Bye to the Riviera, Service on a Silver Platter, and the Moving Bus Stop

Saying Goodbye to the Riviera, Service on a Silver Platter, and the Moving Bus Stop


I am posting a trip report from April, containing

- Many pictures of the Riviera interior, and documenting some memories of staying there years ago.
- Many pictures of our first trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower
- "Perfection" at the M.
- Observations on renovations at the Westgate, and the California.
- Our pre bike run Laughlin trip.
- An update on the Harrah's Laughlin buffet signs from my last report.

Over 100 pics in total.

You won't wont to read this report if you want
- Pics of Video Poker hands
- Pics of stacks of chips "won" while playing games that have a 5% house edge. ;-)
- Details of daily ups and downs in gaming


And I do fully expect a few comments using the word "perfect" in them.


Here is the link

http://deamonlv.blogspot.com/2015/05/april-2015-saying-goodbye-to-riv.html

 

I'm curious as to what will happen to those 2 $5 98% machines that have been on the floor facing the Strip entrance forever.

 

Great report, thanks for sharing! Really impressed with the Westgate improvements.

Those photos from the top of the Eiffel Tower were awesome. Were those from your phone? If so, did you have to change any settings to get them?

Also, really enjoyed your commentary on the Riv.

 

I enjoyed your report and photos, especially the Riv photos; I wish I could have gotten there one last time before it closed. Hope I can check in as perfectly as you on my next visit.

 

I wasn't familiar with those. 98% is too low for me to consider playing so I never looked for them. I will say that almost all the time, when older casinos close, the machines go back to the lessor or manufacturer, and are eventually destroyed. You don't see old VP machines reappearing in other casinos.

 

Thanks cyclone. The pics are a mixture of phone and Canon A1100 (an inexpensive camera). It's tough for the tiny lenses in phones to compete with a true camera lens, even against an inexpensive one. The Eiffel ones are all from the A1100 though. I think what helps them stand out is the look of the sky just after sunset, which was why we intentionally went up at that time.

Glad you enjoyed the Riv history. I probably have a few more memories and stories I could add. It's one of those things were I didn't bother going back to see it more than once every 18 months, because not much there interests me, but now that it's gone all those great memories come back. I'm going to add a little bit now about walking the strip in that area.

 

I experienced the moving bus stop when I was there too!

echo your comments on street performers. I'm not a huge fan of all that going on, but I deal with it because I don't know what else to do. Still prefer DTLV over the strip.

great read and loved the pics. I too stopped at the Riv to say goodbye. I have no memories of it, but felt the need to grab a $1 chip since I was out there, and get the pic w/ the crazy girl booty.

Quiz #1 - $699
Quiz #2 - MSS

 

Great report, especially loved all of the pics. Quick question, where is the old Nickeltown in the Riviera located? I never have seen that area nor knew it even existed

 

Good report! I wouldn't have minded seeing Aces though, even if it got ate for the rest of the day Hopefully we both do better next time!

Re: "Perfect"...that reminds me of a professor back at Illinois. Other students and I imitated him saying "perfect" in his Indian accent for years...lol

Thanks for all the pics of the Riv! We did about a 15-20 minute stop on our last trip, but not many pics, and we obviously missed some things. And since you like to give Harrah's Laughlin a bit of a hard time, I feel like I should point this out. You also misspelled Riviera once in that report too as you fell in the "Riveria" trap. I definitely won't be missing that typo/misspelling on this forum at all.

Figures the place where the last dollar 9/6 Jacks was had gigantic slot machines for couples in its place, and btw, playing VP on those gigantic units is a PITA...:evillaugh

G/f and I didn't like the Riv much. We were planning to sign up as club members for free buffets in 2011. But when how dead I saw the casino... and then we went up to the escalator to the buffet and only saw ONE person eating it, I abruptly changed my mind. She wasn't happy about my abrupt change of plans, but I'm thinking I made the correct call.

QUIZ:
1 - $79.99
2 - MSS

 

Excellent,dare I say it.. ) ) trip report.

Sad story about the pool. Beer companies will sell via any means necessary (black and white signs). That's what they do. They even hijack minor holidays (Cinco de Mayo).

LVH/Westgate doesn't get a lot of love here, but I have always had good rooms and a good time during my stays there. Glad you did as well.

I've stayed in the Augustus Towers in all but one Caesar's stay. I have an Octavius Room booked in June, mainly just to try the tower. Don't mind the extra walking, glad you liked the room otherwise. Your Eiffel Tower picks were very well done - love the sunset to dusk background and picture of the South Strip.

