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

What happens in Vegas ... well, you know the rest. Here are 24 truths about Sin City you likely have not heard.

1. The majority of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically located in the city of Las Vegas. An excellent part of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the well known "Invite to Fabulous Las Vegas" indication-- are actually located in an unincorporated area called Paradise, Nevada.

2. One tourist attraction that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the oversized neon cowboy that presides over downtown's famous Fremont Street. It's the biggest mechanical neon indication in the world.

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

4. ... So it's an advantage the town boasts 14 of the world's 20 most significant hotels.

5. There's a lot property for travelers to take advantage of, it would take a person 288 years to spend a night in every hotel room 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 locals.

7. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Gambling establishment got its name from creator-- and legendary mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's girlfriend. Starlet Virginia Hill passed the nickname "The Flamingo" due to the fact that 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 out of the growing city's gambling establishments and hotels. Even famous performers like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole were forced to go into and leave the places where 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 & Casino. Afterwards, the manager had it drained.

9. In May 1955, the Moulin Rouge made history when it became the city's first interracial casino. Legendary boxer Joe Louis, a part owner, declared, "This isn't the opening of a Las Vegas hotel. It's history."

10. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Las Vegas was known for putting on a different type of show. At the Nevada Test Site, just 65 miles northwest of the city, the U.S. Department of Energy would test nuclear devices. Las Vegas' Chamber of Commerce saw a moneymaking opportunity, and decided to distribute calendars promoting detonation times and choice viewing places.

Famous recluse Howard Hughes examined into the strip's Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Day 1966, leasing the whole leading 2 floorings. When he overstayed his 10-day booking, he was asked to leave.

12. FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith saved the delivery company 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 offered the business enough loan to remain afloat.

13. Do not disrupt: Vegas has more unlisted telephone number than any other city in the United States.

14. Need to hope? Nevada law states that video fruit machine must pay back a minimum of 75 percent of the cash transferred typically. (Though it's worth noting that in New Jersey, the home of gambling capital Atlantic City, it's 83 percent.).

15. It takes approximately 10 minutes to catch a marriage license at the bureau in downtown Las Vegas, which is open every day from 8 a.m. up until midnight. No wonder some 10,000 couples wed in the city each month.

16. Let them eat ... shrimp mixed drinks? More than 60,000 pounds of the shellfish are consumed in the city every day. That's higher than the rest of the country-- combined.

17. The half-scale model of the Eiffel Tower, located outside Paris Las Vegas, was initially planned to be full-size, but due to las vegas nevada the close distance of the airport-- just three miles-- it had to be diminished down. On the other hand, the Luxor Las Vegas' Sphinx is really larger than the original Great 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 spaces at Bellagio Las Vegas-- more than the variety of citizens in the city of Bellagio, Italy.

21. Not into casinos? The city also includes a heavy devices play area where building enthusiasts can drive around bulldozers for fun.

22. Prior to his death in 2009, Michael Jackson was checking out doing a Vegas residency. He planned to advertise it with a 50-foot robot-likeness of himself that would stroll the Nevada desert.

At Vegas diner Heart Attack Grill, waitresses gown in nurses attire and clients can purchase an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass burger with a side of flatliner french fries. In 2013, one of the spot's routine customers passed away ... from an apparent heart attack.

24. From external area, the Las Vegas Strip appears as the brightest area on Earth. Who cares if it's not really in Las Vegas?


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

One tourist attraction that is within Las Vegas city limits: Vegas Vic, the extra-large neon cowboy that presides over downtown's renowned Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Gambling establishment got its name from founder-- and famous mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's girlfriend. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas had its own set of prejudiced Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service jobs-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's hotels and gambling establishments.

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