Latest / Vegas Revealed / Las Vegas: Ready for Check-in | Ep. 18

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Las Vegas: Ready for Check-in | Ep. 18 · Vegas Revealed

0:00
SPEAKER_02: It's Vegas Revealed Episode 18.
0:03
SPEAKER_02: And downtown Las Vegas is under a major revitalization right now as the city just turned 115.
0:10
SPEAKER_02: Find out about a project, bringing the whole enchilada and a whole lot more back to old Las Vegas.
0:17
SPEAKER_04: And we have a great interview with the city attorney all about that project.
0:22
SPEAKER_04: And we're going to talk history.
0:23
SPEAKER_04: He is a Vegas history lover.
0:26
SPEAKER_04: You definitely don't want to miss this one.
0:28
SPEAKER_04: Plus, big news when it comes to reopening Las Vegas.
0:31
SPEAKER_04: All the details coming up.
0:44
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us on Vegas Reveal.
0:46
SPEAKER_02: This episode is sponsored by the Blind Pig, which is just west of the Las Vegas Strip and open for business right now for takeout and for dine-in out on their patio.
0:57
SPEAKER_02: And speaking of getting back to business, phase two of reopening the Las Vegas Strip is in sight.
1:04
SPEAKER_02: We're just hearing this news and we're so excited about our resorts and restaurants getting back to welcoming their guests.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm Sean McAllister.
1:13
SPEAKER_04: And I'm Dana Roselli.
1:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it really is exciting.
1:16
SPEAKER_04: We've been hearing kind of over the last week or so about plans for reopening.
1:20
SPEAKER_04: MGM saying they're going to open New York and New York and Bellagio first.
1:25
SPEAKER_04: Caesars Entertainment announcing the Flamingo and Caesars Palace will open first.
1:30
SPEAKER_04: And they said, you know, when the state allows them to open, this is kind of the order they're going to go in.
1:35
SPEAKER_04: They don't expect to be full capacity, obviously.
1:38
SPEAKER_04: And so they're going to open two at a time and see how that goes.
1:41
SPEAKER_04: But the governor just announcing, like you had said on his Twitter account, just before we started recording, that he's going to have a press conference the Tuesday after Memorial Day.
1:50
SPEAKER_04: And it's looking like we are going to be able to enter phase two on June 4th.
1:54
SPEAKER_04: And that is when our resort casinos will be able to open.
1:58
SPEAKER_04: So it's that light at the end of the tunnel that a lot of people in our community and really all over the world have been asking for.
2:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
2:05
SPEAKER_02: And if you live here in Las Vegas or the state of Nevada, you've probably heard a lot about when things will get back to business.
2:13
SPEAKER_02: If you're listening to us from out of town, um, this could be, you know, big news because this is news where guess what?
2:21
SPEAKER_02: You can start planning a trip again.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: Woo! I feel like we should have alarms and sirens and bells going off when we say that.
2:30
SPEAKER_02: That Las Vegas will be open for people who want to come here and take a trip.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
2:37
SPEAKER_02: These resorts on the strip have put in place some really strict health guidelines to make sure that when they are welcoming guests back in, that it is as safe as it can humanly be without living in like personal hamster balls.
2:57
SPEAKER_04: That's true.
2:58
SPEAKER_04: That's true.
2:59
SPEAKER_04: And we were just chatting before we started the podcast about how, you know, the LA area and Southern California, they're not open yet.
3:06
SPEAKER_04: So they're expecting a lot of people may want to get out of town and come to Las Vegas and kind of at least relax.
3:14
SPEAKER_04: I mean, maybe, you know, hit a restaurant that they aren't able to do, hit a patio, maybe go in the swimming pool.
3:18
SPEAKER_04: Because when we were reading some of the guidelines, uh, Caesars Entertainment, when they announced they're opening the Flamingo and Caesars Palace, they did say that that was going to include some of the restaurants that will be open, also their pools with restrictions in place and guidelines in place.
3:33
SPEAKER_04: Um, and then the casino, you know, um, they said table games and slots will be open.
3:38
SPEAKER_04: So it might be something for people to do to get away, whether, you know, I don't know to say if they're supposed to or not, but you know, they have stay-at-home orders and that kind of thing in place.
3:49
SPEAKER_04: But you know how people are, Sean.
3:51
SPEAKER_04: They don't some people just go, well, if I have to stay at home here, what if I hop in my car alone and I drive to Las Vegas, they're open, and then I can at least get out a little bit.
4:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, and the thing is, is that uh Las Vegas is taking social distancing very seriously.
4:09
SPEAKER_02: And when you if you do come out to the casinos, you're gonna see changes.
4:13
SPEAKER_02: We've been talking about them uh here on Vegas Revealed.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: We're talking about dividers between slot machines.
4:20
SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna have somebody sitting right next to you.
4:22
SPEAKER_02: There's gonna be space between active slot machines, even at table games, there's gonna be uh dividers put up, and there's gonna be uh hand sanitizing stations, hand washing stations all out on the casino floor.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: So the experience is gonna be much different when you come back here and see us next time in Las Vegas.
4:44
SPEAKER_04: That's right.
4:44
SPEAKER_04: And you know, we talked about this last podcast.
4:46
SPEAKER_04: You know, some restaurants that are in those hotel casinos are able to open if they have their own entrance and a bathroom in the hotel area.
4:56
SPEAKER_04: So one of our off-the-strip casinos that's really popular, Red Rock, announced they're gonna open a bunch of restaurants.
5:01
SPEAKER_04: And, you know, they have doors that go right out to the outside, which is great.
5:04
SPEAKER_04: And then also the Wynn announcing that they're gonna open a bunch of their restaurants too.
5:09
SPEAKER_04: I think they said May 29th.
5:11
SPEAKER_04: So at least they have that to kind of get started, see how it goes before they can actually open the doors to the full casino and hotel stays.
5:20
SPEAKER_04: And Sean, the big, big news that's been a lot of talk in Las Vegas is free parking because MGM and Caesar said, well, I don't know how I don't know if I love the phrase that MGM use, and I don't know how Flamingo and Caesars put it, uh Caesars Palace put it, but MGM said they're waving the parking fees for now.
