Damn, this is one of the best “classic” Vegas vids I’ve seen. I’m so glad I was there when the strip was something cool and unique to see…and before urban sprawl took away so much of the funky desert vibe.
I agree hadn't been there for a long time and went back a few years ago and everything now is all these digital signs. Nothing beat the old glass neon tubes. I did two videos on two separate trips, this was the second one the first one I did a couple years earlier when I was down shooting a wedding that the couple paid my expenses and we rented broadcast camera to shoot it. Had the camera for the entire weekend so the next night before returning it in the morning I went out and walked the strip that light 10 or 11:00 at night getting all the cool signs that video is also up on my channel. This one was shot using a gcs1 which was a professional version of the beta movie. Unlike the consumer version it has an electronic viewfinder and manual control on the lens.
Yes was a nice memory. Have been there a few times since, or should i say drive through and did some video of the modern last Vegas. Nothing there for me. Tourist trap where a room is 1000 a night. Will never go back. The charm of the old neon is gone. 😢
Damm I miss those neon sings those don't exist any more now we have modern screens the only casino with neon lights would be flamingo hotel and Fremont Street
Wow!! Thanks for posting this. I LOVED your video! It sure was a Time Travel Trip for me, as I went to Vegas & Reno many times in the '70s, '80s & very early '90s, and I remember pretty much every one of these places. Great musical choices for these images, too! . The Algiers was a favorite place for me; it was seriously very Old School "Rat Pack-like" Vegas which managed to survive through the '80s. And I was fortunate to see Glen Campbell perform at The Riviera, and trumpeter Jack Sheldon perform at the Four Queens. . I really liked the Comstock Casino and Eddie's Fabulous '50s in Reno. Sadly, both are long gone now. In 2015, I actually moved to Reno and lived there for four years. But by then, it had become "The Biggest Little Ghetto In The World". ☹
I enjoyed walking around with the camera and recording the old neon signs. I'm a neon buff so of course i had to go to Vegas to see them while they were still operational.
It's amazing to me how you managed to get such great contrast and saturation with '80s-era analogue videotape. I'm just sorry they didn’t have HD video back then…and, nowadays, who cares? Video recording a video screen isn’t the same.
I was using professional cameras the 2 times I went down there and shot the signs. The first time I was using a Sony m3 recorded on a vo4800 3/4" tape and the second time a gcs1 beta. These have manual iris and black level and super sharp b/w view finder with zebra warning for over exposure.
@@jeffhenry7749 I was there 2 summers ago. Took my wife and she had 1 day there and that was enough. Booking.com fucked me over. I had reserved a room, had my confirmation in hand showed up and found my room was not reserved. Booking com said my credit card was declined which was impossible because I was using 1 card to pay for things and a separate card to book rooms as I traveled across the country. What I did not know is booking and hotels.com sites I was using to book as I traveled were putting 1000 pre authorization on my card which were held for 5 days. 1000 us is about 1300 cdn. It didn't take long for the card I was using to book rooms, one I hadn't even put a single real charge on was maxed out and after they confirmed my booking in Vegas they canceled it. I showed up and no room and any place that anyone that is not renting a room by the hour would stay in was 800 to 1000 per night. Only places with rooms MGM grand and luxor. Every other place was fully booked. Had to stay in a dive just outside of the city. Put my wife off Vegas and she basically said she would never go back. The entire episode put me off online booking. Sure they were just holds on the funds but imagine if I only had one card and needed to check in to a place and card comes up declined due to online booking company on the other side of the world locking you out of your credit card.
I went there to see the signs and document them. No interest in going back again. Ever. We have high roller casinos here if I really want to burn my cash.
Nobody's commented on this yet? 'Well, I will....this is a great video!!! I really enjoyed it. But I see that some of the signs are taken from old footage; for example the Dunes was destroyed in the early 90's . Watching this video was hypnotic. Thanks for making and posting.
+Moses Berkowitz This was shot in the late 80's when I first got my BMC1000 BetamovieThe first one was shot on a SL2000 with a Sony M3, 3 saticon tube camera.I have been there 2 times since then, in 2007, and again in 2014. The HD video "strip tease" is a drive up the strip. I have footage I shot in the covered freemont street, but I have yet to actually edit it. I have tons of stuff to edit, and I have my personal videos, and then I go back and make versions to share. I have tons and tons of stuff to work through, but these are not the ones I make money from. I enjoy doing these, but it is the "fix it" videos that I make money from, so my priority is posting those.I miss the old neon. The new stuff is all LED signs, which is pretty boring compared to the art work of the neon blowers.
