Las Vegas, off the beaten Strip

The Las Vegas Neon Museum doesn’t announce itself with flashy lights; you have to find it in less obvious ways. Take a $20 dollar cab ride up to northern edge of Sin City, past the baking asphalt parking lots erupting with weeds and stout pawn shops eager with WE BUY GOLD placards, to the nondescript building the museum calls home. That’s when you’ll see it. Across the street, shimmering in the desert heat like a mirage: a gigantic, rusty-metal pool player. In one hand a cue, cocked, ready to fire, the player’s torso twisted in contrapposto like a billiard-playing colossus. Near this metallic giant lay dozens of gorgeously decorated neon signs – Stardust, Golden Nugget, Silver Slipper – artwork from a bygone era of Vegas history, out of sight and out of mind. Las Vegas is not a city that honors its past. Yet somehow fragments remain, ready to reveal their secrets to visitors who venture beyond the town’s glittering Strip.

Vegas is town forever stuck in the present; a city that appears to have neither a past nor a future: it simply is. It’s a fact borne out by the city’s relentless reinvention, renovation and recreation. On the famous “Strip,” outdated hotels are leveled to make way for the newest mega-resort. Even finding a clock inside a casino is a challenge. All of this suggests a town that ignores the passing of time in exchange for the pleasures of an ephemeral present. Except not all of the Old Vegas has disappeared; it’s simply been shoved to the margins. Venture ten minutes from ageless Las Vegas Boulevard and a different Vegas emerges; a destination of Atomic Era drinking dens, whimsical pinball parlors and a museum harboring a gallery of neon masterpieces.

If you’ve ever wondered what exists in Vegas beyond Roman Strip Malls and Eiffel Tower knock-offs, it’s time to dig beneath the surface. Let’s tour Las Vegas, off the beaten Strip. Keep reading below for more.A Neon Graveyard
If it’s possible for an Inert Gas to symbolize the magnificent highs and tumbling lows of Vegas history, then Neon is it. This strange element has been fueling the glowing signage of Las Vegas ever since mobster Bugsy Siegel dared to imagine this fantasy desert town as the world’s foremost gambling mecca. Though the casinos of Bugsy’s day long-ago met the wrecking ball, some of their signage lives on at the Neon Museum in northern Las Vegas.

For $15, visitors can explore “canyons” stacked with old Vegas neon signage, and imagine for a moment what once was: a place that hummed with a fiery visual energy, full of wildly exotic genie lamps, cocksure cowboys and colorful flamingos erupting like fireworks in the dark. It might not look like the Louvre or The Met, but this is one of the world’s great repositories of art, strokes of neon artistry left to rust and bake in the relentless desert sun.

Drinking in the Past
The Atomic Liquor Store is more than a bar: it’s a temple to long-lost Americana. Reportedly the “oldest bar” in Vegas, this drinking den got its name from the 1950’s nuclear tests that took place only 60 or so miles from its front door. Swanky Vegas cocktail lounge this is not. In addition to its location deep in the heart of seedy Fremont Street, visitors will need to be buzzed in the locked front doors.

But fear not, this historical oddity is worth the trip. From the minute you catch a glimpse of the sturdy decades-old neon sign out front, greeting you like an old friend, to the inflation-proof $1 cans of Busch Beer and molding pool tables, you’ll feel as though you’ve traveled back in time. The bar’s ramshackle decor, killer jukebox stocked with plenty of Springsteen and Mellencamp and a rotating cast of local Sin City characters is guaranteed to provide a memorable night out.

Playing for Keeps
Games are the de facto language of gambling. In Las Vegas, wherever you move you’re sure to encounter these games, the constant gaze of a slot machine or the hypnotic spinning eye of a roulette wheel beckoning you to try your luck. But a very different type of game competes for your attention at the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame. Except instead of one-armed bandits you’ll find 10,000 square feet of vintage pinball and arcade games from the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, waiting for you to give them a play.

Whether you’re a fan of Captain Fantastic or Guns ‘n Roses, Waterworld or Pac-man, there’s a childhood memory begging you to relive the past. Drop in a quarter, and a real-life time machine springs back to life. Bells clink. 8-bit explosions foam in your eardrums. A flickering orange glow of enjoyment fills your view. But too soon, your pinball disappears from view and the machine again falls silent; a teasing vision of a Vegas that once was, but is no more.

