Las Vegas Monorail Actually Opens; Other Notes
When Will Palazzo Open?
UPDATED: 10:03 am EDT July 19,
2004
The Las Vegas Monorail is officially up and running. After a big splashy party on July 14 with celebrities, politicians and the requisite showgirls, the monorail began shuttling regular folk on July 15.The completely automated system whisks riders from the MGM Grand at the south end to the Sahara at the north in about 15 minutes for a $3 fare. Along the way, there are stops at Bally's and Paris, the Flamingo, Imperial Palace and Harrah's, the Convention Center, and the Las Vegas Hilton.The monorail will operate from 8 a.m. until midnight every day for a few months, but hours will eventually be expanded to 6 a.m. until 2 a.m. daily. You can get more information on ticket prices, see pictures and more at the official Web site, LVMonorail.com.
A suspicious device under a magazine rack brought about a closure of the Strip on July 13 for nearly two hours as a bomb squad investigated.The object, which was said to have antennas sticking out of it, was found under the rack near the Stardust Casino on the northern end of the Strip. Police shut down the busy artery and closed sidewalks to pedestrian traffic while they investigated, but found it to be a harmless radio device that probably fell from a passing truck. None of the nearby casinos were evacuated and, as usual in Vegas, most people apparently didn't think twice about anything other than the slot machines in front of them while the drama was playing itself out nearby.
Steve Wynn isn't giving up on his golf course dreams. The casino impresario had offered $40 million to purchase the Las Vegas Country Club near his new Wynn Las Vegas resort. He apparently wants to use it to handle the overflow guests who can't fit on the spiffy new golf course being built at the $2 billion hotel.The problem is the country club members snubbed the deal, feeling the $50,000 per membership was too low. Mr. Wynn is not one to go quietly into the night, so now he has upped his offer to $52.5 million, or roughly $70,000 per membership.
Here is an update on a story I did awhile back about plans to purchase and rebuild the histori Moulin Rouge hotel and casino.The Las Vegas Review Journal reported it is not going to happen anytime soon. A group of investors had announced its intention to buy what was left of the property, site of the first racially integrated casino in Las Vegas, and refurbish the fire-damaged buildings at a cost of more than $200 million.Many months later, the deal has not closed escrow and the investors are stepping way back from that big-money pledge, saying now the rebuilding will occur in phases. The first phase will cost about $25 million to rebuild the main casino and remodel the existing hotel.I'd still love to see this happen, but I think the terrible neighborhood in which the casino is located -- along with the problems this group of investors is running into -- will probably mean the place will turn to dust before anyone has a chance to get it going again.
By now you may have heard about Palazzo, the new megaresort being planned as an expansion (of sorts) of The Venetian. Well, we now have an opening date (of sorts): early 2007.How's that for specific?Of course, when you're building a $1.6 billion, 3,000-suite hotel with a 105,000-square-foot casino and a 375,000-square-foot mall, coming up with an exact date and time three years in advance is probably not a realistic expectation.The new hotel was originally conceived as a second phase of the Venetian, but now will be attached but run as a stand-alone property much in the way Treasure Island was originally supposed to be part of the Mirage.No other specific details have been released about the project, but we do know that, at 52 stories, it will be the tallest occupied-room tower in Vegas, just beating the new Wynn Las Vegas next door by one or two floors.
A team headed by Patrice Calliot, executive pastry chef at the Ritz-Carlton at Lake Las Vegas, won the 2004 World Team Pastry Championship held July 7-8 in Vegas. The competition stretched over 13 hours and included three-person teams from 12 countries.Calliot and his team (Chris Hanmer and Claude Escamilla, of Bellagio) took the award and a $50,000 cash prize for the overall effort, but judges were especially wowed by the chocolate showpiece, which extended 5 feet in height and depicted a swordfish soaring out of shimmering blue ocean waters, a trail of crimson flames following in its wake. See if you can find that in the your grocery store's bakery.I've had the pastries at the Ritz and can tell you they're fall-on-the floor good. If you want to try them for yourself, you can find them at the Medici Terrace restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas.
