11 minute read
The Strip: These attractions remain open on the Boulevard
The Strip
Boulevard brush-up
Activities a nd attra ctions still awa it on the Strip
By Brock Radke
Vegas visitors are flocking to the Strip on the weekends for some semblance of a summer vacation. Everyone knows not to expect concerts, sporting events, production shows and wild nights at the club. A trip to Vegas right now is built around gambling, eating, drinking, shopping and spending lots of time at the pool.
But that’s not all. There are many other avenues of entertainment to be found in the casino resorts on the Boulevard, many of which are appropriate for family fun. Let’s take the Californian drive-in view and start at the southern end of the Strip …
MANDALAY BAY
The Shark Reef Aquarium is one of the most popular local field trip destinations thanks to its thousands of animals, including sharks, giant rays, endangered sea turtles, piranha and more. Admission costs $15 for kids, $22 for adults and $18 for seniors, with children 3 and under admitted for free.
EXCALIBUR
The castle-themed resort reopened back on June 11 and quickly reactivated many of its amenities, including the Fun Dungeon, open every day from 4 to 10 p.m. with 200 carnival arcade and kiddie games, and the Ultimate 4D Experience ($9.99 per show or $12.99 for two shows) offering movie-themed special-effects adventures.
NEW YORK-NEW YORK
Clark County bars that don’t serve food were ordered shuttered again last week, but the iconic Bar at Times Square lives on with its dueling pianos show, open from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. Thursday through Sunday (Admission costs $25). The surrounding Village Street Eateries food court wasn’t operating when New York-New York first reopened on June 4, but many of its spots are now back in business, as is the massive candy emporium Hershey’s Chocolate World. And the Big Apple Coaster is still speeding around the resort, open daily from 1 to 9 p.m. with a discounted $12 ride for Nevadans and military with ID (regular admission for the ride costs $19).
(Steve Marcus/Staff)
MGM GRAND
One of the newest attractions to hit the Strip is The Hunger Games: The Exhibition, a parade through the costumes and scenery that made the movie franchise so memorable. Interactive elements should excite fans, culminating in a projection screen archery experience. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with summer ticket prices set at $20 for kids and $30 for adults.
ARIA
The sprawling modern resort has always been recognized for its impressive art collection, which ranges from the unmissable “Big Edge” installation by Nancy Rubins to more subtle pieces near the hotel lobby like Henry Moore’s “Reclining Connected Forms” and Maya Lin’s “Silver River.” These amazing creations are spread out all over the Aria campus, so you could create quite the walking tour, something that makes a lot more sense now that parking is free, if you can stand the summer temperatures, . And when you need to get out of the heat, stroll into the adjacent Shops at Crystals and check out James Turrell’s “Shards of Color.”
COSMOPOLITAN
The Cosmo has been one of the most interesting spots on the Strip since the reopening period, thanks to its innovative venues. The Wicked Spoon buffet is back in a different way, and Rose. Rabbit. Lie. is once again serving up a modern take on the supper club experience with dynamic
live entertainment. And a summer favorite made a comeback over the July 4 weekend when Boulevard Pool’s Dive-In Movies returned, a $7 ticket to watch a flick on the 65-foot digital marquee from the rooftop poolyard. The movies start at 7 p.m. Monday nights through September 7.
LINQ PROMENADE
The pedestrian promenade at the Linq opened a week before its casino—the hotel is still closed—and its two major attractions are ready and waiting. The High Roller Observation Wheel ($7.50-$32.75) is making the rounds from 4 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday and from noon to midnight Friday through Sunday, while the FlyLinq zipline ($21.75) is operating from 4 p.m. until midnight Friday through Sunday. If you need a little chill time after all that excitement, slip into the Flamingo next door and visit its namesake Chilean birds at the poolside wildlife habitat.
