Do you prefer the "old days", like from the movie Casino, or the new Vegas?

Not old enough but...

I never experienced the old Vegas, but I think that to be part of that time would be awesome. The gambling and food/drink was cheaper. You knew that the fear of mob justice was enough to deter most from cheating casinos. I do think the fact that you can see entertainers in their prime at a reasonable price would be great. I would love to see the Rat Pack as they performed at the Sands!! Love that Vintage Vegas Mystique!!

 

I've experienced the OLD Vegas as well as the NEW Vegas since the mid-to late 70's (actually, i went with my parents as a toddler in 1966 for a trip, stayed at the old Imperial 400). I miss many things about the old Vegas like the Dunes, Showboat, Marina, MGM (pre-Bally's), Desert INN, Frontier, Stardust, etc. I miss the Mafia (he he), the Neon, parking IN FRONT of a casino. But i also love the new Vegas, starting in the late 80's with the Mirage and Excalibur. The greenery and overall presence of the Strip as a walking destination. The old days it used to be sawdust......now it's marble...........but it was and still is VEGAS BABY!!

 

My parents went to Vegas back when the Rat Pack was there -- my mom always said that it was better when it was run by the mob - they treated their customers a lot better. I've been only going to Vegas since the 80s - and I'd rather see it revert to how they treated their patrons back in the old days.

 

Here's what I like about the 'New' vegas, although at 30 years old I can hardly discuss 'old vegas', so please keep that in mind.

Nowadays if you're a High Roller everyone knows it when they punch your card into the computer, you don't have to bother making personal connections with hosts and beg for star treatment. You either *are* important [to them, not as a person] or you're not, or along the spectrum but exactly where you ought to be. You can travel to related casinos across the country and you're an instant star.

The food is much much better. The major hotels each have 5-10 amazing restaurants, and for a foody it's a dream come true.

"Hooking up" is more organized... though expensive. A couple of bottles in any high end vegas club could set you back $1k but you're basically guaranteed your choice for the night.

You'll notice my list is clearly geared towards those with higher incomes and I apologize for that, but Vegas has traded good value for luxury while still keeping a few of the old school deals (still free drinks while playing $5 blackjack)

 

I posted this a while back, it's 1975. That's around the time i first went to Vegas after i moved out to LA. Notice on the Strip the lack of pedestrians. People usually didn't walk up and down the Blvd, just travelling to each hotel and then parking or taking a cab.
http://gaming.unlv.edu/Xanadu/then.html

 

In 1978, I was stationed out at Nellis for a month while in the USAF. We stayed at a hotel called the Mardi Gras. I believe it's a Best Western now. It's behind the Sahara. In our 20's, we knew not to go to the casinos on the Strip. Too classy and dressy. We did all our partying downtown, mainly based out of the California. If we got lucky, we would find a parking spot on Fremont St. Well, anyway, we got in trouble one time because I parked an Air Force van in front of one and someone complained. Any, I digress...

From the Mardi Gras, you could just about see the Tropicana. Talk about garbage infested chain link fences! But to see the Sands, Dunes, Riviera, Stardust, etc all lit up at night was a sight never to be forgotten. What opulence.

On the other side of the coin, there were no pedestrian bridges, and about 5 people a night would get killed at the Flamingo intersection with the Strip. Ahh, the good old days.

 

And how has that changed? You can still manage this. A comped room, a 2 for 1 buffet breakfast at terribles, and just about any coffee shop offers a midnight to 6am special.

The biggest thing I miss is the 'class' everyone tried to exhibit, in how they dressed, how they acted. Shows were very classy, men in suits, women in gowns and mink stolls. You just don't see that anymore. It really made you feel special, like a big wig. Now it's just ripped shorts and tee shirts. It's disgusting. And almost every show included dinner in a big booth with a high back, or a really small table near the stage. Not stadium seating.