5:40
SPEAKER_04: So I don't like the wave because that means it's not for good.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, you know, they spent all the money putting in all the the parking meters as you enter the garage and the arms to keep you from just driving in and out freely, uh, and even the the lights that show you where the parking the open parking spots are.
5:58
SPEAKER_02: So um it was interesting their wording.
6:01
SPEAKER_02: They said waived for the foreseeable future, which hey, you know what?
6:07
SPEAKER_02: Any waving of any fees, good news to my ears.
6:12
SPEAKER_02: Um resort fees, they're sticking around.
6:14
SPEAKER_02: However, you can drive in from out of state and you can park, and you won't be charged to bring your car out here to Las Vegas, and that is good news.
6:24
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it really is.
6:25
SPEAKER_04: I think I saw the cosmopolitan say that it it was gonna waive fees as well.
6:29
SPEAKER_04: I'm not, I'm not sure.
6:30
SPEAKER_04: I think I saw that somewhere, but um, yeah, I mean, the parking has just been something for us locals that live here in Las Vegas that has bothered us because we had free parking for so long and we feel like hey, if we want to go to our local restaurants, we want to shop, we want to meet family and friends that are here visiting Las Vegas, staying at these hotels, spending money at places that we recommend that we should be able to park for free.
6:51
SPEAKER_04: So um we figured this needed to happen, and um they listened and it has happened.
6:57
SPEAKER_04: So that's that's great news.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: And you know, getting back to um the restaurants, uh, and you mentioned Red Rock Resort, opening up some of their restaurants.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: Um I I just got something in my email, and I'm trying to look for it right now.
7:13
SPEAKER_02: I'm probably not gonna be able to find it because now I'm looking for it.
7:17
SPEAKER_02: But uh Botelia out here at Green Valley Ranch Resort on uh, you know, the the southeast part of town in in Henderson, um, I got I saw an email that they were opening back up, and they've got a great patio space.
7:32
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, things are uh getting back to business, and that's what uh that's what we like to see.
7:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and we were talking patios.
7:41
SPEAKER_04: Um we actually did uh a live stream the other day with um Elizabeth Blau, who owns Honey Salt, one of our off-the-strip restaurants.
7:49
SPEAKER_04: It's very popular, and she was saying, you know, the demand for the patio is huge.
7:53
SPEAKER_04: And then we started talking about something that the city announced, and they have closed down roads right in the downtown area, and they're putting tables under uh kind of like tents, and they're opening up the local restaurants you can go in, order your food, then take your plate and sit outside, which is such a great idea, and blocking off the roads so that people feel they just feel more comfortable right now eating out in the open air.
8:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I mean Las Vegas taking a cue from other cities like Washington, DC, New York City, also uh doing this uh idea to close down streets and bring dining out into the into the streets.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, here in Las Vegas, we have a a limited window, and that can be done comfortably because I think uh you know, within the next week or so we're gonna be north of a hundred degrees outside.
8:47
SPEAKER_02: And you know, being out there with no air conditioning, no misters, that can get a little sticky.
8:53
SPEAKER_02: But it's a it's great to see that restaurants are innovating and people are coming up with new ways to get people back to their establishments and doing it in a way that people feel comfortable about it.
9:07
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's for sure.
9:09
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I I did venture out and I had my first patio dining experience.
9:13
SPEAKER_04: I only went once.
9:13
SPEAKER_04: I met a yeah, I know I met a friend that was going out of town and wanted to see her, and we went, she said, Do you want to eat?
9:18
SPEAKER_04: And I said, you know, I'm not ready to eat inside, but I'll I'll do a patio.
9:22
SPEAKER_04: And and once you do it, it it felt normal.
9:24
SPEAKER_04: And you could see that the weight staff, you know, they were wearing wearing masks and they put the bottle of water on our table and they said, Well, we're not gonna pour this for you.
9:31
SPEAKER_04: We're not allowed, and like, that's fine.
9:32
SPEAKER_04: So, you know, they're trying their best to follow all the guidelines that have been put on them.
9:37
SPEAKER_04: And and you can tell, I I want to say almost that they're I don't want to say a little nervous, but they're trying to do everything right and by the book and being so careful about it.
9:47
SPEAKER_04: Um, this is something that we've never gone through.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: Well, and the fact of the matter is that there are uh very um uh differing opinions and feelings about opening back up.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: Some people completely comfortable with it, not wearing a mask, going about business as if none of this quarantine stuff ever even happened, which if if that's what makes you feel good, I guess you do you.
10:17
SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, there's another school of thought that follows science, and um, you know, that maybe we should progress a little more cautiously back into uh well, I mean, there's the yeah, it's the great mask debate, you know.
10:33
SPEAKER_04: Let me tell you, it's uh I guess people it's hard because you know, the mask really is in many situations to protect the people around you, and I think that's caused such a debate.
10:44
SPEAKER_04: Like, don't you care about the people around you?
10:45
SPEAKER_04: Just put it on, you know, when you go to the grocery store or the store or whatever.
10:48
SPEAKER_04: But you know, and then some people are getting really serious about it, like they want people to have them on when they're just taking their walk and all that kind of thing, and other people think, well, I mean it's not really necessary, everything that I've listened to.
10:59
SPEAKER_04: So, anyway, that's the great mass debate.
11:01
SPEAKER_04: I don't even want to kind of go there, but um, read about it everywhere on social media and you'll you'll see what we're talking about.
11:07
SPEAKER_04: And I'm sure you've heard it as well.
11:09
SPEAKER_02: So I I have found myself judging people who don't wear a mask when I go into stores.
11:15
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I don't know, I just feel like I I get the willies or something.
11:20
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
11:20
SPEAKER_04: No, listen, I wear one in stores um for sure.
11:24
SPEAKER_04: I I don't wear one on a run or a walk um because I've read up that as long as I'm I'm literally alone, like there's nobody out here.
11:32
SPEAKER_04: I live near the strip.
