Poll : 17 October - 23 October 2007

Analysis

With an incredible 4,377 votes, this trip down memory lane definitely takes the biscuit for our biggest-ever response to a poll. Thank you so much to everyone who voted and to all those – there's a whole stack of you spilling off my desk – who wrote in to explain why they'd picked their particular bygone favorite, especially Donald, who managed to come up with something he missed about every single one of ‘em!

As you'll see, the Stardust was the top pick – no great surprise among our readers, not only for its colorful history and great sports book, but for that unbeatable annual free room deal they offered to LVA members. The Sands was a close runner-up with everyone who remembered the Rat Pack days, or wished they could have seen them. An unlikely high-scorer in anyone's poll except LVA's, probably, the Westward Ho tied in joint 3rd-place with the Desert Inn, the former remembered fondly for its mammoth hot dogs and cheap margaritas and the latter for its classiness. Some places got votes but not enough to give them a whole percentage point and some of you voted for ones we'd left off the list, at least in your chosen incarnation (Debbie Reynolds, Thunderbird, Reserve, and the original MGM Grand, Aladdin, and Binion's Horseshoe, to name a few).

Sadly, there just isn't space to share all of your feedback, but here are some of the highlights and thanks to all who wrote in. We read ‘em, even though we couldn't print them all.

Among the votes for the Stardust, we got these comments:

• 'By the time I made my first trip to Sin City, in 1992, the Stardust already had a long and illustrious history. But I'll always remember it for $2 blackjack, friendly dealers, and William B's – the great little steakhouse that fit my budget.'
• 'Across a span of 20 years, I knew every item in the Stardust. I could have been blind and still found my way around.'
• 'It was the only hotel/casino on the Strip that I was loyal to throughout my 17 years here that it was open. Great food, great slots, friendly staff, inexpensive -- it had it all.'


The Sands


• 'Its ties to the Rat Pack notwithstanding, it had a great pool, garden rooms out back where you could actually open sliding glass doors and sit on your patio, and I wonderful lounge…The Venetian does indeed sit on hallowed ground and that's probably why it's my new favorite.'
• 'I'm too young to have experienced the original Vegas vibe, and the Sands seems like it was the place to be and be seen.'
• 'The first time we went to Vegas we won $5,000 at the Sands. We has so many trays filled with $1s! It's just a memory of the Sands you don't forget.'
'The showroom was at the east end of the casino (opposite the front door) and I loved it when they would open the doors a few minutes before each show ended, so that those of us in the casino could listen in. Wonderful place, wonderful memories.'
• 'Its long association with the Rat Pack and the glamour which accompanies that make me wish it was possible to still visit and just absorb the atmosphere. Also, it was the first slot club I joined … and opened my eyes to all the stuff I could get for free in Vegas though slot clubs and coupons.'
The Westward Ho


• 'Excellent beer specials, especially imports and micro-brews. Not-so-great but always entertaining lounge acts – free!'
• 'Megadog, 99¢ margarita, 5¢ coffee.' [Editor's note: Need we say more?]
Others


• 'Bring back Vegas World, just because it was so damn cheesy!'
• 'Silver City, only because it was smoke-free. Sigh…
• 'The Boardwalk, because it was friendly and homey.' Also, ‘because there are no little, cheap casinos on that end of the Strip.'
• 'Showboat, because they had the best strawberry shortcakes in their café.'
• 'The Maxim. It had class! No theme, no costume