Yo-11 Minutes: Episode 20 "12 Ties and the First Mega Resort"

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Mostly Vegas. No BS. Casino Experience +more
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Yo-11 Minutes: Episode 20 "12 Ties and the First Mega Resort"
On this episode:
-Oakland A’s Vegas Move Gets Approved
-Gambling Dad Jokes
-The Continental Returns/Silver Sevens Leaves
-The First Mega Resort in Vegas

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Chapters

• 8:43 Accepting Change in Las Vegas

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to Yo 11 Minutes. Yo 11 Minutes mostly Vegas, no BS Casino experience and more. Michael Traeger's Casino and Travel Loyalty Expert, who also helps people turn their travel dreams into reality. And now Michael Traeger, how's it going, Michael?

Speaker 2: 0:20

It's going great. I'm thinking of the heart eight. It's going great. I'm thinking of the heart eight. Is that like a bad dad joke? Yes, okay, do you like gambling jokes? Have you ever heard really bad gambling jokes before? We'll do that in another episode.

Speaker 1: 0:38

Honestly. I've got a lot of them. I've never I can't tell you that I've ever heard a gambling joke before, as as yeah, even though I visited here Would you like to hear a really bad one?

Speaker 2: 0:48

Sure, so, uh once. Uh, you know, at Bakaraw there's a tie bet and you can have multiple tie bets in a row. You can get two ties or three ties. The most ties I've ever seen in a row are four ties, but usually you don't see more than two in a row. You seldom see them repeat like that anyway. So what happened once is a pitball said to me oh Michael, you won't believe what happened. I'll be like what he's like. I saw 12 ties in a row yesterday. I'm like, oh my God, how'd that happen? He goes at the men's department at Macy's. That I'm dumb.

Speaker 1: 1:28

And now it's time for the news and views. Not a lot of pomp and circumstance with the first one was already expected. Major League Baseball owners unanimously voted Thursday to approve the relocation of the Oakland Athletics out of the Bay Area and to Las Vegas. The franchise is set to start playing baseball in Nevada in 2028 in a new stadium on the Las Vegas Strip at Las Vegas Boulevard and Choppa Cana Avenue, on the site of the Choppa Cana Hotel. The Choppa Cana Hotel is said to be a starting deconstruction in 2025. And, in other news, silver Sevens is being remodeled and rebranded to the Continental. A rooftop bar and lounge, along with the return of Pink Taco restaurant, will also take shape under the renovation plans. Reservating the Continental brand in Las Vegas will pay tribute to the city's Golden Arrow, the company said. Las Vegas's original Continental closed suddenly more than 20 years ago, much to the dismay of its loyal employees. That's it for the news, and now for the views, michael what are your thoughts?

Speaker 2: 2:30

Baseball in Vegas Can you believe it? I can't believe Vegas. All the time, like something else is happening, there's another sports franchise all the time. You would have never dreamed this 20 years ago, not at all no Sort of like you wouldn't have ever dreamed even five years ago that there'd be these like race car things going down the strip. So there's a lot that I totally don't expect by Vegas standards anymore. But I think a baseball franchise in Vegas is going to be awesome, though it's an awful long season. But you know what do I know about any of that? I think it's going to be good. I think it's going to be successful because it's Vegas. People want to come to Vegas, so we'll see. I am sad to lose the Tropicana, though that makes me really sad. But what can you do?

Speaker 1: 3:16

What do you have any thoughts about the Continental?

Speaker 2: 3:19

Yeah, I've got a lot of thoughts about it. Well, I have a lot of thoughts. I wasn't really familiar with Silver Silver 7s. I love the idea that they're talking about rooftop bars, because rooftop bars seem to be super, super popular. But when I was digging around a little bit in into that old casino, the one they call Vegas's Little Casino, with the Big Heart closes, they were. What was interesting about it is that everyone was toasting their goodbyes at a long wooden bar adorned with five foot renderings of Dean Martin, and to me that is super duper cool. Also, that casino the original Continental think about how small it was. It only had 500 slot machines and nine table games in about 23,000 square feet. But that sort of blows my mind 500 slot machines and nine table games. So does that mean that they had like two Blackjack tables, a craps table, a roulette table and something else? I mean it's funny to think how small some of those casinos were years ago. But interesting, interesting stuff.

