Stratosphere Las Vegas

April 30th 1996 saw the opening of Las Vegas' newest mega resort - Stratosphere Las Vegas with the throwing of a premier party. Nearly 10,000 guests were invited and many more thousands lined the streets outside to witness a giant firework display and listen to the music of Pink Floyd. The party didn't go off without incident though. The smoke from the pyrotechnics set off the smoke alarms but the smoke-cleaning system cleared out the smoke before mass panic ensued.

The Stratosphere Las Vegas is composed of the Stratosphere Tower, a smaller tower with 2,444 hotel rooms and a casino. The main tower is 1,149 feet high making it the tallest free-standing observation tower in the United States. Just to give you some idea of its size, it is taller than the Eiffel Tower in France and twice as tall as the Space Needle in Seattle.

The Stratosphere Las Vegas was the brainchild of Bob Stupak and both he and the site where the Stratosphere Las Vegas now stands have a rather colorful history. Stupak bought the land in the early 1970’s thinking that he had made a bargain purchase. $218,000 for a piece of the Las Vegas strip was a snip. But he had not actually bought a piece of the strip.

Little known fact 1: The Stratosphere Las Vegas is known as the northern most of the Las Vegas Strip hotels but in reality as it is on the north side of Sahara Avenue which marks the northern boundary of the Las Vegas Strip so it not technically on the Strip.

Undaunted, the future owner of the Stratosphere Las Vegas opened the Million Dollar Historic Gambling Museum 1n 1973. A sign covering the length of the building featured a girl dressed in a bikini who threw cash at passers by. The sign read "Bob Stupak's World Famous Million Dollar Historic Gambling Museum World's Biggest Jackpot." Despite its fancy name it was really nothing more than a casino full of gimmicks designed to pull the punters in. Some of the gimmicks included a $100,000 dollar bill that was in fact a fake, a slot machine with a payout of $250,00 (the biggest payout at that time) and a wall plastered with dollar bills where you could have your picture taken. Unfortunately, these gimmicks did not prove to be effective and the casino lost money. A little more than a year later the casino burnt down with losses in excess of $1.5 million. Investigators could not determine how the fire was started and the insurance company only offered $158,000. After a lengthy court battle where it was alleged that the fire was started deliberately he settled for $300,000.

Armed with this and a sizable loan, the future owner of the Stratosphere Las Vegas opened his new casino called Vegas World in 1979 which included 102 hotel rooms. Once again he introduced some gimmicks such as a live rooster that played tic-tac-toe (it always won as it got to pick first) and an invitation to play poker with Stupak himself for a minimum bet of $10,000. Realizing that the casino was an easy mark, the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union decided that gaining recognition for its employees would be quick and simple so they set up an illegal picket outside the casino knowing that could not afford to be without gamblers for very long and that it would take weeks for the courts to remove them. Stupak refused to be intimidated and took the fight to the union by organizing his own resort employees to set up his own picket line in front of the union’s offices. He even attempted to break the deadlock by publicly suggesting that the union leader play his rooster at tic-tac-toe and if he won he would accept the union. The leader, Ben Schmoutey responded "You ignorant SOB, I've got 20,000 members and I'm going to play tic-tac-toe against a goddamn rooster?" Despite earning Stupak the reputation of being a complete fruitcake that tactic worked and the union withdrew its pickets.

The fruitcake card worked again when the mob decided they wanted a piece of the action. They met in the casino’s coffee shop but Stupak put on such a show that he frightened them off. In his own words - "You don't go to bed with the boys. Once you get into bed, you never get out. I handled the Outfit by being absolutely nuts. They let me know what was going on, said I going to be with them, and I got all excited. When is the meeting? Do I get to carry a gun? I can't wait. Do I get a kiss? Am I a made guy? I was outrageous, but it was nothing they ever woke up to. Pretty soon the word went around: That Stupak, he's too nuts. They thought I was completely nuts. Nobody ever reacted that way to them."

By the mid 80’s Vegas World was bringing over $100 million per year. Was Stupak satisfied? No he had a dream to build a bigger and better mega-resort based upon Howard Hughes’ Landmark Hotel only bigger and better and called the Stratosphere Las Vegas. He announced his plan in 1991 but was unable to get any backing from the financial institutions so he embarked on a massive mail advertising program. For a one time investment of $2,500, an investor would receive five once a year trips to stay at Vegas World for three days and two nights plus $500 each trip in house chips. Furthermore, any and all ground floor investors would have their name placed on a bronze plaque on the grounds of the completed resort. It worked and construction on the Stratosphere Las Vegas began in 1993 with a planned opening date of July 1994. Then disaster struck. In August 1993 the top of the almost finished tower caught fire. Fire rained down onto the area outside Vegas World which remained open during construction and within minutes the whole tower was ablaze. Thanks to the actions of the Vegas World’s staff there were no injuries. Once the fire was out the biggest problem was the removal of the remains of the 25 ton construction crane that was perched on the top of the tower. The good news was that the tower had suffered no structural damage so a 700 foot crane was bolted to the outside of the tower and it was used to remove the damaged crane piece by piece. The cause of the fire was never discovered. Construction was resumed following Grand Casinos purchasing $28 million in stock.

On February 1, 1995, Vegas World closed her doors and on November 5, 1995, the final 24 foot spire section was air-lifted to the top of the Stratosphere Las Vegas tower.

Little known fact 2: None of the Las Vegas Strip hotels are actually in the City of Las Vegas. They are located in the unincorporated townships of either Winchester or Paradise.

