These are all the Las Vegas hotels we can think of after three cocktails. All photos by the incomparably modest Scott Roeben.
The Strip
- Aria

Aria’s digital marquee is 250 feet tall and 65 feet wide. Although, when it’s wearing horizontal stripes, it looks much thinner.
- Bally’s
- Bellagio
- Caesars Palace

In 1967, daredevil Evel Knievel attempted to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace on a motorcycle. It was an epic fail.
- Casino Royale
- Circus Circus
- Cosmopolitan
- The Cromwell
- Delano Las Vegas

Delano used to be The Hotel.
- Encore
- Excalibur
- Flamingo
- Four Seasons
- Harrah’s Las Vegas
- Linq Hotel & Casino

Linq Hotel was formerly The Quad, before that it was Imperial Palace. Originally, it was the Flamingo Capri. Identity crisis!
- Luxor
- Mandalay Bay
- MGM Grand

MGM Grand is the second largest hotel in the world. The largest hotel in the world is the Izmailovo Hotel, in Moscow.
- Mirage
- New York-New York
- Palazzo

The Palazzo is the sister hotel of The Venetian. You can tell it’s a sister because it’s always borrowing The Venetian’s sweaters.
- Paris
- Park MGM

Park MGM used to be Monte Carlo. Back when Las Vegas made sense.
- Planet Hollywood
- Riviera (Closed on May 4, 2015)
- Sahara Las Vegas
- The Stratosphere
- Treasure Island

In 2003, Treasure Island decided to move toward more adult amenities. The hotel’s free pirate battle, “Buckaneer Bay,” was replaced with “Sirens’ Cove,” featuring the scantily-clad Sirens of TI.
- Tropicana
- Venetian
- Wynn

The Wynn holds the distinction of being the first high-rise to have its windows cleaned by an automatic washing system.
Just Off The Strip
- Gold Coast

The Gold Coast was the first hotel in Las Vegas to have a movie theater. It’s a mile west of The Strip.
- Hard Rock
- M Resort
- The Orleans
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- Oyo

It used to be Hooters. Please keep up.
- Palace Station
- Palms

The Palms was the location of “The Real World: Las Vegas.” Hence the city’s disinfectant shortage in 2002.
- Rio
- Silver Sevens
- Westgate Las Vegas

Westgate used to be LVH, Las Vegas Hilton and The International.
- Wild Wild West
Downtown
- Binion’s
- California
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- Circa Las Vegas

Circa opened Oct. 28, 2020. This is Circa’s sportsbook. ‘Nuff said.
- The D
- Downtown Grand

Downtown Grand was formerly the Lady Luck.
- El Cortez

El Cortez has been in operation since 1941. You can have food delivered to your slot machine.
- Four Queens

Four Queens was named after one of its builder’s daughters: Faith, Hope, Benita, and Michele.
- Fremont

When it was built in 1956, the Fremont was the tallest building in the state of Nevada.
- Golden Gate
- Golden Nugget