CIRCUS CIRCUS
Not only is the five-acre indoor Adventuredome amusement park open daily from 10 a.m. to midnight, it has extended a special discount for locals through the end of the month. Southern Nevadans with proof of ID receive 20 percent off admission ($19.95-$39.95) between 10 a.m. and noon every day. Back inside the Circus Circus casino, the free circus acts and arcade and carnival games at the second-floor Midway are available every day starting at 11:30 a.m.
STRAT
Can thrill rides help with anxiety? Let’s find out. Shoot yourself 160 feet higher than the Strat’s Skypod on the Big Shot, or dangle off the edge of the tower 900 feet above the desert floor on Insanity and X-Scream (hours and prices vary).
SCENE
By the throat
Vegas-based sword swallower Bret t Loudermilk takes his act to the America’s Got Talent stage
By Lesl ie Ventura
Brett Loudermilk learned to hammer a nail up his nose at age 8, and that might not unbeknownst to my parents, talking to a man in New York City, using a coat hanger and shoving it down my even be the Vegas-based throat every day,” he laughs. “I don’t sword swallower’s wildest tale durknow the legality of teaching a miing our hour-long interview. nor to control their gag reflex over
Prior to the pandemic, Louderstate lines, but once I got the coat milk was a performer on the Las Vehanger down, he sent me a sword.” gas Strip, most recently appearing At 17, Loudermilk dropped out in Spiegelworld show Opium at the of high school and flew to New Cosmopolitan. Now, having recently York City with $500 in his pocket. auditioned on a Season 15 episode of Though street performing didn’t America’s Got Talent, he’s hoping to match Loudermilk’s visions, it reach even greater heights. helped him develop the persona
“AGT gives you an audience of audiences know today. millions of people all at once,” Lou“Abrasive,” he says. “I’ll say whatdermilk says, likening the platform ever comes to my mind. Back then, to the Johnny Carson-era Tonight if I asked somebody to stop and Show. “It’s a venue [that can] change they didn’t, I would throw a temper the life of a performer.” tantrum on the street. I’ve made a
Born in West Virginia and raised lot of people very angry doing stuff in North Carolina, Loudermilk like that.” began practicing sleight of hand as Not that Loudermilk comes off as a child. When he witnessed mean-spirited. The excitsomeone swallow a sword, AMERICA ’S able, handsome performer however, Loudermilk changed GOT TALENT with bright fuchsia hair says course. Tuesdays, his act is meant to get people
Not yet a teenager, he 8 p.m., NBC. laughing, even as it makes couldn’t find anyone willing them uncomfortable. to show him the ropes. But “I want to bring people joy,” when he caught legendary magician, Loudermilk says. “I want to show sword swallower and vaudeville perthem something that makes them former Todd Robbins on television, think, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that was Loudermilk knew what to do. possible. I do plenty of things that
“I saw a remake of the show That’s make people squirm, but there’s a Incredible!, and Todd ate a lightbulb [difference] between shock and fun. and swallowed a sword, and I was I’m not interested in shock.” like, this is the coolest guy I’ve ever Loudermilk’s AGT audition, teleseen,” Loudermilk recalls. vised on June 16, showcased his abil
He scoured the internet for Robity to win over an uncertain crowd. bins’ phone number and called “Everything went wrong, [yet] it him on the spot. “I said, ‘You and couldn’t have been better,” he says. I should know each other, and you In the YouTube clip, which has should teach me how to swallow racked up more than 1 million swords’,” Loudermilk says. views, Loudermilk invites AGT
Robbins obliged, but a logistical judge Sofia Vergara to the stage, issue remained: Loudermilk was instructing her to pull the sword in North Carolina, Robbins in New from his mouth when he winks. York. So? Vergara panics. “What if I kill you?”
“He taught me how to swallow she exclaims. swords over the phone,” LouderAfter two thwarted attempts— milk says. “There I am, 15 years Vergara backs away from Louderold, locked in my bedroom, and, milk, leaving him to remove the sword both times—she eventually comes through. But the bit doesn’t end there.