11:34
SPEAKER_04: So I'm like, uh I want to breathe in the fresh air, but yeah, it's it's a whole thing.
11:39
SPEAKER_04: I know everyone's getting judgy over everyone.
11:41
SPEAKER_04: It's it's a hard, hard thing, a hard time.
11:43
SPEAKER_04: Listen, do what you can to protect the people around you.
11:47
SPEAKER_04: Protect yourself if you care about yourself.
11:49
SPEAKER_04: If you don't, like you said, you do you, and that's on you.
11:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't know.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: I I feel bad about it because I I don't like to, you know, instantly make snap judgments about about people, but I don't know.
12:04
SPEAKER_02: It's just something that that's intrinsically happening.
12:08
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, yeah, I don't know.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how to correct that at the moment.
12:13
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
12:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, work on that.
12:15
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
12:15
SPEAKER_04: I don't know what to tell you.
12:16
SPEAKER_04: It's it is a hard one.
12:17
SPEAKER_04: I feel I feel for everyone that that is feels so internally distraught about it.
12:22
SPEAKER_04: But anyway, moving on.
12:23
SPEAKER_04: I'm looking forward to getting back to the pool.
12:25
SPEAKER_04: That's what I'm waiting for, Sean.
12:26
SPEAKER_04: I'm waiting for because you know, I want to hit a resort pool, or you know, even I live in in a building, so you know, our because they're public pools, can't they can't be open, I can go over a friends and things like that, but I'm missing my pool time.
12:39
SPEAKER_04: Let me tell you.
12:40
SPEAKER_04: The guidelines from the CDC came out for that one, and it says you need to wear a mask.
12:45
SPEAKER_04: Well, it recommends that you wear a mask, but not in the pool.
12:48
SPEAKER_04: You're not required to wear one in the pool, but in the pool, they want people to stay six feet apart.
12:52
SPEAKER_04: So we'll see what happens there and and if staff can.
12:56
SPEAKER_04: I don't know, what do they know?
12:57
SPEAKER_04: Blow whistles could be.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: I don't imagine if this stay six feet apart thing was going on when the hard rock still had their rehab pool party.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: No, but that would never happen.
13:12
SPEAKER_02: Literally on top of each other at that pool.
13:16
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, and even encore.
13:17
SPEAKER_04: I mean, like these pool parties are obviously off for the summer.
13:20
SPEAKER_04: That's not happening anywhere.
13:22
SPEAKER_04: But no, I guess.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: I guess next year I think they're not coming back.
13:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we're gonna be missing a lot, but we got to do what's best for our health and and stay safe.
13:30
SPEAKER_04: So baby steps, but hey, the governor announcing he's probably most likely going to allow resort casinos to open on June 4th.
13:38
SPEAKER_04: So fingers crossed for our economy, for the people that do want to go take part in that, that they will be able to.
13:45
SPEAKER_04: We've got uh a lot of discussion coming up in our secret tips about some travel deals, um, air airlines, our hotel casino, some things that we've looked into that we're gonna share with you.
13:57
SPEAKER_04: But first, we're gonna take a quick break and we've got a great interview coming up, Sean.
14:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm so looking forward to this because if you dig deep back into your closet or maybe look in your attic, or if you're fortunate enough to have a basement here, you could have something in your possession that could spur redevelopment of old Las Vegas and bring it back to life.
14:21
SPEAKER_02: We'll talk about that next on Vegas Revealed.
14:24
SPEAKER_04: Vegas Revealed is sponsored by the Blind Pig, which is open for business, and the patio is a favorite for people to get out, do a little mingling, enjoy some food and drink, unwind, all while feeling safe.
14:35
SPEAKER_04: It's just west of the Las Vegas strip, and boy, there's a nice view.
14:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you can't beat it.
14:39
SPEAKER_02: The blind pig also delivers offering pickup right now, too.
14:44
SPEAKER_02: Now, we stopped by there and picked up a pizza recently, and you can see the staff.
14:49
SPEAKER_02: They were sanitizing tables, they were wearing face masks.
14:53
SPEAKER_02: They say they want to give customers peace of mind during these times, and that's exactly what they did.
14:59
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the restaurant's also offering special pricing right now, so check out the menu.
15:03
SPEAKER_04: It should help during these difficult times.
15:05
SPEAKER_04: They really want everyone to be able to eat out.
15:08
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, the pizza that we picked up was delicious.
15:12
SPEAKER_02: Give the blind pig a call, 725-214-4474, to order or to make a reservation for the patio at the Blind Pig.
15:26
SPEAKER_04: Well, Las Vegas just celebrated 115 years.
15:30
SPEAKER_04: So a big happy birthday to Las Vegas.
15:33
SPEAKER_04: And we are lucky we have the longtime city attorney Brad Jerbeck on the phone with us, and we are talking Las Vegas history.
15:41
SPEAKER_04: We're excited about this, aren't we, Sean?
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Brad, how you doing?
15:45
SPEAKER_00: I am great, and I'm excited too.
15:48
SPEAKER_04: We know you love history.
15:49
SPEAKER_04: That's what we hear through the grapefrine.
15:51
SPEAKER_04: Um, and you know pretty much everything.
15:52
SPEAKER_04: You've lived here your whole life, right?
15:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, since I was four years old, which is equivalent to my whole life.
15:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, pretty much.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: Everything else I can't remember.
16:03
SPEAKER_04: When it comes to Las Vegas history, what do you love as far as you know, obviously your interest in it and then also kind of spreading, spreading all the knowledge to everyone that you interact with and friends and family and the community?
16:16
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's a good question.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh the best way I can answer is to say I love the fact that we have history, which you don't normally equate with a uh uh resort city.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh our our history is absolutely remarkable, it's unique.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: I I uh remember Time magazine years ago wrote a story that we're the last great uh Western city to be built, and we're still building and we're still rediscovering who we were.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: And so that that's what fascinates me more than anything is that people kind of look at Las Vegas and they compare it to other cities.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: And and and we don't have New York's history or Chicago's or LA's or San Francisco, but in my opinion, ours is even better.
