If you have read my blog for any length of time, you know that my friend Dewey (from the LasVegas4Ever site, and a really nice guy in person, too) travels to Vegas frequently and stays for extended periods of time.
He tends to stay in very affordable hotels, moves quite a bit during his trips, and pays next to nothing for the privilege because he scouts out websites and plans his stays to make the most of his budget on each trip.
Because of this, he sees many, many more hotel rooms than I ever will, and he is especially diligent about checking for bed bugs before he even puts his bags away. Also because of this, he has FOUND bed bugs at several hotels, and on a recent trip he had an experience at the Four Queens downtown that was actually handled very well. Here is a link to his blog entry about the experience:
Icky!
Remember that bed bugs don't care about their surroundings, but YOU should. Check the bedding at every hotel, even the 5-star kind. You never know who was there before you and what they might have inadvertently left behind for you to take home as a souvenir. I don't think your family would be especially pleased with this particular gift.
Here is a link to the main page of Dewey's website (but it's also listed under my favorites on the right-hand side of the page if you lose it):
Dewey's blog
I always enjoy reading Dewey's entries because I love his writing style...even when the subject is not a happy one.
Showing posts with label off-Strip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label off-Strip. Show all posts
Friday, June 29, 2012
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Fremont Street Experience to include Bon Jovi songs!
If you haven't been to downtown Las Vegas in awhile (and I haven't), now you'll have a reason to visit again: three Bon Jovi songs will be added to the Fremont Street Experience starting on New Year's Eve.
Check out the Vegas Inc. article for the details here:
http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/dec/22/bon-jovi-video-show-coming-fremont-street/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Looks like I'll be heading downtown again - I LOVE Bon Jovi!
Check out the Vegas Inc. article for the details here:
http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/dec/22/bon-jovi-video-show-coming-fremont-street/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Looks like I'll be heading downtown again - I LOVE Bon Jovi!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Review: Neon Museum @ The Neon Boneyard
The Neon Museum (The Neon Boneyard)
Thanks to my friend Claire, I was able to venture off-Strip for once and check out the Neon Museum (also known as the Neon Boneyard) with her and some of my other Vegas friends on a nice Saturday morning in October. I was so happy to be able to take my Canon and get some good photos for my personal collection!
Claire was nice enough to arrange limo transportation for six of us to and from the Palazzo Hotel & Casino, and the trip to the museum took about 20 minutes with traffic. We were dropped off at the museum office - which sits across the street from the actual "museum" - to pay the entrance fee of $15 and sign waivers stating we would NOT use any photos we took for anything other than personal use. Absolutely!
Paul was our guide for the day, and he took our tour group across to the museum area from the office area. He kept up a running dialogue of interesting facts about the signs found outside the museum property along Las Vegas Boulevard and what the museum owners were planning to do with the additional signage they were acquiring from hotels when ownership changed hands as we made our way up to the gates of the boneyard.
Before we were allowed inside the museum grounds, we were given strict instructions to look, but don't touch; not because the signs in the area are necessarily fragile, but because they are old, sharp, and could fall on us if we attempted to get too close to them or pose around them. He invited us to take our time and take as many photos as we wanted, and he proceeded to lead our group from area to area, giving background information on the signs and answering questions as he went. The walking tour took about an hour, and it was a beautiful day for a stroll amidst all that Vegas history.
Claire and I being the avid photographers of our group (along with a couple of other equally avid photographers in the tour group) tended to stray behind a little and didn't hear all the descriptions, details and history because we were too busy framing shots at every opportunity. Even so, we were extremely happy because we were able to photograph to our hearts' content the historic and interesting signage out on display in the boneyard. Getting an up-close and personal look at the classic signs from The Dunes, Stardust, Binions, Moulin Rouge and other famous or long-gone hotels was fantastic, and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to see them all up close. I was surprised that there were so many other signs in the collection from hotels I'd never even heard of. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though, since I've only been vacationing in Vegas for about 13 years, and some of the signs are well over 50 years old.
In the end we DID manage to catch up with our group at the end of the tour, and a limo was waiting to pick us up and return us to the Palazzo. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday morning in Vegas. On a scale of 1 to 10 for Vegas attractions, I rate it as a 9.