Loved the Riviera portion the most. I stayed their my first two trips close to 25 years ago. Haven't been in much recently, but the hotel had decent action back in the day, especially during large conventions. Stayed on junkets where you gave the pit boss a sign in card for blackjack, and after 12 hours of green chip action, they would give you $300 in free play (I believe I paid around $500 for flight and rooms). The open doors and blackjack tables near the entrance brings back great memories. Sad a casino isn't going up instead of a convention center, glad Peppermill wasn't confiscated via eminent domain by the LVCA.

Thanks for posting!!!

Made a wrong turn, once or twice.....

[youtube]ocDlOD1Hw9k[/youtube]

 

Before the advent of penny slots, the Riviera decided it would stress the low level slot business, which for the most part was nickle machines. The entrance right on the corner of Riviera Blvd, and LV Blvd, with the circular band above it was "Nickeltown". It premiered as a brand new room, with it's own bar and food area. They gave out wooden nickles for the first few months that were good for popcorn and lemonade.

Then penny slots took over and they changed the name to Pennytown. When that died down, they removed the sign, and the fountain, which was at the base of the big sign in front, was turned into a planter. The sportsbook was moved into the Nickeltown area from around 2010 to 2013, and after the sportsbook was moved again, to inside the main casino, the room sat dark, except for some pool table use on occasion.

This is a pic of the Nickeltown entrance from inside (the doors were locked even before the closing). http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2v22jRbZu4A/VUo9qKsx1TI/AAAAAAAAAtY/00ecflq1sAM/s1600/IMG_1019.JPG

Here is a recent pic of the entrance from outside

http://images.onset.freedom.com/ocregister/nnu5qq-b88400160z.120150504102314000gec9i0b7.10.jpg


Pennytown around 2006!

http://www.pictureslasvegas.com/images/riviera/slides/riviera_penny_town.jpg

Nickeltown

http://usercontent2.hubimg.com/1187851_f520.jpg


The wooden nickles

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/WOODEN-NICKEL-NICKELTOWN-U-S-A-RIVIERA-LAS-VEGAS-RED-PRINT-4041C-/301157669105?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item461e6558f1

 

Thank you for the Riv pictures! Boy those pictures brought back memories from about 25 years ago. We never ate at the buffet, but they used to have a Sunday brunch on the first floor that I think we hit every time we were there. Long time ago, but I think it was in the showroom. IIRC, the room had a guy's name, like Alexander's or Anthony's or something like that. Anyway, thanks for the memories!

Regarding quiz #2, fairly sure that is not from MSS, but I don't recognize it.

 

Here's a shot of Penny Town mid 2000s:



The Nickel Town signage was almost identical.

 

Great TR, loved the pics, especially the ones from atop the Eiffel Tower. Beautiful shots of my favorite place!

 

Thanks for the pictures and clarification of where Nickel/penny town was. Can't believe they just let that space go to waste. I wish I knew to go check that out when I was there in March. Did you just enter from the outside? I know exactly where the entrance is but there is usually a sign directing you towards the main entrance.

 

There is an entrance from the main casino, 4 large doors (no glass to see through), that were closed but not locked. They were right next to the pool table area of that Wicked Vicky's place there. I just pushed it open to enter one last time.

Towards the end it is amazing how much casino/hotel space they blocked off. I went to see the old coffee shop (at one time called Kady's), that was near the pool. The hallway to get to in form the inside was boarded up sounds like many months or year+ ago, so all that space is gone. The magic store and the host office was in that area too. The former front desk area was walled off too in the main casino area. The original sportsbook area, which them became the slot club area, was also closed off long ago. Add to that the old Nickletown, and you probably have the equivalent of a small off strip casino in closed space.

Have you seen the discussion of the roof top pool that never was used? I'll post one pic from a prior trip, but TheBucket just reported on it in his bye to the Riv report.





https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?119723-Notorious-TheBucket-Live-TR-4-28-5-2-The-last-days-of-the-Riviera&highlight=riviera

 

Thanks for the comments.

I am now posting the answer to Quiz 1 on my trip report. $699 was the closest guess. I'll leave you to read the pricing on the tag! ;-)






Quiz 2 I am leaving open, since the only guesses were MSS. MSS is not correct. If you want to take a shot, go ahead. I would give a hint but I expect that someone knows the answer.