The MGM Grand was heavily Oz-themed when it opened in 1993. The exterior was painted emerald green (still is). You walked in the main Strip entrance through the Cowardly Lion’s mouth and were immediately on the Yellow Brick Road heading toward Emerald City, a small theater where the magic show, "The Wizard’s Secrets," was performed. Beyond that was the Oz casino. Et cetera.
Well, it was as hokey then as it sounds now and it began to disappear fairly quickly. Less than two years later, the whole Emerald City entrance, along with the Oz casino, was remodeled. A couple years after that, the lion’s-mouth entrance was also redone; the MGM lion logo, Leo, was added instead (at nearly 50 feet tall and weighing 50 tons, it’s the largest bronze statue in the U.S.).
By about 2000, nothing was left of Oz.
Coincidental to the question, one of our favorite passages in our recent book Cherry Picker, A Literate Look at Losing at the Slots, by university English professor Mark Shechner, concerns the history of cities that qualified as Oz. Here it is:
"At any time, some city makes a run at taking its place at the end of the Yellow Brick Road.
"Medici Florence, which gave the world the Renaissance, had its turn. Its commercial rival Venice, too, was an Emerald City unparalleled for its wealth and Gothic architecture. Prior to the Second World War, if you wanted freedom, great food and drink, art, romance, and sex, especially if you were an American chafing under the yoke of Prohibition, it was Paris. After the war with Europe in ruins, New York City came on strong. How much artistic and intellectual life took root in New York from 1938 through 1955? Los Angeles then made a stab at it with the creativity let loose by Hollywood.
"Dubai? If nothing but surplus cash and tall buildings can create an Oz anywhere, then Dubai has a leg up on it. However, thanks to gambling and its seemingly inexhaustible supply of worldwide minnows and whales, Las Vegas is our current Oz. It may run out of water, it may run out of power, and it may run out of gamblers (when and if Macau becomes the new Oz). But for the moment, it’s Las Vegas, and what Americans with a little adventure in their hearts and a love of things done on a grand scale cannot wish it well?
"And consider this: If Las Vegas goes the way of Renaissance Florence or pre-war Paris, the U.S. may never get another shot."
