Viva Las Vegas!

15. Paris Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV

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When the planners for Paris Las Vegas got started they were going to build their casino hotel Vegas style and that meant building a full-size replica of the 1,063-foot high Eiffel Tower. But city officials informed them that an American Eiffel Tower would interfere with flight paths into McCarron Airport so they had to settle for a half-scale 541-foot replica of Gustave Eiffel's masterwork. The back legs of the tower slide down through the ceiling of the casino onto the gaming floor. Paris Las Vegas also features an Arc deTriomphe at two-thirds size and a replica of the Fontaines de la Concorde that was fashioned in 1840 for the largest square in the French capital. The French Second Empire style facade calls to mind the architecture of the Paris Opera House and the Louvre. To kick off the new casino on September 1, 1999 French actress Catherine Deneuve hit a switch that fired up all the lights in the resort from the crystal chandeliers to the fireworks shooting from the Eiffel Tower.