12voltvids I havent been there in about 12 years...have all the neon tubes been replaced with LEDs? True, they are brighter, more reliable, more efficient, and more flexible, but they lack the warmth and mechanical physicality of those glowing tubes.. Not to mention the retro-appeal.
Perhaps it was 87. I forget. I was there twice in the 80's and didn't go back till 2007, then again last year. That will be my last time. Went on a bad weekend, and all the hotels were charging 1000 a night.as there was a poker tournament. That left a bab taste in my mouth, as I had a reseveration, but due to circumstances beyond my control (highway shut down due to accident) I was delayed getting to my hotel, and I didn't have cell coverage to call ahead, so they released my room. Put a damper on my holiday getting raped for a room for the night, so I left the next day and I won't be back.
Thank you for shooting, preserving, and uploading this video! I first went there in 1999, and some of these signs were still around. I went there recently, and the feel wasn't the same. Too expensive, too wanna-be chic. No more $4 prime rib specials. $60 buffets. Meh.
Yes I know. I will never go back. Last experience put me in the poor house and I didn't take in a show or gamble. Just the motel room was enough to put me off. 500 usd for a dive I wouldn't take a 20.00 hooker to. The respectable places 800 to 1000. Even the motel 6 was expensive. 350 but it was fully booked and the travel lodge next door 480. No thanks.
I did this road trip specifically to shoot this video. I think I dropped about 20 bucks in the casino. The rest of the trip was shooting the video which I sat on for years before I released it for all.
Great video footage! Would you mind if I shared some film stills of the signs, credit given of course, on my Facebook page, Nevada Armored Transport 1946-1984, with a link to your video? Thanks for these wonderful links to the past!
If I never go there again it will be too soon. Not that anything bad happened, but he have Vegas type casinos here and a new one being built 10 minutes from here. Inside they all look the same and I can lose money just as easily here at home. I did enjoy the old neon signs, but today everything is huge led video screens. Not the same.
I bet a lot of this is in the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas, which is a really interesting place to go. That is, if you can pull me away from the tables.....
Excellent choice of music. Do you know where I can find the first track and the track that starts around 19:21? I sorted through this but I can't find either one, though I found the others musicbakery.com/jazz/
Track 1 is called "Bittersweet" musicbakery.com/bittersweet/ The other one is "Lonely Streets" musicbakery.com/lonely-streets/ I ran with the underscore with the saxophone melody removed. Yes I know the music just fits with the content doesn't it. Considering it was composed by one of the best in the business for theme music, background overlays ect. Jack Waldenmaier. I thought my former business partner (Passed away in 2010) was crazy when he was writing cheques left right and center buying all this royalty free music for our production company. But now I am glad he did.
@@12voltvids Fantastic, thanks! Also forgot to mention how grateful I am for this footage. I love the neon and the incandescent lights, part of an era of Vegas we'll probably never see again. Thanks for capturing the history while you still could.
@@tpir0426 Yes I am a neon collector myself. Have about 17 pieces of neon sculpture and signs. When I went down to Vegas on one of those trips i did so just to photograph the old signs. Didn't even set foot in a casino or take in a show. The old signs were the show. That was the only reason i was there and spent the entire night walking around with a camera and tripod to get those shots. To preserve the look of Vegas in that era before all the old casinos were blown up and the neon art lost forever.
Yes, this was shot on a GCS-1 Betamovie. I still have that camera, however it no longer records anything. I tried to get it going, but no luck so far. A couple of years earlier I was down there on a hired wedding shoot (couple paid my way to get married in Vegas and I rented a DXC-M3 with VO4800 3/4 pack. I shot the other vegas video on that trip as I had the camera for the entire weekend. You can see the difference between the 3 tube camera and the CCD as the pixels show up on the CCD. ruclips.net/video/vg9ViKGYI98/видео.html
@@fadhlematrook1248 That was a 20,000 setup I was using. Cost 500 to rent it for a weekend back in 86 for the wedding I was hired to shoot. Buddy got married in Vegas and wanted me to shoot it. Too much hassle to take my gear down. I was using a vo4800 and dxc1800 at the time but all the was available was the m3. So I went out and shot a 20 minute tape of the casinos and signs on the Friday night to get used to the camera and did the wedding Saturday.
Yes i know. It's too bad too because the modern led video screens are just garbage. Just like Vegas. Have no interest in returning. Last time i was there it was so bloody expensive. 1000usd for a room for the night. I don't think so. Tourist trap. Even the dives i wouldn't say foot in were 500. Now that may have been because there was a poker tournament that weekend but i had reserved a room in advance and due to delayed in traffic i arrived an hour late only to find my room that was reserved was not held. Hotel said it was my fault because i didn't call. Not everyone has free roaming on their phone and when is the last time you saw a pay phone.
