Page 124 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Southwest USA & National Parks

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f Mob Museum The International Wildlife gallery
showcases mammals’ ability to
300 Stewart Ave. Tel (702) 229-2734.
Open 9am–9pm daily. Closed adapt and survive. Animatronic
Thanksgiving, Dec 25. & 7 dinosaurs include a 35-ft-
∑ themobmuseum.org (11-m-) long Tyrannosaurus rex,
while the marine exhibit has live
Las Vegas these days is a sharks and eels. In the hands-on
far cry from the city of the discovery room visitors can
1950s and 1960s, when dig for fossils and explore the
many casino owners had five senses.
close links with organized
crime, and profits were k Old Las Vegas
regularly “skimmed” to line the
pockets of shady mobsters. Discovery Children’s Museum, located in Symphony Park Mormon State
That era is recalled at the Mob Historic Park
Evening light show at the Fremont Street Experience Museum, opened in 2012 as h Discovery banks, groceries, and a wind
the pet project of former mayor Children’s Museum turbine; and Toddler Town, a 500 East Washington Blvd. Tel (702)
d Fremont Street For many years the landmark Oscar Goodman, who as a glorified desert sandpit aimed 486-3511. Open 8am–4:30pm Tue–
Experience casino in Vegas was Binion’s lawyer himself defended many 360 Promenade Place. Tel (702) 382- at younger kids. Changing Sat. ∑ parks.nv.gov/parks/old-las-
Horseshoe, established by the Mob-associated figures. Three 5437. Open 9am–4pm Tue–Fri (Jun– exhibitions cover a range of vegas-mormon-fort
Light shows: hourly 6pm–midnight legendary Benny Binion, who is floors of displays tell the story Labor Day: 10am–5pm Mon–Fri), 10am– subjects from world cultures
daily. 7 ∑ vegasexperience.com said to have arrived in town in of the gory deeds and 5pm Sat, noon–5pm Sun. Closed Mon to art and wildlife. This diminutive soft-pink adobe
1946 wearing a ten-gallon hat flamboyant lifestyles of the (early Sep–late May) (except school building is the oldest in Las
holidays), Easter, Jan 1, Thanksgiving,
Long known as “Glitter Gulch,” and carrying a suitcase filled city’s gangsters, and of the Dec 25. & 7 ∑ discoverykidslv.org Vegas and all that remains of
Fremont Street has been at the with $2 million in cash. Binion’s, dedicated lawmen and j The Las Vegas a fort built by Mormon settlers –
heart of Downtown Las Vegas as the casino is now known, is politicians who eventually Relocated in 2013 to Symphony Natural History the first non-Natives who arrived
since the city was founded in famous for its poker heritage – brought them to justice. Park, on the western edge Museum in the area – in 1855. The fort,
1905. This is where the first the World Series of Poker started of Downtown, this excellent built on the banks of Las Vegas
casinos were located, complete here in 1970, and the Binion‘s Hall museum remains devoted to 900 Las Vegas Blvd. N. Tel (702) Creek, was arranged around a
with stylish neon signs, and of Fame Poker Room is lined with g Neon Museum interactive exhibits that are fun 384-3466. Open 9am–4pm daily. 150-ft- (46-m-) long, rectangular
famous illuminated icons such photos of historic poker games 770 Las Vegas Blvd. N. Tel (702) 387- for both adults and children. Closed Jan 1, Thanksgiving, Dec 24 & placita (small plaza) with 14-ft-
as Vegas Vic and Vickie lit up the and respected players. Visitors 6366. Open daily; times vary, so call It centers on a 12-level tower 25. & 7 ∑ lvnhm.org (4-m-) high walls, but the
night sky. However, as the Strip can pose for photos alongside a ahead or check the website for details. known as the Summit, where settlers abandoned it three years
boomed during the 1980s and stack of $1 million in banknotes. Closed Jan 1, Jul 4, Thanksgiving, visitors can experiment with A popular choice with the later. It became part of a ranch
early 1990s, Fremont Street The dazzling Golden Nugget, Dec 25. & 7 8 obligatory, book exhibits that show the families who need a break from in the 1880s and was run by Las
became ever more run-down. was where entrepreneur Steve ahead online. ∑ neonmuseum.org connections between the Strip resorts, this museum Vegas pioneer Helen Stewart
The spectacular Fremont Wynn made his reputation in the scientific concepts and real-life has an appealing range of (see p100). The City of Las Vegas
Street Experience, an ambitious 1970s. Its eponymous golden This museum is dedicated to applications. Other displays exhibits. Dioramas re-create the bought the site in 1971.
$70-million project to revitalize nugget is the world’s largest, the iconic glowing neon signs include a laboratory for young African savannah and display a Today, the Visitor Center is a
the area, was unveiled in 1994. weighing an incredible 61 lbs 11 that once dominated Las Vegas, inventors; a water tank variety of wildlife from leopards reconstruction of the original
A vast steel canopy was erected oz (28 kg). The nearby El Cortez, before the mega-resorts switched designed to replicate and and cheetahs to several African adobe house with its simply
over the central stretch of with its Mexican styling, is one of to LED lighting. The history of explain the Hoover Dam antelope species such furnished interior much as it
downtown, rising 90 ft (27 m) the few casinos to retain features neon signs stretches back to and Lake Mead; as nyalas, bush would have been when the
above a 1,500-ft- (457-m-) long from its original 1950s building. 1910, when French inventor the Eco City, a boks, and Mormon settlers lived here.
five-block section of Fremont The Four Queens was built in Georges Claude discovered that child-sized town duikers. The building also contains an
Street. After sunset every night, 1966, and its casino‘s gilt mirrors when an electric current passed laid out along exhibition that describes the
on the hour, sound and light and chande liers evoke through a glass tube of neon a boulevard Mormon missions and their
shows are projected onto the 19th-century New Orleans. gas, it emitted a powerful, complete with impact on Las Vegas.
canopy, using over 12 million shimmering light. In the 1940s
synchronized LED modules, Binion’s and 1950s, the craft of neon sign-
and backed by a sound system 128 E. Fremont St. Tel (702) 382-1600. making was elevated to the
comprised of 208 speakers. Open 24 hours. 7 ∑ binions.com status of an art form in Las Vegas.
Fremont Street is pedestrianized, Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino The museum site includes a
so visitors can easily stroll from 129 E. Fremont St. (see p238). visitor center, gallery, and the
casino to casino, stopping to Tel (702) 385-7111. Open 24 hours. outdoor Neon Boneyard, where
snack and shop at stalls along the 7 ∑ goldennugget.com visitors can take a guided tour
way. Some of the famous 1950s of more than 200 retired signs,
and 1960s neon signs have El Cortez including those from the
600 E. Fremont St. (see p238). Tel (702)
gone, but many of the dazzling 385-5200. Open 24 hours. 7 Stardust, Moulin Rouge, and
old façades remain. One way to ∑ elcortezhotelcasino.com Flamingo casinos. It also traces
see them, if you have the nerve, changes and trends in sign
is from the Slotzilla zipline, a Four Queens design and technology
thrill ride that allows visitors to 202 E. Fremont St. Tel (702) 385-4011. through pieces ranging from
fly the full length of the street. Open 24 hrs. 7 ∑ fourqueens.com the 1930s to the present day. An animatronic Tyrannosaurus rex in roaring form at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
For hotels and restaurants see pp238–40 and pp251–4

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