If you plan on visiting the museum, be sure to make reservations for you and your party as far in advance as possible, as they only have two tours available on any given day. There is no penalty if you should need to cancel, but reservations are required because of the limited number of spaces available. Also be aware that closed-toed shoes and long pants are strongly recommended by the organizer, and you could be refused entry into the boneyard if you are wearing sandals or flip-flops because of the danger and risk that may be involved walking so closely to some of the ancient signs.
For more information or to schedule a tour, go to their website for the link to the request:
http://www.neonmuseum.org/
Tour times and days:
Tuesday - Friday, 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
Claire was nice enough to arrange limo transportation for six of us to and from the Palazzo Hotel & Casino, and the trip to the museum took about 20 minutes with traffic. We were dropped off at the museum office - which sits across the street from the actual "museum" - to pay the entrance fee of $15 and sign waivers stating we would NOT use any photos we took for anything other than personal use. Absolutely!
Paul was our guide for the day, and he took our tour group across to the museum area from the office area. He kept up a running dialogue of interesting facts about the signs found outside the museum property along Las Vegas Boulevard and what the museum owners were planning to do with the additional signage they were acquiring from hotels when ownership changed hands as we made our way up to the gates of the boneyard.
Before we were allowed inside the museum grounds, we were given strict instructions to look, but don't touch; not because the signs in the area are necessarily fragile, but because they are old, sharp, and could fall on us if we attempted to get too close to them or pose around them. He invited us to take our time and take as many photos as we wanted, and he proceeded to lead our group from area to area, giving background information on the signs and answering questions as he went. The walking tour took about an hour, and it was a beautiful day for a stroll amidst all that Vegas history.
Claire and I being the avid photographers of our group (along with a couple of other equally avid photographers in the tour group) tended to stray behind a little and didn't hear all the descriptions, details and history because we were too busy framing shots at every opportunity. Even so, we were extremely happy because we were able to photograph to our hearts' content the historic and interesting signage out on display in the boneyard. Getting an up-close and personal look at the classic signs from The Dunes, Stardust, Binions, Moulin Rouge and other famous or long-gone hotels was fantastic, and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to see them all up close. I was surprised that there were so many other signs in the collection from hotels I'd never even heard of. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though, since I've only been vacationing in Vegas for about 13 years, and some of the signs are well over 50 years old.
In the end we DID manage to catch up with our group at the end of the tour, and a limo was waiting to pick us up and return us to the Palazzo. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday morning in Vegas. On a scale of 1 to 10 for Vegas attractions, I rate it as a 9.
If you plan on visiting the museum, be sure to make reservations for you and your party as far in advance as possible, as they only have two tours available on any given day. There is no penalty if you should need to cancel, but reservations are required because of the limited number of spaces available. Also be aware that closed-toed shoes and long pants are strongly recommended by the organizer, and you could be refused entry into the boneyard if you are wearing sandals or flip-flops because of the danger and risk that may be involved walking so closely to some of the ancient signs.
For more information or to schedule a tour, go to their website for the link to the request:
http://www.neonmuseum.org/
Tour times and days:
Tuesday - Friday, 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Battista's Hole In The Wall - Review
Battista's Hole In The Wall is almost literally that - a hole in the wall.
Situated on Audrie Street right off of East Flamingo Road, this restaurant is easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for. The entrance is fairly non-descript, and it is part of a small strip mall directly behind The Flamingo and Bill's Gambling Hall and Casino. Walk inside, though, and you are transported to "Old Vegas" - black and white photos of celebrities line the walls, and red leather booths and tabletop candles in red votive holders dominate the space. You feel as though this could have been an Italian restaurant for the mob in Vegas had it been around in the 50's.
The menu is everywhere around you. The walls are literally covered with the selections offered for dinner here: pasta, spaghetti, and ziti dishes, chicken and veal dishes, steaks, and fresh fish of the day. Each dinner is served with your choice of either Minestrone soup or a salad with Italian dressing, garlic bread, a pasta side dish, and a homemade cappuccino that is served at the end of the meal. Free red or white house wine is also included in the price of your meal, and when your selection is made, a carafe of wine is placed on your table to allow you to take as much - or as little - as you'd like. If you don't drink wine, soft drinks and other options are available for an additional cost.
