Ph.D. Director, Center for Gaming Research, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (www.dgschwartz.com/speaking).
How do vintage Las Vegas venues enhance the Las Vegas experience for groups?
Vintage Vegas is a valuable niche market for the city. There is a substantial group of visitors fascinated by yesteryear Las Vegas that actively seeks out authentic experiences that can give them a taste of that past. Keeping in mind that meetings participants in particular are a diverse group that come to Las Vegas with many different interests, vintage Vegas remains an important tool for the city to keep its past relevant while reinventing itself.
In 1981, Las Vegas celebrated the Golden Anniversary of gaming. Looking back on the 34 years since, what is the city commemorating now?
As a whole, the city is celebrating its past in places like the Mob Museum and Neon Museum, which each look back at different aspects of the past and offer immersive experiences to visitors. Individually, casinos look back on their own pasts when they reach significant milestones.
The Mirage, for example, turned 25 last year. Formerly the Fitzgerald, The D Casino in Downtown Las Vegas might have the most comprehensive approach to promoting old Las Vegas. Its second-floor Vintage Casino is stocked exclusively with old-style coin slot machines, and has one of the few remaining working Sigma Derby racing machines in the country.