Speaking of museums I went to the Mob museum in downtown Vegas. I got there about 15 minutes before closing and asked for a break on the $20 entry fee. They wouldn't give it to me, so I thought what the hell, I'm up in gambling about $60 and if I don't see it now, I probably never will, so I reluctantly gave them $20 for the 15 minutes. It's 2 or 3 floors high (can't remember which) but all I got to see was the 1st floor. About the only thing I can remember about it was seeing a human dummy that was cut in half and seeing some guns and pictures.

Not that one. Was inside the hotel, and the cars weren't for sale.

That could have been it. Seems like the right spot on the strip.

It was at The Imperial Palace.

For some reason the website is still up.
© 1999 Classics.com
With permission of Imperial Palace.
All Rights Reserved.

http://classics.com/impal.html

Truly fascinating thread. Doubly interesting to me (and I'm sure others) for the classic automobiles in the photos.

I'm back in town. Will continue posting asap.

Next Stop. We are now covering the ground between the Bonanza Gift Shop and the ground that currently holds The Stratosphere. First part of this ground in has been occupied since 1949 by the still existing El Mirador Motel.


Source



A little further the action started in 1953 when the Tropics Motel opened. This Motel lasted till 1967 and currently resides the International House of Pancakes.



Direct neighbor was the Sun & Sand Motel that opened in 1954. This motel lasted till 1981 when it became the Sunshine Motel (1981 – 1990) before getting renamed Mojave Meadow Motel.


Source

1994 the Mojave Meadow Motel become the Aztec Inn Casino which is still active today.

Hey Checkko, I'm curious, how many times have you been to Vegas?

Have you ever lived in the US?

And what would you say is the overall opinion of Europeans concerning Vegas?

Four times. Will be making the fifth trip this February. I did some TR on the trips. Check topics started by me if interested.
No.
Of course I can only speak for The Netherlands but if I’d have to guess I would say ~ 30% would like to visit one day. The problem is that EU people completely misjudge the cost of such a trip. People look at me like I’m Rockefeller when I say I visit every two years with my mates. If I tell them the average costs they basically don’t believe it.

update on Bonanza Gift Shop (from 9/16/15):

http://lasvegasweekly.com/as-we-see-...wn-kidz-world/

I'm from the UK and I've been 14 times now with 11 of those in the past 3 years, so it's fair to assume that I'm a big fan of Vegas.

Lots of people want to 'try' Vegas just to say they have but a 10 hour flight doesn't justify a long weekend. The fact is we have the real Paris, Venice and Rome on our doorsteps. We can even jump on a train and have a day out in Paris.

I think, as Checkko says, people don't realise how reasonable the prices are for hotels. Personally, for comping reasons, I always stay at the MGM. A Grand Tower King is better than anything you'd get in the UK for the same money and I realise that's pretty middle of the road in terms of Vegas quality.

That and your money smells weird and you only have streaky bacon and you fry it til it shatters. Even our Prime Minister wouldn't eat your bacon.
(He'd **** it though)

Just discovered this thread and want to thank Checkko for providing me with nearly two hours of entertainment. What makes Checkko's work even better are the contributions from the graybeards who elevate a web history lesson into an intimate remembrance of days gone by.

We arrive at the last ground before we make 180 turn and start heading back towards the famous Las Vegas Sign. This ground has been Bob Stupak’s playground for nearly 25 years. On the 31st of March 1974 Stupak opens the "World Famous Historic Gambling Museum". That place burnt down and Bob Stupak's Vegas World replaced it, opening in 1979.





Despite its terrible location, Vegas World thrived thanks to Stupak's talent at promoting it and bringing in new and original gambling rules. At its peak, Vegas World made $100 million a year in gambling revenues.



But Bob Stupak had loftier plans for the area after seeing the Sydney Tower on a trip he took to Australia in the late 1980's. The Stratosphere Tower began construction in 1992 next to Vegas World



Vegas World closed on the 1st of February 1995, while the Stratosphere Tower-Hotel and Casino, Restaurant-Bar and Wedding Chapel opened on the 30th of April 1996. It becomes the tallest free standing observation tower in the U.S. and the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River when it opens. It would have been finished earlier, but the unfinished tower caught fire early Sunday morning on the 29th of August in 1993, burning for 3 hours before it was put out.





Because of financial problems, the Stratosphere filed for bankruptcy not long after opening and construction on the 2nd tower was halted with just a few of the planned stories completed. Carl Icahn gained control in 1997 and Bob Stupak's dream was over. The problem with the Stratosphere was that although the tower was a great success, with loads of people coming to visit it, very few of those people were actually staying in the casino to gambol. The 2nd hotel tower was eventually completed in 2001, bringing the total number of rooms up to 2,327



There have been 4 thrill rides at the top of the tower. When it first opened there was the High Roller, that went around the side of the tower, and the Big Shot, which catapults you skywards to 160 feet in 2.5 seconds. With the High Roller at 909 foot, and the Big Shot at 1081 foot, you won’t be surprised to hear that both were/ are the two tallest thrill rides in the World. On Halloween in 2003 a third ride opened called X.Scream. X.Scream is a giant metal arm that propels you 27 feet over the edge of the Tower at 30mph, 866 feet above the ground. The High Roller was dismantled in 2005, and replaced by a new ride called Insanity. Insanity consists of an arm that extends out 64 feet over the edge of the Tower and spins you around at up to 3 "G's." As the ride spins faster and faster, you are propelled up to an angle of 70 degrees.

