Lee, You got me started!

Crazy Las Vegas Memories that Stuck Throughout the Years

These are the main Las Vegas memories that I can talk about in public since the early 1960's ....... Some may be memories of your own -

1. The crazy route from Santa Monica through every pea-picken town in Southern California, crossing evey railroad track ever built on the west coast and complete and total isolation once you passed Pasadena.
2. The drive over the Mojave Desert and the sight of the isolated shacks constructed by the two legged, desert rats with the expectations of receiving a free plot of land from the State of California.
3. Foster Freeze somewhere out the in the God-forsaken desert.
4. The first sight of the Califronia/Nevada border from ten miles up on the hjill identified by the blinking indoor light-bulbs hanging over Whiskey Pete's little bar on the right hand side of the two lane road. (Not even a highway then and who in their right mind would stop in this area of total desolation?!)
5. The small, two lane road from the border leading into Las Vegas.
6. Russell Road - the entry to the Strip.
7. The Hacienda - (Complete isolation! Your first glimpse of civilization since you left Pasadena. A one-story oasis fighting a battle with the desert! But it had a swmming pool in the back. (I always put my money on the desert to win!)
8. Dried up, scrungy desert as far as the eye could see in every direction.
9. Hand drawn signs - "Roadside Frontage for Sale - Cheap!" (I forget the asking price but Strip frontage was darn inexpensive even for those days! $300 an acre if I recall correctly!)
10. The Flamingo - Nice colors in the desert and a fancy sign sitting amid a field of green, green grass.
11. A solitary car going in the opposite direction!
12. Later on - Caesars Palace - Lit in blue at twilight.
13. The valet service at Caesars - If your car was broke when you arrived, it was fixed when you departed! Absolutely unbelievable and unforgettable.
14. The Sands - And the Boyz who ran it from the front to the back. All I can say is "Thank You, Boyz! You made Las Vegas what it should be today!"
15. The greatest man I ever met in Las Vegas! He was the also the greatest man for many others. He listened to many problems and offered much advise and always made you feel like the King of the World. He was the lavatory attendant at the Sands, but he should have run the place.
16. Hikeing through the desert to go to the next door casino which was one mile down the road.
17. Takeing a breather out the casino back door and gazing upon the desert stars with nothing else in sight except the desert night and possibly a desert moon.
18. Sunday morning headlines - "Body Found in Shallow Desert Grave!"
19. The amazing first sight of curbs on the Las Vegas Strip! I eventually used them to walk a straight line. Frequently in fact.
20. The Greeters! I don't care who ya were or who ya were going to be, they were there to "meet ya and greet ya" and make sure ya had a great time while in their casino. What ever happened to those guys!?
21. The elderly gray haired ladies who smiled at me over the coffee shoppe counter morning, noon, and night. "How are you doing, honey!?" while pouring a steaming cup of coffee. I never even drank coffee, but that's how I got started. They were my "Desert Moms" and each and every one of them listened to many a sad tale. God Bless Moms Everywhere! Especially moms in Las Vegas casino coffeee shops.
22. Casino de Paree - What was the name of the show at the Stardust? How do you spell it? Was it Lido de Paree? No matter what the name, it was great! Horses running full gallop across the stage, a hypnotist makeing you as stiff as a board and jumping on your stomach, a magician doing what magicians do, a comic doing crazy comic stuff, someone singing their lungs out, a cascading waterfall, and then the monkeys came out and did their monkey act which brought down the house. It was a great show!
23. A young Don Rickles before he even heard of Frank Sinatra. Especially the ending when he explained what he did and why he did it.
24. Looking into the fancy restaurant at the Dunes. Too expensive for me back then but short looks were free and it looked like the diners were enjoying a meal under the ocean while a Mermaid played a golden harp in the center of a golden sea.
25. No trash shops on the Strip. Everything was brand new. Even the Casbah Hotel/Motel - spic and span and sparkling new with very fancy carpeting.
26. The memory that you could only stay in one hotel for a three day stay. If you wern't broke by then, you wern't a gambling customer - I guess! So you had to leave to make room for the other gambling custonmers.
27. Unable to find Las Vegas Blvd on windy days! The desert would drift in and claim it as its own.
28. A miscalculated step into the Caesars Palace fountain on the way to the Flamingo Casino across the road. (Don't do that!)
29. A talk with the bartender/owner at the 10' X 10', 10 stool Maxum Bar and Casino. He had big plans to make it big off the Strip.
30. Dinner at Rudy's Hole in the Wall long after it was popular to go to Rudy's Hole in the Wall.

Many more, but I got a headache.

[This message has been edited by will800 (edited September 14, 1999).]

[This message has been edited by will800 (edited September 15, 1999).]

Will800,
Great list, but all these are mostly befor my time. I was only out in LV one time during the 60's and I was a kid.
I do enjoy reading your post though.
BTW. what's the 800 for in your nick?
The only thing I can think of is the beer "old English 800" and it's a pretty bad beer at that! LOL



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Lee-PA
Moderator, What's New Forum
lee@talkvegas.com

Lee, Thanks! Will800 was selected because I attempted to take Will"1" first and was told that that screen-name was not available, so I continued on through Will"2", and will"3", and will"4" till I reached a very high number with the same results .... so I just jumped in and added the 800 after my name and sure enough, it was available.

I fugure that the #800 represents a free telephone call and "will" is the a form of the name of the killer whale in the movies, so "Free Willy" would be easy to remember!

Doesn't make much sense, but that is the way I think!

Thanks for asking!

LOL,
Thanks for the explanation!
I didn't think we had that many Wills here?
Or was this on another BB, and you just stuck with that nick? I mean as of today we are up to 132 members only. <S>
Thanks for posting!
Lee-PA