• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 790 0

led by Restaurant Guy Savoy), and indulgent spas like Caesars Palace’s Qua Baths & Spa, where artificial snowflakes fall in the unusual Arctic Room, are what hip, younger crowds demand. Ironically, this polish and sophistication hearken back to Old Vegas’ heyday in the “Fabulous ’50s,” when mobsters mixed with Rat Pack movie stars and even showgirls dressed in diamonds and silk to just step inside a casino. The most decadent high-roller casino resorts like Wynn Las Vegas each have their own galaxy of catwalk couture shops, epicurean restaurants and entertaining diversions, from Broadway shows to nightclubs on par with LA or NYC. To gawk at the VIPs, stroll through the front doors anytime – they’re free, and they never close.

You can still find the kitschier and oh-so-cheesy side of Las Vegas. After all, this is the city that brought fame and fortune to flamboyant Liberace, and staged a 1968 comeback show for Elvis outfitted in a rhinestone-studded jumpsuit. Pay your respects at the outrageous Liberace Museum, stuffed with hand-painted antique pianos, luxury cars including a mirror-tiled Rolls Royce, and a collection of feathered capes and million-dollar furs. Elvis has indeed left the building, but you can still play blackjack with the King at the Imperial Palace, where “dealertainers” do double duty as casino card dealers and celebrity impersonators. Speaking of casinos, there’s none tackier than the 1960s Circus Circus, where trapeze artists, high-wire workers and jugglers steal center stage. Grab a seat at the revolving Horse-A-Round Bar, made famous by Hunter S Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. At the Slots-A-Fun casino next door, grab a coupon book, give the giant slot machine a free spin and scarf down a few 75¢ beers and $1 half-pound hot dogs; then relax and enjoy the laughable lounge acts. At the retro Fireside Lounge, a swingin’ ’70s hideaway, cooing couples nestle into blue-velvet couches and make out like there’s no tomorrow.

When you’ve exhausted the hurly-burly Strip, take yourself downtown to the Fremont Street Experience, a five-block-long pedestrian mall with a canopy steroid-enhanced by a super-big Viva Vision screen and 550,000 watts of concert-hall sound. When the 12.5-million synchronized LEDs come on, its silly sound-and-light shows hypnotize passersby (especially anyone who’s already drunk on those 99¢ fluorescent-pink margaritas sold in gigantic souvenir glasses). Fremont St is the city’s historic quarter, preferred by serious gamblers who find faux volcanoes beneath them; the smoky, low-ceilinged casinos have changed little over the years. Check out the nerve-wracking, no-limit Texas- hold-’em action in the back room at Binion’s, where the World Series of Poker was born. Then stumble across the street to the Golden Nugget, downtown’s most posh address, to gawk at the Hand of Faith, the largest chunk of gold ever found, weighing 6lb 11oz. Oh, they’ve got an outdoor swimming pool with a three-story waterslide that shoots through a live-shark tank, too.

Fremont St is undergoing a renaissance of cool, with indie watering holes and nightclubs popping up, like the Beauty Bar. On the tattered fringes of downtown, hidden among the vintage-clothing and antiques shops, is the emerging 18b Arts District. On the first Friday night of each month, these streets take on a carnival atmosphere as 10,000 art lovers, hipsters and indie musicians turn it into a big block party, with gallery openings, performance art, live music, fortune tellers and tattoo artists. You’ll find more alt-cultural types at the Vegoose music and arts festival, with costumed partying over Halloween weekend, and auteurs at the CineVegas independent film festival in June.

* * *

DETOUR

When the ding-ding-ding of the slot machines drives you bonkers, Red Rock Canyon ( 702-515-5350; www.redrockcanyonlv.org) is the antidote. The startling contrast between the Strip’s artificial neon glow and the awesome natural forces at work in the canyon can’t be exaggerated. A 13-mile, one-way loop drive passes striking natural