16:54
SPEAKER_02: Well, I I was just gonna say you hear a complaint from a lot of people.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Las Vegas doesn't have history.
17:01
SPEAKER_02: Las Vegas doesn't have culture.
17:04
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
17:04
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't have the history and culture that other cities have, but it's a a history and culture that's unique to the city, isn't it?
17:13
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely right, absolutely right.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: The you know, you look at other cities that talk about history and culture, and then you think about some of the things that come with that.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: A lot of those cities aren't really inclusive.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: A lot of those cities have have a really dark side to them.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: You know, Las Vegas is a very inclusive town.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: As I tell everybody, you know, in this city it's one degree of separation.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: You can be a nobody and come here and you'll fit in like everybody else.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: There's a very, very egalitarian attitude about Las Vegas.
17:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and when you think about it, you know, like when we had the El Dorado parade and all that, people go, Well, I don't get it.
17:47
SPEAKER_04: Why are you guys having animals and horses and a rodeo?
17:50
SPEAKER_04: And it's like, well, I mean, we started way back when, and that is part of our history.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: I can remember as a kid, um, El Dorado was like the biggest deal uh when when May came around, and it was sponsored by the Elks Club, and it was on Fremont Street, and you would not believe this parade would go on for a couple of hours, and and it would be every marching band from every high school, which is probably about four back then, and it would be uh everybody who had a horse was in it, and it was it was it was really a week-long celebration with a rodeo, and and it's just was such a unique thing, but such a special thing, and uh it it made us a community.
18:29
SPEAKER_02: And and going back to really the roots of Las Vegas, we started as a railroad town.
18:36
SPEAKER_02: The the plot of land that the the you know downtown now sits on was was purchased from a railroad company.
18:44
SPEAKER_02: Do you think we'll ever get back to being a railroad company and in terms of having uh kind of a uh mass transit system that that other cities have?
18:57
SPEAKER_01: Well, yes, yes and no.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Um I I really hope that someday light rail comes to Vegas and we have kind of a fixed rail system.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: I hope we have a better mass transportation system.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: When I started as city attorney, uh we did not have the RTC and we did not have the bus system that we have now.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: And and now we do go to neighborhoods, and RTC has done an incredible job expanding those opportunities.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: But uh one of the things that I think is the the downside is that in some of those cities they had to have it.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: In this city, because we're so car oriented, we're a little less uh dependent on mass transportation than some of those other cities.
19:36
SPEAKER_01: But it doesn't mean it's not the future of the city of Las Vegas.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: How great would it be to have a clean, reliable uh uh transportation system that could you know help us clean the smog out of our valley?
19:47
SPEAKER_01: I think it would be it'd be great to to to jump into that next level of being a big city.
19:53
SPEAKER_04: And we have people that listen uh from all over the world to this podcast because simply because they have an interest in Las Vegas and you know, where the entertainment capital of the world, you know, gambling is is really a huge part of what we're known for.
20:07
SPEAKER_04: Um, do you have any interesting stories of of when, you know, kind of when it all started, when it all began, or or how it's progressed through the years?
20:15
SPEAKER_04: Because, you know, downtown Las Vegas was, I mean, kind of the strip way back when there wasn't, you know, the Las Vegas strip on Las Vegas Boulevard.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me just answer this way.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: Dina, I'm old, but not old enough to remember those stories.
20:27
SPEAKER_04: Right.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know what I mean.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know what you're mean.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: But I will say the what it always fascinated me that it all starts with the railroad.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: And and it starts with the fact that you've got to remember that the golden spike was just driven, you know, you know, a few decades before all of this, and this transcontinental railroad was being developed.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: And and there was a spur necessary to the Union Pacific line between uh Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, and they needed a place literally to put the water in the steam engines and to clean them and do switching and stuff like that.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: And and that's how Las Vegas really got born.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: We had obviously Rafael Rivera before that, we had the Mormon Fort before that, we have all these stories, but 1905 is when the Union Pacific Railroad forms the Las Vegas Water and Power District, and that becomes the original city.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: 32 blocks, and and one of them reserved for for public use, uh, which was the site for the Clark County Courthouse, and and they literally had nothing when you think about it.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: Literally nothing.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: There wasn't a house, there wasn't a store, there wasn't a place to buy uh retail goods like clothing and the like.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: All of that had to be invented just from plain desert.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: I think that's just remarkable.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: And they did.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: All the original houses were built by the Union Pacific Railroad for their workers.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: All of the accoutrements that they needed to live in those houses were built by UP for their workers.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: And it just seems like such a remarkable beginning that in the middle of Nowhere, this hot, dusty place in the summertime, they would do that.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: And within a very short period of time, it starts to become a real city.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: That I think that's the Vegas story.
22:11
SPEAKER_01: And it hasn't stopped.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: It's it's literally a continuing evolution.
22:17
SPEAKER_02: And what's really cool for people who live here in Vegas, or if you're visiting um from out of town, the Springs Preserve has some great examples of what some of those uh railroad cottages looked like and what early uh Las Vegas looked like.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: And and really that downtown area was the hub of uh what living in Las Vegas was, obviously, over the decades.
22:45
SPEAKER_02: The the attention is gravitated toward the Las Vegas Strip.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: But do you see the revitalization um that's happening downtown as kind of a magnet to draw that that excitement and that activity back to the downtown area?
23:01
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: Um just a real quick comment those railroad cottages, about half of them were still standing when I was in high school.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: And they're all gone now.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: And you're right, uh Springs Preserve got a couple of them and they were moved from downtown out there.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: So encourage people to go see what life was like in Las Vegas.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: But but right now we are, I think Las Vegas, particularly downtown Las Vegas, particularly at this horrible moment in in world history with this pandemic, is best poised to come back.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: We are uh uh putting a lot of effort into a beautification of downtown.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh we are literally researching history and bringing it all back.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: So it's called Project Enchilada because it's the whole enchilada.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: And downtown, we are literally, if you come down in the next few months, uh phase one will be finished.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh we did a lot of research.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: We are restoring all of the old motels on the exterior, original colors, original everything, new parking lots, landscaping, all of the original neon signs.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh the third one was just finished and will be installed next week, and we'll have four more after that at each of the original motels.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: We've got we found that in 1929, Las Vegas decided to install these very, very elaborate streetlights downtown, which are uh as beautiful, if not more beautiful, than any city you've ever been in.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not exaggerating.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: We we found the pieces of them, we've had them molded, and we were bringing back the original 1929 streetlights, and you'll see them on Freemont Street by the first of July.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: Really?
