All posts in Local Arrangements

Adrenaline junkies – our local arrangements team as some suggestions for heart-stopping fun in the Vegas area:

ROLLER COASTERS

The Big Apple Roller Coaster at New York-New York
3790 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV, 89109

Stratosphere Tower Thrill
2000 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV, 89104
Rides at the top of the Stratosphere Tower, over 900 feet high! The four
extreme thrill rides are The SkyJump, the Big Shot, the X Scream, and Insanity.
X Scream thrusts its car over the edge of the Stratosphere and is like a massive
teeter-totter. Big Shot shoots people up in the air. Insanity has a mechanical arm
that extends over the edge of the tower and spins people around. SkyJump is a
controlled free fall from the top of the tower to the ground.

Adventuredome Amusement Park
2880 Las Vegas Strip, Las Vegas, NV 89109
A five-acre enclosed amusement park run by Circus-Circus.

CAR ADVENTURES

Pole Position Raceway
4175 S Arville, Las Vegas, NV
Call 702-227-RACE (7223)
Pole Position Raceway has a quarter-mile track with electric race karts. It also has arcade games, billiards,
and race car memorabilia.

Dream Racing Driving Experience
7000 N Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89115
Drive a Ferrari F430 GT race car for five laps at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The complete experience (including transportation) is 2 hours.

Exotics Racing
Learn to drive a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Porsche or Audi, then drive it
Ferrari Lamborghini Combo Experience: This value package allows riders to
experience five laps in each vehicle.

Richard Petty Ride-Along and Rookie Driving Experience
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Ride in a two-seat NASCAR-style race car at the Las Vegas Motor
Speedway or learn to drive a 600 horsepower NASCAR style stock car that speeds
up to 137 miles per hour.

World Class Driving
Take a tutorial in the Dream Garage near the Strip, and then drive a
Corvette Z06 or a Shelby GI500 in convoy through Red Rock Canyon, getting tips
via radio from instructors in lead and follow cars.

OFF-ROAD ADVENTURES

Las Vegas RaZoR Adventures
6845 Speedway Blvd., K108, Las Vegas, NV 89115
Call (702) 573-2167, Toll Free (855) 797-8687
Drive a four-wheel drive dune buggy type vehicle in the desert.

EagleRider Motorcycle Rental
5182 S. Arville St., Las Vegas, NV 89118
Ride a Harley-Davidson. Tours also available.

SHARKS!

Golden Nugget Hotel Shark Tank
129 E. Fremont St., Las Vegas, NV 89101
Call 866-946-5336 for tours
A three-story water slide at the Golden Nugget pool goes right through
the 200,000 gallon shark tank. Behind-the-scenes tour also available.

Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay
3950 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119
Swim with the sharks if a certified scuba diver and a guest of the
hotel, a Shark Reef annual pass holder, or a Mlife member.

SPORTS ADVENTURES

Vegas Water Sports LLC
Wakesurfing, wakeboarding, knee boarding, water skiing or tubing excursion at Lake Mead National Park and Hoover Dam area.

Grand Canyon Touring Company
Location: Boulder City, base of Hoover Dam
Includes an 11-mile float trip and a Hummer excursion in the desert.

American Alpine Institute
9071 Hilverson Avenue, Las Vegas, NV, 89148
Guide service to rock climb in Red Rock Canyon.

Cycling tours of Red Rocks Canyon
10575 Discovery Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89147

ZIPLINES, TRAPEZE and OTHER FLYING ADVENTURES

Vegas Indoor Skydiving
200 Convention Center Dr, Las Vegas, NV, 89109
Vegas Indoor Skydiving is a vertical wind tunnel, so people can try sky diving
without jumping out of a plane.

Skydive Las Vegas
1401 Airport Rd, Boulder City, NV, 89005
This is the place to tandem skydive. Open 7 days a week all year long.

Flightlinez Bootleg Canyon
1512 Industrial Rd, Boulder City, NV, 89005
A zipline in the desert. Some climbing involved.

SlotZilla at Fremont Street Experience
425 Fremont St., Las Vegas, NV
Shoot out of a giant slot machine and soar over Fremont Street. Scheduled to open this spring.

Trapeze experience
1400 North Rampart Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89128
Learn how to fly on a trapeze.

Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park
7440 Dean Martin Dr Ste 201, Las Vegas, NV, 89139
This trampoline park offers sports where people can jump on trampolines and
run on the side walls.

