Hotels - Downtown Grand

Downtown Grand. DTG for those in the know.

The site of the former Lady Luck, and for someone who loves Vegas who is married to "Lady Luck" (she's not, people always call her that when she rolls craps, and put all their money out on the table, and she inevitably rolls like 2 numbers and 7's out - so it became a running joke a long time ago) - I always knew I'd have a special connection to this place. 

So many of my favorite Vegas are housed here. From staying here on our Wedding Night, to late night sojourns to Pizza Rock, to frequent drives down from Salt Lake City (where we used to live), to $5 craps sessions all summer long, DTG has always held a special place in my heart.

Favorite Memory: Market in the Alley

For a while they were doing this really cool marketing thing where they'd block off the alley between the hotel and Pizza Rock for various events. Before we lived here we used to drive down from Salt Lake City. One year for Halloween they had a bunch of vendors and food trucks, they should do that more often, good use of the space!

Favorite Memory: The Wrong Kind of Handpay.

I've never won a handpay on a slot machine. Ever. In like 100,000+ spins.

Now technically I've been handpaid twice. One at El Cortez when the machine broke and I had $7 in it. And the second time was here when this game broke.

Both times the slot attendants had to come and count the money into my hand. 

Definitely the wrong kind of handpay!

Careful buddy, or your shirt will blend right into the carpet.

Prices, always, climbing.

Pretty sure I've almost won the Megabucks right here. One of several place in Vegas, actually.

Favorite Memory: Hotel Stays

This used to be our Summer hangout, we'd drive down from Salt Lake about every 6 weeks or so for about a year & a half.

Used to be my favorite room on Fremont Street, until Circa. 

Still my 2nd favorite hotel stay on Fremont though and I highly recommend!

They have a single $1 Blackjack table (behind us in this picture), one of the most consistently busy tables in Las Vegas!

#Lady Luck

The old restaurant, Freedom Beat. They are getting rid of it. Glad I took a picture of it!

Who doesn't love a good Kenny Rogers reference now and again? I've even seen a Kenny Rogers slot machine which was somewhere at Binion's, I believe.

This is the Gallery Tower, the new one, which I like it's quite nice actually. Especially for a quality of room on Fremont Street. And far enough away from the noise that you actually get a peaceful night's sleep.

I also enjoy the older towers as well, they have more of a nostalgic feel for me, and still pretty good room quality!

The rooms kind of remind me of college kid goes out of town for convention at work in the big city kind of vibes.

This was the "Augmented Reality (AR) Room" or something like that. There's a mural outside your window you scan with your phone and the art comes to life. Kind of cool, not an extra $30 a night cool, but still cool nonetheless.

This walkway is so much better than it used to be. Very sketchy before they renovated, and much nicer after. They added palm trees, a new entrance to Fremont Casino directly across from DTG, overhead lights, etc. I think the hope was to increase foot traffic over to DTG. Which was definitely needed!

The Marvel hands, always with the Marvel hands. 

Twins, Basil!

Very cosmopolitan (Tombstone movie reference anybody?)

Sometimes we get Pizza Rock late at night. Like 8:30pm for example.

The pool deck at Magic Hour.

The pool deck when the sun goes away.

You ever get a bonus on $1 spins? I don't. 

Pro tip: the Secret to Pizza Rock is to take it back to your hotel room and let it sit for like 15 minutes to congeal. Makes the cheese extra chewy and waxy. 

Favorite Memory: No photography.

One time I was taking a picture and a security guard came by and said you can't take photos. 

Inside the Downtown Grand.

Like it's some top-secret, high-end, private casino in Monaco. 

Buddy, there's like 3 customers in the whole place, don't scare off customers, you need the business lol.

Have I mentioned this is the best pizza in the world? Because spoiler alert, it is.

Choose carefully, one slice is the best in the world, so is the other one.

Full screen of symbols, $17.

They could just offer you the Presidential Suite instead, it would cost them the same amount!

We've all dropped the lid of our water bottle 2 seconds after opening it, right?

Eek.

They have like 5 of these pedal carts in the parking garage on the bottom floor, idk why they don't ever bring these things out more!

This was a Bachelorette party - and they seemed to be having a great time.

I just hope that husband right there didn't get in trouble for looking in that general direction.

They used to have slots on this wall, then a hot dog cart, then slots, then random tables, then electronic games, then nothing, then slots. 

DTG is always in a perpetual identity crisis. They did settle on hot dog cart near the front door which seems to be working well for them. People like cheap Vegas, not luxury-premium-everything Vegas. 

Caesars & MGM take note.

This whole page is just a photo shoot for Pizza Rock. Deservedly so.

Cherries.

That shirt made its way from Chang Mai Thailand to Pizza Rock #worldclass

Surprisingly good Video Poker!

Until next time!