Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
there's nothing you can afford here? C'mon, now. There's bound to be a keychain
or cuff link for less than $100 somewhere. And even if there's not, just being inside
the Bellagio gives you the perfect excuse to wander over to the (free) conservatory
and see what designs the floral architects have come up with this season (p. 121)
While you're there, be sure and gaze into the 27-foot tall chocolate fountain, flow-
ing with three kinds of chocolate at Jean Philippe Patisserie (p. 81). Oh, and one
thing you can afford is the free parking at the far entrance to Via Bellagio, which
saves you a walk through the casino, and that can be priceless.
The Hawaiian Marketplace
(3743 Las Vegas Blvd. S.;
%
702/795-2247; www.
hawaiianmarketplacelv.com; Sun-Thurs 9am-9pm, Fri-Sat 9am-10pm; nightly
luaus Sun-Thurs 4-9pm and Fri-Sat 5-10pm; bird show Fri-Tues 1 and 3pm)
is an
open-air, island-targeted tourist trap. Las Vegas is Hawaii's No. 1 destination for
tourism, and also a hot spot for relocating. It used to be that the downtown casi-
nos were the ones who took advantage of the demographic (as you'll see by the
number of restaurants there with Spam on the menu), until developers took
notice and built a shopping area on the Strip devoted to Hawaiian culture. The
80,000-square-foot outdoor island-styled plaza located between the MGM Grand
and Planet Hollywood is filled with Polynesian-themed huts selling overpriced
leis, T-shirts, art, and Hawaiian food. It's unclear exactly who it's meant to cater
to, as Las Vegas tourists typically aren't looking for a “Hawaii” t-shirt—and nei-
ther are tourists from Hawaii. But there's an outdoor bar and nightly luaus, and
for fans of winged creatures, there's a free bird show featuring The Birdman of Las
Vegas (formerly of the Tropicana).
NORTH STRIP
Though it's free of moving statues and waterways,
Fashion Show
55
(3200 Las
Vegas Blvd. S.;
%
702/369-0704; www.thefashionshow.com; Mon-Fri 10am-9pm,
Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 11am-6pm)
still has a couple of gimmicks that set it apart
from other more pedestrian malls. Externally, it's distinguished by “The Cloud”—
a giant, bright and incredibly distracting futuristic-looking thing that shades the
mall during the day and projects advertisements at night. Internally, there's an 80-
foot retractable runway at one wing of the property where fashion shows are held
each weekend and models flaunt the latest and greatest to gathering crowds.
It's also different in that it's not attached to a casino, and is darn big, at almost
2 million square feet. That's about half the size of Mall of America, though the
folks who run the place bragged to me that their shopping space is actually just as
large . . . since 2 million feet at Minneapolis' famous mall are taken up by roller
coasters, aquariums, and the like. (Ah, ya gotta love the reflexive one-upmanship
of Vegas!) Walking the entire mall could take an entire afternoon and counts as
your anaerobic exercise for the day, as you'll be trekking into and out of over 200
stores and restaurants. Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom,
Bloomingdale's Home, and Macy's are the flagship anchors and then there are all
of the usual suspects squatting in the middle: Diesel, Zara, Betsey Johnson,
Banana Republic, and J Crew—along with dozens of other clothing and specialty
shops. There's a dearth of “only in Vegas” stores (so what else is new), with the
fashion forward Tallulah G the best exception to that rule. Eighteen million peo-
ple visit Fashion Show on a yearly basis, which averages out to about 40,000 a day,
so if you hate crowds, avoid Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, when the fashion