Jean Sport Aviation Center
Location: 18 miles south of the Las Vegas Strip at exit #12 on Interstate 15
Single person glider rides, two person glider rides, aerobatic thrill flights,
introductory lesson flights, and Euro style winch thrill rides.
1420 Jet Stream Drive, Suite #100, Henderson, NV 89052
Call 702-938-2486 or (888) 494-5850

Las Vegas Strip helicopter tour
Call (702) 248-7368.

Sky Comabt Ace
Did you always want to be a fighter pilot? Here’s your chance. You can do
aerobatics or experience plane-to-plane aerial combat or fly to Hoover Dam or
around Las Vegas in an open-cockpit biplane.

Compiled by Katherine Rankin

This year Nevada is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its statehood and our Local Arrangements Chair, Su Kim Chung, has been highlighting some of the interesting Las Vegas specific collections held at UNLV Special Collections. So, if you have ever wondered what kind of historical collections about Las Vegas are available might we suggest:

Showgirls collections: http://news.unlv.edu/article/lasting-legacy-las-vegas-showgirls

Early Las Vegas History: http://news.unlv.edu/article/my-nevada-5-libraries-treasures-early-las-vegas-history

Preconference attendees will be able to learn even more about Nevada’s history at our RBMS LV reception site, the Nevada State Museum, and more about UNLV’s collections at the UNLV Special Collections and Lied Library Open House, Friday, June 27 from 1-5pm.

Learning about Las Vegas

Those of you attending Retrofit LV may be visiting Las Vegas for the first time.  It is a fairly young city, having celebrated its centennial in 2005, but has held a powerful place in the public’s imagination for much of that century.  Stereotypes abound, but those of us who live here and have been immersed in its history are aware of the richer story behind the headlines.  If you are interested in learning more about the city, here is a brief listing of books that can provide insight.  There are certainly many more available, so feel free to inquire for suggestions of other titles of interest.

Su Kim Chung, Chair of Local Arrangements

Head, Special Collection Public Services

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

sukim.chung@unlv.edu

General History of Las Vegas

Schumacher, Geoff. Sun, Sin and Suburbia: An Essential History of Modern Las Vegas. (2004)

Primarily a history of Las Vegas as it experienced tremendous residential growth  in the 1990s. Perhaps more of a focus on real estate and city planning and less on the Strip and downtown.

Paher, Stanley.  Las Vegas: As It Began, As It Grew. (1971)

The best source for early Las Vegas history – begins with the Paiutes, then moves  into the Spanish Trail days, then the Mormon Fort, O.D. Gass and the Stewarts.  This was the first monograph history of Las Vegas and many of the photographs in the book are from our collections

Moehring, Eugene. Las Vegas: Resort City in the Sunbelt. (2000)

This is the classic scholarly monograph on Las Vegas – note that it focuses on the years between 1930-2000 so only summarizes the early history of Las Vegas.

Moehring, Eugene, and Michael Green. Las Vegas: A Centennial History. (2005)

This is a scholarly monograph on the first 100 years of Las Vegas history.  Unlike Resort City in the Sunbelt, it goes back to the founding days of Las Vegas in the early 1900s.

Land, Barbara and Land, Myrick.  A Short History of Las Vegas (2004)

This is just what it says but still provides a very good overview of Las Vegas for the beginner. It will make you familiar with the names and places and dates that are significant in Las Vegas history.

Hopkins, A.D. and K.J. Evans. The First 100: portraits of the men and women who shaped Las Vegas. (1999)

Profiles of the movers and shakers in Las Vegas from  pre-1900 – 2000 from Helen Stewart to Bugsy Siegel to Steve Wynn. Fun to read one profile at a time!

Chung, Su Kim. Las Vegas Then and Now (2012 edition)

Although primarily a photograph history, it provides a good overview of various sites and landmarks in Las Vegas as they have evolved over the years

Gaming & Casinos –

Hess, Alan. Viva Las Vegas : after hours architecture. (1993)

A useful overview and history of Las Vegas casino architecture by a noted architectural historian. It is 20 years old now so does not provide coverage on the newer casinos, but still a good source.

Schwartz, David G. Suburban Xanadu: the Casino Resort on the Las Vegas Strip and Beyond. (2003)

A scholarly work that focuses on the development of casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip but also considers casino resorts outside of Las Vegas. Looks at issues such as organized crime involvement in Las Vegas casinos and the growth of corporate ownership on the Las Vegas Strip. Schwartz directs the Center for Gaming Research in UNLV Special Collections.

Schwartz, David G. Roll the Bones: the History of Gambling. (2006)

Great for a comprehensive all-in-one look at the history of gambling both nationally and internationally going back to Roman times.  Although there is much content on the history of gambling as it developed in Las Vegas, the book provides a wider view of gambling as it spread throughout the U.S.