VegasChatter

Tags: Snapshot / Only In Vegas / Golden Gate / Downtown / Fremont Street / Weddings / → All Tags

Where to Spend Your Wedding Night? The Fremont Street Slots, of Course

Only in Vegas, right? We’re slightly obsessed with Vegas weddings at the moment (why else would we marry a sandwich?) and although nothing will ever top the Excalibur Buffet wedding reception, this photo, which we took at the Golden Gate on Fremont Street, is coming pretty high up on our list of love. So poignant!

Before you shed a little tear for her, worry not – a few minutes earlier we’d seen her laughing merrily with her husband, so we assume he was on a bathroom break or something.

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Tags: Snapshot / Fremont Street / Downtown / Sexy Ladies / Shopping / → All Tags

What's the Difference Between the Girls and Women of Las Vegas?

Miss July. Make your smoking/explosive puns here

We were down on Fremont Street the other week when we popped into the ABC store and saw some intriguingly-named calendars. One was called “Beautiful Girls of Las Vegas”.

The other, “Beautiful Women of Las Vegas”.

What on earth could they contain? Pictures of Matt Goss’ sexy dancers? Random clubgoers? Tiger Woods’ mistresses?

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Tags: Reality Shows / Pawn Shops / Shopping / Downtown / → All Tags

What's It Like Inside the Pawn Stars Shop?

We’ve been big fans of the show Pawn Stars since its debut last year. We were excited to get a sneak peak into a world we weren’t very familiar with and happy to learn that pawning is a much funnier version of Antiques Road Show.

Once friends and family caught onto the show they assumed since we live in Vegas that we hung out daily at the real shop behind the show, Gold and Silver Pawn shop. Sad to say, we haven’t yet traded in all our buried treasures for boatloads of cash.

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Tags: Closings / Binions / Downtown / Hotel Woes / → All Tags

Binion's Closing Its Hotel Rooms on December 14th

When one hotel door opens, another one closes. Or when 1,000+ hotel rooms open, a downtrodden, depressing old hotel will be forced to close.

With so many rooms coming online in the month of December, it's no surprise that Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel in Downtown is closing its hotel tower on December 14th. The LVRJ writes:

Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel in downtown Las Vegas will close its 365-room hotel tower beginning Dec. 14 and lay off about 100 workers, a property spokeswoman confirmed this morning. Spokeswoman Lisa Robinson said the tower is being shut down because of the continued downturn in the economy. Additionally, the property will close the Binion's Original Coffee Shop and discontinue keno, she said.

Binion's will keep open its casino, sportsbook, poker room, casino cafes and the Binion's Ranch Steakhouse on the 24th floor.

If you can brave the depressing room, rates at the Binions for the very last weekend, December 11-13, start at $49. During the week, rates are a low, low, low $23.

Tags: Mexican Food / El Sombrero Cafe / Downtown / → All Tags

Please Don't Ever Change, El Sombrero Cafe

What exactly is the appeal of the El Sombrero Cafe? It's a question that comes up when people drive past this little, unassuming Mexican restaurant and discover that it is Sin City’s oldest - we repeat - oldest eatery.

Located in downtown art’s district, the El Sombrero Cafe started serving some chips and salsa to residents in the valley way back in 1950 in the same spot where it stands, off Main Street north of Charleston.

And we at Vegaschatter will recommend it over any overpriced, hyped-up Mexican restaurant in town.

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Tags: Shopping / Downtown / The Funkhouse / Antiques / → All Tags

The Funkhouse: The Name Says It All

In downtown’s dingy, dilapidated but still scrappy Arts District, aficionados of mid-century furniture and collectible ephemera from a variety of eras flock to The Funkhouse.

The Arts District was so designated a few years back for the growing number of galleries and antiques businesses that were congregating there. However, the last year or two has seen a number of these businesses pack up and head elsewhere, with the majority of the arts-related activity now confined to the Arts Factory building, located around the corner from The Funkhouse at the intersection of Charleston Boulevard and Main Street.

No matter. The Funkhouse itself seems firmly ensconced in its present digs, where proprietor Cindy Funkhouser (what? you thought that name connoted something else?) purveys an eye-popping array of stuff you might want to buy.

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Tags: Labor Day Weekend / Downtown / The Signature / Trump Las Vegas / El Cortez / Gold Spike / Vegas Club / Caesars Palace / Bellagio / Palazzo / Encore / → All Tags

Downtown is Deal Central as Labor Day Weekend Nears

As we’re accustomed to seeing these days, rates are pretty much all over the map for the last big holiday weekend of the sultry summer season. The good news: there are plenty of rooms still available in Vegas over Labor Day Weekend. The great news: there is some serious value to be had that weekend, too. Here’s a glimpse of what’s currently available at :

The absolute lowest rates in the resort corridor seem to be those on offer at downtown’s Gold Spike. It ain’t glamorous, folks, but it claims a certain old-school Vegas appeal in the eyes of some people. Meanwhile, average rates there over Labor Day Weekend (which we’re identifying as the three nights from Friday, September 4, until Monday, September 7) are a practically laughably low $40 per night.

