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Why is there both Old LV and the Strip

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lsiunsuex

lsiunsuex

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Was trying to google and can't really find a definitive answer - What happened that Fremont St exists and also the Strip? Wikipedia says The Mirage was the first of the mega resorts - was there just not enough room on Fremont St?
 
What is commonly known as "Las Vegas" (aka The Strip) is actually NOT Las Vegas. It is Paradise, Nevada. So, if someone has only been to the section of the Strip from Encore down to Mandalay Bay, that person has never actually set foot in "Las Vegas". Las Vegas runs from around Sahara down past Fremont Street etc. The Downtown area IS actually located in Las Vegas. The reason it is called "Old Las Vegas" is simply because it is the original spot that was developed....that is where all of the original casinos started back in the day, until places like El Rancho, The Flamingo etc went up farther down the Strip in the 1940s and began the expansion eventually leading to the development of the mega resorts that now pack the Strip.
 
Lotsa folks get tripped up on this "Vegas" v. Vegas thing. The Strip is Las Vegas, even if it isn't within the municipal boundaries of the city of Las Vegas.
 
jr7110 said:
What is commonly known as "Las Vegas" (aka The Strip) is actually NOT Las Vegas. It is Paradise, Nevada. So, if someone has only been to the section of the Strip from Encore down to Mandalay Bay, that person has never actually set foot in "Las Vegas". Las Vegas runs from around Sahara down past Fremont Street etc. The Downtown area IS actually located in Las Vegas. The reason it is called "Old Las Vegas" is simply because it is the original spot that was developed....that is where all of the original casinos started back in the day, until places like El Rancho, The Flamingo etc went up farther down the Strip in the 1940s and began the expansion eventually leading to the development of the mega resorts that now pack the Strip.
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The City of Las Vegas extends all the way up 95 to Moccasin Rd, past Ann Road for those familiar with the area. As mentioned above, the Strip is not in the city of Las Vegas. It is in the Town of Paradise. Also, as I have mentioned before, the Town of Paradise has no sanitary sewer system. All those mega resorts use holding tanks that must be pumped on a regular basis.
 
Just for S&G's I used my incredibly Windows Paint skills to compare one strip resort (Caesar's Palace) to the downtown properties. Even if downtown was only half as developed in the 70's and 80's as it is today, there's no way something the size of Caesar's would ever have been made if they were to keep everything downtown.

For reference, the red line is the entire section of Fremont under the canopy which houses multiple resorts whereas only Caesar's Palace is in the orange box.
Mjl4g9F.png
 
Joe said:
....the Town of Paradise has no sanitary sewer system. All those mega resorts use holding tanks that must be pumped on a regular basis.
Click to expand...

Wow. With 62,000 rooms on the strip, there must be a lot of pumping and trucking going on. With a dozen places having 3,000+ hotel rooms.. whew!
 
ken2v said:
Lotsa folks get tripped up on this "Vegas" v. Vegas thing. The Strip is Las Vegas, even if it isn't within the municipal boundaries of the city of Las Vegas.
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Well, it's not exactly getting "tripped up" when it is a geographical fact :)
 
jr7110 said:
Well, it's not exactly getting "tripped up" when it is a geographical fact :)
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When we lived there we made friends with another couple who also happened to be from Wisconsin. She always called the Strip downtown. The first time we corrected her, her response was "really?". After that, she would always call the Strip Downtown. We gave up after awhile.
 
I believe that's what made Bugsy Seigel so famous. In the 40's Las Vegas was only Downtown. Then Bugsy drove a bunch of the Mobsters out into the desert (Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo) and said I want to build a resort here...in the desert. Plenty of cheap space to expand however you want and more and more places followed.
I believe in the 70's Las Vegas was basically a tired old whore of a destination and things were dropping off. Steve Wynn built the Mirage megaresort on a small piece of land he acquired from Caesars (next door) and started the revitalization of the city. The change was sealed when Howard Huges brought in corporations as resort owners. Then the casinos were responsible to the shareholders and all the mob skimming had to stop.
So, that's the way I always understood LV development.
 

  • Another Strip/DT/Off-Strip Trip
jr7110 said:
Well, it's not exactly getting "tripped up" when it is a geographical fact :)
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I don't know. The Los Angeles Angels play in Anaheim, the Las Vegas Raiders will play in Clark County, when the new NFL stadium is built in Los Angeles it won't be in Los Angeles and the Rams and Chargers should be tagged as Inglewood, we have the Orchard Park Bills and New Jersey Jets and Giants, and America's team is the Arlington Cowboys. Etc.

Urban southern Clark County, Nevada, is still "Las Vegas" even if unincorporated, city of Las Vegas, city of North Las Vegas, city of Henderson and maybe even city of Boulder City.
 
The correct answer would be: So we have more places to go to give away our money!
 
Joe said:
the Town of Paradise has no sanitary sewer system. All those mega resorts use holding tanks that must be pumped on a regular basis.
Click to expand...

nostresshere said:
Wow. With 62,000 rooms on the strip, there must be a lot of pumping and trucking going on. With a dozen places having 3,000+ hotel rooms.. whew!
Click to expand...

Breeze147 said:
It keeps the hogs happy until they become next month's pork loin, which will in turn become a pork chop and on and on.
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EWWW :vomit:
What was the original question?
 
The STRIP is born. 1941


On Thursday the 3rd of April, the first full scale Hotel/Casino resort opens on Highway 91.

El Rancho.

The El Rancho cost $425,000 and is the largest hotel in Las Vegas with 110 rooms.
(63 to begin with, 47 added later).

Although at this time there were a few small gambling clubs sporadically spread
out along Highway 91, this was the first time that an establishment would offer
self contained lodging, gaming, dining, entertainment and retail facilities.

It stands on 60 acres of land opposite to where the Sahara Hotel/Casino sits today.
 
There is a rumour that Tommy Hull the owner, selected this site because he once had a flat tire
here, and while waiting for the pick-up truck to arrive out of boredom began counting how
many cars had passed him by, and thought it would be a good spot to open a resort.
 
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