The Golden Nugget was once featured in a Fox reality series, “The Casino.”
- Main Street Station
- The Plaza
And, no, hotels without casinos don’t count. Why? You have much to learn about Las Vegas, grasshopper.
Great photos. You hit almost all of the hotels at their best points.
Appreciate it.
http://www.tblv.vegas
One of us must have early stage dementia as I would swear it is Bellagio, not Monte Carlo, that sits on the site of the former Dunes.
According to Wikipedia, you are technically correct, but the Monte Carlo sits on 44 acres of the former Dunes golf course. As mentioned above, the Monte Carlo started life as the Grand Victoria…and is now the Park MGM.
No Dementia, you are correct!
I grew up in Vegas. The Bellagio is correct. Lvblvd n w flamingo.
Any tips on securing a great(who am I kidding) cheap rate at any hotels on the strip?
Have stayed the Royale and it was GREAT!!!! deal was SWEET and rooms super clean. Access to and from the strip to your door was amazing. I would stay there again over the mirage and trop cause they do not have a resort fee
Have stayed at Boulder Station(on a business trip, not my choice), Tropicana once and Stratosphere twice(well, will be twice come November!)
The Tropicana is just too sterile. They even painted the chapel where we were married in 1995 white.
Regarding the current MGM, you forgot to mention that it was originally the Marina (smaller, but the Marina structure is part of the MGM. They didn’t demolish it).
I liked the original lion better.
No mention of The Las Vegas Club?
My wife I just got back from Las Vegas March 22/2018. This was our first trip to Vegas and we had a lot fun!!!! We stayed at the Stratosphere and found the staff very polite and our room was clean. The only down fall was the smell of cigarette smoke through out the casino and hall ways. We woke up every morning pretty stuffed up but not the end of the world. We would give 3 stars out of 5. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ac13de66b7d561d1f8d110d2d8bc76fe5156f556f6e96cc80332d86eb407e04.jpg
To everyone who goes to Las Vegas only to complain about smokers and cigarettes, here is a suggestion; Next time go on a vacation to Salt Lake City, it might be more to your liking.
Here’s a thought: Treat casinos like other public indoor spaces. Ban smoking for the sake of employees and other customers. Cigar smokers get Tasers.
And before the D was Fitzgerald’s, it was the Sundance, built from the ground up in 1980. I remember buying a pair of boots at Smith & Chandler’s western wear in that block in the mid-1970s. IIRC, an adult theater was also located nearby, showing “Deep Throat” and “Devil in Miss Jones” continuously, 24-7-365.
Due to mob/management/skimming issues, Sundance became Fitzgerald’s in 1987. When we stayed there in the 90s, the hallways and rooms were still earth-tones in a desert theme, in contrast to the green/Irish/Leprechaun treatment outside.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_D_Las_Vegas
Circa is the first new ground-up downtown hotel to be built since then. I probably won’t see it up close because I refuse to pay for parking.
I’m more of a South Point man myself but still diggin the list 😛
3/21/19. Just found your site!!! Totally legit stuff that I love to hear about Vegas.
First, what the hell is up with Cantors selling out but allowing the new owners to keep their name and totally trashing their menu and wonderful food??
Any idea how to keep abreast of slot tournaments throughout the year with out being on all the casinos mailing list?
Coming back out to Vegas for memorial week holiday, just wish Fremont Street was offering up some musical talent at that time.
Keep up the great work
Thanks, Jeff. Yeah, Canter’s was a disaster. These were licensed outlets (another at Tivoli), and the rumor is racked up tons of debt and just went south. Sorry, can’t help with the slot tournament thing.
Can you name the four (4) original Las Vegas Strip Hotel Casino’s, that stand today, without a name change?
Flamingo, Tropicana.
Tropicana. Flamingo. Caesar’s Palace. Circus. Circus.
Love Las Vegas having been 6 times from England, please look after it whilst the virus is here. It will be shocking if Cirque goes under, but that also tells me the hotels are taking a bigger percentage of the tickets sales when it should be 50-50 as one cant work without the other.
In order of visits we stayed at the…
Circus Circus ( 18 years ago and it was buzzing )
Mandalay ( 15 years ago and was classy )
Venetian ( 10 years ago and was amazing )
Wynn ( 6 years ago was elegant )
Encore ( 3 year ago pure CLASS )
Encore ( last year Still CLASS possibly to go when you die and lie in peace for eternity )
We will be back sooner than later but only when the dollar gets to around $1.40 PLEASE.
Bye
Russ & Gill
Sorry to hear about that lawsuit. I’ve always enjoyed your site. Fun fact, many former workers of the Sahara have been saying that the current owner, who is a known bully has been seeking to sell it at some point. Either the current owner or previous owner were Persian, and mistreated dozens of female workers.
Needs to be updated