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- Las Vegas, Nevada: Art, Light, and The Mob
Las Vegas, Nevada: Art, Light, and The Mob
Stroll lobbies filled with beautiful art while humming a Sinatra tune from the show you just enjoyed. Try not to get married unless you planned it prior to arrival.
In partnership with
Las Vegas, Nevada:
Art, Light, and The Mob
Today, we will compare life from when The Rat Pack ruled Vegas with the modern offerings of fine art and plentiful music. Vegas is happy when you feel overwhelmed in a joyful way and will do almost anything to help you achieve that state, even commissioning fine sculpture and luring Artists to become Residents.
Tomorrow, we will take a deep breath and enjoy the ultimate Relaxation itinerary. These tables are handy to keep - a blister or torn muscle may convert your Cultural plans into Relaxation plans.
- Cris
Travel style: | Culture | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
The Neon Museum, Las Vegas Arts District, local artist in residence | The Mob Museum, The Tuscany Suites & Casino – Piazza Lounge, Fremont Street Experience | Hoover Dam Tour, Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, Weddings | Springs Preserve, The Smith Center Sculpture Garden |
Day 1: Outdoor and Indoor Art
The Neon Museum
When did you KNOW you were in Vegas? When you saw the desert? Nah. It was when you saw ALL of the neon signs along the Strip. Explore the history of Vegas through those signs at The Neon Museum. This place is so cool that it is moving to a larger space in 2025 because they currently 1) can only display 1/3 of their collection and 2) have to turn people away due to current capacity limitations. They are open 3 - 11pm and buying tickets in advance online is recommended due to those capacity constraints.
Las Vegas Arts District
The Las Vegas Arts District is an unexpected joy that is overlooked by traditional tourists. The opportunity to interact directly with dozens of artists, photographers, architects, and galleries under one roof has become a cultural touchstone for art lovers in Las Vegas. They even have a neat Gallery to Go art vending machine to pick up a small souvenir.
Vegas is arguably the US home for music. Sure, you could argue that New Orleans, Nashville, and Biloxi are worthy contenders, but Vegas attracts the biggest names in music. Why? Touring (I hear) is brutal. Never sleeping in your own bed, not being sure of what city you are in. (Yes, that describes some of the tourists in Vegas but only for a few days and then they are back home). When you are an Artist In Residence at one of the Vegas Hotels or The Sphere then you go home at night and still have packed audiences at every show. Many of these shows are sold out months in advance.
Tip: Make friends with your hotel Concierge. That person (for a discreet $20 tip) will magically find tickets for you. Is it the hottest show in town? That tip may go up to a few hundred dollars. The network of Concierge in Vegas know where all of the unsold seats are located (including for dinner reservations). No show is ever truly ‘sold out’ because the hotels hold onto seats for A-Listers who pop in and want to see the show. There are even Professional Concierges who work exclusively with “people they know.” I can hook you up with one of the best if you drop me a line at [email protected] (and no, we don’t get a kickback). Check here for the current Artists In Residence calendar.
Day 2: Frankie, Sammie, and Whitey
The Mob Museum
The Mob Museum
Do you dig Al Capone, The Valentine’s Day Massacre, Rudy Giuliani, Whitey Bulgar, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.? Come check out The Mob Museum. Does crime pay? Who is a criminal? What is a crime? You will find yourself remembering stories told by your parents of the music greats - Sammy Davis Jr, Frank Sinatra, etc - and wondering if they may have left out the spicy parts of the stories. This museum tells the spicy parts. This is Vegas so you can even book a wedding here. Ha! The exhibit on Prohibition is particularly entertaining given that hotels now hand you a drink upon arrival.
The Tuscany Suites & Casino – Piazza Lounge
This elegant Piazza Lounge in the The Tuscany Suites & Casino offers a cozy atmosphere where you can relax and enjoy live performances of The Rat Pack is Back. Imagine yourself living in the time of Frank Sinatra, filling in details from the Mob Museum that morning. Watch out for the martini’s - they are enormous and strong!
Fremont Street Experience
The Fremont Street Experience is loud, overwhelming, filled with cigarette smoke, and kinda slummy and yet! Truly, it’s difficult to visit Vegas without seeing this at least once because it’s also the original Vegas. Seeing the decadence and grit of Old Vegas at the Fremont Street Experience makes it easy to understand just how upscale and refined we experience the current Vegas. Come here at night by Uber because parking is nonexistent and leave your purse at home - pickpockets love the tourists who are looking up at the sky show, out at the live music, and down on their phone to see if their selfie turned out. You will be greeted by armed guards at the entrance who will check your bag. They are looking for guns and explosives, not drugs. They really don’t care if you are in an altered state unless you are armed. This is no joke - security remains a top priority since the 2017 shooting. Walk through the casinos to see how people gambled - and still do - at casinos without spas, sparking water, or filtered air.
Everybody’s A Joker and A New Way to Think About Wedding Planning
Funny Man: Everybody’s a wise guy
Can You Take It?: Watch the whole way through
Let’s Get Married In Vegas: Never judge until you see the alternative.
Day 3: Clean water for a hot wedding
 | The Hoover Dam Tour is fascinating to see the level of engineering applied to re-routing rivers in order to contain precious drinking water. As you walk along the top of the Dam, you can compete with your friends to see who remembers the most movies in which the Dam blew up. As water rights, and access, become bigger issues, this tour will offer some perspective on what people are fighting over. |
Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art
Admire the rotating collection at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art and enjoy the chilly air conditioning. Then go on a self-guided tour of each hotel lobby along the Strip. As hotels compete on who can offer the most luxury, their lobbies are becoming works of Art. Bellagio, for example, features hand-blown Murano glass sculptures in the lobby. This is where you learn how to navigate Vegas. Each hotel is connected to one another above ground so you can walk from hotel lobby to hotel lobby without going outside in the scorching heat. Does that mean that you go outside to cross the road? Nope. You either take the monorail or go down one level to the shopping and eating extravaganza beneath Vegas.
Now that you have learned to navigate Vegas without getting cooked in the desert heat, it’s time to watch a different sort of heat. The stories are true - Vegas has many Wedding Chapels and they are busy! Getting married in Vegas is such a popular activity that TripAdvisor keeps track of the most popular chapels! I don’t gamble in Vegas but I have been known to lay down a $20 over whether the Bride will remember the Groom’s name during the ceremony. |  |
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Day 4: Fresh Air and Fine Art
Springs Preserve is dedicated to the natural history of Las Vegas and its indigenous people. Explore the exhibits about the desert environment, sustainable living, and the history of the native tribes who first inhabited the area. Halloween and Dia de Muertos are very big events which can sell out months in advance. |  |
 | It’s fun to walk through the outdoor sculpture garden of The Smith Center. Check out the 47 cast bronze bells in The Smith Center’s 17-story tower. They have run a total of 127,750 times since 2012 – literally turning the building into a musical instrument. |
Tomorrow, we will explore the Relaxation appeal of Vegas. I won’t mislead you - the entire city is dedicated to spa treatments, health boosts, and herbal tonics. You may need to go back every few months, testing a different spa each time, to see if you agree with my selections. Life can be difficult sometimes.
See you tomorrow.
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