This article is about The Las Vegas Strip area in the state of Nevada. For other uses, see Las Vegas (disambiguation).

The south end of The Strip. Approximately one third of the entire Strip is represented here.

The Las Vegas Strip (also known as The Strip) is 4 mi (6.7 km) of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.. Many of the largest hotel, casino and resort properties in the world are located on The Strip. Over the years, Las Vegas Boulevard South has been called Arrowhead Highway, Salt Lake Highway, U.S. Highway 91, and Los Angeles Highway. The Strip was reportedly named by police officer Guy McAfee, after his hometown's Sunset Strip.

The Strip runs from the Stratosphere at the northern end, to the Mandalay Bay on the southern end. Of the 4 miles, nearly 3.5 miles of it is located in the township of Paradise, Clark County, only a small portion is within the city limits of Las Vegas. McCarran Airport is located at the southern end of The Strip, along with the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign.

In addition to the large hotels, casinos and resorts, The Strip is home to a few smaller casinos, motels, and other attractions, such as M&M World , Adventure Dome and the Fashion Show Mall. Starting in the mid 1990s, The Strip became a popular New Year's Eve celebration destination.

History

The first hotel to be built on what is today's Strip was the El Rancho Vegas, opening on April 3, 1941 and stood for almost 20 years before being destroyed by fire in 1960.

In 1968, Kirk Kerkorian purchased the Flamingo and hired Sahara Hotels Vice President Alex Shoofey as President. Alex Shoofey brought along 33 of Saharas top executives. The Flamingo was used to train future employees of the International Hotel , which was under construction. Opening in 1969, the International Hotel with 1,512 rooms, would become the laragest hotel in the world, and begin the era of mega-resorts. The International is known as the Las Vegas Hilton today.

July 5, 1973 adds a new resort to The Strip. The (original) MGM Grand, also a Kerkorian property, opened with 2,084 rooms. Again ranking as the number one hotel in the world by number of rooms at that time. On November 21, 1980, the MGM Grand suffers the worst resort fire in the history of Las Vegas. Killing 87 people (84 in the fire and three more due to injuries) as a result of electriclal problems. It reopened eight months later.

In 1986, Kerkorian sold the MGM Grand to Bally Manufacturing and it was renamed Bally's.

The opening of The Mirage in 1989, set a new level to the Las Vegas expierence, as smaller hotels and casinos made way for the larger mega-resorts. These huge facilities offer entertainment and dining options, as well as gambling and lodging. This change impacted the smaller, well known and now historic hotels and casinos, like The Dunes and The Sands.

In an effort to attract families, resorts offered more attractions geared toward youth, but had limited success. The (current) MGM Grand opened in 1993 with Grand Adventures amusement park, but it closed in 2000 due to lack of interest. Similarly, in 2003 Treasure Island closed its own video arcade and abandoned the previous pirate theme and adopting the new ti name.

Downtown Las Vegas hotels and casinos suffered heavily from the Strips boom. They have funneled money into remodeling the facades of casinos, adding additional security and added new attractions, like the Fremont Street Experience and Neonopolis (Complete with movie theaters).

Wet and Wild water park, located next to the Sahara hotel, closed permanently at the end of the 2004 season.

Getting around

While not on The Strip itself, the Las Vegas Monorail runs on the east side of The Strip from Tropicana Avenue to Sahara Road.

The Regional Transit Commision (RTC) provides both a standard route (stops at each resort, 24 hours a day) and an express route (only stops 8-9 times total in 7 miles, 12 hours a day, 5 days a week) bus service on the Strip.

Two small light-rail services, referred to as trams, operate on the Strip. One runs between Treasure Island and The Mirage. The other provides service to Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and Excalibur.

It is a very popular activity for tourists to walk The Strip. The sidewalks are nearly always in use with visitors walking between resorts. The Tropicana - Las Vegas Boulevard intersection foot bridges, also found at additional intersections, displays what is being done to keep pedestrian and vehicular traffic from effecting each other. Based on the success, similar projects have been built further north on The Strip at Flamingo Road and Spring Mountain Road/Sands Avenue.

Golf courses

In recent years, all the on Strip golf courses, except the Desert Inn Golf Course, fell prey to the mega-resorts need for land and were closed. Steve Wynn, founder of previously owned Mirage Resorts, purchased the Desert Inn and golf course. Wynn Resorts is building Wynn Las Vegas, a hotel and casino, complete with remodeled golf course and will provide tee times to hotel guests only.

Major hotels, casinos and resorts on The Strip

Listed from north to south:

Major shopping attractions on The Strip

Previous Strip hotels

• Desert Inn (and golf course) - Demolished, rebuilding now as Wynn Las Vegas; opens April 28, 2005
• The Dunes (and golf course) - Demolished, rebuilt as Bellagio
• El Rancho - Demolished, now Condos
• Glass Pool Inn was called Mirage until 1988. The Mirage opened in 1989.
• Hacienda - Demolished, now Mandalay Bay
• Marina (hotel and casino) - Westward pointing tower (known as the Emerald Tower) of the MGM Grand
• The Sands - Demolished, now The Venetian
• Vegas World - Demolished and now the Stratosphere

External links

• Virtual Tours of the Las Vegas Strip and Hotels
• Maps: [1], [2]

Sources

• Yahoo! Maps listing distance from Stratosphere to Mandalay Bay.