A library with dark, wood-paneled walls and a bookcase filled with leather-bound books sits adjacent to a regal living room at Caesars Palace’s Octavius Tower. You’d almost forget you were in Las Vegas if not for the tanning pool patrons outside the window. 
The antique-looking books in the library are seldom used, but they add to the villa’s residential illusion. So does the formal dining room that seats 12 and the media room with movie theater-style seating.
The centerpiece of each villa is the patio overlooking the pool area. The villas opened last fall, but the new Garden of the Gods pool just began to welcome summer visitors.
The three massive villas are the newest suites at Caesars Palace. With nearly 10,000 square feet of space, they’re some of the most opulent and largest suites on the Las Vegas Strip. The villas are on the second floor of Caesars’ unfinished Octavius Tower and are part of the resort’s long line of over-the-top suites.
From the private elevator to the 24-hour butler service, everything about the Octavius villas feels exclusive, including the price tag. The cost for a night is $40,000. The price isn’t recession-friendly, but their patrons aren’t exactly struggling in today’s economy.
The Octavius villas feel more like miniature mansions than hotel suites. Caesars spent about $15 million on each villa – a total of $45 million – to accomplish that goal. The villas are a collection of eclectic furnishings and faux artifacts, giving the feel of a collector’s well-kept home.
Wilson & Associates designed each suite with an individual identity — an opulent Grecian palace, an Old World Spanish home and a Parisian luxury apartment.
The design firm is responsible for other suites at Caesars, as well as the fantasy suites at the Palms and the rooms and lobby at The Venetian.
At 9,930 square feet, the Greek-style villa, which Caesars Palace dubs “Constantine,” is the largest of the three. The four-bedroom villa is far from subtle, but it’s subtly Greek with its fake marble columns and terracotta painted vases.
After stepping off the private elevator into the marble foyer of the Greek villa, guests will find a formal sitting room, a grand Steinway piano and working fireplace. On the other side of the hall are rooms with a pool table, a restaurant-sized bar and a theater.
Down a long hallway there are four bedrooms, each the size of a large hotel room, with walk-in closets and their own bathrooms. With custom marble and mosaics, no two bathrooms in the three villas have the same stonework.
Inside the Greek villa, the master suite’s bathroom is almost as large as the bedroom itself. The bathroom is covered in green and beige marble and features his and her toilets, sinks and vanities. It also has a steam shower, towel-warming racks and flat-screen TVs, among other amenities. A marble-topped tub with gold-plated fixtures is the centerpiece of the lavish master bath.
As trivial as they seem, the toilets are often the talk of the suites. They’re controlled by remotes, function as bidets, have heated seats and the lid opens as guests approach. There’s never a reason to touch the toilet seat.
The villas are filled with quirks galore: mirrors that turn into TVs, pianos that play themselves and chairs that massage to the beat of an iPod’s song. A networked system allows the butler to control every device in the villa.
Though the three villas have different design schemes, they have similar amenities. The French villa is light and airy. The Spanish villa is designed with distressed wood throughout the main rooms.
Off each living room is the patio that overlooks the pools. Each patio includes a fire pit, dining table and a private Jacuzzi.
The view of Flamingo Road is less impressive. Those views are reserved for penthouses and other suites higher than the pool level. The resort’s two 10,000-square-foot penthouses in the Forum Tower are still the largest suites at the resort. Caesars Palace now has 11 villas, 11 penthouses and about 200 suites.
Although the Silver Slipper opened in 1950, the sign did not go up until the 1960s. The Last Frontier became the New Frontier, which was eventually absorbed into the Frontier. The slipper was designed by Jack Larsen, Sr., a designer at Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO). The sign is 12 feet high and 17 feet wide. The slipper’s main body contains 900 incandescent light bulbs, with about 80 more in the bow. 
The slipper is part of Las Vegas’ $1.1 million Neon Sign Improvement Project that includes three vintage neon signs placed in the heart of the Cultural Corridor. It was refurbished and set into place on the median island of Las Vegas Boulevard, located just south of Washington Avenue in what is called the Cultural Corridor of Las Vegas by eight workers from Ultra Signs on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009 at approximately 11 p.m. after first being refurbished by Rafael Construction. 
of Binion’s Horseshoe sign north of Washington Avenue. New landscaped median islands are also being installed. 
Emmy nominations honored Rio headliners Penn & Teller, left, and stage designer Andy Walmsley,
right. Penn Jillette and Teller — along with writer Michael Goudeau, who also performs with Lance Burton — were nominated for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming for their Showtime series “Bullshit!” The “New Age Medicine” episode was singled out in the series that devotes each half-hour to debunking its selected topic. 
July 4th in Las Vegas. It’s at the Fashion Show Mall main level, next door to the Bebe store at 3200 Las Vegas Boulevard.
Steve Kaufman has painted numerous famous celebrity paintings, inlcluding Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, President Obama, Elvis, Beatles, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, BB King, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, U2, Janet Jackson, Al Pacino, Muhammad Ali, Oscar De La Hoya, Cuban Cigars, Andy Warhol, Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh, Campbell soup, Red Bull, Coca Cola, Liz Taylor, Brad Pitt, Superman, Spiderman, John Gotti Godfather, Scarface, Sopranos, Las Vegas sign, Playboy girl next door, Donald Trump, Michael Jordan, Mickey Mantle, Madonna, and John Travolta.
On Thursday members of a Senate-Assembly budget panel rejected Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons’ proposed cultural program cuts, saying they want to find funding to keep Nevada’s museums operating at close to current levels as possible. 
proceeds going to Positively Kids. Positively Kids offers services and programs to assist medically fragile children in the Las Vegas valley and is the charity benefiting from this year Sons of Erin St. Patrick Day celebration.
Gallery
The dream of Finnish businessman and European art collector Poju Zabludowicz was to come to downtown Las Vegas and build a contemporary art museum. He and his wife, Anita, have been feverishly collecting art since the mid-1990s and had planned to privately fund and build the museum. 
suppliers from around the globe will be showcasing their newest ideas, products, and services in five million square feet of exhibits in Las Vegas at the 
Nevada is home to many industries ranging from agriculture and ranching to the manufacture of lawn equipment and titanium products. In the 1930s Nevada was known as much for the divorce industry as it was for mining. But today, Nevada’s best known industry is tourism. And tourism is under fire at the Carson City capital building in Nevada. 
One of the best indicators of the rise of the Chinese New Year in Las Vegas is the revenue coming from baccarat play. The amount dropped on baccarat during the Chinese New Year’s celebration has increased from $455.6 million in 1996 to more than $1 billion last year.
The glitz and glamour of Hollywood comes to Las Vegas for one evening, coordinated by the efforts of the Arthritis Foundation, when “Oscar Night America,” will be hosted inside the Rain nightclub at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on Sunday, February 22. Cocktails and silent auction start at 4 p.m., followed by dinner and Oscar telecast at 5:30 p.m. 
population with local Asian residents, it is hoped Las Vegas businesses will get a much needed boost from the Chinese New Year – the Year of the Ox – which officially begins on January 26. 
Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
the short jaunt to the Primm Valley Resorts. 
new Nevada State Museum, has made a monumental discovery: Archaeologists reportedly found last week the remains of a 1,500-year-old prehistoric community on the property. Sadly, though, no buried gold coins have yet been found.
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