I miss this too. After an hour or two of $2 blackjack, it was never a problem to flag a pit boss and ask him for some grub, and you ALWAYS got it. No look up of your account, no hoping your play is satisfactory to the corporate standards set by some actuary in the Total Rewards division. Just a hand shake from the boss and a scribble on a note pad and dinner was taken care of. Also pit bosses use to have clickers for whenever you needed a drink and the girl would come in a flash. The free cigarettes where always in a glass on the table, and you could ask for a deck of cards as a keepsake anytime.

 

Old Vegas

 

I think people in this thread are mistaking the 'class' part of old vegas with the 'class' part of older times in general. Across the country the dress code has dropped as far as what's acceptable at certain places. This has nothing to do with Vegas, and everything to do with culture in general. You could replace 'we used to have to dress up to go in the casino' with 'we used to have to dress up to go to...fill in the blank.'

Remember a couple years ago there was a flap when some girl wore flip flops to meet the president?

So for those who miss that part of 'old vegas', they really miss that part of 'old America.'

 

My first trip to Vegas was in 1995. This was when the corporations were first starting to run Vegas. So, I actually missed the "old Vegas" phase.

To be honest, I think today's Las Vegas is probably better than it was on my first visit. There are many more options to chose from. There are more hotels, more quality hotels, less walking distance between hotels. The options for quality food have improved. With more options comes more things to do.

That being said, I do not enjoy Las Vegas today as much as I did years ago. I have not found anything in today's Vegas that gives me the excitement that I had years ago.

I think today's Las Vegas offers today's visitor a lot of bang for the buck. Just not for me.

 

Although I'm not old enough to have experience the "old" vegas I think I like a mixture of both, yes, maybe closer to the 1990's vegas.

I don't think I would do well in old time vegas, I hate to wear suits and ties (told myself the only time I will again wear one is for my wedding or funerals, but in hawaii we mostly wear aloha shirts at funerals, so not much of a chance of ever wearing a suit, lol, will probably elope, lol). Another thing is that I'm asian, in the older days asians were not considered on the same level as the rest of the public, especially at the casinos. my dad told me that people stared at him when went to play at some high end casinos.

I don't like a lot of what's going on (on the strip, esp with the high room rates and playing odds, downtown with the "stripification") now but there are a lot of good things that weren't available 30 or 40 years ago. yea, I like the cheap prices (rooms, meals, shows, etc.) in the old days but you can't have it both ways

As far as what people are wearing nowadays, I really don't care, isn't my business and I could care less if somebody is playing with bunny slippers. I think the casinos nowadays are more interested in your money.

Jimbo, there are some casinos downtown that still use coins in some machines. I think maybe the fremont or MSS still have those plastic buckets to collect coins, I remember seeing them somewhere when I was in vegas in march.

 

In the 80s & 90s, it wasn't "suits & ties", but a sports jacket & a button-down, collared shirt? Yeah - that was pretty standard... (still is for me, most of the time).

For me, far more than the deterioration in attire, it is the decline in civility, manners and consideration-of-others that annoys me the most.
I'm no prude, by anyone's stretch of anyone's imagination, but I could share some things that I've seen and heard while playing blackjack over the last 10 years that actually surprised (and mildly shocked) me...things one would never have (or very-rarely) heard at a table back in the day.

Even the player verbal-abuse of dealers has gotten way out of hand...used to be stuff like "man, are you ever gonna give me a two-card hand?"... now, it's personal stuff about their appearance, their race, their ethnicity, and the like. F-bombs and "BS!" exclamations are routine... Stuff that would have earned them a quick escort to the street by casino security back then...but no more.

So far, anyway, downtown seems to have retained more of the "old school" civility than the strip properties have...I'm sure there are some exceptions - perhaps in the casinos I never frequent, such as Wynn, Palazzo, Venetian and the like.

 

top, I was under the impression that casino movie was reflecting the 60's and 70's time frame. Not sure if coat and ties were the norm at that time (I was under that impression for the 50's from pics I saw). But even in the 80's and 90's I was still casual, but then I mostly frequented the downtown casinos.

you are correct about the civility and manners nowadays but I think I am annoyed more with the cig smokers than the "uncivilized", lol. I do see and hear what you are talking about but as with the clothes people wear I just ignore them or go elsewhere. But then in the "old" times they didn't have to worry about being "politically" correct, they just lit up where ever they wanted.

