Oh yeah...
Oct. 16th, 2006 03:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
perzephone
I forgot in my current state of Tylenol 3 dopiness... I work for a heartless monster.
For millennia, there have been circus statues out in front of Circus Circus. There were a coupla acrobats, the gorilla, the lion & that hideous clown on the actual street. Weeelll, the MGM-Mirage corporation, in a fit of diversity-inspired madness, no doubt, had them dumped at the landfill & buried. All except the hideous clown, that is.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Oct-15-Sun-2006/news/10203149.html
It's fucked up, honestly, to not even bother trying to contact the artist's family. The corp people probably didn't realize that a real human being had created those statues - they probably thought they were commissioned from a commercial statuary company.
My mom & dad used to drag me here, & before me it was Jody & Terry. I remember those statues, and back in the '70's they were landmarks mainly because Circus was the only kid-friendly casino on the Strip. Much like Sarno's daughter, I have memories of sitting on that gorilla & my dad fighting w/his Polaroid Land camera, hoping I wouldn't decide to get bored, lean forward & crack my face on the pavement below. Wish I still had some of the photos my dad took, but que cera cera, however it's spelled.
I think what it really comes down to is that MGM-Mirage doesn't like themed casinos. Slowly but surely, they're giving the Excalibur a make-over, adding the new race & sports book, remodeling the rooms, painting over some of the medieval murals... there have been rumors circulating that they're going to take out the arcade & the arena & put in some kind of nightclub, but I think the Octane bar on the walkway is what everyone was expecting to go downstairs. (There are also rumors of a 'Dick's Bar', but I don't think it fits in with the MGM's whole 'Diversity' thing - bartenders that tell the patrons to 'Fuck off!'? Although we'd all like to work there, I just don't see it going forward). The Ex is pretty crappy inside anymore, the ceilings have always been too low, the ventilation's always been poor, it reeks of the lousy sewage system & I think we always got the left-over carpet from whenever Circus got new carpeting - but instead of focusing on structural changes that would make the casino better, the MGM is busying itself by adding granite countertops above the a/c's in the rooms & putting a 'high-energy' bar on an already crowded corner of the upper deck.
I'm all for letting the past go... but come on. 'The cost of upkeep on the statues was too high, & they had deteriorated beyond the image we felt Montyne wanted to present'? (loosely paraphrased, I am kind of stoned). That's the one thing about this desert - once you're inside the neon, the city has no memory, and even ghosts fade away.
For millennia, there have been circus statues out in front of Circus Circus. There were a coupla acrobats, the gorilla, the lion & that hideous clown on the actual street. Weeelll, the MGM-Mirage corporation, in a fit of diversity-inspired madness, no doubt, had them dumped at the landfill & buried. All except the hideous clown, that is.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Oct-15-Sun-2006/news/10203149.html
It's fucked up, honestly, to not even bother trying to contact the artist's family. The corp people probably didn't realize that a real human being had created those statues - they probably thought they were commissioned from a commercial statuary company.
My mom & dad used to drag me here, & before me it was Jody & Terry. I remember those statues, and back in the '70's they were landmarks mainly because Circus was the only kid-friendly casino on the Strip. Much like Sarno's daughter, I have memories of sitting on that gorilla & my dad fighting w/his Polaroid Land camera, hoping I wouldn't decide to get bored, lean forward & crack my face on the pavement below. Wish I still had some of the photos my dad took, but que cera cera, however it's spelled.
I think what it really comes down to is that MGM-Mirage doesn't like themed casinos. Slowly but surely, they're giving the Excalibur a make-over, adding the new race & sports book, remodeling the rooms, painting over some of the medieval murals... there have been rumors circulating that they're going to take out the arcade & the arena & put in some kind of nightclub, but I think the Octane bar on the walkway is what everyone was expecting to go downstairs. (There are also rumors of a 'Dick's Bar', but I don't think it fits in with the MGM's whole 'Diversity' thing - bartenders that tell the patrons to 'Fuck off!'? Although we'd all like to work there, I just don't see it going forward). The Ex is pretty crappy inside anymore, the ceilings have always been too low, the ventilation's always been poor, it reeks of the lousy sewage system & I think we always got the left-over carpet from whenever Circus got new carpeting - but instead of focusing on structural changes that would make the casino better, the MGM is busying itself by adding granite countertops above the a/c's in the rooms & putting a 'high-energy' bar on an already crowded corner of the upper deck.
I'm all for letting the past go... but come on. 'The cost of upkeep on the statues was too high, & they had deteriorated beyond the image we felt Montyne wanted to present'? (loosely paraphrased, I am kind of stoned). That's the one thing about this desert - once you're inside the neon, the city has no memory, and even ghosts fade away.
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-16 11:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-16 05:56 pm (UTC)I remember that being that place to go when we got here. I came here when I turned 11 from Kokomo, IN. Circus Circus was the only kids place. That is just sad overall.
Old Vegas is disappearing amongst high rises. In 50yrs, there wont be anything left from the original Vegas..not even Fremont street and its ancient motels. Most places just are what they are, they dont change. Not here..they are determined to remake this town every generation..
Lost History
Date: 2006-10-17 12:17 pm (UTC)That was the one advantage of living back east - places there may only be a coupla hundred years old, but you could still see where they came from, and how the modern world did its best to build around its birth... Especially New Orleans - even though all those clapboard houses on Bourbon Street house bars & strip joints & souvenir shops, it's still the same paintjob, the same wood... the ghosts still know where home is even if it's noisier & smells like - well, considering it was a pirate town, it probably doesn't smell much different!