{"id":15906,"date":"2016-11-11T00:27:23","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T08:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/vitalvegas\/?p=15906"},"modified":"2021-04-19T12:19:29","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T19:19:29","slug":"offbeat-las-vegas-photo-ops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/vitalvegas\/offbeat-las-vegas-photo-ops\/","title":{"rendered":"25 Utterly Offbeat Las Vegas Photo Ops"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just about everyone’s taken photos of the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign and the Bellagio fountains, but we like our photo ops a little more twisted.<\/p>\n

We’ve pulled together 25 obscure, quirky and downright bizarre photo ops in Las Vegas, so wipe the schmutz off your lens as we expose the offbeat side of Sin City.<\/p>\n

1. Downtown Meerkats<\/strong><\/p>\n

Downtown’s Life is Beautiful music festival has brought a lot of eye-catching artwork to Las Vegas, and this meerkat sculpture is one of our favorites.<\/p>\n

\"Meerkats
This art installation was created from trash and found materials by Portugese artist Bordalo II.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. Bliss Dance<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, we’re not done at The Park yet, bub. Yes, we said bub. Somebody had to. We broke the story Bliss Dance was coming to Las Vegas<\/a>, so she holds a special place in our heart. She’s also naked, so there’s that. Bliss Dance, a 40-foot public art piece by Marco Cochrane that originally appeared at Burning Man, is based upon an actual woman who would never date us in a bajillion years.<\/p>\n

\"Bliss
Similar to many professional dancers in Las Vegas, Bliss Dance took about 10,000 hours to construct.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 3. Typewriter Eraser at Aria<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s an eye-catching piece of art, and its name is Typewriter Eraser, Scale X. Aria and City Center are bursting with art, and Aria even offers a brochure<\/a> to help find it all.<\/p>\n

\"City
We like it for its dizzying scale and its ability to confound millennials. Because typewriters. And erasers. And brochures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. Berlin Wall at Main Street Station<\/strong><\/p>\n

There’s no way this chunk of the Berlin Wall isn’t making our list of offbeat Las Vegas photo ops. Not so much because it’s the Berlin Wall, but because it’s in the men’s restroom. Women can get their pic, too, just ask security to escort you in.<\/p>\n

\"Berlin
When erected, the Berlin Wall was 27.5 miles long. We can all see where this photo caption is going.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

5. St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Wall at The Mob Museum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking of unique walls, how about this macabre offering at downtown’s must-visit Mob Museum? It’s a strange and fascinating artifact from the 1929 whackings of seven mobsters, presumably by members of Al Capone’s posse. Why anyone would associate the mob with Las Vegas is anybody’s guess.<\/p>\n

\"Mob
The Mob Museum Web site has a fun nickname generator<\/a>. Try it later, you’re in the middle of a listicle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

6. Golden Goose<\/strong><\/p>\n

The iconic Golden Goose is back! The Golden Goose used to sit atop the Glitter Gulch strip club on Fremont Street. Now, thanks to Downtown Project, it’s back on Fremont (at Fremont Street and 10th Street).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Golden
Welcome back, you beauty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

7. Flamingo at Lyft Art Park<\/strong><\/p>\n

You’ve heard about the Flamingo casino on The Strip, but downtown Las Vegas has a unique flamingo of its own. This giant flamingo looms large over Fremont East. It’s part of the Lyft Art Park.<\/p>\n

\"Flamingo
You can never have too many flamingos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8. Diamond Inn Motel’s Pink Elephant<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can never have too many seedy motels or too many pink things. This roadside curiosity recently got some repairs<\/a>, so it’s ready for its close-up. The pink elephant can be found along Las Vegas Boulevard, near Mandalay Bay and the welcome to Las Vegas sign.<\/p>\n

\"Pink
The pink elephant was imported from Disneyland in the 1950s. It used to trumpet loudly, but the County forced the owners to remove the sound device. Thank you, County.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

