Dave’s Midlife Blog

Here are pictures of the rest of the “heritage” hotels we visited on our trip. I meant to blog these from the hotel, but of course, the hotel WiFi would not handle the pictures. Now, two days after arriving home, I’m putting them up.

We’ll continue our pilgrimage of endangered hotels by going down Las Vegas Boulevard South. The one hotel that seems in most imminent danger of implosion is the Saraha, on the north end of what’s considered the Strip.

This hotel is a weird combination of themes. Obviously, the basic concept is a faux-Egyptian motif. But inside, the area off the main casino floor is devoted to a NASCAR theme, with real racing stock cars on the floor and a kiddie-midway of racecar simulations. The Amazing Jonathan performs there, as do a couple of musical acts.

The loop in the picture is the final flip of the roller coaster that begins inside the hotel. On the Thursday of our trip, this coaster got stuck right after coming out of the loop. This snafu made the local TV news, as well as some national TV coverage.

Another old standby on the north Strip is the Riviera. This is located between the construction site for a fabulous new hotel-resort and a rather low-end shopping strip. We found the casino somewhat average and unimpressive, but the Riviera remains a major feature of the north Strip, directly across from Circus Circus.

In mid-strip, next to Harrah’s, is the Imperial Palace. This hotel has a faux-Chinese theme, and looks a bit like a Chinese restaurant, at least at its main entrance.

This hotel is rather hard to get into, at least from the Strip. It has a monorail stop in back, but on the Las Vegas Boulevard side the entrance is nearly invisible. The most distinctive feature we noticed–which may or may not be an actual part of the hotel–is the disco-bar in front that advertises itself as the place where it is easiest to get laid in Vegas. So I guess you would say it’s a pickup bar.

On the south end of the Strip is the 50-year-old Tropicana. It has the longest-running production show in Vegas, the Folies Bergere. We saw the show and were unimpressed with the performances, although the technical spectacle was quite imposing, and the featured comedy juggler, Michael Holly, was fantastic.

One other south Strip hotel of note, whose demise is actually immediately visible, is the Aladdin. While it has not been demolished, it really is no longer the Aladdin, since it is undergoing a transition to a Planet Hollywood. When we were there, the signage on the front of the hotel actually made the whimsical-feature section of the local TV news. For a couple of days, this hotel was known as the “Planet Ho.”

We also delved into the downtown Las Vegas area of Fremont Street known as Glitter Gulch. Before there was a Strip, there were hotel-casinos downtown. According to the Las Vegas Casino Death Watch site, a couple of these hotels are in danger of being sold and then possibly “converted” or destroyed.

Possibly the most familiar of these would be Binion’s, whose official name is “Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel.” Before it was sold to MTR Gaming in 2004, it was known as Binion’s Horseshoe. Binion’s is a casino for serious gamblers. Its poker room is most directly accessible through a rear door, open to the public but hidden from the pedestrian walkway on Glitter Gulch. You might know the name Binion’s because the World Series of Poker, seen on TV, used to be staged there.

The hotel whose demolition would be most disquieting is the Golden Gate. This is located at the corner of Fremont and Main Streets, and is the oldest hotel in Vegas. It was established in 1906.

When we walked into its casino we got an immediate feeling of being in the old West. The ceiling is low, with ceiling fans; there are no frills; there is a lot of dark wood. On the wall of the casino is a replica of the first telephone in Las Vegas, whose number was 1. It was the telephone of the Golden Gate Hotel.

I apologize for the lousy photograph. All the pictures of the downtown hotels were taken with my cell phone’s camera. I stupidly left my Canon PowerShot in the hotel room when we went downtown.

We were glad to have seen all these “heritage” hotels. I think the demise of the downtown hotels would be the most distressing, since they carry so much of the history of Las Vegas.