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The
Las Vegas Strip (also known as The Strip and to local residents
as The Boulevard) is 4 mi (6.7 km) of Las Vegas Boulevard
South and has been designated an All-American Road. Only part
of The Strip is located within the city limits of Las Vegas,
Nevada: the section north of Sahara Ave. The section south
of Sahara Ave. is in Clark County's unincorporated Township
of Paradise, NV. However, The Strip is often what people mean
when they say they are going to Las Vegas.
Many of the largest hotel, casino and resort properties in
the world are located on The Strip. Over the years, Las Vegas
Boulevard South has been called Arrowhead Highway, "Salt
Lake Highway", U.S. Highway 91, and "Los Angeles
Highway". The Strip was reportedly named by police officer
Guy McAfee, after his hometown's Sunset Strip, in Los Angeles.
The Strip runs from the Stratosphere at the northern end to
Mandalay Bay on the southern end. Of the 4 miles, nearly 3.5
miles of it is located in the township of Paradise, Clark
County. Depending on the definition, very little to none of
it is within the Las Vegas city limits. McCarran Airport (LAS)
is located at the southern end of The Strip, along with the
famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, which also appears
in the median of Las Vegas Boulevard at the north end near
the intersection of E. St. Louis and S. Main Street. The "South
Strip" is used to describe the section of Las Vegas Boulevard
between Sunset Road or Blue Diamond Road and St. Rose Parkway.
The first casino to be built on Highway 91 was the Pair-o-Dice
Club in 1931; the first on what is today's Strip was the El
Rancho Vegas, opening on April 3, 1941 with 63 rooms and standing
for almost 20 years before being destroyed by fire in 1960.
Its success spawned a second hotel on what would become The
Strip, the Hotel Last Frontier, in 1942. The Flamingo opened
a few years later, on December 26, 1946.
In
1968, Kirk Kerkorian purchased the Flamingo and hired Sahara
Hotels Vice President Alex Shoofey as President. Alex Shoofey
brought along 33 of Sahara's top executives. The Flamingo
was used to train future employees of the International Hotel,
which was under construction. Opening in 1969, the International
Hotel with 1,512 rooms, would become the largest hotel in
the world, and begin the era of mega-resorts. The International
is known as the Las Vegas Hilton today.
The
first MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, also a Kerkorian property,
opened in 1973 with 2,084 rooms. At the time, this was the
largest hotel in the world by number of rooms. On November
21, 1980, the MGM Grand suffered the worst resort fire in
the history of Las Vegas, killing 87 people as a result of
electrical problems. It reopened eight months later. In 1986,
Kerkorian sold the MGM Grand to Bally Manufacturing and it
was renamed Bally's.
Las Vegas Strip at night with the Aladdin and Paris hotelsThe
opening of The Mirage in 1989 set a new level to the Las Vegas
experience, as smaller hotels and casinos made way for the
larger mega-resorts. These huge facilities offer entertainment
and dining options, as well as gambling and lodging. This
change impacted the smaller, well-known and now historic hotels
and casinos, like The Dunes and The Sands.
In
1995, following the death of Dean Martin, the lights along
the strip were dimmed in a sign of respect to him. In 2005,
Las Vegas renamed Industrial Road "Dean Martin Drive",
also as a tribute to the famous Rat Pack singer, actor, and
frequent Las Vegas entertainer.
In
an effort to attract families, resorts offered more attractions
geared toward youth, but had limited success. The (current)
MGM Grand opened in 1993 with Grand Adventures amusement park,
but it closed in 2000 due to lack of interest. Similarly,
in 2003 Treasure Island closed its own video arcade and abandoned
the previous pirate theme, adopting the new ti name.
View of the Strip, looking north from the Tropicana intersectionDowntown
Las Vegas hotels and casinos suffered heavily from the Strip's
boom. They have funneled money into remodeling the facades
of casinos, adding additional security and new attractions,
like the Fremont Street Experience and Neonopolis (complete
with movie theaters).
In
addition to the large hotels, casinos and resorts, The Strip
is home to a few smaller casinos, motels, and other attractions,
such as M&M World, Adventuredome and the Fashion Show
Mall. Starting in the mid 1990s, The Strip became a popular
New Year's Eve celebration destination. Wet 'n Wild water
park, located next to the Sahara hotel, closed permanently
at the end of the 2004 season.
In
2004, MGM Mirage announced plans for Project City Center,
a 66 acre (600,000 m²), $7 billion multi-use project
on the site of the Boardwalk hotel and adjoining land. It
will consist of hotel, casino, condo, retail and other uses
on the site. When completed, City Center will be the largest
such complex on Earth. Construction began in April of 2006,
and the first elements of this project are expected to be
available in 2009.
In
December 2006, it was announced that a 1888 foot high-rise
hotel and condominium would be built on the Las Vegas Strip
on the former Wet 'n Wild site. The building is seeking FAA
approval, and if built, the tower would be the tallest building
in the United States.
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