24:32
SPEAKER_02: That's exciting.
24:33
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
24:34
SPEAKER_02: That's really cool.
24:34
SPEAKER_02: Where did you where did you find those pieces?
24:38
SPEAKER_01: I'll try to keep the story as short as possible.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh, one day I was taking a tour of the west side looking at uh development opportunities with a developer, and I accidentally got lost and found the original 1929 pole for those streetlights in the middle of a church parking lot.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: Just literally, I slammed on the brakes and said, I can't believe I just found this.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: And so we got it.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: And then we needed the headpiece, and it turned out the designer of our street lights was also the designer of street lights in Los Angeles in the 1920s.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: And and and three of the original headpieces existed in Hancock Park in LA.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: We went down, met with LA Public Works, and we got one of them.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: So with the pole and the headpiece, we were able to send them off to Philadelphia or not Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for molding.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: They've been molded and they've been shipped and they'll be installed soon.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
25:29
SPEAKER_04: That really is.
25:30
SPEAKER_04: It really is.
25:30
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
25:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I took recently took a walk uh downtown on a Saturday morning, and I see all the work that's being done.
25:36
SPEAKER_04: So much is being done, painting, construction, and and you know, excited to see what it's going to look like in the end.
25:42
SPEAKER_04: And I think, you know, even living here, um, Sean and I have lived here um just happened to pretty much the same amount of time, 15 plus years.
25:49
SPEAKER_04: And through the years, I've noticed obviously downtown evolve.
25:53
SPEAKER_04: And I even notice um, you know, when it comes to to tourists, we see a lot of people down there, and it's the same uh people wanting to, you know, visit Fremont and all that.
26:03
SPEAKER_04: But I notice like the local crowd has changed to change to a younger demographic in downtown.
26:08
SPEAKER_04: Whenever I go, I see a lot of younger people.
26:11
SPEAKER_04: Is that what you're seeing too?
26:13
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're actually seeing every spectrum.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you go down to the arts district, for example, uh, you've got some fantastic venues.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh Esther's Kitchen just hit it out of the park with their menu, and you'll see people ranging from 18 to 80 uh eating there late night on a weekday, uh, early morning on a Sunday.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you'll see downtown a lot of the same thing, but it is it's there's a younger crowd downtown, and and I think they like the authenticity and they like the feel of it.
26:42
unknown: I think so.
26:43
SPEAKER_02: We're talking with uh Brad Jerbick, who is the Las Vegas city attorney and huge history buff uh for uh Las Vegas and uh hearing some really interesting stories.
26:55
SPEAKER_02: And and and Brad, with the circa being built, this is obviously uh one of the first major casinos to be built in decades down on Fremont Street.
27:09
SPEAKER_02: Uh is that a signal of of things to come, do you think?
27:13
SPEAKER_01: I I sure hope so.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh Derek Stevens, as you know, also owns the D.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: He's doing circa.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh remarkable man with with doing this.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: This is a remarkable project.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it's interesting because the last place to be built downtown from scratch was the Sundance in 1980.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: And and the Sundance later became Fitzgerald's, which today is the D, also owned by Derek Stevens.
27:37
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
27:38
unknown: Yeah.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: So the guy who who bought the last one built is doing the newest one to be built.
27:43
SPEAKER_04: It's incredible.
27:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we did interview him on the podcast, and he's put so much thought into this project, you know, to make it different.
27:50
SPEAKER_04: What's going to make it different?
27:51
SPEAKER_04: What's going to draw people there, downtown?
27:53
SPEAKER_04: And then he talks so much about how if I do this, then it's going to help everything that surrounds it.
27:59
SPEAKER_04: And that's my goal.
28:00
SPEAKER_04: We all work together, which I love.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I totally agree.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: I, you know, met with him in the past, and and I think he has a very integrated view of downtown.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: It's it's just not a standalone project.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be a driver, no doubt about it.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: But but it integrates so perfectly with everything else that's going on right now.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: I think you're going to see uh I think you see a lot of people coming down here real soon.
28:24
SPEAKER_02: And Brad, something that you mentioned were uh the the neon signs that we're starting to to see again in downtown Las Vegas in a time when when big um led screens, the bigger the better, you know, uh why is it important to keep to keep neon around?
28:45
SPEAKER_01: You know, I I that's a good question, and here's my answer.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: If Las Vegas was a person and had a signature, that signature would be neon.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: That is exact that's where we started with with this technology that by today's standards is probably considered a bit primitive, but it is true art.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: You you literally take a glass tube and a human being, you know, bends it and twists it and heats it and and then picks the right color of gas to go into it, and then that becomes the the sign.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we did back in the 1920s and 30s, and and that's what we're doing now.
29:19
SPEAKER_01: So I think for people to see LED stuff is is cool if you wouldn't need to want a reader board, but we're not doing reader boards, we're doing history.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: And I think that if you really want to sit there, there's nothing quite like being under the light of a real neon sign.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: Because there's fake neon, by the way.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: They they make tubes that you put LEDs in and it looks a lot like neon, but it isn't, and it doesn't have that crackle and that hum that comes with standing under a neon sign, which I I just love.
29:46
SPEAKER_02: Is it hard to find those neon artists to do this?
29:49
SPEAKER_01: I think there's only a few places in town that do it.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: So, yes, I think there's only three or four people in town.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: And uh the company that we're using right now has has all but one of them.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: And and I've been down to watch them do it.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, it it's a fascinating process.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's absolutely uh it's almost like watching a blacksmith make a horseshoe.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: It's it it is really from the ground up.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: And uh and thank God we have people around that still know how to do it.