A suspicious device under a magazine rack brought about a closure of the Strip on July 13 for nearly two hours as a bomb squad investigated.The object, which was said to have antennas sticking out of it, was found under the rack near the Stardust Casino on the northern end of the Strip. Police shut down the busy artery and closed sidewalks to pedestrian traffic while they investigated, but found it to be a harmless radio device that probably fell from a passing truck. None of the nearby casinos were evacuated and, as usual in Vegas, most people apparently didn't think twice about anything other than the slot machines in front of them while the drama was playing itself out nearby.
Steve Wynn isn't giving up on his golf course dreams. The casino impresario had offered $40 million to purchase the Las Vegas Country Club near his new Wynn Las Vegas resort. He apparently wants to use it to handle the overflow guests who can't fit on the spiffy new golf course being built at the $2 billion hotel.The problem is the country club members snubbed the deal, feeling the $50,000 per membership was too low. Mr. Wynn is not one to go quietly into the night, so now he has upped his offer to $52.5 million, or roughly $70,000 per membership.
Here is an update on a story I did awhile back about plans to purchase and rebuild the histori Moulin Rouge hotel and casino.The Las Vegas Review Journal reported it is not going to happen anytime soon. A group of investors had announced its intention to buy what was left of the property, site of the first racially integrated casino in Las Vegas, and refurbish the fire-damaged buildings at a cost of more than $200 million.Many months later, the deal has not closed escrow and the investors are stepping way back from that big-money pledge, saying now the rebuilding will occur in phases. The first phase will cost about $25 million to rebuild the main casino and remodel the existing hotel.I'd still love to see this happen, but I think the terrible neighborhood in which the casino is located -- along with the problems this group of investors is running into -- will probably mean the place will turn to dust before anyone has a chance to get it going again.
By now you may have heard about Palazzo, the new megaresort being planned as an expansion (of sorts) of The Venetian. Well, we now have an opening date (of sorts): early 2007.How's that for specific?Of course, when you're building a $1.6 billion, 3,000-suite hotel with a 105,000-square-foot casino and a 375,000-square-foot mall, coming up with an exact date and time three years in advance is probably not a realistic expectation.The new hotel was originally conceived as a second phase of the Venetian, but now will be attached but run as a stand-alone property much in the way Treasure Island was originally supposed to be part of the Mirage.No other specific details have been released about the project, but we do know that, at 52 stories, it will be the tallest occupied-room tower in Vegas, just beating the new Wynn Las Vegas next door by one or two floors.
A team headed by Patrice Calliot, executive pastry chef at the Ritz-Carlton at Lake Las Vegas, won the 2004 World Team Pastry Championship held July 7-8 in Vegas. The competition stretched over 13 hours and included three-person teams from 12 countries.Calliot and his team (Chris Hanmer and Claude Escamilla, of Bellagio) took the award and a $50,000 cash prize for the overall effort, but judges were especially wowed by the chocolate showpiece, which extended 5 feet in height and depicted a swordfish soaring out of shimmering blue ocean waters, a trail of crimson flames following in its wake. See if you can find that in the your grocery store's bakery.I've had the pastries at the Ritz and can tell you they're fall-on-the floor good. If you want to try them for yourself, you can find them at the Medici Terrace restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas.
The Full Story
- Another Megamerger Planned For Vegas Casinos Las Vegas Monorail Actually Opens; Other Notes Vegas Q&A: How Will Vegas Celebrate 100 Years?
In Next Week's Column
Next week: The latest from Las Vegas.Plus, don't forget to send your questions about Las Vegas. I've got room for more, so send them in today!Click here to go to the main page of Vegas4Visitors.com and see all of the fantastic resources Vegas4Visitors has to offer you when planning your next trip to Las Vegas.Rick Garman is the head writer for Vegas4Visitors
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