MGM Grand Lobby Lion Statue

Lion statue in the MGM Grand lobby. With the recent passing of Kirk Kerkorian at the age of 98, the MGM lion is just one of Mr. Kerkorian's lasting imprints on the city of Las Vegas.

Kirk Kerkorian LA Times Video

The other day I posted links to some good articles about the life of the late Kirk Kerkorian. The LA Times produced this short video which gives an overview of some of Mr. Kerkorian's business dealings. The graphic about Kerkorian's lowered net worth is interesting, but not surprising if you consider much of it was dependent on MGM's stock price, which was down significantly after the financial crisis.

MGM Grand Air

One of Kirk Kerkorian's more interesting business ventures was MGM Grand Air. The concept was an ultra high-end airline with all first class seating. Serving primarily New York to Los Angeles routes (with some Las Vegas routes also) MGM Grand Air was popular with celebrities during it's run from 1987-1995. With private planes gaining popularity in the early 90's the airline had trouble attracting luxury passengers, and was sold off in 1995.

Kirk Kerkorian Retrospective Articles

Since the news yesterday of the death of Kirk Kerkorian at the age of 98, some excellent retrospective articles have been written about the life and times of Mr. Kerkorian.

Vegas Seven article by Dr. David G. Schwartz.

New York Times article.

Five Amazing Facts about Kirk Kerkorian from Time.com.

Timeline: Kirk Kerkorian's long career of bold investments from the LA Times.

I always knew of Kerkorian for being involved with MGM, but never realized just how many Las Vegas properties he was involved with at one time or another. It was also interesting reading about some of Kerkorian's business dealings in the auto, airline, and movie industries in Detroit and Los Angeles.

Kirk Kerkorian has Died at Age 98

It is being widely reported that Kirk Kerkorian has passed away at the age of 98.

Kerkorian was best known for his involvement with MGM Resorts, but he also built The International (now Westgate) and his land was used to build Caesars Palace.

For many years Kerkorian was the majority owner of MGM, but his stake in the company was reduced because of MGM's troubles during the financial crisis. His holding company Tracinda is still the largest shareholder owning just under 20% of the company.

Flamingo GO Room Pictures from 2009

I thought this would be a good opportunity to add some Las Vegas photos that have been laying around collecting digital dust. Some are from before I started this blog in 2010.

This is a Flamingo GO room taken in 2009. Yes that's 6 years ago, but to my knowledge not much has been done to the GO rooms since then, so they shouldn't look that different.

The GO rooms historically have been a good choice to get a fairly cheap room center strip. Hopefully they're still in pretty good shape.

Lake Mead is Running Out of Water

Water conservation has always been an issue in Las Vegas. If you have visited a Vegas hotel you might have seen a notice in your room telling you how to conserve water.

With the recent drought in the Southwest water is even more of a concern. NBC News recently had a story about Lake Mead, and how it's drying up. To be able to continue using the lake's water, engineers have built an $800 million tunnel that will allow them to "pull the plug of the bathtub" under the lake.

The tunnel will assure that Las Vegas will have water for years to come, but I can't help but wonder if this is only a temporary solution. What would happen if Lake Mead completely dried up? I guess that's unlikely (if not impossible) but it's something to think about.