Page 5 of 5
Las Vegas, Nevada
Why can't we just play the other game, why can't we just look the other way?
The start of this last page of the slideshow begins as promised in sunny Las Vegas, the final destination and the third of three recent work related trips. As part of the design process for a new building I am currently working on, I have been included in an effort to benchmark similar, selected facilities across the country so we can understand the specific, otherwise fuzzy requirements of one of the new building's functions. (Specifically it involves giant coolers, cordless power tools, some LCD screens and of course a healthy supply of severed corpses).
The trip took us to a facility located in Henderson, Nevada, one of those all EIFS sprawl cities that makes Las Vegas look much, much better by comparison. We did not stay in Henderson for those short two nights, but instead made it all the way to the center of the strip, staying at Bugsy Siegel's legendary Flamingo hotel. As you have (probably) already heard me explain at length at some point, I promote a theory that a hotel is just a hotel, although the Flamingo did have a few specific advantages. It is in a fantastic center strip location (across from Caesar's Palace and the Bellagio) it has a history (one of the few hotels that does), it has a great marquee sign and it has some imprisoned penguins in a landscaped courtyard just past the all you can eat buffet.
Still at the Flamingo, past the marquee sign, past the casino, past the all you can eat buffet, past the imprisoned penguins, past the flamingo fountain, past the other flamingo fountain and all the way to the pool- under palm trees under that beautiful darkening blue desert sky.
What bothers me about the Venetian in Las Vegas is not that it is somehow not well done (it actually is quite well done) but rather that I've actually been to Venice and, well, this isn't Venice.
The big new resort in Las Vegas is Steve Wynn's heavily promoted self titled new casino, located on the strip north of Treasure Island and across the street from a suspiciously unthemed shopping mall. The building itself is fairly interesting, closer in spirit to the Mirage than to the Bellagio or Treasure Island. Out at the corner on the strip is a well landscaped mountain, complete with waterfalls that sit next to a shopping arcade. The shops (occasionally) open out to private views of the mountain, to an interesting if not spectacular effect. This second picture is from halfway down the middle of the shops, a great place to hang some disturbingly eclectic pendant lights and show off a few of those still novel curving escalators that are becoming so popular these days.
Since I used a strikingly similar image to this back in a 2002 Slideshow, I figured I'd just copy and paste its generally still accurate, three year old description:
Far and away the nicest casino on the strip and home to almost everything I like. The Bellagio is home to a damn good breakfast, a Dale Chihuly ceiling), the "O" show, authentic Gelato ) and truly amazing, over choreographed performing fountains framing views of an adjacent, French wannabe casino.
We started this 2005 Weekend Trips Slideshow in New York, and we’re going to end it there. This is the Diller, Scofidio + Renfro designed High Line Park (on display at MoMA), and it’s both insane and awesome that it’s getting built. The High Line is an abandoned freight train line that Guiliani wanted to tear down but that Bloomberg wants to actually reuse as a linear park, and a quite well designed one at that. I remain a little skeptical that it will actually happen, but also hopeful that one day it will. Considering The Gates actually happened this year, it now almost seems like anything is possible. Thanks, Bloomberg.
What exactly are we looking at here? I could let you try and guess, but instead are just going to tell you that you’re looking up an elevator shaft. This is the elevator at the new Top of the Rock observation deck at Rockefeller Center in Midtown. Once inside, the ceiling of the elevator magically switches from opaque to clear and you have a great view of the dramatically lit vertical shaft, although unnerving might be a more accurate word here than great.
We’re ending this slideshow with this unbeatable view here at the Top of the Rock, where you can see absolutely everything except for the skating rink and area where the christmas tree is.
