A look back at Paris Las Vegas as it celebrates 20 years on the Strip.
The Paris Las Vegas debuts a new $1.7 million Eiffel Tower light show on the Strip in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. (Caroline Brehman/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @carolinebrehman
If Paris Las Vegas was a person, it would fall just a year short of being able to serve its own alcohol.
Still, the resort will celebrate. It turns 20 years old on Sept. 1.
It was 1999 when the eponymous Paris-themed resort opened its doors to the public in the heart of the Strip.
Take a stroll down memory lane with some photos and facts about the birthday child.
The hotel occupies roughly a million hotel room nights per year, and the hotel tower is 34 stories tall and features more than 2,900 guest rooms and suites, according to a spokeswoman for Caesars Entertainment. (Benjamin Hager Review-Journal)
More than 500 of the resort’s employees have worked there since day one, a Caesars spokeswoman said. But before the hotel was a hotel, it was a model. Federal Sign president Kevin Stotmeister (left) showed Paris Executive Vice President Paul Pusateri a model of the balloon sign that would eventually arise from the Strip sidewalk. This photo published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in October 1997. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
About 14 million people have gawked from atop the Eiffel Tower Viewing Deck since it opened, a Caesars spokeswoman said. A Las Vegas Review-Journal photographer got a sneak peak from up high prior to the property's Sept. 1, 1999, opening. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
This is what the Strip looked like from above in April 1999, five months before the resort officially opened its doors. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The Eiffel Tower outside the resort is half the size of the original and the tallest replica in existence. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The hotel tower has quite a few more years to go before it’s as old as the building after which it was modeled: the Hôtel de Ville, which has housed the French capitol’s local administration since 1357. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Las Vegas’ replica Arc de Triomphe is closer to its original’s size than the Eiffel Tower, about 2/3 scale. It includes the same inscribed names and dates of Napoleon’s victories that decorate the French landmark. But in true Vegas fashion, the replica became the site of a stunt jump by motocross freestyle star Robbie Maddison, who successfully jumped the 96-foot-tall arch on New Year's Eve 2008. (John Gurzinski/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The building itself includes facades of the Louvre and the Paris Opera House, the former accommodates the Mon Ami Gabi cafe that lines Las Vegas Boulevard and the latter faces the casino. (David Cleveland/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Crane your neck and you should see the top of the tower, which consists of 5,000 tons of welded steel, a Caesars spokeswoman said. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Iron workers topped off the Eiffel Tower at Paris-Las Vegas with a final, flag-fastened beam on Feb. 17, 1999. (AP Photo/Jeff Scheid, Las Vegas Review Journal)
Paris Las Vegas has played host to a number of shows, restaurants and venues over its two decades. Grammy-nominated musician Engelbert Humperdinck performed for a limited engagement at the resort's Paris Theatre, such as this performance on July 24, 2011.
The resort currently houses four shows, five nightlife areas and 13 restaurants. (Duane Prokop/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The resort debuted a $1.7 million light show at the Eiffel Tower on Feb. 27, 2019, on the Las Vegas Strip. It glows and shines in choreography every half hour from sunset to midnight. (Caroline Brehman/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Bon anniversaire, Paris Las Vegas! (courtesy Caesars Entertainment)
Pleas for leniency from 81 letters of support helped Scott Sibella escape prison time, but many are convinced he’ll never work in the gaming industry again.
A Securities and Exchange Commission investigation resulted in Barry Diller receiving a limited license two years ago. This time, Diller was approved unconditionally.
To preserve the land’s nonrestricted gaming license, the Moulin Rouge has a temporary opening 69 years after becoming the city’s first desegregated casino.
