Las Vegas: The Rough Guide Read online

  LAS VEGAS

  THE ROUGH GUIDE

  by Greg Ward

  There are more than one hundred and fifty Rough Guide travel, phrasebook, and music titles, covering destinations from Amsterdam to Zimbabwe, languages from Czech to Vietnamese, and musics from Jazz to Opera and World

  Rough Guides on the Internet

  www.roughguides.com

  Rough Guide Credits

  Text editor: Andrew Rosenberg

  Series editor: Mark Ellingham

  Typesetting: Helen Ostick

  Cartography: Melissa Baker

  Publishing Information

  This first edition published March 2000 by Rough Guides Ltd, 62–70 Shorts Gardens, London, WC2H 9AB

  Distributed by the Penguin Group:

  Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ

  Penguin Books USA Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 487 Maroondah Highway, PO Box 257, Ringwood, Victoria 3134, Australia

  Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 1E4

  Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, 182–190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher except for the quotation of brief passages in reviews.

  © Greg Ward, 304pp, includes index

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 1-85828-931-9

  ebook produced by Texterity Inc. (www.texterity.com) using their TextCafe automated open ebook conversion service.

  The publishers and authors have done their best to ensure the accuracy and currency of all the information in The Rough Guide to Las Vegas; however, they can accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by any traveller as a result of information or advice contained in the guide.

  We set out to do something different when the first Rough Guide was published in 1982. Mark Ellingham, just out of university, was travelling in Greece. He brought along the popular guides of the day, but found they were all lacking in some way. They were either strong on ruins and museums but went on for pages without mentioning a beach or taverna. Or they were so conscious of the need to save money that they lost sight of Greece’s cultural and historical significance. Also, none of the books told him anything about Greece’s contemporary life – its politics, its culture, its people, and how they lived.

  So with no job in prospect, Mark decided to write his own guidebook, one which aimed to provide practical information that was second to none, detailing the best beaches and the hottest clubs and restaurants, while also giving hard-hitting accounts of every sight, both famous and obscure, and providing up-to-the-minute information on contemporary culture. It was a guide that encouraged independent travellers to find the best of Greece, and was a great success, getting shortlisted for the Thomas Cook travel guide award, and encouraging Mark, along with three friends, to expand the series.

  The Rough Guide list grew rapidly and the letters flooded in, indicating a much broader readership than had been anticipated, but one which uniformly appreciated the Rough Guide mix of practical detail and humour, irreverence and enthusiasm. Things haven’t changed. The same four friends who began the series are still the caretakers of the Rough Guide mission today: to provide the most reliable, up-to-date and entertaining information to independent-minded travellers of all ages, on all budgets.

  We now publish more than 150 titles and have offices in London and New York. The travel guides are written and researched by a dedicated team of more than 100 authors, based in Britain, Europe, the USA and Australia. We have also created a unique series of phrasebooks to accompany the travel series, along with an acclaimed series of music guides, and a best-selling pocket guide to the Internet and World Wide Web. We also publish comprehensive travel information on our Web site: www.roughguides.com

  Help Us Update

  We’ve gone to a lot of effort to ensure that this first edition of The Rough Guide to Las Vegas is as up to date and accurate as possible. However, if you feel there are places we’ve underrated or overpraised, or find we’ve missed something good or covered something which has now gone, then please write: suggestions, comments or corrections are much appreciated.

  We’ll credit all contributions, and send a copy of the next edition (or any other Rough Guide if you prefer) for the best letters. Please mark letters: “Rough Guide Las Vegas Update” and send to: Rough Guides, 62–70 Shorts Gardens, London, WC2H 9AB, or Rough Guides, 375 Hudson St, New York NY 10014. Or send email to: [email protected]. Online updates about this book can be found on Rough Guides’ Web site (see opposite).

  The Author

  Greg Ward has worked for Rough Guides since 1985, in which time he has also written Rough Guides to Southwest USA, Hawaii, Honolulu, Maui, the Big Island, Brittany and Normandy, and Essential Blues CDs, edited and co-written the Rough Guide to the USA, contributed to books on China, Mexico, California, France, Spain and Portugal, edited several more, and helped to set up the company’s desk-top publishing system. He has also worked on travel guides for Fodors and Dorling Kindersley.

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks above all to Sam Cook, for her love, support and encouragement, and the many good times divided between London, Las Vegas, and New Orleans. Thanks too to Edie Jarolim for friendship and input, and Rob Faust for a virtuoso performance at Bellagio. Mark Baldwin, Wayne Bernath, Myram Borders, Deke Castleman, Bill Doak, Maria Gladowski, John Hessling, Jayne Innes, Shelley Mansholt, Pien Koopman, and Michelle Rikard all offered valuable assistance in Las Vegas, while back home, Jules Brown, Rob Humphreys, and Rob Jones gave me a healthy perspective on things.

  At Rough Guides, it was a real pleasure to have Andrew Rosenberg as an editor; his committed editing and enthusiastic interest was much appreciated. Thanks too to Helen Ostick for typesetting, Melissa Flack for mapmaking, and Margaret Doyle for proofreading.

  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  The Guide

  1 Introducing the city

  2 The Strip

  3 Downtown Las Vegas

  4 The rest of the city

  5 Out of the city

  Listings

  6 Accommodation

  7 Eating

  8 Bars and clubs

  9 Entertainment

  10 Gambling

  11 Shopping

  12 Sports and activities

  13 Gay Las Vegas

  14 Getting married

  15 Directory

  Contexts

  A history of Las Vegas

  Books

 

 

  Greg Ward, Las Vegas: The Rough Guide

  Thanks for reading the books on GrayCity.Net