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

Exactly what occurs in Vegas ... well, you understand the rest. However here are 24 facts about Sin City you likely haven't heard.

1. The majority of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically located in the city of Las Vegas. A great part of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the famed "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign-- are in fact situated in an unincorporated township called Paradise, Nevada.

2. One tourist attraction that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the extra-large neon cowboy that commands downtown's famed Fremont Street. It's the largest 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 greatest hotels.

5. There's so much property for tourists to take benefit of, it would take an individual 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 protect the desert town from flash floods-- house numerous homeless homeowners.

7. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino 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 possessed its own set of discriminatory Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service jobs-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's hotels and casinos. In 1952, acting legend Sammy Davis Jr. took a dip in the whites-only swimming pool at the New Frontier Hotel & Gambling Establishment.

In May 1955, the Moulin Rouge made history when it ended up being the city's very first interracial gambling establishment. Famous boxer Joe Louis, a part owner, declared, "This isn't the opening of a Las Vegas hotel.

10. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Las Vegas was known for placing on a various type of show. At the Nevada Test Site, just 65 miles northwest of the city, the U.S. Department of Energy would evaluate nuclear gadgets. Las Vegas' Chamber of Commerce saw a moneymaking chance, and chose to disperse calendars marketing detonation times and choice viewing locations.

11. Legendary recluse Howard Hughes explored the strip's Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Day 1966, renting the entire leading two floors. When he overstayed his 10-day reservation, he was asked to leave. Instead, he started settlements to purchase the 715-room area. His purchase was total 3 months later on.

12. FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith saved the delivery company with a trip to Vegas. In 1974-- three years after he produced the company-- the Yale graduate took the endeavor's last $5,000 and turned it into $32,000 with a weekend of blackjack. His, er, gamble provided the business enough money to stay afloat.

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

14. Reason to hope? Nevada law specifies that video slots should pay back a minimum of 75 percent of the cash transferred typically. (Though it deserves keeping in mind that in New Jersey, the home of betting capital Atlantic City, it's 83 percent.).

15. It takes roughly 10 minutes to snatch 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 every month.

16. Let them consume ... shrimp mixed drinks? More than 60,000 pounds of the shellfish are consumed in the city each day. That's greater than the remainder of the nation-- combined.

17. The half-scale design of the Eiffel Tower, located outside Paris Las Vegas, was originally planned to be full-size, however due to the close distance of the airport-- simply three miles-- it had to be shrunk down. On the other hand, the Luxor Las Vegas' Sphinx is really larger than the original Fantastic 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 unique gold color of the windows at the Mirage Hotel comes from real gold dust.

20. There are 3933 guest spaces at Bellagio Las Vegas-- more than the variety of citizens in the city of Source Bellagio, Italy.

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

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

23. At Vegas restaurant Cardiovascular disease Grill, waitresses dress in nurses garb and patrons can buy an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass hamburger with a side of flatliner fries. (Fried in pure lard!) Unfortunately, in 2013, among the area's regular patrons died ... from an evident cardiac arrest.

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


Many of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically located in the city of Las Vegas. A good part of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the well known "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 oversized neon cowboy that administers over downtown's famous Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got its name from creator-- and legendary mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's girlfriend. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas had its own set of discriminatory Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service tasks-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's hotels and casinos.

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