Las Vegas, 1993 (part 1: daytime)

In late 1992, I booked a trip to Las Vegas for the upcoming 1993 Super Bowl weekend because I had a free ticket on Continental that I had to use by the end of February, and I had never been to Vegas before. I had my travel agent book me a package deal for flight and hotel, and that's how I ended up at the Lady Luck downtown that weekend. I had borrowed a friend's VCR camera and filmed a ride up the Las Vegas Strip into downtown, then recently transferred it to digital (though unfortunately still at bad VHS quality). I did some screen captures of the video, and below you can see them matched up with what it looks like in 2018 through the magic of Google Maps.


I got to Vegas a few days early, spent one night at the brand-new Excalibur, spent the next day driving out to the Grand Canyon via the Hoover Dam. Got there after dark, saw the Canyon the next day, then drove back to Vegas after dinner. Then I had 3 nights at the Lady Luck. Rewatching this video recently astounded me as to how much the Strip had changed, and as I started going there regularly in the mid-90s I noticed the new casino construction but never really thought about what had been demolished in the previous year.

Thanks to Vintage Las Vegas for the dates and IDs of some of the old properties.

This video starts in my rental car along Tropicana, headed towards Las Vegas Blvd from the airport, and passing by the Liberace Museum. The pictures on this page cover the first 12:45 of the video. (Note that the video has no audio, I had to strip it out due to the car radio being on.)

Corner of Tropicana and Las Vegas Blvd




Up at the corner, there's an empty weed-filled lot where New York New York would eventually be built in 1997, and a construction fence on the northeast corner urging visitors to "Watch Us Roar in '94" as the new MGM Grand will stand.





That looks like the same utility pole still there!





Denny's is still at the same location, just a different building. The Full Moon (RIP 1995) is where the movie theater is now.




Travelodge is still there, but not the Tahiti (gone in 1995).




The old Aladdin was torn down in 1997 to make way for the new Aladdin which opened in 2000, but that failed and it was turned into the Planet Hollywood in 2007.




The Dunes on the left, with Bally's, Barbary Coast, and Flamingo Hilton on the right. The Dunes closed literally the day before I got to Vegas, and the Bellagio is there now.









Barbary Coast and the Flamingo Hilton, now The Cromwell and The Flamingo.




The Dunes is dark, having closed the day before.




It stopped being the Flamingo Hilton in 2000.




The Imperial Palace behind O'Shea's, which was demolished to make way for the expansion of the LINQ after the IP was remade.




Harrah's looked like a riverboat in 1993 on the right, while Treasure Island straight ahead was still being built.









The Sands was demolished in 1996 to make way for the Venetian in 1999.














The Rosewood Grille, Tam O'Shanter, Days Inn, and the strip center used to be on the site of what's now Palazzo.









The Desert Inn was demolished in 2001 to make way for the Wynn in 2005.




The Monaco was demolished in 1995 and its site is now part of the Encore property.




Silver City Casino closed in 1999 and is now the Silver City Strip Mall.









The Peppermill is still there, but the Morocco (2003), La Concha (2004), and Riviera (2015) are not.









Candlelight Wedding Chapel and The Algiers (both closed 2005), and the El Rancho (closed 1992, but not demolished until 2000). Currently the home of the Fontainebleau project.









The Sahara is now the SLS Casino and the W Hotel.




The Holy Cow Casino & Brewery is now a Walgreens.




Part of the Fun City complex is still there.




The Holiday House, Holiday Motel, and Little Vegas Chapel are still there, across from the Stratosphere.




Further north on Las Vegas Blvd, Saint Louis Square is still there.




In the video, I make my way down Ogden and then Fremont to the east, passing the Showboat Casino (closed 2000, now an empty lot.



I came back later and took some photos around Caesar's.


The arch is gone from the front of Caesar's main entrance pavilion.




The horses are gone from the main entrance to the Forum Shops, replaced with a replica of Rome's Trevi Fountain.









The Imperial Palace, Flamingo Hilton, Barbary Coast, and Bally's view, replaced by the Linq, Flamingo, Cromwell, and Bally's new facades.




Widening the Strip and putting in the median blocks the view of Harrah's from this vantage point (which has changed from a riverboat to Carnaval theme).
Part 2 covers the sights of the Strip at night.