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

Exactly what occurs in Vegas ... well, you understand the rest. Here are 24 truths about Sin City you likely have not heard.

1. The majority of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically situated in the city of Las Vegas. An excellent portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the well known "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" indication-- are in fact located in an unincorporated town called Paradise, Nevada.

2. One tourist attraction that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the extra-large neon cowboy that presides over downtown's well known 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 a good idea the town boasts 14 of the world's 20 biggest hotels.

5. There's so much realty for travelers to take benefit 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 beneath the city. Miles of tunnels-- initially constructed 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 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. 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 became the city's very first interracial gambling establishment. Famous fighter Joe Louis, a part owner, stated, "This isn't the opening of a Las Vegas hotel. It's history."

10. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Las Vegas was understood for placing on a different type of show. At the Nevada Test Site, simply 65 miles northwest of the city, the United States Department of Energy would check nuclear gadgets. Las Vegas' Chamber of Commerce saw a moneymaking chance, and decided to distribute calendars advertising detonation times and choice viewing places.

Legendary recluse Howard Hughes checked into the strip's Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Day 1966, renting the entire top two floors. When he overstayed his 10-day booking, he was asked to leave.

12. FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith saved the delivery business with a journey to Vegas. In 1974-- 3 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 survive.

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

14. Reason to hope? Nevada law specifies that video fruit machine should pay back a minimum of 75 percent of the cash deposited typically. (Though it's worth noting that in New Jersey, home to gambling mecca Atlantic City, it's 83 percent.).

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

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

17. The half-scale design of the Eiffel Tower, situated outside Paris Las Vegas, was initially prepared to be full-size, however due to the close distance of the airport-- simply three miles-- it had to be shrunk down. In contrast, the Luxor Las Vegas' Sphinx is actually larger than the original Great Sphinx of Giza.

18. At 50 tons, the bronze lion outside the MGM Grand Hotel is believed to be the largest 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 spaces at Bellagio Las Vegas-- more than the variety of homeowners in the city of Bellagio, Italy.

21. Not into gambling establishments? The city likewise includes a heavy devices play area where building lovers can drive around bulldozers for fun.

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

23. At Vegas diner Heart Attack Grill, waitresses gown in nurses clothes and clients can buy an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass hamburger with a side of flatliner french fries. (Fried in pure lard!) In 2013, one of the area's regular patrons passed away ... from an apparent heart attack.

24. From external area, 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. An excellent part of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the famous "Invite to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign-- are actually located in an unincorporated township called Paradise, Nevada.

One destination that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the large neon cowboy that presides over downtown's well known Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got its name from founder-- and legendary mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's sweetheart. 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 casinos.

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