30:17
SPEAKER_04: And you know, growing up here, you know, since you were four and and taking such an interest in the history of Las Vegas, the question that I get most just recently within the last you know month or so is is Las Vegas gonna make it?
30:28
SPEAKER_04: Is Las Vegas gonna make it?
30:29
SPEAKER_04: Are people still gonna want to come there?
30:31
SPEAKER_04: And what are your feelings on that?
30:32
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we have so I I always say, oh yeah, we're gonna take a hit, but we're gonna bounce back because there's nothing like Las Vegas.
30:39
SPEAKER_04: Is that how you feel?
30:40
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, let's let's go back to where we started.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: If you can start with broad desert in 1905 with nothing, and within 15 years, you know, you're you're literally starting to see a Fremont Street develop.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: And within another few years, you've got these street lights, and with another few years, you've got neighborhoods developing around different areas of town.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: You've got the West Side, you've got the Mayfair district.
31:04
SPEAKER_01: In 1940s, you have the Huntridge neighborhood and the Huntridge Theater.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: If we can do that from nothing, this is a cakewalk.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: Las Vegas is getting out of the park.
31:14
SPEAKER_04: I love that.
31:15
SPEAKER_04: And Brad, I know you're leaving in a few weeks.
31:18
SPEAKER_04: You're retiring, right?
31:19
SPEAKER_01: I am.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: Well, I am retiring from the city, taking a month off, and then going to work for a private firm.
31:24
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
31:25
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
31:25
SPEAKER_04: I was gonna say, what do you look forward to most?
31:27
SPEAKER_04: So what's that month gonna be like?
31:29
SPEAKER_04: It's gonna be wild.
31:30
SPEAKER_01: Well, I I would hope it would be but everything's closed.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: So it's gonna be just it's gonna be just kind of like preparing for phase two of my life.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: And uh the good thing is I'm keeping the enchilada when I leave the city.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I asked the city if I could, and I asked the law firm that I'm going to if I could.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing it pro bono.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: So if anybody thinks I'm making a dime on it, I have no contracts, no money, no anything.
31:51
SPEAKER_01: I just am passionate about it and and I want to see this project through.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: And so for the next few years, I'll be doing both.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: I'll be doing the enchilada with the city for free and and then working in the private sector.
32:02
SPEAKER_02: And do you find that there are uh uh a lot of other people with the same kind of passion as you for Las Vegas who really want to see uh really a renaissance of the best times that the city has seen?
32:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I absolutely.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I'll start with my friend Bob Stoldal, who has been there long before me, collecting history, telling history, preserving history.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh, my former councilman and friend Bob Coffin, also a localist, you know, uh amateur local historian, uh, former Senator Richard Bryan.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of people that were there, but here's the beautiful thing now.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: There are people that weren't there a few years ago.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: But now that they're seeing it, now that they're learning it, you wouldn't believe the enthusiasm from people who never even thought about it before, and now they're thinking about it all the time.
32:54
SPEAKER_04: Listen, Bob Stodal is the reason I'm here.
32:57
SPEAKER_04: He hired me back in 2004 and I never left.
33:00
SPEAKER_04: So uh he was a good seller of Las Vegas, and he he has now made Las Vegas my home.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll tell you, Bob's my hero, and and what he has done and the things he's taught me, and the things he he just knows off the top of his head, uh he he's an irreplaceable resource.
33:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
33:16
SPEAKER_04: It really is uh incredible when you talk to people like Bob and and and you.
33:20
SPEAKER_04: I mean, just uh the knowledge and oh gosh, just such interesting stories.
33:26
SPEAKER_04: It's it's great.
33:27
SPEAKER_04: Can people reach you in any way that are interested in history, wanna mingle, want to ask you a question?
33:33
SPEAKER_04: What are what are are do are you out there for people to reach out to?
33:38
SPEAKER_01: You know, I I I I would certainly love to reach out to anyone who wants to share history with me too.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: Um that's how we've done this project, actually, is people have just come forward and said, I've got a piece you probably don't have.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: I've got a this.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: And so people can reach me on my private email, which is very easy.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: It's just bradgerbick at gmail.com.
33:58
SPEAKER_01: And anybody who reaches out to me, uh, please send me any photos you have, any stories you have.
34:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you have any questions, if I can answer them, I will.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: If not, I will try and point you in the direction uh of someone who can.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: But uh if you have just a moment, I will say this.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: I won't tell you the whole story because it'll be a little bit of a teaser, but you know we're doing the Huntridge Theater right now, too.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we're and we're working on trying to close on that before the end of the year.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: And I was introduced by a fellow who literally researched the history of the Huntridge, gave me the research that he did.
34:29
SPEAKER_01: His parents are both professors at UNLV.
34:31
SPEAKER_01: They it is truly a remarkable story.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: And so if anybody wants to see that, hit me up on my my Gmail account.
34:40
SPEAKER_02: So I can't I I'm excited to hear that.
34:44
SPEAKER_02: I'm a big history buff too, so I love all the stories.
34:46
SPEAKER_02: And and Brad, I know you stumbled across the the lamppost and and these original uh light fixtures for downtown Las Vegas kind of by accident.
34:56
SPEAKER_02: Are there any other um uh uh I guess uh relics or artifacts that you're actively seeking out right now?
35:06
SPEAKER_02: Is there like one crown jewel that you're in search of?
35:10
SPEAKER_01: Actually, there's a lot.
35:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, the if you look at pictures of old Las Vegas history, one of the things that we found, uh let me talk about the Blue Angel for a moment.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: The Blue Angel is go is has been re-erected uh at four points.
35:23
SPEAKER_01: That's eastern Charleston, uh Fremont Street on the east end of town at the end of downtown.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh nobody's got a picture of the angel uh as she originally looked when first erected.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh Bob Stonewall doesn't, we don't.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: We've all looked for it.
35:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh some of the signs we just have blurry old pictures of, and and so we're doing our best to find the original colors and everything that went with them.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: We literally get on the ground with stepladders and uh scraping tools and scrape the buildings and the signs to get down to the very bottom layer of paint to get the original color right.
