Above: View from Stratosphere, February 14, 2009
Today marks the first day of my campaign to return the Stratosphere to its former glory.
Fine, it’s never had glory … but that’s the problem.
It should have.
It’s the most visible object in Las Vegas, yet it gets scant mention unless it’s in the negative.
I’m taking up the Stratosphere as a personal cause because it’s just too fucking easy to champion the Wynn and Bellagio. Yeah, those places are nice, but there are five-star hotel rooms in Chicago that are just as opulent.
While those metrosexual properties may, indeed, have chandeliers and restaurants named after dead crooners … none of them have the tallest observation tower in the United States.
The Stratosphere has toiled away in obscurity for far too long, and I won’t stand for it any longer.
Somewhere along the way, The Stratosphere has become the Porch Monkey of Las Vegas, and much like that term … I intend to take The Stratosphere back from the haters.
Mark my words, within a couple of years, you will start hearing people proudly exclaim … “I’m Staying At The Stratosphere!”
I am going to put the “good” photos from the tower on my Las Vegas Blog, and live cellphone shots from The Strat will be posted here:
