Las Vegas — last stop of the Elvis tour

This post marks the end of our journey to see sites related to Elvis Presley’s life.  So far we’ve visited Elvis’ birth home in Tupelo, his mansion, Graceland, its car museum, and we’ve toured Memphis and Nashville.  It’s good that we end our journey here because Las Vegas was Elvis’ home-away-from-home during the last decade of his life, and certainly his favorite place to perform.  

After spending most of the 1960s making movies and records, it was in Las Vegas that Elvis began performing in front of his fans again for the first time in a decade.  Starting in 1969 he appeared in a new hotel just off the Las Vegas strip known as the International Hotel (soon to be the Las Vegas Hilton), in the largest showroom in the city.  Elvis was extremely nervous about returning to live performances.

(Elvis, circa 1970)

As successful as Elvis’ later years in Vegas were, his first performance in “Sin City” was far from eventful.  In 1956, just after he had scaled to the top of the national charts as a hip-swiveling rocker with hits like ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and ‘Hound Dog’, Elvis performed a two week stint at the New Frontier hotel (no longer in existence).  The marquee billed him as the “Atomic Powered Singer”.  While he was popular with teens and young adults, he just didn’t connect with the hard gambling, chain smoking, heavy drinking audience of that era.  The reception he received was cool and he did not return for 13 years.  Vegas and Elvis had both changed by 1969 and they were now ready for each other. 

More than any of the places we visited during our “Travels with Elvis”, the skyline, appearance and atmosphere of Las Vegas has changed dramatically since Elvis died.  Now Vegas is H-U-G-E! (I wonder if Elvis would still recognize it?).  Many of the places associated with Elvis’ ties to Vegas no longer exist (like the chapel where he and Priscilla got married), but there are some sites and activities that are worth seeing if you’re in town:

Elvis related things to do in Las Vegas.

1)  Visit the Las Vegas Hilton, renamed the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino in 2012 and yet again renamed the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino in 2014.  It was in this showroom that Elvis entertained millions of people.  While he was in town, one of every two people coming to Vegas was there to see his show.  It was in the penthouse of this hotel that Elvis covered the windows with aluminum foil so that he could sleep during the day (and be ready for his 2 shows every night).  Hundreds of celebrities and fans actually had a chance to visit with Elvis in his suite for the post-show parties, while he was unwinding from his performances.

When Elvis first performed here, the building was only 1/3 its current size.  Elvis fans said, with good reason I think, that Elvis built the other two wings.   A ticket to see Elvis at the hotel was only about $15.00, including food or drinks, but you’d have to tip several hundred dollars to be seated close to the stage (a small fortune in the 70’s).  The maitre’d became a rich man thanks to Elvis’ fans. 

After Elvis died, Barron Hilton commissioned a statue of the King.  This originally was placed outside the showroom but now has been relocated to outside the complex beside the front entrance.  It’s a great statue, worth stopping by to see!  There’s a Graceland-affiliated Elvis attraction opening next month, so check it out.  The hotel also has a show of Elvis impersonators, The Elvis Experience.

2) Hard Rock Hotel & Cafe

While not in existence when he performed here, the Hard Rock features lots of Elvis memorabilia, including several suits of his clothes.  Much of their memorabilia relates to Elvis’ Vegas performances. It’s worth stopping by and looking around, even if you don’t buy anything to eat or drink.  Photos of some of this memorabilia are at the bottom of this post.

3) Elvis impersonators.  There is always at least one (and often many) of these around.  The Elvis Experience show is popular at the old Hilton hotel.  The Legends in Concert show features many celebrity look and sound-a-likes, including an Elvis impersonator.  And you’re likely to see costumed Elvis’ all around the city, even in the downtown wedding chapels.  Elvis Lives!

4) Watch Elvis’ movies, Viva Las Vegas and That’s the Way It Is.  Do this as homework before you come here.  Elvis’ movies are not his greatest achievements, but these two stand out among the 30 films the King was in.  

Viva Las Vegas was filmed here in the mid 1960s and co-starred the lovely and sexy Ann-Margaret.  Elvis and Ann-Margaret fell in love during the filming and the chemistry between them is evident on screen.  The film also has a great soundtrack. 

The documentary That’s the Way It Is highlights the preparations for Elvis’ 1970 summer show at the International Hotel. If you want to see what Elvis was like on stage and why his fans wanted to see him, watch this film.

5) Viva Elvis!  We’d booked tickets to see the Viva Elvis show at the new Aria resort at City Center.  Sadly this show has now been shuttered and replaced with a different Cirque du Soleil show, Zarkana.   Viva Elvis was sold out when we attended and it was great!  It highlighted Elvis’ music, freshly edited and accompanied by live musicians, with the acrobatics of Cirque du Soleil.  The show also features a lot of video clips from Elvis’ life including rare home movies.  

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There’s much more to see and do in Vegas than visit Elvis-related stops,  but that’s frankly beyond the scope of this blog post.  We’ll be talking more about Vegas in the near future.  Meanwhile, enjoy these photos from the Hard Rock Cafe’s Elvis memorabilia and the defunct Viva Elvis show.