24 Things You Must Understand About Las Vegas and the Nearby Strip

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

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

2. One attraction that is within Las Vegas city limits: Vegas Vic, the large neon cowboy that commands downtown's famed Fremont Street. It's the largest mechanical neon check in the world.

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

4. ... So it's a great thing the town boasts 14 of the world's 20 greatest hotels.

5. There's a lot real estate for tourists to benefit from, it would take an individual 288 years to invest a night in every hotel room in the city.

6. There's a secret city underneath the city. Miles of tunnels-- originally developed to secure the desert town from flash floods-- house hundreds of homeless citizens.

7. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Gambling establishment got its name from creator-- and legendary mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's girlfriend. Actress Virginia Hill passed the label "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 discriminatory Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service jobs-- kept African Americans from the growing city's hotels and gambling establishments. Even legendary performers like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole were forced to go into and leave the places where they were carrying out through back doors and side entranceways. In 1952, acting legend Sammy Davis Jr. swam in the whites-only swimming pool at the New Frontier Hotel & Casino. Afterwards, the supervisor had it drained pipes.

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.

10. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Las Vegas was known 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 test nuclear devices. Las Vegas' Chamber of Commerce saw a moneymaking chance, and chose to disperse calendars marketing detonation times and option watching locations.

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

12. FedEx creator Frederick W. Smith conserved the shipment company with a trip to Vegas. In 1974-- three years after he created the company-- the Yale grad check this blog took the venture's last $5,000 and turned it into $32,000 with a weekend of blackjack. His, er, gamble gave the company enough cash to survive.

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

14. Need to hope? Nevada law states that video slot machines must pay back a minimum of 75 percent of the money deposited on average. (Though it's worth noting that in New Jersey, home to 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. No marvel some 10,000 couples wed in the city every month.

More than 60,000 pounds of the shellfish are consumed in the city each day. That's greater than the rest of the nation-- integrated.

17. The half-scale design of the Eiffel Tower, situated outside Paris Las Vegas, was initially planned to be full-size, but due to the close proximity of the airport-- just three miles-- it needed 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 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 gambling establishments? The city likewise includes a heavy devices play ground where building and construction lovers can drive around bulldozers for enjoyable.

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

At Vegas diner Heart Attack Grill, waitresses dress in nurses garb and patrons can buy an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass hamburger with a side of flatliner french fries. In 2013, one of the area's routine customers passed away ... from an apparent heart attack.

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


Many of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically located in the city of Las Vegas. A good portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the famed "Invite to Fabulous Las Vegas" indication-- are really situated 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 renowned Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Gambling establishment got its name from creator-- and famous mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's sweetheart. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas possessed 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 gambling establishments and hotels.

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