Speaker 1: 4:31

I never realized how small that was. But yeah, this, how long ago did the content? So they said something like 20 years ago, so it was around before that, right. And so I'm just trying to picture what like five, a space for 500 slot machines looks like, and I'm thinking like half of Benyons, maybe like not the part of Benyons that used to be the mint, but like just the Benyons, for maybe even less than that. I don't know, that's a good one.

Speaker 2: 5:02

I got a, and when that hotel, continental, closed it was 1999, and we had 380 employees, which is funny, like that's also like, think about it, that's not a lot of people like Vegas standards, but it closed in 1999, and the employees were talking about the fact that, you know, they were really impacted by the likes of these new flashy casinos like Bellagio and Mandalay Bay, which were sort of like the second generation of super casinos which we'll touch on a bit in the Vegas news. So it's sort of interesting. I think the other big thing back then which I was thinking about the other day is back then a lot of those stripped casinos like Bellagio and Mandalay Bay and Mirage still had a pretty good gamble in the 1990s. They still had decent video poker, decent table game rules for low limit like $10 Blackjack, $15 Blackjack. So I think when you had a casino like the Continental, which was small, it was hard for them to compete.

Speaker 2: 6:10

Because now today the competitive thing for a casino that's off the strip or not as large of a casino as a stripped casino is that they have better rules. That's why downtown better video poker, better table game rules, whereas the strip is basically for lower table limits. On wasteland, the worst Blackjack, the worst video poker tables and all that. So I think it probably was hard for a little casino to compete with Mandalay Bay and Bellagio If you could go over there and gamble and have still pretty good table limits, pretty good video poker play tables and be at Bellagio or Mandalay Bay instead of this little tiny casino with nine tables. So it was a different kind of competitive thing back then.

Speaker 1: 6:56

That's interesting to learn. Speaking of history, it is now time for a Vegas history moment. Greetings, ladies and gents, and now it is time for a Las Vegas history moment, a moment of Las Vegas's history brought to you by Truddlesark. Take it away, michael.

Speaker 2: 7:22

Sure. So my main history thought today sort of ties into a little bit of this of talking about old casinos, new casinos. The first super casino on the Vegas Strip was the Mirage, and some refer to it as a super casino, others refer to it as the first mega resort on the Vegas Strip, and that opened in November of 1989. So it's just about 33 years ago or so. And when we talk about that, what's interesting now is it was dawning on me when we talk about Mirage Rock and what's happening with Hard Rock, this is the first mega resort that was built on the Vegas Strip which is now having some major new construction and elements at least that I can think of.

Speaker 2: 8:09

I was going to ask you if you thought of any other. So basically, this is a casino that isn't that old, which was the first mega resort, which is now transforming right from this whole South Pacific Mirage theme to this new cool, funky Hard Rock theme with a big guitar tower. So I thought that was something interesting to think about. I don't think I wonder in the future years if that's going to happen with other properties like Mandalay Bay or Luxor or other super casinos. The other thing is this is sort of the Vegas thing. Nothing stands still. Everything stays the same. Everything is constantly changing. So is that good or bad, or is that just something we need to accept as Vegas?

Speaker 1: 9:01

Probably something we need to accept as Vegas. I've always been told and I always tell people don't get too attached to anything in Vegas, because Vegas is always changing and the thing that you love, that you're attached to, might be gone. That's happened with me in several places over the years, so that's just Vegas.

Speaker 2: 9:25

No, and it's a good point. You were saying the other day when we were talking on the other episode about Stardust, was it really that good? And it was. But some of the new stuff is also pretty good, like it or love it. I still think Resorts World is pretty cool. I think that there's a lot of interesting stuff there.

Speaker 2: 9:44

I think we also sort of change the way we are, the way society is. I'm thinking back to start back in the Stardust days, when we went there. You didn't have Starbucks all over the Vegas Strip. Things that we think are ubiquitous, like oh my God, there's a Starbucks on every corner, or three Starbucks in a big mega resort. You didn't have Starbucks at all. So I think so many tastes and flavors sort of change. I mean I'm with the fact that I want to embrace the change and just accept the fact that that's Las Vegas and that's just the way it's going to be. I think you sort of seem like that too. Even though you're nostalgic about things, you sort of embrace the change. I think that's sort of a better way to be, because it makes you not like a grumpy get off my lawn person.

