What happens in Vegas ... well, you know the rest. Here are 24 truths about Sin City you likely have not heard.
1. Many 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 presides over downtown's famous Fremont Street. It's the biggest mechanical neon check 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 most significant hotels.
5. There's a lot genuine estate for travelers to make the most of, it would take a person 288 years to spend a night in every hotel space in the city.
6. There's a secret city below the city. Miles of tunnels-- initially built to safeguard the desert town from flash floods-- home numerous homeless homeowners.
7. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got its name from founder-- and legendary mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's sweetheart. Starlet Virginia Hill passed the label "The Flamingo" because of her red hair and long, thin legs.
8. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas possessed its own set of prejudiced Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service tasks-- kept African Americans from the growing city's casinos and hotels. Even legendary performers like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole were forced to go into and leave the places where they were performing through back doors and side entryways. In 1952, acting legend Sammy Davis Jr. took a dip in the whites-only pool at the New Frontier Hotel & Gambling Establishment. Later on, the supervisor had it drained.
9. In May 1955, the Moulin Rouge made history when it became the city's 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, 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 advertising detonation times and choice viewing locations.
11. Famous recluse Howard Hughes examined into the strip's Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Day 1966, leasing the entire top two floors. He was asked to leave when he overstayed his 10-day booking. Instead, he started settlements to purchase the 715-room area. His purchase was total 3 months later on.
12. FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith conserved the shipment business with a journey to Vegas. In 1974-- 3 years after he developed 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 than any other city in the United States.
14. Reason to hope? Nevada law mentions that video fruit machine 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 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 consume ... shrimp mixed drinks? More than 60,000 pounds of the shellfish are consumed in the city every day. That's greater 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 3 miles-- it had actually to be diminished down. On the other hand, the Luxor Las Vegas' Sphinx is really bigger than the original Fantastic Sphinx of Giza.
18. At 50 loads, 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 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 fun.
22. Before his death in 2009, Michael Jackson was looking into doing a Vegas residency. He planned to market it with a 50-foot robot-likeness of himself that would stroll the Nevada desert.
At Vegas diner Heart Attack Grill, waitresses dress in nurses garb and clients can buy an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass hamburger with a side of flatliner french fries. In 2013, one of the spot's regular patrons passed away ... from an apparent heart attack.
24. From deep space, the Las Vegas Strip appears as the brightest spot on Earth. Who cares if it's not actually in Las Vegas?
Many of Vegas' renowned hotels aren't technically situated in the city of Las Vegas. A great portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the well known "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign-- are in fact situated in an unincorporated municipality called Paradise, Nevada.
One a fantastic read tourist attraction that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the large neon cowboy that presides over downtown's famed Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got its name from creator-- and famous mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's sweetheart. 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 gambling establishments and hotels.