Thanks. Much effort was put into this. First shooting it 30 years ago and then restoring equipment to play the obsolete tapes to digitize and finally editing it into this to preserve history of the old Las Vegas.
Love the old tiny incandescent bulbs, and neon. Hated when computer signs came in.
Damn, this is one of the best “classic” Vegas vids I’ve seen. I’m so glad I was there when the strip was something cool and unique to see…and before urban sprawl took away so
much of the funky desert vibe.
I agree hadn't been there for a long time and went back a few years ago and everything now is all these digital signs. Nothing beat the old glass neon tubes. I did two videos on two separate trips, this was the second one the first one I did a couple years earlier when I was down shooting a wedding that the couple paid my expenses and we rented broadcast camera to shoot it. Had the camera for the entire weekend so the next night before returning it in the morning I went out and walked the strip that light 10 or 11:00 at night getting all the cool signs that video is also up on my channel. This one was shot using a gcs1 which was a professional version of the beta movie. Unlike the consumer version it has an electronic viewfinder and manual control on the lens.
Nothing beats the old Vegas neon signage. All of its charm and beauty has been demolished.
GREAT jazz, fits the mold-mood-mode purrr-fecctly ...
That was the intention. Believe me i picked that music specifically for this project.
My school age years. Best memories 80’s on the Strip cruising with my High-school friends. Sweet 16 at the Dunes. 🙋🏼♀️🎰👩🏼🎓🚗🚙💌
Thank you for a nice video of Las Vegas the way I like to remember it.
Yes was a nice memory. Have been there a few times since, or should i say drive through and did some video of the modern last Vegas. Nothing there for me. Tourist trap where a room is 1000 a night. Will never go back. The charm of the old neon is gone. 😢
This ALL brought back so many nice memories for me.
Wow. A lot of these signs are gone today, thank you for uploading this video.
Thank you so much for this reference work. :)
It's like an encyclopedia of designs.
When Downtown was beautiful
I used to enjoy going there just to see the old signs. Now I could care less if I ever go there again.
Damm I miss those neon sings those don't exist any more now we have modern screens the only casino with neon lights would be flamingo hotel and Fremont Street
Wow!! Thanks for posting this. I LOVED your video! It sure was a Time Travel Trip for me, as I went to Vegas & Reno many times in the '70s, '80s & very early '90s, and I remember pretty much every one of these places. Great musical choices for these images, too!
.
The Algiers was a favorite place for me; it was seriously very Old School "Rat Pack-like" Vegas which managed to survive through the '80s. And I was fortunate to see Glen Campbell perform at The Riviera, and trumpeter Jack Sheldon perform at the Four Queens.
.
I really liked the Comstock Casino and Eddie's Fabulous '50s in Reno. Sadly, both are long gone now. In 2015, I actually moved to Reno and lived there for four years. But by then, it had become "The Biggest Little Ghetto In The World". ☹
I enjoyed walking around with the camera and recording the old neon signs. I'm a neon buff so of course i had to go to Vegas to see them while they were still operational.
@@12voltvids You done good, my friend; and we fans of Old School Vegas & Reno are being blessed by your foresight!
👍👌
@@D-FensDogG did 2 videos. One with my older tube cam with a vo4800 u-matic and then the betamovie.
GREAT jazz track.
Music credits Jack Waldenmeier / Musicbakery.com
It's amazing to me how you managed to get such great contrast and saturation with '80s-era analogue videotape. I'm just sorry they didn’t have HD video back then…and, nowadays, who cares? Video recording a video screen isn’t the same.
I was using professional cameras the 2 times I went down there and shot the signs. The first time I was using a Sony m3 recorded on a vo4800 3/4" tape and the second time a gcs1 beta. These have manual iris and black level and super sharp b/w view finder with zebra warning for over exposure.
Great video.. Was there several times in the 80's.. The signs were awsome. Ty for posting.
I documented this before all the old signs were decommissioned. Today they are all LED video screens and look tacky.
I agree as I still go every year.. Thnx again 12volt.
@@jeffhenry7749
I was there 2 summers ago. Took my wife and she had 1 day there and that was enough. Booking.com fucked me over. I had reserved a room, had my confirmation in hand showed up and found my room was not reserved.