Speaker 1: 10:35

Yeah, I think for me. I just accept the change because I know that's just how it is here, so I just try to make the most of whatever moments. If they close Gallagher Steakhouse at the New York, new York, I will shed a freaking tear. That's right. That's your favorite steakhouse. That's my favorite steakhouse. My favorite gelato place closed a long time ago. That went back to my very first Vegas trip. Things like that shows change and stuff like that. Vegas, in many ways to me, is a revolving door. In fact, when I did Vegas Bright I can't even tell you when I did Vegas Bright right now it's between the Vegas Bright blog and all that stuff and our thing you know, I'd be writing articles about these new places that open and then, two and a half years later, these places are closing. So, like you had this, you were talking about Starbucks. So, to your point, there was at Starbucks at the Grand Bazaar shops it was. It had stadium seating.

Speaker 2: 11:39

I didn't remember that, but I but it sounds so Vegas.

Speaker 1: 11:43

Yeah, it was. It had stadium seating at the Starbucks. It was these weird bleachers anyway, it wouldn't to the not very comfortable, but anyways it was. You know, it was their Grand Bazaar shops. It was one of the biggest things that was at the Grand Bazaar shops at that time, and you know, and then two and a half years later, for some reason, they decided to close the Starbucks and then Bellagio gets one replacing my gelato place and the lobby, anyway. But yeah, it's your point, starbucks so, and it was like I remember that place opened and then now I have to write that it's closed. You know, and it's just, it just happens so often. I just I just look at it that way. It's like, do I accept change? I just know, yeah, I, yeah, I, I don't embrace it when I accept it because I know it's gonna happen.

Speaker 2: 12:31

Yeah, and it's sort of a losing battle with Vegas, right, if you're like so super nostalgic that, like you, are extremely triggered by Changes in Vegas, you are going to be upset all the time, right? I mean, and I think maybe you know, to me the memories are great now that we have, so, now that we take so many pictures, I mean the thing that's tough. Like years ago we didn't take as many pictures. I took quite a few in the stardust, but nowhere near as many pictures as I would like to.

Speaker 2: 12:59

So, that's, you know. I think that, and especially now when we look back at some things from the 1990s, that's the only thing. It's a little bit sad, like when we were talking about this continental casino. You know, if it had been a time where we all had a camera in our pocket, we would have a lot more pictures. But what's really tough with some of these older casinos Especially because cameras were so frowned upon on the casino floor and you didn't have phones with the camera, you had very, very few pictures, because to sneak a picture would have meant like carrying a camera and that would be Relatively obvious, you know, on a casino floor. So I guess that that sort of sucks.

Speaker 2: 13:38

But yeah, I'm with you. We got to embrace the change. It's all happening and you know what. We can't escape it and most of it, yeah, it's just, it's just Vegas. So cool stuff. I mean good, definitely good stuff to think about, and I'm really cure. I mean I'm super curious about, like, how mirage rock rock. Mirage rock is going to turn out. Actually, rio could also fall into that category of a super casino, megavizort being Transform. That could be possible, but they're not on the strip, so we'll just set those aside.

Speaker 1: 14:12

Alrighty, before I get going, is there any closing thoughts, remarks or anything on your mind?

Speaker 2: 14:18

No, nothing really. I'm just really curious to watch and, you know, see more of this f1 stuff because I think it's a spectacle. But that's it. I'm all positive about it. I enjoy watching it. Everything that I see looks really really cool. It looks crazy. I can't believe it, but I'm definitely interested in watching it.

Speaker 1: 14:35

It's definitely a spectacle, for sure. I saw some, some stuff on Twitter X from one of the police LVPD or maybe, or, but they had a view from the police helicopter of the f1 track lit up at night and I was like, okay, that's pretty cool, that looks pretty cool.

Speaker 2: 14:53

So it is. I mean, you gotta admit there's. There's definitely some moments there where you're like whoa, and they did some shit with drones for the opening ceremony, which was pretty out of sight, and also some of the stuff happening at spear. I mean, it's definitely like every single type of special effects that you could think of, including fireworks and spears and drones. They're doing it, which is very Vegas, can't say it any better.

Speaker 1: 15:22

Well, that's gonna do it for this episode. If you're listening to the audio version of this, be sure to check us out on our YouTube channel. The YouTube channel is travel Zork. Would you travel booking? Travel Zork travel. Visit us at travel is or travel calm to plan your next amazing Vacation. And please join the conversation on social media. You can find us easily. All social platforms are at travel Zork. We'll see you next time you.