Aria's Carta Privada

City Center's Aria Hotel houses a super high-end gaming room on its ground level casino floor. The place is called Carta Privada (which loosely translated into Spanish means "playing cards in private").

Carta Privada is a casino within a casino, sort of like City Center is a city within a city. Privada is a special high-end gaming room that provides Baccarrat and Mini-Baccarrat, and certain other card games.

I'm not a gambler and am not a very high-end person (wallet-wise) so I don't really know what this room is all about. But it's open to everyone and has a great looking bar and lots of lounge seats. If I had a girlfriend and some cash I think I'd take her there for a drink.

Carta Privada is located to the left of Aria's Cashier's Cage, by the south escalators and is just across from the Spin High Limit Slot Lounge.

Carta Privada was designed by a man named Peter Marino. He got his start back in 1975 when he redesigned Andy Warhol's apartment and 'Factory' art studio. Since then he's become known as a high-society architect-interior designer, designing such famous things as Christian Dior shops in Paris, Chanel boutiques in Tokyo and Beverly Hills, Louis Vuitton stores in New York and a Fendi shop in Rome as well as New York's Four Seasons' Hotel's Presidential Suites.

The creators of Aria chose Peter Marino to design Aria's Sky Villas , the Spin High Limit Lounge, the Radience store and Aria's Salon Prive. I'm not quite sure what Salon Prive is, but I suppose it's a gaming room that is even higher-end than Carta Privada. That's no problem though. In Vegas if you got the cash you're welcome anywhere, whether you're using old-money or new-money, you can expect royal treatment in the city where cash makes you a king.

Looking at the dealer thru the transluscent glass of Carta Privada. The designer of Carta Privada says "I want [people] to feel a sense of drama, excitement and high-octane energy".

The bar is really nice looking.

They probably have whatever type high-end bottle brand you need.

The other Carta Privada bar is near the seating lounge area.

Carta Privada. Private high-end gaming for whoever needs it.

ARIA HOTEL MAPS

Aria's Spin High Limit Lounge

City Center's Aria Hotel houses one of the best High Limit Slot Lounges in Las Vegas. The place is called Spin. It's located near the far left side of Aria's casino floor, just behind the Deuce Lounge and across from the high-end Carta Privada casino room.

Aria's Spin High Limit Lounge provides slot-play from $25 - $5,000. That's fairly high-end slot play for sure. But if you're looking for high-rolling slot machines this is the place to be.

The Spin Lounge is very cozy and offers gamblers a sort of sanctuary away from nosier slot playing action on the main casino floor. It's rarely crowded and if you have $25 -$100 extra dollars in your pocket you should try betting it inside Spin, just for the fun and risk of it. You can at least tell your friends you once played on a $25 a spin slot machine.

The odds of winning are usually better on these high-end slot machines than they are on 5 cent and 25 cent machines, so maybe you should give Spin a visit. It looks like it's waiting to pay out some big jackpots.

Spin has some of the most modern slot machines around.

Spin has a front and a rear slot room.

Spin's Slot Desk employees are there to sign you up for Player's Cards or assist you with getting change, info, advice, complimentary meals or concierge type services. There are very welcoming and helpful people working inside Spin. Go inside and say hello.

The great thing about Spin is that they encourage you to come in to play or relax.

Spin's slots, like this Cleopatra one, are super-new and lots o' fun.

If you need to meet friends you should invite them to Spin to relax in a quiet place like this coffee table area. If the people in your party feel like relaxing while you gamble, this is a good spot to for them to take some time-out and watch you play while they enjoy a drink or food.

For people who really need some complete time-out from the gaming action, Spin provides this ultra comfortable relaxtion room, located in the back half of the lounge, thru the left-hand door.

This is the view you'll see from inside Spin. It looks out on the main casino floor and towards the high-end Carta Privada gaming room.

These 'Top Dollar' slot machines provide big jackpots for $25 a spin.

This is the only entry and exit door for the Spin High-Limit Lounge. So, if you invite someone to meet you here you can be pretty sure you'll quickly catch sight of them.

The Spin Lounge opened in December. Everytime I've seen it it hardly has many people inside. Timid types of players seem to foolishly avoid this place. They shouldn't, because Aria wants you to go inside to visit, even if only to get a drink or to talk to the ladies at the Slot Desk.

It's truly worth risking $25-100 just to test your luck in an intimate, high-roller slot room. Don't be afraid of this high-end stuff. You don't need a pedigree or special badge to enter. Just walk on in and check it out. Spin holds no bias, has no special dress code and requires nothing from you. Boldly check it out. Buy a drink and maybe take a $25 buck spin just for fun. The place seems kind of lonesome and wishes you would stop by for a visit.

The Spin High Limit Lounge. Inside Aria Hotel. Ground level. City Center. Las Vegas. Nevada.

ARIA CASINO MAP

Springtime in Las Vegas

View of the Paris Hotel's Jules Verne Air Balloon. The letter 'P' in the name Paris points to the exact astrological position of the vernal equinox and our current season - when the sun travels out of Pisces' Winter and moves into Aries' Spring.

Just Cause for March Madness and Spring Fever

In the Northern Hemisphere Springtime begins on March 21. Officially, that is also the first day of Spring in Las Vegas - even though our hot, desert climate causes flowers to bloom here a lot earlier than in most other locales.

