Thanks for the note, Senor Capper.......
Re: Stratosphere.
Indeed, this was Stupak's baby, the realization of a lifelong dream after Stupak's Vegas World went belly up about eight years ago. Typical of Stupak, he spent too lavishly and eventually lost control to the financiers. Lyle Berman was eventually called in, took one look around, and the company summarily declared bankruptcy. Ever since then, it's been a boondogle in the middle of the Vegas Strip -- burdened with a horrid location (too far North on the Strip to be accessible to the center of action, yet not far down enough to be part of the Downtown scene). If it were not for the Tower, this hotel probably would have been demolished a year after it was built, as the tower is it's only distinguishing feature.
The Strat no longer tries to cater to the high rollers (necessary in the formative years of development) and has already fallen into the categoy of the Riviera, Stardust, and older properties built in the late 60s at the North end of the Strip. This is fine for those said properties which have already paid for themsleves many times over, but when you are juggling a debt load of $180 million and have a corporation run by idiots with blinders on, this casino is probably doomed to failure.
So far as ammendities -- I saw one show there with wife about three years ago and walked out. When they closed their successful poker room about a year ago, that was the last straw for me. I vowed never to set foot in that clusterphuck of a casino ever again.
It's a dump. Stay there and you (and your family) will think Vegas is a hellhole.
-- Nolan Dalla
