Anyone familiar with this place yet?

[DaBurglar]

When i visit Las vegas I typically stay around 2 -1/2 weeks total time, with a couple days spent on a detour to Los Angeles to visit friends from when I worked and lived there in LA/San Fernando Valley  from 1992 thru 2006;  So for the 12 to 14 days I am actually in Vegas, I always spend part of my time staying at a downtown Hotel Casino (like Golden Nugget or the former Fitzgeralds now called 'D") However, I just heard they opened a NEW downtown joint called THE DOWNTOWN GRAND!      What can anyone tell me about this new place??????    Where exactly is it located?????  Also, does anyone here ever remember the old Lady Luck downtown????     Man, I am telling you, Lady Luck was one of those "secrets" Vegas was famous for......I last stayed at Lady Luck in December 2004, and they soon closed up shop shortly thereafter!  But while Lady Luck operated it was an enigma wrapped in a riddle in the middle of a fortune cookie.   The hotel and the casino were owned and operated by two totally different companies so there was a huge disparity in quality....the casino was a very small, almost rinky dink affair considering this was "Vegas", but it had some of the last, best paytables in its Video Poker selection right up thru 2004 when I was last there......Lady Luck had a bank of 8 machines which included 10/7 JOB!!!    Only 25 cents was allowed to be wagered but still......I used to play on those machines for hours, a 200 dollar deposit would almost always last at least 3-4 hours, and more often than not I still had most of it or I was winning when it came time to quit.       Lady luck also had at its Video Poker Bar, 9/6 JOB and DDB on all its Bar stations, thus a great place to make your money LAST!  But what made lady luck special was the HOTEL ROOMS.....if any of you ever stayed there from 2001 thru its closing, you know that the actual HOTEL was part of the old PARK PLACE chain of Quality Hotels.    Dont ask me how or why, but Park Place ran the hotel during this time, and as such the rooms were truly one of the best values in Vegas at that time in its history.   Being "downtown" and two blocks from Fremont Street, Lady Luck was perceived as "slum territory".....so its rates typically were 25 bucks sunday thru thursday, 45 bucks Friday (except holidays, and 90 on Saturday.......Truly very reasonable and affordable during those boom times!   They'd sell out so fast that even the few large gamblers/high rollers Lady Luck had sometimes had to be footed into another hotel because Lady lucks rooms went so fast on Saturdays! Park Place just kept the rooms immaculate, relatively speaking.....they were the first Downtown property to put fridges in all guest tooms, and the room service food was truly the best of downtown, surpassing even Golden Nugget during the last days when Steve Wynn owned the GN!    This was due to the presence of a restaurant on site in the Lady Luck that was truly a Vegas Legend.....the BURGUNDY ROOM!!!!     If anyone remembers that, give yourself a cherute!!!!!       Ah, old Vegas Memories, the best!   Why I remember this one time where a hooker was........er, um, ooops nevermind  

[gumshoe]

Hi DaBurglar,  The Downtown Grand is the old Lady Luck.  I haven't been there yet, so can't share anything about it, yet.  Maybe someone will share their experience there with the rest of us!

[mammajamma]

In my earliest visits to Vegas, I stayed at LL. My folks recommended the place as it was "lucky" for them every time they drove up there from AZ.The Burgundy Room was very good, but LL had the only coffee shop open 24 hours a day downtown, featuring a $4.99 prime rib dinner, salad, baked potato and a 1/2 ear of corn. The other food in the coffee shop was also very good, including a large flaky chicken pot pie.Just about every VP machine in LL paid 4700 coins for a Royal. They had nice stocked white Limos to cart you around and I even got a ride from the airport in their 1939 Astin Martin.VP at the bar was fabulous. They even kept tract of the royals so patrons could ask. Does anyone remember James the bartender? So funny.Mad Money Club was generous and had cash back.  They had mini-tournaments throughout the day and sometimes even came around with free appetizers.Rooms were nice to begin with, but started to show a lot of wear the last time I was there.Speaking of Fitzgerald's...it was formerly named what before that.  The Sundance.

[DaBurglar]

excellent post mammjamma!   that was exactly thr kind of post i was hoping this thread would draw from others!    I love hearing about the old vegas, especially downtown "back in the day" tales, it brings me back to a much nicer simpler time......Another source of good times and great value are the other downtown properties (besides LL/downtown grand)  that are situated off of the fremont street axis,  properties such as The California and Main Street Station!    And of course, who can forget the infamous EL CORTEZ!!!! I hope someone shares a story or two about these properties, they all have their good points as well as some funny if scary bad oints (mostly from the past back when places like el cortez were merely written off as slum pads where the dregs of the gambling community hung out (which was totally untrue but that used to be the PERCEPTION!    Now, places like Main Street station have a very loyal consistent following within its customer base, and El Cortez regularly is featured on Airlines' websites (united, American, Southwest  etc.)  offering vacation packages that are downright attractive and tempting!    I have not been to El cortez since 2001 so I have no clue what their paytables and games are like, but places like mains street station are known for periodically coming out with a machine or two with a awesome paytable (like 10/7 JOB!) and then relying on word of mouth to get new players down to their casino and into their players club. 

[chips]

Great old memories Da Burglar .My wife and I will never forget the "REAL" 25 cent shrimp cocktails at the Four Queens back in the early 70's.

[chips]

Oops 99 cent shrimp coctails

[ko king]

excellent post mammjamma!   that was exactly thr kind of post i was hoping this thread would draw from others!    I love hearing about the old vegas, especially downtown "back in the day" tales, it brings me back to a much nicer simpler time......

Another source of good times and great value are the other downtown properties (besides LL/downtown grand)  that are situated off of the fremont street axis,  properties such as The California and Main Street Station!    And of course, who can forget the infamous EL CORTEZ!!!!
 
I hope someone shares a story or two about these properties, they all have their good points as well as some funny if scary bad oints (mostly from the past back when places like el cortez were merely written off as slum pads where the dregs of the gambling community hung out (which was totally untrue but that used to be the PERCEPTION!    Now, places like Main Street station have a very loyal consistent following within its customer base, and El Cortez regularly is featured on Airlines' websites (united, American, Southwest  etc.)  offering vacation packages that are downright attractive and tempting!    I have not been to El cortez since 2001 so I have no clue what their paytables and games are like, but places like mains street station are known for periodically coming out with a machine or two with a awesome paytable (like 10/7 JOB!) and then relying on word of mouth to get new players down to their casino and into their players club.
 

My wife and daughter just got back from Vegas, I wanted to go but I have a business to take care of. My wife hadn't been in 16 years and she was very disappointed this trip, it's not like it used to be was all she said and she didn't really care about ever going back again. She hated it because she said everything was so corporate now, that's what she gets for not listening to me because I told her to steer clear of the big boys.