24 Things You Must Understand About Las Vegas and the Nearby Strip

What occurs in Vegas ... well, you understand the rest. Here are 24 realities about Sin City you likely haven't heard.

1. Most of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically situated in the city of Las Vegas. An excellent portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the well known "Invite to Fabulous Las Vegas" indication-- are actually located in an unincorporated municipality called Paradise, Nevada.

2. One attraction that is within Las Vegas city limits: Vegas Vic, the large neon cowboy that commands downtown's renowned Fremont Street. It's the largest mechanical neon check in the world.

3. More than 41 million visitors cycle through Sin City each year ...

4. ... So it's a good idea the town boasts 14 of the world's 20 greatest hotels.

5. There's a lot real estate for tourists to benefit from, it would take an individual 288 years to invest a night in every hotel space in the city.

6. There's a secret city underneath the city. Miles of tunnels-- originally developed to secure the desert town from flash floods-- home hundreds of homeless residents.

7. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got its name from founder-- and famous mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's sweetheart. Starlet Virginia Hill went by the nickname "The Flamingo" since of her red hair and long, thin legs.

8. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas had its own set of inequitable Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service tasks-- kept African Americans from the growing city's casinos and hotels. Even legendary entertainers like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole were required to get in and leave the venues in which they were performing through back entrances and side entranceways. In 1952, acting legend Sammy Davis Jr. swam in the whites-only pool at the New Frontier Hotel & Casino. Afterwards, the manager had it drained pipes.

In May 1955, the Moulin Rouge made history when it became the city's first interracial casino. Famous fighter Joe Louis, a part owner, stated, "This isn't really the opening of a Las Vegas hotel.

10. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Las Vegas was understood for putting on a different type of show. At the Nevada Test Site, just 65 miles northwest of the city, the United States Department of Energy would evaluate nuclear devices. Las Vegas' Chamber of Commerce saw a moneymaking chance, and chose to disperse calendars marketing detonation times and option watching locations.

Famous recluse Howard Hughes examined into the strip's Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Day 1966, renting the entire top two floors. When he overstayed his 10-day reservation, he was asked to leave.

FedEx creator Frederick W. Smith conserved the shipment business with a journey to Vegas. In 1974-- 3 years after he produced the company-- the Yale grad took the venture's last $5,000 and turned it into $32,000 with a weekend of blackjack.

13. Do not disrupt: Vegas has more unlisted telephone number than other city in the United States.

14. Factor to hope? Nevada law specifies that video slot makers need to repay a minimum of 75 percent of the loan transferred usually. (Though it deserves keeping in mind that in New Jersey, house to betting capital Atlantic City, it's 83 percent.).

15. It takes approximately 10 minutes to catch a marital relationship license at the bureau in downtown Las Vegas, which is open every day from 8 a.m. till midnight. Not surprising that some 10,000 couples wed in the city every month.

More than 60,000 pounds of the shellfish are consumed in the city each day. That's greater than the rest of the nation-- integrated.

17. The half-scale model of the Eiffel Tower, located outside Paris Las Vegas, was originally planned to be full-size, but due to the close proximity of the airport-- just three miles-- it needed to be shrunk down. In contrast, the Luxor Las Vegas' Sphinx is in fact bigger than the initial Excellent Sphinx of Giza.

18. At 50 heaps, the bronze lion outside the MGM Grand Hotel is thought to be the largest bronze sculpture in the western hemisphere.

19. The unique gold color of the windows at the Mirage Hotel comes from actual gold dust.

20. There are 3933 guest rooms at Bellagio Las Vegas-- more than the number of residents in the city of Bellagio, Italy.

21. Not into casinos? The city also includes a heavy devices play ground where building and construction lovers can drive around bulldozers for enjoyable.

22. Prior to his death in 2009, Michael Jackson was checking out doing a Vegas residency. He planned to promote it with a 50-foot robot-likeness of himself that would wander the Nevada desert.

23. At Vegas diner Heart Attack Grill, waitresses dress in nurses garb and patrons can buy an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass hamburger with a side of flatliner french fries. (Fried in pure lard!) Regrettably, in 2013, among the spot's regular patrons passed away ... from an apparent heart attack.

24. From external space, the Las Vegas Strip appears as the brightest spot on Earth. Who cares if it's not actually in Las Vegas?


Many of Vegas' renowned hotels aren't technically situated in the city of Las Vegas. A great portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the well known "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign-- are in fact situated in an unincorporated area read more called Paradise, Nevada.

One tourist attraction that is within Las Vegas city limits: Vegas Vic, the oversized neon cowboy that presides over downtown's famed Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Gambling establishment got its name from creator-- and legendary mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's girlfriend. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas possessed its own set of inequitable Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service tasks-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's hotels and gambling establishments.

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