9. Elephants at Rainforest Cafe<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you’re a fan of pachyderms, you’ll be thrilled to know there are more elephant photo ops in Las Vegas, and these babies still have their trumpeters intact. These large elephants can be found at the new location of Rainforest Cafe<\/a>, Harmon Corner, at the juncture of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue. They’re a little cheesy, but the lifelike movements will win you over.<\/p>\n

\"Rainforest
Embrace the cheese. Although we were expelled from school for that one time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

10. Crazy Girls Bronze Statue at Planet Hollywood<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just around the corner from Harmon Corner is Planet Hollywood, and Planet Hollywood is the new home of an iconic, and decidedly offbeat, photo op. It’s a bronze statue for “Crazy Girls,” a topless revue that was once at the demolished Riviera<\/a>. The statue can be found at the base of the escalator leading up to the hotel’s Sin City Theatre.<\/p>\n

\"Crazy
It’s considered good luck to rub the statue, hence the strategic buffing, if you get our drift.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

11. Chocolate Statue of Liberty at New York-New York<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everything’s better with chocolate, so it follows the Statue of Liberty is better made of chocolate. Hershey’s Chocolate World at New York-New York boasts a Lady Liberty replica made of 800 pounds of chocolate. Yes, in a city where the temperature often exceeds 120. Here’s a video<\/a> about the making of this curious Vegas photo op. The statue took 1,000 hours to make, or roughly the amount of time your flight takes when you’re headed to Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\"Chocolate
We’re thinking this has the makings of the world’s largest, and most patriotic, s’more.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

12. Dogs at Cosmopolitan<\/strong><\/p>\n

We don’t know much about these dogs, other than that they’re very cooperative when it’s time to take a photo. The collection of pups (there are five) can be found on the level above the Cosmopolitan’s casino.<\/p>\n

\"Cosmopolitan
The position of the dogs changes from time to time, so drop by and check out the latest doggy positions. We probably should’ve checked your I.D. before letting you read these photo captions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

13. Headless Lenin at Mandalay Bay<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just outside the Red Square bar at Mandalay Bay you’ll find a headless statue of Lenin, sometimes referred to by his DJ name, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. When the statue first went up, it had a head, but customers complained, mainly retired servicemen. So, the head was lopped off in 1999.<\/p>\n

\"Lenin
Lenin is considered one of the most influential foreign leaders of the 20th century, so 96% of Americans have no clue who he is. All due respect.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

14. Big Rig Jig<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s head (please refer to #13) back downtown to get a look at Big Rig Jig, a hidden gem and spectacularly weird Las Vegas photo op. Big Rig Jig<\/a> is a 50-foot, 25-ton sculpture, assuming you use the term “sculpture” very loosely.<\/p>\n

\"Big
Big Rig Jig sits in the courtyard of the closed Fergusons Motel. Think “Human Centipede,” but with trucks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

15. Manneken-Pis at The D Las Vegas<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, really, that’s what it’s called. This defiant statue is an over-sized replica of the famous statue in Brussels. Which is another country altogether, we’re pretty sure. Manneken-Pis means “little man pee” in Dutch. This isn’t rocket science, you know. This blog personally tossed the very first coin into the Manneken-Pis fountain and promptly won $1,000 on a Top Dollar slot machine in The D. Which makes this not only an offbeat photo op, but also a financial planning strategy. Or something.<\/p>\n

\"Manneken-Pis
The original Manneken-Pis was designed by Hiëronymus Duquesnoy the Elder, a name which got the dude epic amounts of tail, trust us.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

16. Mantis at Downtown Container Park<\/strong><\/p>\n

This 150:1 scale model of a praying mantis lights up the sky with fire each night at the Downtown Container Park, a shopping district fashioned from recycled shipping containers. The flame-throwing mantis took 3,000 hours to build and burns through about 50 gallons of propane each day. Flames from the beast reach six stories high.<\/p>\n

\"Container
Be sure to bring some extra bejesus with you, as the mantis is sure to scare what’s in you out of you.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We weren’t kidding about the “six stories high” thing, by the way.<\/p>\n

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