The pod that topped the tower contained a revolving restaurant, indoor and outdoor observation decks, wedding chapels and a cocktail lounge. Taking on board the lessons learnt from the earlier fire, the first two floors of the pod were designed to provide a place of refuge should a fire break out. These floors were in fact a concrete bunker with a two hour fire rating and equipped throughout with sprinklers. Since heat and smoke from a fire in the Pod would tend to rise up, locating the areas of refuge at the lowest two levels provided a safe area. The area has open ventilation to the outside air providing smoke control and ventilation. In the event of a fire, people will exit down to this area and await evacuation. This will provide protection for the occupants from any fire problems that may occur above, in the Pod, for a long period of time. This area could hold the entire occupant load of the Pod. Contrary to normal practice the elevators were to be used for evacuation purposes in the event of a fire. The four elevators of the tower are of a special double deck elevator design . One car is attached on top of another car. These elevators can evacuate two floors at one time. (One elevator is dedicated to service use and firefighter use.) These elevators travel at 1,800 feet per minute, making them some of the fastest in the world. There are two separate two-hour rated shafts with two elevators in each shaft. The motors are in rooms protected by a two hour rating. This insures that there will always have a set of elevators operating in the event one set fails.

Because the express elevators are the primary evacuation means from the areas of refuge, locating the refuge areas at the bottom eliminates the problem of the elevators traveling through the fire floors. If any one elevator is out of
service, the occupant load of the Pod is reduced by 25%. The occupant load is monitored electronically by turnstiles at the bottom of the tower. To ensure that all of the life safety systems, including the elevators, will function, the building is designed with three emergency power generators providing a redundant backup. The emergency power for the building goes up one side of the shaft in a rated enclosure and the primary building power goes up another rated enclosure, This design provides for an additional backup, ensuring that power will not fail due to an electrical fire in a power shaft. The Stratosphere tower has an automatic fire sprinkler and standpipe system throughout. The design of the system is unique in that it has a higher density of water than required for this type of building.

Attractions situated at the Stratosphere Las Vegas included the High Roller Coaster on Level 12. At 909 feet up, the world's highest roller coaster. At the 921 foot level is the world's highest thrill ride, the Big Shot. Passengers sit in the 16 seats with restraints on an air cylinder device that is attached to the mast on top of the tower. They are shot 160 feet up the mast within two to three seconds reaching about 45 mph and a gravitational force of four Gs, immediately they are thrust down at a force less than one negative G but faster than a free fall.

Within five weeks of opening, Stratosphere’s revenue was over $26 million but this figure hid an alarming statistic. The casino only took a paltry $7 million, well below the expected. The tower was pulling in the visitors by the thousand but they were not staying to play the tables. By July drastic measures had to be taken. 150 workers were sacked and the payout percentages of the slot machines were adjusted to make them more attractive to players but the Stratosphere fell behind in completing 1,000 unfinished hotel rooms and fitting out the 100 shops that were due to open. The various corporate shareholders began legal wrangles amongst themselves finally forcing the Stratosphere Las Vegas into bankruptcy. This allowed Carl Icahn to gain control through one of his companies by buying a majority of the outstanding bonds.

In the early 2000s, the company attempted to get approval for a roller coaster that would run from several hundred feet up the tower and, in the last proposal, across Las Vegas Boulevard. Part of that last proposal included an entry monument on the ride over Las Vegas Boulevard welcoming people to the City of Las Vegas. The City Council did not approve the project due to objections from the neighbors over possible noise from the enclosed cars on the proposed ride. This ride was intended as a replacement for the never-built ape ride that was intended to carry passengers up the outside of the tower in the belly of a huge King Kong type ape.

Little known fact 3: Since its opening in 1996, five people have jumped to their deaths from the top of the Stratosphere Las Vegas Tower.

Current Stratosphere Las Vegas Attractions
XSCREAM - at 866 feet (264 m) is the third highest thrill ride in the world. The ride features an open, eight-seat metallic orange and green carriage that slides on a 14,600-pound teeter-totter base. The riders are held in their seats by only waist restraints that are secured with ratchets. The carriage slides on the base at up to 30mph then suddenly stops as it reaches the end of the 45-foot expanse. Seconds later the base rises before plunging at a downward angle giving riders a momentary feel of plummeting to earth. Then it returns parallel to the ground and pulls the carriage back. Magnetic brakes and a shock absorber system keep the carriage on its hydraulic base. A 90-second to three-minute ride can be programmed in about 100 different combinations, so it is likely riders will get a slightly different experience each time.

INSANITY THE RIDE - opened in 2005, at 900 feet (274 m) is the second highest thrill ride in the world, it dangles riders over the edge of the tower and then spins in a circular pattern at approximately forty miles per hour.

THE BIG SHOT - at 1,081 feet (329 m) is the highest thrill ride in the world; See above.

OBSEVATION DECK – both inside and outside offers stunning views of Las Vegas and the surrounding country.

Little known fact 4: The Stratosphere Las Vegas is the only major strip hotel that is actually located in the City of Las Vegas.

For those of you looking for a Las Vegas vacation package, then the Stratosphere Las Vegas deserves a second look. Its location straddling the Strip and downtown Las Vagas makes it the ideal place to stay if you want to explore both areas. However, if allyou want to do is cover the Strip, then perhaps Treasure Island Las Vegas of the Bellagio Las Vegas would suit you better.