Welcome to the other Strip ... Who says Las Vegas Boulevard is only about casinos? Las Vegas Weekly’s Rick Lax takes us on a tour of Sin City’s forgotten haunts.
It’s time for us to go on a tour. But this one doesn’t stop at the Bellagio, CityCenter or Wynn. This tour stops at the mom-and-pop snack shacks, the seedy tattoo parlors and the cheesy gift shops that most locals ignore. If you’ve never stopped by these one-off businesses, you’re missing out — not on anything profound, but on completeness. See, you can’t fully comprehend the entire 4.3-mile Strip without understanding how tourists experience it — by walking it. They walk by these odd businesses tucked in between the Strip’s marquee names every time they go out, and often they stop in and actually drop a couple bucks. It’s time to strap on a booze-filled plastic guitar, glob on the sunblock and hop aboard the double-decker tour bus. The next tour leaves now!
Get the full tour, and learn about more about The Strip’s forgotten buildings at lasvegasweekly.com.
MOTEL 8 (North of the Laughing Jackalope) The circular pool, the teal gate, the faux red rocks, and the “plunge” sign make it hard to tell if this is a real hotel or a 1970s porn set. According to Lowell, the man working the front desk, rooms are“$38.90-$52.90, depending on the night.” That’s higher than I would have guessed—no offense to Motel 8. All I’m saying is, for that kind of cash, I could buy two drinks at the Mandarin Oriental. Lowell tells me he’s spent the past week watching a construction crew bulldoze the area by the neighboring Happi Inn. “It’s for that theme park they’re putting in.”
GRAND CANYON EXPERIENCE (North of MGM Grand) Blending the “Worlds Largest Gift Shop” on Sahara with Disney’s Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Grand Canyon Experience boasts two floors of Las Vegas shot glasses, ashtrays and mugs. Well, technically they’re Chinese shot glasses, ashtrays and mugs that say “Las Vegas” on them. Even the “Native American art” is made in China. If you want an authentic Vegas souvenir, this might not be the place. |
GENERIC FOOD COURT (North of the Grand Canyon Experience) The main attraction here isn’t the Sbarro or the Del Taco. It’s David. He’s been sculpting caricature-style souvenir heads for 40 years. Thirty-nine dollars will get you a small, $69 a medium and $119 a large. He works with clay and pottery tools, holding the clay head in one hand and cutting away at it with the other.“It takes me about 10 minutes,” David says, as he puts some finishing touches on his sculpture of one of two Canadian tourists. “We came in here to use the bathroom,” one says, “but then we saw this, and we need something for our living room, so we went for it.” They got off cheap; what if they’d stopped to use the bathroom at Crystals? |
Find the full story, and more pictures, at lasvegasweekly.com.