. No reason to go to Vegas for that.

    Unfortunately, this does seem to be the overall direction of the Strip.
     
  7. UTE

    UTE Plastics

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    The stats show Las Vegas has clearly become a shopping destination for many - which explains the trend we're seeing. I'm not saying gambling no longer matters - it does. It's just that non-gambling attractions are scoring more money than ever. And, businesses invest where there's money to be made.

    Bill
     
  8. techie223

    techie223 High-Roller

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    I totally agree Funkhouser. And I just can't understand why people go to Vegas to shop when they can do that anywhere. Amazes me to see people everywhere with their arms loaded down with shopping bags.

    I haven't stepped into TI since they built the Starbucks out front.You didn't mention Tropicana's plan to build shopping areas at the front of the property. The article I read said the resulting changes will mean the end of the stained glass in the ceiling :grrr:
     
  9. Funkhouser

    Funkhouser In Charge of the Big Door

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    I actually saw the plan for the Trop, and if it stays true to design, it's not that bad. They are basically consuming alot of empty space and blending in the with front facade. Fashion Show Mall is going to expand with this new multi-tier expansion under the space ship cloud, where they have the existing promenade stores. TI just keeps getting more fugly each year. I don't mind the shopping, but lately it seems like their just throwing up a lot of fugly shit.

    Here a pic of the trop expansion

    tropicana_expansion1.jpg
     
  10. jdvegas

    jdvegas VIP Whale

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    I know this won't be popular here, but I think it's all good. Sure, I don't like every development project out there... but I think it's great to see all the development and updates up and down the strip. This is growth and renewal, and the alternative is not an appealing choice. Lots of good stuff among the tackiness - Linq, Cromwell, SLS, Delano.
     
  11. UTE

    UTE Plastics

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    No complaints from me either.

    Bill
     
  12. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

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    To many of us, the Strip has become a place to walk across occasionally, or possibly to drive on for a few blocks. What it looks like is of minor concern.
     
  13. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Each of us is just smart enough to know that we, personally and solely, have the recipe for the perfect Vegas. How could it be any other way? For me, when a lot of the joints had a golf course adjacent, that sounds like an awesome way to go. Now of course the market said otherwise and Vegas follows -- it is capitalism, after all -- the buck. Now not "getting" something or not wanting to do something -- shopping, EDM, buffets, high-end steakeries, valet, McHa$$ah'$ -- doesn't mean it's part of a flawed model, it's just different. And those who partake of it aren't loons or fools.

    My first real trip to Vegas, in the early '90s, we still had Vegas World, and most of the stuff people adore from the Great Golden Bloom had not yet gone up, so it was a somewhat fugly stretch of roadway then, too. It all depends on what ticks ones aesthetic box. And sometimes heritage or historic or timeless might not be an eye-catcher. The Tam O'Shanter might've been old; it also was a hole.

    I don't know of a place in America where the visitors are more attached to a particular time or look than in Vegas -- even ones making a first-ever visit. And of course no city of its size is less committed than Vegas to maintaining something, anything, a particular look over time; hell, Vegas can't do it for a decade. In a very real sense, Vegas has no heritage.

    The only certainty in Vegas is endless change. I don't know of anyone who longs for the Birmingham of 1950. Yet Vegas was Camelot at that time?
     
  14. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    I don't think these new structures are ugly, I think they are just too generic for Vegas. They look nice, but they look like buildings that could be in any modern major city. All glass, muted colors, generic shapes, etc. For instance the Forum Shoppes are something I'd only expect to see in Vegas, but Crystals looks and feels like any high end mall anywhere. Basically that is the case with all of CityCenter. When I'm in there I feel like it can be a new development in the commercial district of any city. I don't feel that way when I'm walking past Bellagio or Venetian. But I guess it all fits in with the shift of what Vegas is trying to become - less "Vegassy", more metropolitan.
     
  15. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Very good point. I think Vegas overreacts, then overreacts to the overreaction.

    Vegas needs some cheese. Now the more modern cheese has been far more refined -- Venetian v. Circus Circus, for instance -- but when you think about it, when Venetian opened it had cheese by the dairy load, it out-cheesed Wisconsin. Remember the first time you walked into Mandalay Bay? Sure, it was definitely a high-end prop at the time, cool and chic (for a gambling hall) but that cheese!!

    We need a submarine-shaped restaurant protruding from the side of the mall, now how would that be for novel?!?!?
     
  16. C0usineddie

    C0usineddie VIP Whale

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    Remember when vegas was pushing the family freindly thing and every hotel had rides and even a waterpark on valuable strip property.

    It was a phase then just like shopping now.

    of course we all know that there are always big plans in vegas for this or that and most of them end just like that, as plans.

    I dont mind some shopping and if you thought that ballys front entrance was somehow better with the dinosaur bones then shopping kiosks then thats another issue.

    As long as i can get beer in a can, i am good.
     
  17. matguy

    matguy High-Roller

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    Just paint it Yellow and get The Mirage and Cirq involved. ;)
     
  18. Breeze147

    Breeze147 Button Man

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    Atlantic City has a frickin' ocean and it's falling apart.

    I don't like the retail stuff at all. They took away my pirate ships!!! But, there is nothing I can do about it. It's called evolution.

    I want a dumpy joint that has $1.99 PRIME RIB!!!!!! In front is a shitty casino with 3:2 Blackjack! The "girls" on the stripper polls are escapees from the fugly farm. The cocktail waitresses look like your Mom and have runs in their pantyhose. Every Craps table has at least one 60 something guy with a dried booger hanging out his hairy nostril who always plays the Don't and always shakes his head in disgust when a number hits.

    The hookers gave up shaving years ago. The fake Elvis's are all midgets. There are no shitheads pushing rap cd's on the bridges. THERE ARE NO BRIDGES!!

    That's the Vegas I want to see!!!
     
  19. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    Easy solution, patronize the establishments you like and don't go to the ones you don't. I do very little shopping in Vegas, but unless they start tearing down casinos and replacing them with malls, additional shopping areas don't bother me. The Trop's plan is much needed I believe as it will also bring additional dining to the property, something currently lacking. I could have lived without Sugar Factory so the fountains could remain. I showed them, I don't eat or buy anything there lol.
     
  20. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

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    I ate at the Holiday Inn Boardwalk buffet once and only once, barely survived, and yet they tore that gem down.

    I don't know how I could have done more, but I'm with you, I vote with my feet (and tonsils).
     
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