24 Things You Should Learn About Las Vegas and the Neighboring Strip

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

1. Many of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically located in the city of Las Vegas. An excellent portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign-- are really situated in an unincorporated township called Paradise, Nevada.

2. One tourist attraction that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the extra-large neon cowboy that commands downtown's well known Fremont Street. It's the biggest mechanical neon check in the world.

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

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

5. There's so much property for tourists to take advantage of, it would take an individual 288 years to invest a night in every hotel space in the city.

6. There's a secret city below the city. Miles of tunnels-- initially built to safeguard the desert town from flash floods-- home numerous homeless homeowners.

7. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got its name from founder-- and legendary mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's sweetheart. Actress Virginia Hill passed the label "The Flamingo" because of her red hair and long, thin legs.

8. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas possessed its own set of prejudiced 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 performers like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole were forced to go into and leave the places in which they were performing through back doors and side entrances. In 1952, acting legend Sammy Davis Jr. swam in the whites-only pool at the New Frontier Hotel & Gambling Establishment. Later on, the manager had it drained.

9. In May 1955, the Moulin Rouge made history when it became the city's first interracial gambling establishment. Famous 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 placing on a various type of show. 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 chance, and chose to disperse calendars advertising detonation times and choice watching areas.

11. Famous recluse Howard Hughes looked into the strip's Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Day 1966, renting the entire top two floorings. He was asked to leave when he overstayed his 10-day appointment. Instead, he started negotiations to purchase the 715-room area. His purchase was total 3 months later.

12. FedEx creator Frederick W. Smith conserved the shipment business with a journey to Vegas. In 1974-- 3 years after he developed the business-- the Yale graduate took the endeavor's last $5,000 and turned it into $32,000 with a weekend of blackjack. His, er, gamble provided the business enough cash to stay afloat.

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

Nevada law mentions 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 capital Atlantic City, it's 83 percent.).

15. It get redirected here 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. No marvel 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 country-- combined.

17. The half-scale model of the Eiffel Tower, located outside Paris Las Vegas, was originally planned to be full-size, however due to the close distance of the airport-- simply 3 miles-- it needed to be shrunk down. In contrast, the Luxor Las Vegas' Sphinx is actually larger than the initial Excellent Sphinx of Giza.

18. At 50 heaps, the bronze lion outside the MGM Grand Hotel is thought to be the biggest 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 gambling establishments? The city likewise includes a heavy devices play area where building enthusiasts can drive around bulldozers for fun.

22. Before his death in 2009, Michael Jackson was checking out doing a Vegas residency. He prepared 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 clothes and clients can purchase an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass burger with a side of flatliner fries. (Fried in pure lard!) Regrettably, in 2013, among the area's routine customers passed away ... from an apparent cardiovascular disease.

24. From outer space, the Las Vegas Strip looks like 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 renowned "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign-- are in fact located in an unincorporated municipality called Paradise, Nevada.

One destination that is within Las Vegas city limits: Vegas Vic, the extra-large neon cowboy that administers 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 sweetheart. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas had its own set of discriminatory Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service tasks-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's casinos and hotels.

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