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13 April 2011

Location 14: Freeside - The Silver Rush

Vegas in its 20th century heyday
Purveyors of fine energy weapons Silver Rush are obviously based on the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, but there's a twist - as with other locations in the game, the look is derived not from today's covered street, but from the area as it looked in the 1950s. The first photo on the left is taken from an old photograph, not one I snapped.

The Van Graaf's version
However, a fortuitous encounter near the Old Mormon Fort redeemed this entry: the real old sign, rusting away in an open-air museum!

The Neon Boneyard is a destination in itself: it was locked on the Sunday I was there, but a peek over the fence revealed dozens of signs from the old glitz and glamour. It set me wondering whether the thrill in those days was actually greater, at a time when many people didn't have electric lighting at home. 

The Nugget today...
Just an aside: in multiple visits to Las Vegas I'd never stayed in the Golden Nugget - it's far north of the Strip proper and the area's a bit seedy - but the one night I spent there on this trip I really enjoyed.

... and an older sign or two!
On a Sunday evening when the tourists have left, other big-box Strip hotels are noticeably emptier, but the Nugget was still buzzing with its real clientele - the locals.

Time to cross the street and see if we can find The Atomic Wrangler

3 comments:

  1. The neon boneyard was in another game set in Vegas as well. Rainbow 6 Vegas 2.

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  2. Tne Neon Boneyard is actualy partialy funded by the City of Las Vegas and Clark County. The intention is to bring the signs back to working condition and mount them in a way to make them viewable. However as our local economy has been in the crapper for several years about all the money they have been able to spare for the project is for general upkeep and maintenance on the signs themselves to keep them from decaying any more.

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  3. From silver rush you can see the test site:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NNSA-NSO-787.jpg

    ReplyDelete

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