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Tags: Bars / Downtown / Dino's / Locals Vegas / → All Tags

50 Years Later and Las Vegas Still Loves Dino’s Lounge

What’s that? Yet another bar recommendation? What’s with the folks at VegasChatter? Are they total lushes? If we were to answer to the last question, and you still want to stick around for this entry - than welcome to the club, the VegasChatter lush club, because reader, we know our bars.

Okay, now that we are done stroking ourselves about our bar cred, let’s cut to the business at hand, Dino’s Lounge, and they’ve been a cornerstone in this city for nearly half a century.

Located downtown, this is joint registers in the proverbial (okay hackneyed) term of "old school," but in the best possible way. The live music acts are some of the best in town, from punk, to alt-country; the drinks are great with cheap beer and cheap martinis coming at you with the non-stop consistency of an anemometer gone haywire; and the barflies are simply as loose and good natured as any bar in town.

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Tags: Restaurants / The Plaza / Omelet House / Breakfast / Downtown / → All Tags

The Omelet House :: Where Eggs Become Fine Art

Ok, maybe these omelets aren't fine art but they come close. For natives of Las Vegas, The Omelet House has, is and always will be, a house of quality omelets! We know it’s a loud declaration, but once you have had some of their creations, like their glorious Bugsy Siegel (Italian roast beef and sour cream), you’ll give us a nod toward our knowledge on the good stuff.

After over 30 years being one of the mainstays in the city, the Omelet House (the original location is on Charleston Boulevard just off the I-15) is about to get a lot more accessible - a downtown location in the Plaza Hotel & Casino.

Seriously readers, once in here, and you’ll realize that an omelet from Dennys or IHOP just won’t have the same flair (although in fairness, that may not be their specialty, but at the Omelet House it sure as hell is).

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Tags: Downtown / Cheap Vegas / Gambling / The California / Neon Honolulu / → All Tags

Low Rolling in Neon Honolulu aka The California

We know a lot of you may not have the money to engage in some high rolling activity, so we are more than happy to offer you a good recommendation for some affordable tables, and a terrific clientele that is as much a cultural awakening than anything else you might find on the Strip. Without further delay, open the curtain, welcome to the California Hotel, or as we locals refer to it as Neon Honolulu.

Having a local population of over 70,000 Hawaiians in the city, almost all of the tourists who stay here are from Hawaii, and believe us, at least one eatery in this joint will serve you a Green Tea milkshake or Spam Masubi. And what other casino would have their dealers wear Hawaiian shirts in the Summer time - the kind Trapper John use to wear in those old M.A.S.H. episodes?

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Tags: Happy Hours / El Cortez / Martinis / Drinking / Downtown / → All Tags

The El Cortez Also Upgrades Its Happy Hour With 2-for-1 Martinis

El Cortez has the right idea with its renovations, but it also has the right idea with its happy hour special. Well, as long as you’re a martini fan. Officially called "Martini Madness", you can get two for one martinis from 5 to 7 pm at all bars in the hotel. Martinis are normally about $7, so two delicious martinis for that price? Sweetness.

Sweetness would also describe several of El Cortez’s martinis. Their new Cabana Sweets martini (get it? Cabana Sweets, they have new Cabana Suites! Get it? Heh…okay, we’re done) is already a popular pick among the martini crowd – Stoli, Blue Caracao, rock candy syrup and lemon juice.

Bonus: After First Fridays, El Cortez throws an after party happy hour catering, again, to martini drinkers. From 9 pm to 2 am, all martinis at any bar inside the hotel is only $5. Take those $2 you’re saving and gamble a bit, eh?

Yes, it is strange that a downtown hot spot is trying to cater to a somewhat uppity crowd (isn't that how martini drinkers view themselves?), but we guess it's all going towards revamping its image. Wonder how the American Apparel-hugging, hipster downtown crowd feels about that...

Tags: Hotel Renovations / El Cortez / Downtown / → All Tags

The El Cortez Is Going Under Another Round of Renovations

Sometimes, a new place to stay in Las Vegas doesn't have to be in the form of an entirely new hotel, built from the ground up. Sometimes, all it takes is just a little freshening up. And the El Cortez has the right idea, especially in this economy. In addition to opening up the boutique-y new Cabana Suites last month, the downtown hotel has an entire property overhaul up its sleeves.

All told, a total of $25 million is being invested in renovating and updating the hotel, including the addition of a nightclub, new swimming pool, revamped restaurants, fitness center, in-room flat-screen TVs and WiFi, business center and a half-million-dollar air filtration system.

That last item may not sound all that glamorous but believe us when we tell you it will most definitely be money well spent. There’s nothing like archaic casino air-handling units to make you feel like holing up in an iron lung for a few days.

Given its location in the quietly ascendant Fremont East Entertainment District – home to Beauty Bar, the Griffin and the Downtown Cocktail Room – it’s gratifying to see this downtown Vegas institution finally manifesting a little self-respect.

[Photo: Tadson/Tadson Bussey]