Las Vegas

Las Vegas (/lɑːs ˈveɪɡəs/, also locally /lɑːs ˈvɛɡᵻs/; Spanish: [laz ˈβeɣas]) officially the City of Las Vegas and often known as simply Vegas, is a city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, the county seat of Clark County, and the city proper of the Las Vegas Valley. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for gambling, shopping, fine dining and nightlife and is the leading financial and cultural center for Southern Nevada.

The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its mega casino–hotels and associated entertainment. A growing retirement and family city, Las Vegas is the 29th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 603,488 at the 2013 United States Census Estimates. The 2013 population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area was 2,027,828. The city is one of the top three leading destinations in the United States for conventions, business, and meetings. In addition, the city's metropolitan area has more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any other city in the world, and is a global leader in the hospitality industry. Today, Las Vegas is one of the top tourist destinations in the world.

SLS (LV Monorail station)

Coordinates: 36°08′32″N 115°09′18″W / 36.142290°N 115.154949°W / 36.142290; -115.154949

Sahara Ave (originally Sahara) is a station on the Las Vegas Monorail, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The station is a side platform located at the Sahara Hotel and Casino. The Sahara Station could be reached in two ways: from inside the hotel via a hallway located behind the Casbar Theatre Lounge (closed on May 16, 2011) or from street level on Paradise Road behind the Sahara. The tracks just north of Sahara station were designed to provide access to a possible downtown extension of the monorail via the northern portion of the Las Vegas Strip in the area of the Circus Circus Las Vegas and the Riviera.

On March 11, 2011, the Sahara Hotel and Casino announced that it would close its doors May 16, 2011. On the same day of the Sahara's announcement, the Las Vegas Monorail Company announced that the Sahara Station would remain open after the closure of the Sahara.

The Sahara Hotel and Casino re-opened under the name SLS Las Vegas in 2014.

Sahara

The Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الكبرى‎, aṣ-ṣaḥrāʾ al-kubrā , 'the Greatest Desert') is the largest hot desert and third largest desert after Antarctica and the Arctic worldwide. Its surface area of 9,400,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi)—including the Libyan Desert—is comparable to the respective land areas of China or the United States. The desert comprises much of the land found within North Africa, excluding the fertile coastal region situated against the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile Valley of Egypt and Sudan. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea in the east and the Mediterranean in the north, to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, where the landscape gradually transitions to a coastal plain. To the south, it is delimited by the Sahel, a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna around the Niger River valley and Sudan Region of Sub-Saharan Africa. The Sahara can be divided into several regions, including the western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Aïr Mountains, the Ténéré desert, and the Libyan Desert. Its name is derived from the plural Arabic language word for desert (صحارى ṣaḥārā [ˈsˤɑħɑːrɑː]).

Desert Wind

The Desert Wind was a long distance passenger train route operated by Amtrak from 1979 until 1997. It initially operated from Los Angeles, California to Ogden, Utah via Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, Nevada. It later was truncated to Salt Lake City when Amtrak's San Francisco Zephyr was rerouted from the Overland Route to the Denver and Rio Grande Western and renamed California Zephyr in 1983. At that time, cars from the Desert Wind and Pioneer (Portland, Oregon to Salt Lake City via Boise, Idaho) were added to the eastbound California Zephyr at Salt Lake City.

The California Zephyr runs between Emeryville, California (near San Francisco) and Chicago, Illinois through Salt Lake City.

History

At the end of the 1960s the Union Pacific Railroad had combined its Chicago–West Coast streamliners into a single massive train dubbed by critics the "City of Everywhere." This train included the Challenger, City of Denver, City of Kansas City, City of Los Angeles, City of Portland, and City of San Francisco. The City of Los Angeles separated from this behemoth (which could run to 27 cars) at Ogden, Utah to serve Los Angeles via Las Vegas, Nevada. Of these Amtrak retained portions of the City of Kansas City and City of San Francisco for its Chicago–San Francisco service, which it named the San Francisco Zephyr. Regular service to Las Vegas ended on May 1, 1971.

Palace Station

Palace Station is a hotel and casino located in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Station Casinos and has 1,053 rooms. Palace Station has a large Asian customer base due to its 10 mini-baccarat tables and 2 full size baccarat tables, and because of its location near Chinatown.

History

In 1976, Frank Fertitta, Jr., a former general manager at the Fremont, and his two partners, opened The Casino, a 5,000 sq ft gambling hall attached to a Mini Price Motor Inn, in an off-Strip location where few observers expected it to succeed. In 1977, he added bingo and renamed the property as the Bingo Palace. The casino was the first to target a clientele of local residents with offerings like giveaways, cheap buffets, and bingo. It thrived, and Fertitta soon bought out his partners' shares. Other locals casinos like Sam's Town and the Gold Coast followed in later years.

In 1984, the Bingo Palace was expanded and remodeled with a railroad theme, and renamed to the Palace Station Hotel & Casino. The grand opening ceremony was held on April 6, featuring Governor Richard Bryan and the historic locomotive Inyo. The next year, Fertitta purchased the adjoining 465-room motel. A 21-story hotel tower and high-rise parking garage were added in 1990, bringing the room count to 1,041.