Essay, Research Paper: Vegas

Ever since the origin of Las Vegas s Strip, by Bugsy Siegel with the casino Flamingo, the architectural structure of the city has always been a masculine theme. As Aaron Betsky says all buildings are either masculine or feminine. Masculine architecture is the cold, overbearing, flashy, outdoor structures. Feminine architecture has a homier, soft, indoors, where you want to stay at quality to the structure. With these terms defined the flashy, dominating, masculinity of Las Vegas has been evident from the gangster days all the way up until now with the theme park based casinos.
The Strip is a world of its own. Where else can you go to visit Egypt, New York, the Tropics, Camelot, Rome, Greece, Hollywood, and much more all on one street? The Strip itself is competitive and one only has to look down the street at night to see this. Each establishment has to not only keep up with the others but to also attract and keep their visitors.
The most masculine building on the Strip is the MGM Grand hotel and casino. This tall and wide hotel looks from the outside to be totally made out of green glass. Not only does the massive structure of the hotel seem so overbearing, but also they put a gigantic lion at the entrance. A lion might be a feline, but they way it is portrayed by the establishment is anything but feminine. The testosterone doesn t stop there. Whenever there is a big boxing match in Las Vegas it is guaranteed to be held at the MGM Grand. So not only does the building exude more than enough masculinity the owners have to carry it into the event in the hotel.
Right across the street from the MGM Grand is the Luxor. This is the casino that chooses to replicate ancient Egypt for a theme. In creating a replica of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, it signifies the hard work, sweat, and ingenuity of the ancient Egyptian man. It was an erection, symbolized by the obelisk that stands at the front of the building (Betsky. 765). All of the other casinos have millions upon millions of lights to attract a customer in to devour their money. Instead of all this the Luxor decides to put one gigantic two story light at the top of their pyramid. This appeals to the follow the light principle.
A more fanciful place is Treasure Island. This hits home to every boys dream to be a pirate, sail the seven seas, lute, plunder, and dig for buried treasure. All this is brought in to mind when someone watches the play the employees perform on the sailing ship in front of the establishment. Other than this there is not a lot of other attractive qualities, except for a little pirate themed arcade and interior design.
The Cesar s Palace is the least masculine building on the strip. The building holds huge water shows out in front of the pond, which is artsy and not rough, rugged, and macho. It even has a couple of dolphins swimming around in another pond out front. People can come in off the streets and pet these dolphins. Women love to pet animals, especial when they look like Flipper. The most feminine part of the casino is the huge mall that leads into the hotel. The shopping mall has become the feminine temple. (Betsky, 766) This leaves little room for the grand macho structures. It could be the darkest night of the year, but as soon as you walk into this mall it transforms into day again. This is due to the lighting on the ceiling reflected into the painting of a clear and breezy sky. The mall itself has all of the famous designer stores inside, like Gucci and Calvin Klein. These stores entice women and some men to think that they must have at least one dress or shirt from here to show their status. The masculine structures of Cesar s Palace are the Roman arches and pillars, and all the statues of Cesar, although the ivy growing up the pillars and the general landscape tend to bring back the attractive feminine touch.
The Strip has always been flashy. Every hotel, casino says in its own way Gimmie your attention! This competition has created a frenzy over building the biggest, best, and most original theme park for adults. To be a successful casino it has to have an overwhelmingly grand and elegant hotel, with at least one reason for a person to come and see the building just to stand in front and be humbled by the grandeur of the design. By generating this rivalry it produces a very masculine location in Nevada.