Booking com said my credit card was declined which was impossible because I was using 1 card to pay for things and a separate card to book rooms as I traveled across the country. What I did not know is booking and hotels.com sites I was using to book as I traveled were putting 1000 pre authorization on my card which were held for 5 days. 1000 us is about 1300 cdn. It didn't take long for the card I was using to book rooms, one I hadn't even put a single real charge on was maxed out and after they confirmed my booking in Vegas they canceled it. I showed up and no room and any place that anyone that is not renting a room by the hour would stay in was 800 to 1000 per night. Only places with rooms MGM grand and luxor. Every other place was fully booked. Had to stay in a dive just outside of the city. Put my wife off Vegas and she basically said she would never go back. The entire episode put me off online booking. Sure they were just holds on the funds but imagine if I only had one card and needed to check in to a place and card comes up declined due to online booking company on the other side of the world locking you out of your credit card.
@@12voltvids Yes, even the smaller casinos had great lights with the neon.. Sure miss that feeling it gave me..
Sooo enjoyed this !! Back when Vegas was really something special ... amazing signs before they ruined the ambience 😥😢😭
I have no desire to ever go back.
I went there to see the signs and document them. No interest in going back again. Ever. We have high roller casinos here if I really want to burn my cash.
What an amazing video. Thank you for posting!
Thanks
Love this went to Las Vegas back in 1980
1980 was my first trip there also Tamela.
Jeff Henry My first trip to Vegas July 1980.
I love it! Thanks for sharing, very steady with the camera too!
It was hot walking around with a big camera and sticks.
Nobody's commented on this yet? 'Well, I will....this is a great video!!! I really enjoyed it. But I see that some of the signs are taken from old footage; for example the Dunes was destroyed in the early 90's . Watching this video was hypnotic. Thanks for making and posting.
+Moses Berkowitz This was shot in the late 80's when I first got my BMC1000 BetamovieThe first one was shot on a SL2000 with a Sony M3, 3 saticon tube camera.I have been there 2 times since then, in 2007, and again in 2014. The HD video "strip tease" is a drive up the strip. I have footage I shot in the covered freemont street, but I have yet to actually edit it. I have tons of stuff to edit, and I have my personal videos, and then I go back and make versions to share. I have tons and tons of stuff to work through, but these are not the ones I make money from. I enjoy doing these, but it is the "fix it" videos that I make money from, so my priority is posting those.I miss the old neon. The new stuff is all LED signs, which is pretty boring compared to the art work of the neon blowers.
12voltvids I havent been there in about 12 years...have all the neon tubes been replaced with LEDs? True, they are brighter, more reliable, more efficient, and more flexible, but they lack the warmth and mechanical physicality of those glowing tubes.. Not to mention the retro-appeal.
+Moses Berkowitz much has been replaced. They've kept some in the covered section on Freemont st.
They droped the dunes on new years eve 12 midnight in 1997.
It says 1987???
Las Vegas is lifeless now with most of the beautiful neon signs on the strip gone.
Agreed. I went just to see the signs. Didn't gamble or take in shows. The neon was the reason I was there.
I miss the Fitz, Nevada Club, Harrolds, Comstock, but the Nugget is still there. I rarely go downtown anymore. I gave up Gambling in the late 1990's.
Never gambled personally. A fool and his money are soon separated
And now the Nugget is gone, too. C-19 in 2020 did it in.
Great video I think some of its older than 1989 the Mint closed in 1988 and the Castaways closed in 1987
Perhaps it was 87. I forget. I was there twice in the 80's and didn't go back till 2007, then again last year. That will be my last time. Went on a bad weekend, and all the hotels were charging 1000 a night.as there was a poker tournament. That left a bab taste in my mouth, as I had a reseveration, but due to circumstances beyond my control (highway shut down due to accident) I was delayed getting to my hotel, and I didn't have cell coverage to call ahead, so they released my room. Put a damper on my holiday getting raped for a room for the night, so I left the next day and I won't be back.
Thank you for shooting, preserving, and uploading this video! I first went there in 1999, and some of these signs were still around. I went there recently, and the feel wasn't the same. Too expensive, too wanna-be chic. No more $4 prime rib specials. $60 buffets. Meh.
Yes I know. I will never go back. Last experience put me in the poor house and I didn't take in a show or gamble. Just the motel room was enough to put me off. 500 usd for a dive I wouldn't take a 20.00 hooker to. The respectable places 800 to 1000. Even the motel 6 was expensive. 350 but it was fully booked and the travel lodge next door 480. No thanks.
If you
Want to enjoy oldschool Vegas you can go to Circus Circus... one of the oldest casinos still there
I watch this Video seriously every day
Thanks.
really nice.
There was at one time enough neon light tubing in Las Vegas to circle the world 4 times. Now it’s almost all computer screens, projections.