35:59
SPEAKER_01: So anybody who has those things, uh pictures of downtown, if you have photographs when you were a kid of downtown, I have home movies of downtown in the 60s.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: Those kinds of things are very, very uh important uh for the authenticity and just for the you know, where do we go next with this?
36:18
SPEAKER_02: All right.
36:19
SPEAKER_02: Well, we've all had a bunch of extra time on our hands that we didn't anticipate.
36:23
SPEAKER_02: And we've probably been going through the those boxes in the the back of the closet or up in the attic.
36:29
SPEAKER_02: So if you did come across any of that stuff, please uh do share it.
36:33
SPEAKER_02: It'll it'll help to don't throw it away, give it to me.
36:37
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
36:38
SPEAKER_02: Brad, thank you so much for your time, your insights, your stories.
36:42
SPEAKER_02: We've absolutely loved it.
36:43
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
36:44
SPEAKER_04: And enjoy your month off.
36:46
SPEAKER_04: Thank you, Brad.
36:48
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: Take care.
36:49
SPEAKER_04: Stay with us, stay with us, everyone.
36:51
SPEAKER_04: Dana and Sean's secret tips coming up.
36:54
SPEAKER_04: Remember, everyone, we've got a great website.
36:56
SPEAKER_04: It's vegas-revealed.com.
36:58
SPEAKER_04: There you can see a lot of our video interviews.
37:01
SPEAKER_04: We have articles posted.
37:02
SPEAKER_04: There's links to our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
37:06
SPEAKER_04: Plus, all our podcasts are listed there and ways that you can listen.
37:09
SPEAKER_04: We have a lot of options, John.
37:10
SPEAKER_04: Spotify, we're on Stitcher, Google, also Apple.
37:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's right.
37:15
SPEAKER_02: And uh we want to take a second and and thank you for tuning in and downloading Vegas Reveal.
37:23
SPEAKER_02: We've had listeners from across the United States, even in cities overseas.
37:29
SPEAKER_02: So if you're in Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Mexico, we welcome you and we thank you for listening to Vegas Reveal.
37:39
SPEAKER_04: And listen, you know what else we really appreciate is when you leave us great reviews.
37:43
SPEAKER_04: So please do that.
37:45
SPEAKER_04: If you do like the podcast, leave us a review and also comment.
37:48
SPEAKER_04: Let us know what you like about the podcast and maybe also what you want to hear more of.
37:52
SPEAKER_04: We're open to that.
37:53
SPEAKER_04: Please leave us a review.
37:54
SPEAKER_04: It always helps get the word out that our podcast exists.
37:58
SPEAKER_04: And really, you know, we need that because we want to spread the word.
38:01
SPEAKER_04: Also, if you do have ideas about things you want us to talk about, maybe look into, we have an email.
38:06
SPEAKER_04: It's easy.
38:07
SPEAKER_04: It's ideas at vegas-revealed.com.
38:11
SPEAKER_02: So please leave a review on whatever podcast platform you're listening to us on today.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: We'd very much appreciate it.
38:20
SPEAKER_02: And what we also appreciate is the fact that you give us so much feedback about our two secret tips in every episode.
38:29
SPEAKER_04: Dana and Sean's secret tips, and we we put them back in last week and they're back again this week.
38:34
SPEAKER_04: You know, at first we were a little doubtful if we should put them in because we have so many Vegas tips for when Vegas is open, but we've never expected it to close.
38:43
SPEAKER_04: And so we struggled a little bit, but then we realized, you know what, tips can be really about anything.
38:47
SPEAKER_04: Um but today I did want to focus on something that has been helpful to a lot of people.
38:52
SPEAKER_04: People really across the world are struggling with unemployment and they're expecting to get unemployment benefits if it's possible.
39:00
SPEAKER_04: However, because there are so many people, they've really backed up the phone lines and sometimes the the internet website goes down.
39:07
SPEAKER_04: And and so I had a lot of questions about unemployment and uh on Twitter and I was answering people, you know, what I knew because I was listening to the press conferences and things like that, getting information out.
39:17
SPEAKER_04: And then someone was talking about an unemployment support group for Nevada.
39:22
SPEAKER_04: So I went on there and looked, and let me tell you, it's full of information.
39:26
SPEAKER_04: So uh if you're not in Nevada, I have a feeling that a lot of states across the country and maybe even across the world, the cities across the world, are having these kinds of groups as well.
39:38
SPEAKER_04: So I want to recommend that you go look for this.
39:41
SPEAKER_04: It's in Facebook.
39:42
SPEAKER_04: Just type in unemployment support group and then maybe your area in there, Sean.
39:47
SPEAKER_04: There were ways that you can kind of get around the phone lines like press 6112 and it'll take you to this, and then it'll take you to this.
39:57
SPEAKER_04: And then people had emails listed of oh, well, this person emailed me back about my claim.
40:01
SPEAKER_04: And so maybe if you email this person, it will get the catch their attention.
40:06
SPEAKER_04: So, I mean, they have all these secret ways, and a lot of people actually got responses, and then they report their, you know, they report back with their success or their their failure.
40:15
SPEAKER_04: And these people are like, I finally got paid, and I just want to thank everyone in this group, Susie, John, Rick, you know, and everyone's friends.
40:22
SPEAKER_04: And anyway, I've noticed that it's really helpful for people who are struggling and not getting paid and waiting for those unemployment benefits to go through.
40:29
SPEAKER_04: So I wanted to recommend that folks use it.
40:32
SPEAKER_02: Hey, you know, we all need somebody to lean on, right?
40:35
SPEAKER_02: They didn't just make that song for no reason at all.
40:39
SPEAKER_04: That's true.
40:40
SPEAKER_04: That's true.
40:40
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so what's yours?
40:41
SPEAKER_04: You got a bunch of travel.
40:42
SPEAKER_04: You've been browsing around at some travel, and there's some travel that you actually have to do.
40:46
SPEAKER_04: It's um to visit some family and things like that.
40:49
SPEAKER_04: So what have you discovered?
40:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'm going up to the northern part of Nevada, up to uh Lake Tahoe in the next couple weeks and um driving up there, but then I need to take a flight back down here to Las Vegas.
