Las Vegas Trivia
Vegas Vic (shown at right) was unveiled in 1947, to be replaced by the new version in 1951, at a cost of $25,000. The sign can be seen on Fremont St (downtown).
The Luxor's atrium could hold nine Boeing 747s stacked on top of each other.
The recipe for the Atomic Cocktail (popular in Las Vegas when atomic testing began north of the city in 1951) is as follows:
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1 jigger vodka
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1 jigger brandy
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1 jigger champagne
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Touch of sherry
Shake, do not stir. (One jigger is about one ounce.)
State law prohibits lotteries in Nevada.
The statue of Caesar in front of Caesars Palace is 20-ft tall.
Sports betting is illegal in the US, except in Nevada. However, you cannot bet on the University of Nevada sporting events and on the Las Vegas Stars professional baseball team (nor on presidential elections).
Elvis Presley made his first, unsuccessful appearance in Las Vegas in 1956, despite hit records. He returned in 1969 to have sold-out shows at the International (now Hilton).
The inclinators (the elevators in the Luxor pyramid) move at a 39-degree angle.
The longest running show is Folies Bergere, started at Tropicana in 1959, and is still performing.
The Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas is half-scale of the original one.
The four hotels at the Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana (MGM Grand, Tropicana, Excalibur, and New York-New York) have more hotel rooms than all San Francisco.
The Statue of Liberty in front of New York-New York is 150 ft tall. The 12 replica towers of the New York skyline measure up to one-third of the original buildings.
About 86 percent of the land in Nevada is owned by the federal government.
Bill's Gambling Hall (formerly Barbary Coast) has the world's largest stained glass mural, "The Garden of Earth by Delight"—30 ft long, 5 ft high.
Emerald Island, in Henderson, is the only non-smoking casino in the Las Vegas valley.
A 3-ton section of the Berlin Wall, covered with original graffiti, can be seen in a men's restroom at Main Street Station. It was bought from the German government for $17,500.
Legend has it that kissing the Blarney stone, at the Blarney Castle in Ireland, is rewarded with the gift of gab, i.e., makes you persuasive. Fitzgerald's displays a real stone from this castle and if you rub it "will surely make your day luckier."
The only casinos in Las Vegas that allow you to take photographs inside are Four Queens, Excalibur, and Harrah's.
Lake Mead is the largest man-made lake in the U.S.
"Bugsy" Siegel's memorial is located in a small park behind the Flamingo hotel. Go left from the Wildlife Habitat and left again at the swimming pool.
There are 82 McDonald's restaurants in Las Vegas.
Nevada has more mountain ranges (more than 300) than any other state.
From the Mt. Charleston peak you can see into four states on a clear day: Nevada, California, Utah, and Arizona.
The desert tortoise's ancestors lived some 80 million years ago.
The world-famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign was designed by Betty Willis in 1959. In 1993, the plans to beautify the Strip included removing the sign from its place south of Mandalay Bay (0.8 miles). Those who opposed the idea won, and the sign is still in its original place.
The lion statue in front of MGM Grand stands 45-foot tall and weighs 100,000 pounds. It is the largest bronze statue in the US.
The only poisonous lizard in the US is the gila monster, which can be found in the Las Vegas area.
The seven most popular attractions in the US are:
1. Hoover Dam, Boulder City, Nevada
2. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
3. Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
4. The Astrodome, Houston
5. The Statue of Liberty, New York
6. Walt Disney World, Florida
7. The Gateway Arch, St. Louis
At The Showcase, near MGM Grand, there is a coca-cola bottle 70 ft tall, the tallest in the world. It is a remnant of the World of Coca-Cola, which closed in 2000.
Bristlecone Pines, found in the Toiyabe National Forest, where Mt Charleston (12,000 ft high) is, are the oldest living organisms on earth.
The Stratosphere tower is 1, 149 ft high and is the tallest free-standing observation structure in the US and the tallest building west of Mississippi.
The famous Las Vegas Strip is not in Las Vegas, but in the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester. Several such townships are part of Clark County, along with the city of Las Vegas. The Las Vegas city ends just north of the Strip.
