I have a feature piece in this month’s Desert Companion looking at the impact of the 1989 opening of The Mirage: Wynn’s design team found their endurance pushed to the limit in keeping up with his constantly evolving vision of what the resort would be (iconic elements like the exploding Strip-side volcano were relatively late […]
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writingLast Thursday, I did a quick interview with Lorrin Bond of 97.1 about my Vegas Seven cover story on The Mirage’s design and construction. You can listen to it here if you like: David G. Schwartz talks about how the Mirage came to be by Vegas Seven on SoundCloud – Hear the world’s sounds. Fun
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Vegas SevenOne of my favorite things about writing for Vegas Seven is the chance to write extended feature pieces that give me a chance to do original research and learn a great deal about Las Vegas, present and past. In this week’s issue, I take a look back at the event which, 25 years ago, changed
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Vegas SevenIf you don’t see a video, it’s here: http://youtu.be/EqZ82UwJuBQ
Author David G. Schwartz summarizes chapter 15, “A Clockwork Volcano: Las Vegas Strikes Back,” of Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling (Casino Edition).
This chapter starts by discussing some of the technological changes that made possible the rise of slot machines, like the introduction of video poker and wide area progressive games like Megabucks. It then talks about The Mirage, which opened in 1989 and kicked off the 1990s boom for Las Vegas. Although it completely changed the Las Vegas Strip, before it opened, many were skeptical that it would succeed.
We then learn about other important companies like MGM Mirage and the Mandalay Resort Group, which, through a series of mergers (including one with Mirage Resorts) became MGM Resorts. Las Vegas Sands, which owns the Venetian and Palazzo, is also profiled.
For more information about the book, visit http://www.rollthebonesbook.com
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life in vegas, videoSometimes I like to share things that I find while plumbing through the archives, just because. Yesterday I did just that at Two Way Hard Three: Working on my lecture for tomorrow about Las Vegas gaming in the 1980s and 1990s, I wanted to go back to some of the original sources. So I’ve been
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Two Way Hard ThreeSpeaking of dark and gloomy, here’s a quote from the day before Mirage opened back in 1989, from the LA Times via proquest: At the same time, though, the new competition is expected to drive struggling gambling halls out of business.”There’;s going to be a shakeout,” said Glenn S. Schaeffer, chief financial officer of Circus
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news about gamblingI’ve been busy today getting the slot hold occasional paper finished up, so running the risk of CityCenter fatigue, here’s an excerpt from my last LVBP column about, you guessed it, CityCenter: This might be the most novel thing visitors notice about CityCenter, at first. And its hard to believe that its not by design.
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news about gambling