Luxor Hotel Las Vegas
The Luxor Hotel
Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas
Strip. Construction of the Luxor Hotel started in 1991,
the same year that Treasure Island also began
building.
The Luxor Hotel Las Vegas has a highly modernized
and contemporary design and contains a total of 4,407 rooms
lining the interior walls of a pyramid style tower and
contained within twin ziggurat towers that were built as later
additions. The hotel is named after the city of Luxor in
Egypt.
In July 2007, owner MGM
Mirage announced plans to thoroughly renovate the Luxor Hotel
Las Vegas, spending $300 million to remodel 80 percent of
Luxor's public areas, removing much of the ancient Egyptian
theme and replacing it with more adult-oriented and modern
lounges, restaurants and clubs. Among the distinctive changes
to the exterior occurred in mid-2007, when management covered
one of the pyramid's massive black faces with a 15-story sign
that advertises Absolut Vodka. On June 16, 2008 the sign was
taken down.
The Luxor Hotel Las
Vegas is located on the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip,
opposite the McCarran International Airport. The resort is
flanked by the Mandalay Bay to the south and by the Excalibur
to the north. All three are connected by free express and local
trams. All three properties were built by Circus Circus
Enterprises, which later became Mandalay Resort
Group.
When the Luxor Hotel
and Casino opened on October 15, 1993, the pyramid was the
tallest building on the strip and took 2 years to build using a
total of 968 workers. The cost was $375 million to build. A
theater and two additional hotel towers totaling 2,000 rooms
were added in 1998 for $675 million. In June 2004, the Mandalay
Resort Group was purchased by MGM Mirage, adding this hotel to
its vast array of properties on the
"Strip".
When the Luxor Hotel
resort opened, it featured a river that encircled the casino
with a ferry that would carry guests to different parts of the
pyramid. After guests complained that the ferry service took
too long, it was turned into the Nile River Tour, a river ride
that passed by many pieces of ancient artwork. Most of the
ancient Egypt theme and the river ride were taken away as part
of a campaign to tailor the property towards more upscale
tastes in 1995.
The Luxor Hotel resort
has been home to some popular entertainment attractions in the
Las Vegas area. The main level featured the nightclub, RA,
which closed indefinitely on 2006. From 2000 to 2005, the Luxor
Theatre was the home of the enormously popular performance-art
show Blue Man Group, which has since moved to The Venetian. On
February 15, 2006, the main theater became the home of the
musical Hairspray which ran until the end of the
year.
In 2006, MGM-Mirage
began completely remodeling the Luxor Hotel. Rooms in the East
and West Towers have been refurnished. Two upscale restaurants,
Isis and Sacred Sea Room, were closed. This space became
CatHouse and the renowned Company American Bistro. The RA
nightclub, which had previously been one of the most successful
in the city but had been seeing reduced attendance in recent
years, was shuttered. Replacing it is the Las Vegas branch of
LAX, a Los Angeles nightclub, which opened on 2007. The Luxor
Steakhouse was renovated and reopened as Tender Steak &
Seafood. The IMAX is now used to host a human bodies
exhibition, and the IMAX theater houses an exhibition on the
RMS Titanic.
Illusionist Criss Angel
signed a deal in 2006 to tape episodes of his TV series
Mindfreak at the Luxor Hotel. Angel currently has a production
office and store in the Luxor. In 2008, Criss Angel starred in
a new magic-themed Cirque du Soleil production at the Luxor
Hotel Las Vegas.
The Luxor Hotel and
Casino is among the most recognizable hotels on the strip
because of its striking design. Designed by hotel architect
Veldon Simpson, the main portion of the Luxor Hotel is a
350-foot-high, 30-story pyramid of black glass. In comparison,
the Great Pyramid of Giza with original capstone topped out at
481 ft. The footprint of the pyramid is a 556-foot square. The
Luxor Hotel is marked by a large obelisk with the name of the
property in lighted letters, while the porte-cochere travels
underneath a massive recreation of the Great Sphinx of Giza.
The pyramid was originally conceived with a tram connecting the
north side of the Luxor Hotel with the neighboring Excalibur
Hotel and Casino. This was soon removed for later property
changes.
A second tram linkage
now connects the east-facing side of the Luxor pyramid with
both the Excalibur and Mandalay Hotel and Casino. The Luxor
pyramid is clad in very dark bronze glass, which appears black
on clear days and a dark, golden-bronze on overcast days. There
are 30 guest-room floors, six higher service floors, including
the SkyBeam penthouses. Many of the original aesthetics of the
external property have been eliminated. The original front
water and laser show was the first to be removed. The laser
show was stopped due to complaints of stray beams illuminating
aircraft on approach to the very nearby McCarran international
airport. The fountains themselves were removed and replaced by
a parking lot and the new tram station. In addition, the
Starlight Lighting System, a nightly remote-controlled show of
lights along the pyramids corners powered by thousands of
circuit boards and computer chips, was scaled back due to
technical difficulties.
The tip of the Luxor
pyramid contains a fixed-position spotlight that points
directly upward and is claimed to be the brightest beam in the
world at over 42 billion candle power. It is visible from
anywhere in the Las Vegas valley at night, and can be seen at
flight level from above Los Angeles, California, over 275 miles
away. In the spring, the bright light attracts huge numbers of
moths into the light beam, creating a phenomenon that has been
likened to snow. It is also claimed that this Luxor pyramid
light beam can be observed from outer
space.
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