Paris Las Vegas

One of the Strip's newest hotel-casinos, Paris Las Vegas continues the trend of drawing on a well-known European city for its theme, following the success of Bellagio ( SO22). Like New York New York ( SO24), Paris confronts the visitor with landmarks of a great city, in this case dominated by a 50-story replica of the Eiffel Tower with glass elevators that carry guests to an observation deck at the top. Nearby are two-thirds-scale replicas of other icons of the City of Light: the Arc de Triomphe, the facade of the Louvre (incorporating a restaurant with outdoor seating), and the Paris Opera, all intended as accurate representations. As in other newer resorts, the desire for authenticity creates a hyperreal environment in which structures appear realistic but use faux materials, such as styrofoam and clay for stone and painted rivets for metal ones. The tri-wing hotel tower, rising thirty-four stories and containing 2,916 rooms, applies decorative details from the Hôtel de Ville to a formulaic shape, seen in a number of other Strip resorts, that reveals the influence of corporate hotel architecture. Despite its appeal to the new, Paris Las Vegas is yet another reworking of a now familiar paradigm.

The casino itself covers approximately 85,000 square feet. Though the space is crowded with slot machines and game tables, the Parisian theme continues inside. Three of the Eiffel Tower's four legs rise through the casino structure itself. Street scenes decorate the walls, and a painted twilight sky ornaments the 40-foot-high ceiling, helping to open up the rather claustrophobic, noisy space. Additional elements include cobblestone paths, ornate street signs, and a replica of the Pont Alexandre III. Connecting the hotel-casino to its neighbor, Bally's, is Le Boulevard, an enclosed mall with shops and restaurants that presents a Disneyesque version of the rue de la Paix, a Parisian shopping street.