24 Things You Need To Know About Las Vegas and the Close-by Strip

What takes place 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 located in the city of Las Vegas. A great part of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the renowned "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign-- are really situated in an unincorporated municipality called Paradise, Nevada.

2. One attraction that is within Las Vegas city limits: Vegas Vic, the large neon cowboy that administers over downtown's famed 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 an advantage the town boasts 14 of the world's 20 greatest hotels.

5. There's a lot real estate for tourists to make the most of, it would take an individual 288 years to spend a night in every hotel room in the city.

6. There's a secret city beneath the city. Miles of tunnels-- initially constructed to secure the desert town from flash floods-- house hundreds of homeless locals.

7. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Gambling establishment got its name from creator-- and famous mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's girlfriend. Actress Virginia Hill went by the label "The Flamingo" due to the fact that of her red hair and long, thin legs.

8. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas possessed its own set of discriminatory Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service jobs-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's gambling establishments and hotels. Even famous performers like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole were forced to go into and leave the locations where they were carrying out through back doors and side entryways. In 1952, acting legend Sammy Davis Jr. took a dip in the whites-only swimming pool at the New Frontier Hotel & Gambling Establishment. Later on, the supervisor had it drained pipes.

9. In May 1955, the Moulin Rouge made history when it ended up being the city's very first interracial casino. Legendary boxer Joe Louis, a part owner, declared, "This isn't really the opening of a Las Vegas hotel. It's history."

10. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Las Vegas was known for putting on a various kind of program. At the Nevada Test Website, simply 65 miles northwest of the city, the United States Department of Energy would test nuclear devices. Las Vegas' Chamber of Commerce saw a moneymaking opportunity, and decided to distribute calendars promoting detonation times and option watching areas.

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

FedEx creator Frederick W. Smith conserved the shipment company with a trip to Vegas. In 1974-- three years after he created 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 disturb: Vegas has more unlisted phone numbers than any other city in the United States.

Nevada law states that video slot makers need to pay back a minimum of 75 percent of the loan transferred on average. (Though it's worth keeping in mind that in New Jersey, house to betting mecca Atlantic City, it's 83 percent.).

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

16. Let them eat ... shrimp cocktails? More than 60,000 pounds of the shellfish are consumed in the city every day. That's greater than the remainder of the nation-- integrated.

17. The half-scale model of the Eiffel Tower, located outside Paris Las Vegas, was initially prepared to be full-size, however due to the close proximity of the airport-- just 3 miles-- it needed to be shrunk down. In contrast, the Luxor weblink Las Vegas' Sphinx is actually bigger than the initial Terrific Sphinx of Giza.

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

19. The distinctive gold color of the windows at the Mirage Hotel comes from real gold dust.

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

21. Not into casinos? The city likewise includes a heavy devices playground where building enthusiasts can drive around bulldozers for fun.

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

23. At Vegas restaurant Cardiovascular disease Grill, waitresses gown in nurses garb and patrons can buy an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass hamburger with a side of flatliner fries. (Fried in pure lard!) In 2013, one of the area's regular clients passed away ... from an obvious heart attack.

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


Many of Vegas' iconic 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 actually situated in an unincorporated municipality called Paradise, Nevada.

One destination that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the large neon cowboy that administers over downtown's famous Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got its name from creator-- and famous mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's sweetheart. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas possessed its own set of prejudiced Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service jobs-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's hotels and casinos.

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