41:06
SPEAKER_02: And I found a return flight from Reno to Las Vegas for under$25.
41:15
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is on one of the low-cost carriers where you have to pay extra for baggage, you have to pay extra to choose your seat, you have to pay extra, who knows, to even show up at the airport.
41:28
SPEAKER_02: I didn't choose any of those extras, but my total ticket price came to less than$25.
41:37
SPEAKER_02: So now listen, I'm not like jumping for joy about flying right now.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: I'm still a little standoffish about it, but um, you know, as long as the flight isn't packed, I'm and it's a short flight, um, you know, only about an hour.
41:54
SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm feeling okay about that.
41:57
SPEAKER_02: So you know, whatever your comfort level is about flying, there are deals out there as well.
42:05
SPEAKER_02: Now, jumping back to what we talked about earlier in the podcast about visiting Las Vegas again, there are some incredible room deals out there right now, Dana.
42:16
SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, you were looking at what was it, New York, New York?
42:20
SPEAKER_04: How much was it there?
42:21
SPEAKER_04: That's good that's gonna be one of the first MGM resorts to open.
42:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, get this.
42:25
SPEAKER_02: So I was looking um just before we started recording, and uh as the governor was announcing that uh June 4th is now the start of phase two.
42:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh I was actually originally looking at June 1st through 4th, and there were$45 rooms available at New York, New York.
42:47
SPEAKER_02: I now just went on, those dates are no longer available, and uh the lowest price to stay now at New York, New York is like$165 a night for the dates that uh so that jumped.
43:02
SPEAKER_02: However, MGM Grand is offering some rooms uh starting at right around$45.
43:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh switching over to Caesars Entertainment.
43:12
SPEAKER_04: But is MGM Grand opening, or that's just projecting if they were to open?
43:17
SPEAKER_02: Uh well, it says nightly rates at other resorts.
43:23
SPEAKER_02: It has New York, New York, MGM Grand, and Bellagio.
43:28
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so maybe maybe they do plan to, you know, and and yeah, I don't think it was official that they were only opening Bellagio and New York, New York.
43:34
SPEAKER_04: That was kind of, I think, what they said at the beginning.
43:37
SPEAKER_04: So I so maybe maybe they are gonna open that or or maybe they just have it on the calendar.
43:42
SPEAKER_04: Because I do know that some people were saying if they were if you were booked in other hotels that did open up reservations, like the Mirage MGM Grand, that if the New York, New York, and Bellagio were the only two that were open, that they were gonna move your reservation over.
43:55
SPEAKER_04: So there's always that option too.
43:57
SPEAKER_04: Maybe you'll get an email and it'll move you.
43:59
SPEAKER_02: Right.
43:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that's definitely a possibility.
44:02
SPEAKER_02: And you can probably negotiate some perks at this point, too.
44:06
SPEAKER_02: So I would recommend calling.
44:08
SPEAKER_02: And who knows, you might get a resort credit thrown in.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: But uh, over at Flamingo for Caesars Entertainment, that Flamingo is one of their first properties that's reopening, their rooms are starting at$35.
44:22
SPEAKER_02: Dana, yeah,$35.
44:25
SPEAKER_02: That's what I'm talking about.
44:26
SPEAKER_02: And uh, you can get a junior suite over at the Flamingo for a hundred bucks right now.
44:33
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
44:34
SPEAKER_02: You can stay like a high roller at some of these places.
44:38
SPEAKER_02: If you look around right now, you can stay like a high roller for what you would normally pay for just a regular room.
44:46
SPEAKER_02: So there are deals out there, and it's not only Las Vegas, it's all over the place.
44:52
SPEAKER_02: The travel industry is hurting.
44:55
SPEAKER_02: So as much travel and um hospitality and restaurants, too.
45:01
SPEAKER_02: So as much as we're able to support and get these industries back up on their feet, um, that is a good thing.
45:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and you know, search around.
45:13
SPEAKER_04: You've got you've got a little bit more time these days.
45:15
SPEAKER_04: So search around, go to the individual hotels websites, check out Travelocity, Expedia.
45:22
SPEAKER_04: There really are a lot of great deals out there.
45:24
SPEAKER_04: And maybe it's hopping around and trying one hotel and then moving to the next or or anything like that, you know, if you're if you're comfortable, but we hope everyone will come back to Las Vegas.
45:31
SPEAKER_04: I'm feeling better about it, Sean.
45:33
SPEAKER_04: That that the account economy is gonna bounce back, um, that things will be back to normal sooner than later.
45:41
SPEAKER_04: I know it's gonna take a while.
45:43
SPEAKER_04: I get that, but I don't know.
45:44
SPEAKER_04: I'm feeling a little bit more positive about it.
45:46
SPEAKER_04: Are you?
45:47
SPEAKER_02: Well, uh I I am.
45:49
SPEAKER_02: I'm really uh hopeful that things will bounce back pretty quickly.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: And we were actually uh talking with a business owner, Dana, who said that they had to um, you know, lay off some of their workforce because of the environment.
46:05
SPEAKER_02: And uh with unemployment and the additional um federal stimulus that people are getting, in some cases they're making more on unemployment than they were at their uh previous job.
46:20
SPEAKER_02: So hopefully, this stimulus money is going to do exactly what it's designed to do and put money back in people's pockets and really keep the economy going and make sure that we don't get into a bad spot.
46:35
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I hope so.
46:36
SPEAKER_04: I hope so.
46:37
SPEAKER_04: Um it's you know, positive news that that the strip could open June 4th.
46:42
SPEAKER_04: Uh, we'll keep you posted on all our social channels.
46:45
SPEAKER_04: Again, we're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.
46:47
SPEAKER_04: We have the website Vegas-Revealed.com and a YouTube.
46:51
SPEAKER_04: So check us out, everyone.
46:52
SPEAKER_04: And we do hope that you have another safe week and get out and get some exercise.
46:58
SPEAKER_02: And leave us a review on whichever podcast platform you're listening to us on today.
47:03
SPEAKER_02: We'll see you next week on day two.