Five of us dined together on a weekday night. The dishes we tried - and shared - were Cheese Ravioli, Eggplant Parmigiana, Veal Marsala, and Linguine with Chopped Clams. My dish was the linguine, and it was perfectly seasoned and the clams were not overpowering at all as they can sometimes be. One person got the Minestrone soup which they said was okay, and the rest of us opted for the Italian salad, which had a perfect amount of dressing (not too much and not too little) and was just the right size for an appetizer. We actually had two carafes on wine on our table - one red and one white - and we took sips out of each with our little old-fashioned glasses that made me think of restaurant scenes from The Godfather. At the end of the meal, only three of us opted for the cappuccino, which I felt was a little more like hot chocolate than a cappuccino, but it had a good flavor to it and was nice and warm when served in its tiny cup.
This is such an informal restaurant with an old-Vegas feel, I was not at all surprised when an accordion player came around to take requests from the diners as he strolled around in his tuxedo. For a $5 tip he played and sang a song I can't remember now, thanked us profusely with a wink and a little nod of his head, then moved on to the next group of diners. He certainly added to the authentic feeling of the dinner.
With five of us dining by candlelight and reminiscing, we had a nice, relaxing meal on a Tuesday night. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate our experience at Battista's as a 8.5. The ambiance definitely played a role in that rating, too, and I look forward to visiting again with friends.
Entree prices start at $20.95 for the various pasta dishes and head into the mid-$30 range for steaks. Still, the price is not bad considering that it includes soup or salad, bread, cappuccino and house wine in each meal.
Battista's does recommend reservations for weekends and holidays, or for the prime dinner hours of 7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Dinner is served daily from 5:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., with cocktails available starting at 4:30 p.m.
Visit their website here for more information:
http://www.battistaslasvegas.com/index.html
Situated on Audrie Street right off of East Flamingo Road, this restaurant is easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for. The entrance is fairly non-descript, and it is part of a small strip mall directly behind The Flamingo and Bill's Gambling Hall and Casino. Walk inside, though, and you are transported to "Old Vegas" - black and white photos of celebrities line the walls, and red leather booths and tabletop candles in red votive holders dominate the space. You feel as though this could have been an Italian restaurant for the mob in Vegas had it been around in the 50's.
The menu is everywhere around you. The walls are literally covered with the selections offered for dinner here: pasta, spaghetti, and ziti dishes, chicken and veal dishes, steaks, and fresh fish of the day. Each dinner is served with your choice of either Minestrone soup or a salad with Italian dressing, garlic bread, a pasta side dish, and a homemade cappuccino that is served at the end of the meal. Free red or white house wine is also included in the price of your meal, and when your selection is made, a carafe of wine is placed on your table to allow you to take as much - or as little - as you'd like. If you don't drink wine, soft drinks and other options are available for an additional cost.
Five of us dined together on a weekday night. The dishes we tried - and shared - were Cheese Ravioli, Eggplant Parmigiana, Veal Marsala, and Linguine with Chopped Clams. My dish was the linguine, and it was perfectly seasoned and the clams were not overpowering at all as they can sometimes be. One person got the Minestrone soup which they said was okay, and the rest of us opted for the Italian salad, which had a perfect amount of dressing (not too much and not too little) and was just the right size for an appetizer. We actually had two carafes on wine on our table - one red and one white - and we took sips out of each with our little old-fashioned glasses that made me think of restaurant scenes from The Godfather. At the end of the meal, only three of us opted for the cappuccino, which I felt was a little more like hot chocolate than a cappuccino, but it had a good flavor to it and was nice and warm when served in its tiny cup.
This is such an informal restaurant with an old-Vegas feel, I was not at all surprised when an accordion player came around to take requests from the diners as he strolled around in his tuxedo. For a $5 tip he played and sang a song I can't remember now, thanked us profusely with a wink and a little nod of his head, then moved on to the next group of diners. He certainly added to the authentic feeling of the dinner.
With five of us dining by candlelight and reminiscing, we had a nice, relaxing meal on a Tuesday night. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate our experience at Battista's as a 8.5. The ambiance definitely played a role in that rating, too, and I look forward to visiting again with friends.
Entree prices start at $20.95 for the various pasta dishes and head into the mid-$30 range for steaks. Still, the price is not bad considering that it includes soup or salad, bread, cappuccino and house wine in each meal.
Battista's does recommend reservations for weekends and holidays, or for the prime dinner hours of 7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Dinner is served daily from 5:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., with cocktails available starting at 4:30 p.m.
Visit their website here for more information:
http://www.battistaslasvegas.com/index.html
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