Today Vegas Seven‘s gigantic, double-wide “best of” issue hits news racks everywhere around Las Vegas. I contributed a few items (see if you can guess them), but I wrote more than made the final cut. So, for your reading pleasure, to spark discussion and stimulate debate, I’m sharing what I wrote here:
Best Casino Memorabilia Arbitrage Opportunity: The Sahara’s camel lamps, easily the hottest item at the liquidation sale that’s still ongoing. The few that weren’t stolen from rooms before the shutdown are retailing at $150. They’re already going for $350 on eBay. This is the casino-lovers equivalent of a Babe Ruth rookie card.
Best Anti-Dayclub Scene: The Henderson Multi-Generational Center’s Activity Pool. There’s no cabanas for rent, though they do have one thing most Strip pools don’t: a thirty-foot water slide. No bottle service either, though there is a water fountain and Frankilicious, a hot dog stand that claims to be “frankly…delicious,” and not without merit. Plenty of fun water features for the little ones and ample space to stretch out makes this is place to be for locals who struggle through summer without backyard pools.
Best Daredevil Tactic by a CEO: The Stratosphere’s Frank Riolo’s, whose leaps on the resort’s SkyJump attraction galvanized morale at a property that had been hard-hit by recessionary belt-tightening. Investing in room makeovers in early 2010 was just as gutsy, but strangely enough did not get Riolo the employee recognition (or the photo ops) that the jumps have.
Best Worst-Kept Secret in Town: The Cosmopolitan’s “secret” pizza joint, which received almost as much press as the resort’s celebrity chef eateries before it even opened. Recently, the clandestine slice-to-go place was the third most searched-for restaurant on Vegas Mate, a popular Vegas info and travel-planning iPhone app, beating out such decidedly unanonymous restaurants as Hash House a Go Go and Margaritaville. It might help that they make great pizza, served with little pretension.
If you’ve got any best-ofs, go ahead and add them in the comments below. If you have half as much fun as I did…you’ll still have fun.