VEGAS - NOW & THEN

Monday, March 22, 2010

The New Mid-Strip

Walking the Las Vegas Strip

There's a lot more pedestrian foot traffic and activity, on the Strip, than ever before. For the first time since The Strip began, back in 1941, the vacant lots of the Mid-Strip are all filled in with hotels, stores and wide sidewalks - making pedestrian use of the boulevard an easy and enjoyable part of everyone's Vegas Experience .

With the December opening of City Center nearly all of the empty gaps of the southern Mid-Strip properties have been filled in - making the boulevard more appealing for visitors who want to walk from one hotel-casino to the next.

The north end of the Strip has become a virtual no-man's-land of vacant properties and empty spaces, basically from the Sahara Hotel to Wynn's Encore. With the Stardust, the Frontier and assorted gift shops now gone, the north end of the Strip has become an unappealing, long-distanced, turn-off for pedestrian use.

Meanwhile, the Mid-Strip areas from Fashion Show Mall to NYNY have brought new life and much more pedestrian foot-traffic to the hotels from Spring Mountain Road to Tropicana Avenue. With the arrival of City Center and the pedestrian-friendly attractions of Bellagio's fountains, the Paris Plaza , the wide sidewalks of Planet Hollywood and the cool weather of Spring - the Mid-Stip is now noticably alive with lots of people having fun walking.

Pedestrianism is made inviting by the wide sidewalks in front of Ballys, Bellagio, Paris and Planet Hollywood .

The pedestrian-oriented, wide stairways leading into Planet Hollywood's Miracle Mile Shops.

A warm Spring night on the Strip, showing the pedestrian bridge leading to Crystals' Mall and City Center.

The leisurely sidewalk at Planet Hollywood.

Open-top, night-bus at the new Harmon Street and LV Blvd intersection .

Crystals, Mandarin, Veer Towers and Harley-Davidson Cafe sights on the south Mid-Strip

Devil Woman above Diablo's Cantina in front of the Monte Carlo Hotel.

Northern Mid-Strip (Flamingo Hotel to TI) seen from Bellagio-Caesars pedestrian bridge

Looking south down Las Vegas Blvd from Flamingo Rd towards Tropicana Ave from one of the busiest intersections in the USA.

Larger and clearer photos can be seen on:

WestVegas.com

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Wall of Walken at Aria

Art at Aria by Schnable

I'm in the process of photographing the interior design, restaurants, stores, lounges and layout of the Aria Hotel. I went back there last week to shoot photos of things I missed during Aria's Grand Opening.

While walking past the Union Restaurant I noticed an unusual photo collection hanging on the wall next to The Deuce Lounge. It's an assortment of nine photos of Christopher Walken. I wondered what these odd photos were doing there and figured they might be some sort of advertisement relating to a Chris Walken show or that the photos signified his involvement or ownership in Union or The Duece. Later, I found out the nine photos are simply another art exhibit among the dozens through-out the hotel.

The pieces aren't like typical, everyday, celebrity photos. They go far beyond the average portrait. In fact, the photos looked damaged...like they might have been run over by a truck, rained on and then left abandoned and thrown into some back-alley dumpster. They definitely evoke feelings and emotions of wonder, curiosity, repulsion or fascination about the subject and artist. And their meaning, like all good art is left to the viewer to create or decipher.

I checked up on the artist's name. Julian Schnabel, born in Brooklyn, New York on October 26, 1951 (two months earlier than me). He's accomplished a lot in his 59 years. He's an artist, writer and film director.

In 1987 he published his autobiography titled 'CVJ: Nicknames of Maitre D's & Other Excerpts From Life'. In 1993 he released an album titled 'Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud'.

In 2007 he was voted the best director at the Cannes Film Festival and also won the Golden Globe for best director, plus received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director.

Quotes attributed to Schnabel are:

"I'm the closest thing to Picasso that you'll see in this #*@!& life"

"[I'm] aiming at an emotional state, a state that people can literally walk into and be engulfed."

This unusual photo-art exhibit is hung on the hallway wall between The Deuce and The Union Restaurant and Bar.

40"x59" Julian Schnabel 'Lincoln Center 25th' print

Seven Walken-ish Videos

Thursday, March 18, 2010

St. Patrick's Day on the Vegas Strip

The "Kiss Me I'm Irish" girls at Caesars on March 17th, 2010

St. Patrick's sign at Diablo's Cantina

The crowds of St. Patty's Day

Leprechaun at Crystal's Mall at City Center Vegas

The Leprechan with his manager

Conversation at O' Shea's

O'Sheah's St. Patty's hostess

Bartendar at Flamingo's St. Patrick's street-party

Street kissers

Couples inter-acting

"No Photos". A welcoming sign and rule that any self-respecting
street-photographer would do his utmost to violate.

Margaritaville railers

Girls at Margaritaville

St Patrick's Day revelers

Dr. Suess party people

Patio party at the Flamingo

St. Patrick's green beer

O'Shea's corned beef stand

St. Patrick's Day Holly Madison street-festival

Happy girls across from Caesars

The street party between the Flamingo and O'Shea's casinos

Las Vegas Spring-Wear on March 17th

More Spring fashions in Southern Nevada

"Rub For Luck" T-shirt

Enjoying the March desert sun

O'Shea's foot traffic

The railer gauntlet at Margaritaville

Two young tourist girls (right) walking the gauntlet of sloppy-shirted, Guatamalan girlie-cards snappers. Freedom-of-speech versus freedom-to-walk. Them guys have got to go.

Everybody had a good time...

...like the Leprechan knew they would!

For more holiday and street-photos of Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Halloween, pool parties, contests, events, and girls on the Strip, etc. visit:

WestVegas.com

Saturday, March 13, 2010

OLD VEGAS CASINO POOLS

Cooling down at the Sands in the mid-fifties

The first hotel-casino to build a guest swimming pool, on the Las Vegas Strip, was the El Rancho in 1941. Since then, pools have been an integral part of every major hotel-resort in Vegas.

In Las Vegas, pools and casinos go hand-in-hand to create a unique vacation experience.

For almost seven decades casino pools and exciting poolside events have lured millions to enjoy "Daytime Sun and Nightime Fun" during their Spring and Summer stays along the Strip.

InOldLasVegas.com pays tribute to the great old Vegas pools and the beautiful people who sat, danced and swam in and around them over the years. As our city prepares to kick-off its 69th Las Vegas Poolside Summer, it's a good time to take a look-back to see all the great pools In Old Las Vegas.

El Rancho Vegas Pool 1941

(the first motel-casino complex and pool on the Las Vegas Strip)

The first Strip pool was installed at the El Rancho in 1941. The square-shaped pools of the 1940s at the El Rancho, Last Frontier, Flamingo and Thunderbird were later surpassed by the first curved pool design at the 1950 Desert Inn.

Through the years each casino brought newer and better innovations in pool design and attractions - a tradition that continues up to 2010 with the opening of MGM's Wet Republic (March 12th) and the new 'topless Liquid Lounge', pool and spa at Aria Hotel on March 17th, then later March and April openings at Mirage's Bare, Hard Rock's Rehab , Encore's new Beach, Venetian's TAO Beach, Caesars Venus Club Pool and Palms Ditch Fridays.