Sure, Las Vegas is known for its luxury hotels and five star restaurants, but let’s not forget that it’s also home to some first-rate kitsch attractions!
Here are three of the best places to get your fill of kitsch culture, both on and off the strip.
Madame Tussauds Wax Museum—Las Vegas
The Venetian
3377 Las Vegas Boulevard South Las Vegas, NV 89109-8911
Tel.: (702) 862-7800
Hours:10am-11pm
Web: www.madametussauds.com/LasVegas/
Admission fee: $24 per person
If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of Brad Pitt, Nicholas Cage or the Blue Man Group during your time in Vegas, head straight to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in the Venetian. You’ll have “encounters” with more than 100 wax celebrities on display in six differently themed areas.
At $24 per person, Madame Tussauds is one of the pricier kitsch experiences one can have in Vegas, but true kitsch aficionados will think it’s worth every penny.
Neon Boneyard and Neon Museum
East end of Fremont Street Experience
Las Vegas, NV
Tel.:(702) 387-NEON
Hours: Outdoor walking tour open 24 hours a day (best to go at night)
Admission fee: $15 per person
Web: http://www.neonmuseum.org/fremont-street-gallery.html
Located at the east end of the Fremont Street Experience (a kitsch experience in and of itself), the Neon Museum displays vintage multi-colored neon signs from defunct or renovated Las Vegas hotels, casinos, and restaurants dating back to the1940s.
Kitsch favorites include the Hacienda Horse and Rider from the Hacienda Hotel and Aladdin's Lamp from the original Aladdin Hotel. The experience is simply dazzling if you go at night.
Liberace Museum
1775 East Tropicana Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Tel.:(702) 798-5595
Hours: Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; Sun 12pm-4pm
Admission fee: $12.50 per adult (child, student and senior rates available)
Web: http://www.liberace.org/
A veritable shrine to one of the kitschiest figures of all time, The Liberace Museum houses treasures from the late musician’s personal life and career. Here you can gaze in wonder at the mirror-covered cars, glittery pianos and opulent threads of the king of kitsch, Walter Valentino Liberace (1919-1987).
There is also quite a bit of literature on his life and career as well as on the Liberace Foundation (if you aren’t too blinded by sequins to read it).
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