She and fellow judges Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel go on to yank three additional swords from Loudermilk’s esophagus—after he swallowed all three weapons at the same time.
“When Sofia was terrified of me, I thought, ‘This is great, I’m going to lean into it’,” Loudermilk says. “Then Simon interrupts me. I’m about to launch into a whole new piece, but he wants to pull a sword out of me. At that point, why should I say no? I’m just as curious as everybody else. What’s going to happen? How badly could this go? I look at things like that as gifts. You present me with a gift, I’m going to unwrap it and play with it.”
And though he doesn’t know exactly where AGT might take him this season, he plans to fight his way to the top—and beyond.
“I dream about being able to tour,” Loudermilk says. “Will I be in a world that supports live shows by the time I’m done with my AGT journey? Who knows? But I’m in a position where I’m building an audience and a nice community of people, and I want to hang onto it.”
–Brett Loudermilk
(Photos by Mikayla Whitmore/Courtesy Brett Loudermilk)
PRINT PEDAL POWERED
LOCAL JOURNALIST AND CYCLING ADVOCATE ALAN SNEL REFLECTS ON A LIFE LIVED ON TWO WHEELS
BY C. MOON REED
or most folks, Las Vegas’ F blazing summer leads to a natural pause in outdoor activity. It’s just too damn hot. But for journalist and bicycle aficionado Alan Snel, triple-digit temps just mean waking up earlier.
Snel’s morning routine has him leaving his Summerlin home at 5:30 a.m. and arriving at the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive just after 6 a.m. He bikes the 13-mile loop, which includes some gnarly hills, and he’s home by 8 a.m., ready to face the day.
Sound exhausting? Among other pedal-powered outings, Snel has twice traversed the United States, cycling solo from east to west. Over the past 40 years, he has gone on many other bicycle adventures, written about bicycling at various newspapers and even worked as a bicycle safety advocate.
Snel had long toyed with the idea of writing a book about his life of bicycling. But he was always too busy doing things like founding and running the local news website LVSportsBiz.com, with a mission of covering the “convergence of sports, business, stadiums and politics.”
But when COVID-19 ground the world to a halt, even this busy bee found some extra time on his hands. “Nothing like a virus pandemic to get my ass in gear and plow through a lifetime of crazy bicycle stories,” Snel writes in the introduction to Bicycle Man: Life of Journeys.
“I wanted to counter the mojo and the vibe of the pandemic with something that I could have some autonomy over,” Snel explains in a phone interview. “The writing of the book gave me control over my life again.”
Because Bicycle Man draws upon articles he has written over the course of his journalistic career, Snel was able to put the book together relatively quickly. He wrote the introduction in March and the epilogue in May. By June, Snel had self-published the book and was selling it to readers, working hard to market his creation.
Snel’s writing has a friendly, conversational style. It’s an easy read full of color photographs. The book’s modular aspect allows avid readers to plow from beginning to end, and casual ones to sample stand-alone stories. “I regard the book as a kind of buffet of bicycle stories,” Snel says. “If you have a particular interest in a type of bicycle story, you can pick and choose like a buffet.”
Bicycle Man is Snel’s second book. It follows his 2018 memoir, Long Road Back to Las Vegas: How Las Vegas and the Golden Knights Healed a Journalist’s Wounds, which chronicled Snel’s near-death experience of getting hit by a car while cycling in Florida.
If Long Road is a story of recovery, Bicycle Man feels more like a celebration. “Anyone who enjoys bicycling will love and adore the book,” Snel promises. “But it’s more than that. … The stories have a universal appeal to anyone who loves travel and adventure and discovering new things around our country.”
To purchase a copy, email Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com.
“I just finished a 158-mile bicycle ride from the New York side of the George Washington Bridge along the Hudson River to the state capital of Albany in my oneperson memorial bicycle ride to remember bicyclist
Bill Fox on June 21, 2005.” (Courtesy)
