The Neon Museum “Boneyard”
OK, here’s my scandal – this is tailor made for me. The “Boneyard” has what I actually find of most interest in Las Vegas. A link of the past, all placed in a junkyard setting in a crappy neighborhood. All the history is there – Binions, Golden Nugget, Showboat, et al. I’m not a huge Vegas fan – its interesting from a anthropological view – but I don’t really get the desire to act stupid and pay for every bad decision you might make. That said I did make 200 dollars on blackjack – I view this as a fluke, not the way it should be. Back to the “Boneyard” it’s two reasonably sized lots holding about 200 old neon signs. Some of these are intact and some are not – it hardly matters. One thing that is there is the old “Silver Slipper” which used to be on top of the Silver Slipper hotel/casino, until Howard Hughes bought the casino and took the sign down – because the slipper distracted his view from Caesar’s Palace.
Photos to come tomorrow
While in Vegas I visited a total of one gallery. S2 art in the Venetian Hotel. They are a show that sells mostly real america pop – Peanuts art, Maurice Sendak (Where The Wild Things Are), Bob Cane (Batman), etc. This is not my usual taste in galleries, however I really enjoyed myself – the collections showed some amazing iconic images – I’m totally in love with the Bob Kane Batman and Robin drawings – I wish I had the 60,000 for them – it a no brainer. One note here – amazingly nice gallery rep – John Graff. I have rarely spoken with a gallery rep about a multitude of things over such a short period of time (20 minutes or so).
I ate really well in Vegas.
Aureole – best known for its “wine angels” and three story wine cellar – “people come for the wine and come back for the food” – we were told by the manager, and it’s true. I had a trio of tuna and followed that with oxtails and filet, Catherine had the raw sampler followed by the sea bass. This is one of those great leisurely meals that just rolled on and everything fell into place. The wines that we tasted were also paired just right for the plates. Desert was beyond expectation – I don’t go on about deserts (and I wont now) but it was amazing.
Bouchon
Bouchon is the “French Bistro” developed by chef Thomas Keller, best known for his California restaurant “French Laundry”. We had a fun and really good meal here – great low key atmosphere and a well balanced menu, great wines and we skipped desert. Bouchon is very similar to Les Halles (DC location, 1200 Penn Ave.) – both in price and quality. As Martha would say – both are good things.