Nestled
in amongst its roaring neighbours, The
Barbary Coast casino is one of the last
of its line. Europeans used the term “Barbary
Coast” until the 19th century to
refer to the coastal regions of what is
now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.
The name evokes ideas of Arab slave traders
and Barbary pirates who attacked shipping
in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic.
The casino is decorated to look like a
19th century Victorian imperialist montage,
with heavy decor everywhere. It might
remind you of New Orleans, and it isn’t
perhaps a surprise that the Barbary Coast
has sister casinos in places like “The
Orleans” and “The Gold Coast”.
There
are a few things that separate the Barbary
Coast from its neighbours. Its main outdoor
sign is in the style of the 1970s casinos,
with blinking neon that reminds one of
the opening scenes of the movie “Casino”.
Inside the casino is noticeably smaller
than some of its titanic cohorts, without
the vast amount of space to cram things
like museums, spas, jousting tournaments,
and mock-up world monuments. It does have
one of the last regular Fat Elvis acts
in town; while this might not be the sort
of thing slowly desiccating baby-boomers
like to see (they are very big on the
cigar mall at the Ballagio), “Fat
Elvis” is a serious part of Las
Vegas history. It says tasteless, it says
Wayne Newton, it says high grade Formica
and plastic palm trees…
But one must digress. The Barbary Coast
has all of the things you will want in
a classic Vegas casino. There are all
of the usual games and perhaps a few more;
a real classic Vegas style crowd, and
an excellent honest to goodness “loosest
slots in town” kind of feel. What
more do you want?
Barbary
Coast Travel Links |
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