800 feet above ground level you will find the Top of the World Restaurant that revolves 360 degrees in about 1 hour, and offers magnificent panoramic views of Las Vegas. To get on top of the Stratosphere you must take an elevator which travels at 21 mph, or 1,800 feet per minute or 3 floors a second. Now you might be thinking that if you were at the top and there was a fire, how the hell are you going to escape? Well, really the Stratosphere is an eleven story building on top of an 800 foot tower. There is a single emergency stair, but that is considered impractical. So there are four double deck elevators that have been designed for emergency use. One is reserved for use by the fire department, with the remaining three used under manual control to evacuate all occupants from the two lower floors that are designed as areas of refuge. The tower only allow a certain amount of people up at the same time, this number is limited to the number of people that can be evacuated by the elevators in 1 hour.

Before we leave the Stratosphere ground and Bob Stupak, let’s see what his next resort might have been. Stupak wanted to build a 400 foot, 1,200 room hotel in the image of the Titanic, across from the Sahara. The idea was rejected by the Las Vegas City Council and never materialized.

Bob Stupak, the man who created a bronze statue of himself and installed it on the casino floor. RIP.

One time, as broke-ass college students, we stayed at Vegas World one night when it was the only place with a vacancy we could afford. At least they have a casino - or so we thought. We checked in and they gave us our keys and told us our room was in a motel across the street. They failed to meet our lowest expectations.

It sounds like a SNL skit but it's real "Vegas World: we won't meet your lowest expectations!"

Stu Ungar died a few minutes walk from the Stratosphere...

Here was his bedroom...still available to the public unlike Whitney Houston's...


Here is the front of the hotel...


From the side...


In happy days...

So, we cross Las Vegas Blvd. and start exploring the ground right across from The Stratosphere. This has seen severe Motel action throughout the years and still has three motels active on the ground today. All info and pictures come from jjefersons vintage las vegas page.


A picture of the Motel Madness.

1957-1994: Gaslite Motel (1971 incorporated into Sulinda)
1953-1994: Sulinda Motel (demolished in 1994)
1950-1973: Gladstone Motel (became wedding chapel in 1975)
1950-1994: Rancho Anita Motel
1952: Holiday Motel (Still active today)

1960-1977: Red Fez Cocktail Lounge (became Bud’s Cocktail Lounge)
1977-1979: Bud’s Cocktail Lounge (became Ram’s Head Lounge)
1980- 2000: Ram’s Head Lounge (became a wedding chapel)

1953-1958: Hawthorne House (became Bagdad Inn)
1958-1983: Bagdad Inn (became Holiday House)
1983: Holiday House (Still active today)

1953-1964: Glenn Vegas Motel (became Vegas Holiday Motel)
1964-1981: Vegas Holiday Motel (became Fun City Motel)
1981: Fun City Motel (Still active today)

As mentioned above Stu Ungar died in one these high class environments although the Oasis Motel is one more block towards downtown.

There's some about a dive motel. I've known people that prefer to stay in a motel even though strip hotels like the Excalibur might actually be cheaper.

Another article about the car collection owned by the late Ralph Engelstad.

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009...as-vegas/?_r=0

Just posting to say I am thoroughly enjoying this history lesson. Thanks.

Just adding another sincere thank you for this thread.

Vegas World, lol. I went in there one night towards the end of it's run because they had sent me a bunch of match play and free play coupons. It was raining and they had buckets all over the casino floor, on blackjack tables, etc to catch the leaks.

I appreciate all the ‘thank you for the thread’ posts. It's more work than I anticipated but I’ll keep going

Next stop is basically the same ground as last stop as we now stand on the corner of Sahara Avenue (was called San Francisco Ave until 1963) about to cross the road towards the current SLS. Walgreens is occupying this corner nowadays but there has been some casino action on this corner since 1966. That year the Foxy's Firehouse Casino opens on this corner.



In 1992 Foxy's Firehouse Casino transforms into The Holy Cow Casino-Cafe-Brewery as it was the first micro brewery to open in Las Vegas.





When you entered the property there was a Cafe on the left side, a small casino with slot machines and video poker on the right side, and a bar in the middle. It stayed open for 10 years, but with so little foot traffic at this end of the Strip, it struggled and closed on the 22nd of March 2002.

Now i'm going to have to go check out that Stu Ungar room.