Last minute Vegas hotel deal – $55/night at MGM Grand with $40 in free bonus amenities

Looking for an affordable last minute trip? If Las Vegas is on your wish list, check out this hot deal from MGM Grand. Starting at just $55/night, you’ll get a grand tower room, free Wi-Fi, free gym access, free night club access and free local phone calls.

The savings on the room alone are about $30, but the bonus freebies add even more. Of course, you are on your own when it comes to finding cheap airfare to Vegas, but our friends at AOL Travel usually have some of the better deals on their site, so check them out!

To snag yourself a discounted room at the MGM Grand, you’ll need to go through this link, or you can call the hotel at 800.929.1111 mentioning promotion INB335. Whatever you do, don’t wait too long, because the deal is only valid until today, for reservations between February 22, 2010 – December 31, 2010. When on the booking page, click the “view available dates” button to get an overview of when the cheapest rooms are available.

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Daily Travel Deal – Las Vegas MGM Grand getting close to paying you to stay

This was bound to happen sooner or later – Hotels in Las Vegas are so desperate happy to have you come and stay with them, that the deals are better than ever.

Short of being comped, this deal at the MGM Grand is one of the hottest out there at the moment.

Starting at $48, you get a night at the hotel, $35 in dining and activity credits, a 2 for 1 spa pass, 2 VIP passes to Studio 54 or Tabú and $25 in free slot play.

If a standard room isn’t good enough, you can drop an extra $25 for a bungalow suite, or $30 for a celebrity spa suite (700 sq ft).

Seriously, this is indeed getting close to having the hotel pay you to come and stay with them. Of course, the hotel would prefer if you left them some extra cash on the gaming tables or at one of their other amenities

The fine print is simple – you can stay at this promotional rate between April 22nd 2009 and December 29th 2009, but you need to book before April 30th 2009. The $48 rate is only available on certain dates, but a quick peek at the availability calendar shows that most of the summer months have that rate. Some dates are very high, but on average, it won’t be hard to snag yourself a really good deal.

Still trying to plan your summer vacation? Check out these hot international travel deals!

Need a last minute break? Vegas awaits you on the cheap!

Is the cold weather already getting to you? How about a nice getaway to Vegas?

If you are able to find a decent airfare (good luck with that), then you can stay at the Monte Carlo starting at just $44. The deal even includes 2 buffet vouchers per night and $10 in slot play.

The $44 rate is of course only available on select dates, but when you check their availability overview, you’ll be able to find plenty of reasonably priced nights.

Of course, the period starting on January 7th goes way up, thanks to the International CES being held in Vegas that week.

Vegas has always had its fair share of good deals, but those often involve places off the strip, or places you could not be paid enough to stay at. Monte Carlo is a very nice property, and has enough on location to keep you entertained for the duration of your stay.

The deal can be found here, just click on “view available dates” to see when you’ll be able to snag one of the best prices.

Vegas Building Boom Means Cheap Rooms

Las Vegas is feeling the pinch of slumping travel numbers. The amount of visitors who enter Sin City has dropped by nearly 5%, but the construction of new hotels has led to an increase in rooms. Who to fill them?

Once they get over criticizing themselves for lacking foresight, hotel execs have to find a way to hawk all those empty beds.

The obvious strategy, at least for the short term, is to lower prices until they reach a point where visitors won’t mind shelling out a little extra for the flight because they are getting such a ridiculously cheap deal from the hotel.

How cheap is ridiculously cheap? According to MSNBC, over half the casino-owned hotels in the city are offering rates of $50 per night or below. Yes, that type of price is usually reserved for roadside motels where you can also choose to pay by the hour. Even high end, established names like Luxor and MGM Grand have rooms available for under $100 per night.

However, the famous ad campaign tag-line might be true of hotels as well. What happens in Vegas…isn’t happening elsewhere just yet. Rooms in Chicago, New York and other major metro areas are still at full price. International tourists, convention-goers, and business travelers make up the bulk of New York’s hotel customers. They have other bases to rely on as the number of US-based leisure travelers decline. That is not so in Las Vegas.

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