With Spring, Las Vegas gets March Madness from basketball and a large influx of college students who arrive from early March until Mid-April (depending on when their school releases them for Spring Break).

Due to the great Spring weather, in Las Vegas, many citizens from all around the world come to enjoy some fun vacation time here after having spent many cold months locked into their hometown's harsher Winters.

Day-time teperatures, this week in Las Vegas, have ranged from 65-74 degrees. This weekend forcasters have predicted temperatures might reach as high as 82 degrees. With Spring, we still can experience many cold and windy desert nights. But it's safe to say that our temperatures will steadily increase as we move closer to our hot summer months.

What does Spring mean for locals in Las Vegas? Well. Besides doing a bit of 'Spring-cleaning' or starting a home desert-gardening project, it's a great time to experience the great weather we have, that tourists often travel 3,000 miles to experience. This means it's time to get out and go walking along the Strip, visiting City Center, seeing the Spring exhibit at Bellagio's Conservatory, or taking a drive to Red Rock Canyon - while the weather is so beautiful.

This is also a good time to go and catch a local bus to see our great RTC system which gets you most anywhere in the valley with no driving to contend with. Spring weather provides a wonderful opportunity to experience many of the great things Las Vegas has to offer its local citizens.

In Vegas, Spring has sprung full-blown and it's Nature's Way of telling you to get out and party !

Water-globe at the Bellagio Conservatory's Spring Floral Exhibit.

Trees and flowers are blooming on the Strip and across the Valley.

Looking southward from Paris Plaza towards City Center.

Looking northward from the Paris Hotel driveway.

The floral exhibit at Bellagio is lots of fun to see, plus it's free.

Bellagio's floral exhibit is full of ants, bees and butterflies...

...and scary, weird, old trees.

Bellagio's Spring Theme continues thru its esplanade...

...upward to the Spring parasols overhead.

The Permanent Spring of Bellagio's lobby.

Spring at the Harmon Towers of City Center.

Flowers blooming in front of Monte Carlo.

With Spring's arrival and the opening of City Center, people are walking more...

...and girls are shopping more.

Who says flowers can't bloom in the desert?

With the right soil and hydration nearly anything can grow.

In South Nevada cherry blossoms and plam trees live side-by-side...

...in the Land of the Free - Las Vegas, USA.

Street Theater on the Vegas Strip

Street-Theater and Street-Performers have been around for centuries. You've seen them in most all the great and large cities of the world and in USA towns like Venice Beach, San Francisco, New Orleans, Boston and New York City.

Las Vegas has its own culture of Street Entertainers. Here, they amuse and entertain tourists and arouse great delight. Our city welcomes them openly to areas of Downtown and The Strip where their mere appearance gets many cameras to clicking.

Street Theater in Las Vegas is of a higher caliber than in most other cities. In Vegas many of these performers and look-a-likes simply get out to publicize their local appearances at nightclubs or to promote their availability for parties and special events.

These performers are some of the best Ambassadors that Las Vegas has.
Where ever you see them, around town, give them a wave and go up and say hello and even try inviting them to lunch. They usually know plenty about what is happening on the streets of Vegas - because they see and hear a lot while they are 'out there'. Just as Vegas Cabbies know the roads of Vegas, these street-entertainers know the sidewalk-activity of Vegas. They can teach us all a thing or two about the up-to-minute buzz on the Boulevard.

Take a look at some of the 'best of the street bunch', in the photos below.


Teva's Webpage & Info

Elvis continues to love Las Vegas and obviously has not "left the building". Teva is the newest and coolest looking Elvis I've seen in a long, long time.

Elvis and Michael Jackson at the Paris Hotel Plaza.

Captain Jack Sparrow in front of Walgreens on the LV Strip.

Michael Jackson gloving in front of the Paris Hotel.

Tony the Tiger and Winnie the Pooh enjoying the Spring Vegas weather.

This violinist is really good.

Another Captain Jack (or a Keith Richards look-a-like) with money in hand.

Star Wars Guy in front of the stores south of the Harley-Davidson Cafe.

Super-polite Greeter-Doorman-Host at the new, Strip Hard Rock Cafe.

The outdoor stage at the Hawaian Marketplace provides entertainment space for performers.

Elvis-Teva. Teva appears on National Geographic's 'World's Toughest Fixes' TV Show this April. The episode is called 'Fixing Vegas' and will show Cirque Du Soleil's "problem stage" and how it gets repaired. Teva can be found appearing around Las Vegas, at the Paris Plaza and around Downtown Fremont Street. You can e-mail Teva at:
kingofvegas007@hotmail.com

Street-Sign Theater appearing on the roof of Daiblo's Cantina.

The sign is reminiscent of the 'Gigantism Signage' used In Old Las Vegas during the 1950s like the Dunes Sultan, Pioneer's Vegas Vic, Sassy Sally, the Silver Slipper and Sahara Camels, etc.

You can see Elvis and Michael Jackson at Paris Plaza or on Fremont Street.

Captain Jack lives in Hollywood and Las Vegas. He is available for parties. You can phone him at 323-703-3943 or e-mail him at the_captain98@yahoo.com

Parties with: 'The Captain'

These photos and others will be posted on a permanent webpage in a much larger format and at a much better image quality than can be viewed on this blog - so check out the link below in a day or so:

West Vegas - Street Theater

In the meanwhile read-up on the interesting history of Street Performers:

History of Street Theater - Wikipedia