I just mentioned that I like the vegas in the 90's environment, not as commercialized, comps easier to get than now, dress ranging from casual to formal though but informal was okay, and as you mentioned, more civilized.

Unfortunately, even downtown has gotten a little more "uncivilized" IMHO with the street action and sometimes at the tables.

 

I prefer old new Vegas. Mid-90s, when they still gave away tons of stuff to get you into the casino and everything wasn't owned by CET/MGM/KGB/CIA/FBI. Better odds, better comps, better atmosphere.

 

I'm at season 4 of Mad Men based in the 60s and I see how everyone dressed up ...the suit, tie, hat ALL the time. That's just the way it was everywhere.

I like that you can do that if you want but not necessari.

Also just last night I watched 'Vegas Mafia' a documentary. It focused a lot on Lefty Rosenthal and Tony Spilotro. I found it interesting they said people in that time 'liked to visit Vegas to possibly catch a glimpse of a mobster'

So even then people were intrigued. Coupled with the fact the mob took care of customers AND their community, I have to say old Vegas.

 

Although I was not gambling age or maybe even born in the good old days but what I do miss competition on the strip. Back when there was park place,
Hilton, mirage, Harrahs, Boyd, etc. when you still had no prob asking a pit boss for a meal comp or a pack of cigarettes where they didn't need to check your card and take points off. Also find less and less of the pit critters are willing to stand around and BS with you on a slow night...make a funny joke to them and they look at you like you just insulted their mother. I remember when a pit boss would call over a waitress if he saw your drink empty and asking for top shelf was no prob and a nice tip was appreciated. One place I still find a lot of that treatment is downtown which is why I keep wanting to do a downtown trip

 

Top nailed it

In Between was best, Not Mob, but Not the Current strip where 2 Corps. own 90% of the strip.
A better mix was when there was competition for the Players.
Now the slots are tighter than ever, & 6/5 BJ Rules the strip, Disgusting!
Oh let's not forget a Starbucks on every corner of every casino,
gladly selling you a cup of coffee for the price of steak & eggs 15 Years ago.

 

I'd like a better mix between the best of the old and the best of the new.

The things that interest me about the 50's, 60's and even 70's; people were dressed up, the lounges with entertainment nearly around the clock, competition and perceived competition in terms of ownership of hotel/casinos, the air of glamour and sophistication.

What turns me off about the 50's, 60's and even 70's; having to get dressed up for the simplest things (I would have to stuff myself into some heavy duty "foundation garments", stockings, and probably a dress or at least nice blouse and skirt...hey, I don't like the Cousin Eddie (the one from the movie) outfits either but there's gotta be a middle, everybody smoking everywhere all the time and if you asked somebody to refrain you were the rude/weird one, the racism-sexism of the times.

 

So the starbucks thing, that's just in Vegas?

 

Back in the 70s & 80s I wouldn't think about going to Vegas without at least two sportcoats, dress pants and a couple of ties. Now it's shorts and tennis shoes.

Back then every airline had a place to hang a garment bag in the front of the plane. I don't know if it is just SWA that eliminated that option to fit another couple of seats in the plane, or it's all airlines?

All that being said, I'm quite happy wearing shorts to dinner when it's 100 degrees out. I no longer own a suit and just have couple of sportcoats and ties that I wear for weddings & funerals. Speaking of which...we went to a wedding last summer and there were a couple of guys at the ceremony wearing T shirts.

Civility and manners is what I miss about "old" Vegas and life in general everywhere. People who enter an elevator on the first floor before everyone has exited. Men who don't hold doors for the ladies, or even men for that matter. It just seems common courtesies are disappearing in our society.

OK, I'm going back to my old fart room now! and I'm only 60!