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

Exactly what occurs in Vegas ... well, you understand the rest. However here are 24 facts about Sin City you likely haven't heard.

1. Many of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically located in the city of Las Vegas. An excellent part of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the famed "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" indication-- are in fact located 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 largest mechanical neon indication in the world.

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

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

5. There's so much property for travelers to benefit from, 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 built to protect the desert town from flash floods-- house numerous homeless homeowners.

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

In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas had 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 hotels and casinos. In 1952, acting legend Sammy Davis Jr. took a dip in the whites-only swimming pool at the New Frontier Hotel & Casino.

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

10. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Las Vegas was understood for putting on a different kind of program. At the Nevada Test Site, just 65 miles northwest of the city, the U.S. Department of Energy would evaluate nuclear devices. Las Vegas' Chamber of Commerce saw a moneymaking opportunity, and chose to disperse calendars promoting detonation times and option viewing places.

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.

12. FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith saved the delivery company with a trip to Vegas. In 1974-- three years after he produced 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 offered the business enough loan to remain afloat.

13. Do not disturb: Vegas has more unlisted phone numbers than any other city in the United States.

14. Need to hope? Nevada law states that video slots need to repay a minimum of 75 percent of the loan transferred typically. (Though it's worth noting that in New Jersey, the home of gambling mecca 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 monthly.

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

17. The half-scale design of the Eiffel Tower, located outside Paris Las Vegas, was originally planned to be full-size, but due to the close distance of the airport-- simply 3 miles-- it needed to be shrunk down. On the other hand, the Luxor Las Vegas' Sphinx is in fact bigger than the original Terrific Sphinx of Giza.

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

19. The distinctive 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 likewise includes a heavy equipment playground where building and construction lovers can drive around bulldozers for fun.

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

23. At Vegas restaurant Cardiovascular disease Grill, waitresses dress in nurses garb and patrons can buy an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass hamburger with a side of flatliner fries. (Fried in pure lard!) Unfortunately, in 2013, one of the spot's routine clients died ... from an evident cardiac arrest.

24. From deep space, the Las Vegas Strip looks like the brightest area on Earth. Who cares if it's not really in Las Vegas?


Most of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically located in the city of Las Vegas. A good portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the renowned "Invite to Fabulous Las Vegas" indication-- are really located in an unincorporated town called Paradise, Nevada.

One attraction that is within Las Vegas city limits: Vegas Vic, the oversized neon cowboy that administers over downtown's famous Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Gambling establishment got its name from founder-- 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 casinos and hotels.

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