I did this road trip specifically to shoot this video. I think I dropped about 20 bucks in the casino. The rest of the trip was shooting the video which I sat on for years before I released it for all.
Does anyone know the name of the track at 23:49? I can't seem to find it on Music Bakery.
Great video footage!
Would you mind if I shared some film stills of the signs, credit given of course, on my Facebook page, Nevada Armored Transport 1946-1984, with a link to your video? Thanks for these wonderful links to the past!
Nothing beats good old times, even in Sin City.
If I never go there again it will be too soon.
Not that anything bad happened, but he have Vegas type casinos here and a new one being built 10 minutes from here. Inside they all look the same and I can lose money just as easily here at home.
I did enjoy the old neon signs, but today everything is huge led video screens. Not the same.
This must be 1987. Flamingo sign at 1:08 says City Lites '87. Castaways closed in 87. The Mint closed in 88. The last part of the video 21:55 is Reno.
I was down there a few times. Vegas and Reno. Tapes not dated.
I bet a lot of this is in the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas, which is a really interesting place to go. That is, if you can pull me away from the tables.....
Won't catch me at the tables.
I love neon. it’s weird, everytime I see it, I go
“Neeeeeeoooon” like those little aliens in toy story saying “the claaaaaawww”
6:55 My country 😱😱🇩🇿🇩🇿🇩🇿🇩🇿 I♥️VEGAS 1987
Yeah. That was right before the crash in Reno when corporate took over.
Is this the same video in the background in Read My Mind by Rynx
Excellent choice of music. Do you know where I can find the first track and the track that starts around 19:21? I sorted through this but I can't find either one, though I found the others musicbakery.com/jazz/
Track 1 is called "Bittersweet"
musicbakery.com/bittersweet/
The other one is "Lonely Streets"
musicbakery.com/lonely-streets/
I ran with the underscore with the saxophone melody removed.
Yes I know the music just fits with the content doesn't it. Considering it was composed by one of the best in the business for theme music, background overlays ect. Jack Waldenmaier.
I thought my former business partner (Passed away in 2010) was crazy when he was writing cheques left right and center buying all this royalty free music for our production company. But now I am glad he did.
@@12voltvids Fantastic, thanks! Also forgot to mention how grateful I am for this footage. I love the neon and the incandescent lights, part of an era of Vegas we'll probably never see again. Thanks for capturing the history while you still could.
@@tpir0426
Yes I am a neon collector myself. Have about 17 pieces of neon sculpture and signs. When I went down to Vegas on one of those trips i did so just to photograph the old signs. Didn't even set foot in a casino or take in a show. The old signs were the show. That was the only reason i was there and spent the entire night walking around with a camera and tripod to get those shots. To preserve the look of Vegas in that era before all the old casinos were blown up and the neon art lost forever.
are you sure this is GCS-1 betamovie camera footage? if yes>> you are professional >> the picture is grate.
Yes, this was shot on a GCS-1 Betamovie. I still have that camera, however it no longer records anything. I tried to get it going, but no luck so far. A couple of years earlier I was down there on a hired wedding shoot (couple paid my way to get married in Vegas and I rented a DXC-M3 with VO4800 3/4 pack. I shot the other vegas video on that trip as I had the camera for the entire weekend.
You can see the difference between the 3 tube camera and the CCD as the pixels show up on the CCD.
ruclips.net/video/vg9ViKGYI98/видео.html
yes>> nice video>> the tube camera is fine detail>thanks
@@fadhlematrook1248
That was a 20,000 setup I was using. Cost 500 to rent it for a weekend back in 86 for the wedding I was hired to shoot. Buddy got married in Vegas and wanted me to shoot it. Too much hassle to take my gear down. I was using a vo4800 and dxc1800 at the time but all the was available was the m3. So I went out and shot a 20 minute tape of the casinos and signs on the Friday night to get used to the camera and did the wedding Saturday.
damn I was 8 lol
All is gone now
Yes i know. It's too bad too because the modern led video screens are just garbage. Just like Vegas. Have no interest in returning. Last time i was there it was so bloody expensive. 1000usd for a room for the night. I don't think so. Tourist trap. Even the dives i wouldn't say foot in were 500. Now that may have been because there was a poker tournament that weekend but i had reserved a room in advance and due to delayed in traffic i arrived an hour late only to find my room that was reserved was not held. Hotel said it was my fault because i didn't call. Not everyone has free roaming on their phone and when is the last time you saw a pay phone.
6:42 why did they change the way the loli pop flashes. It used to flash differently
Perhaps it broke and when they fixed it it flashes differently. I was just the videographer that preserved this snapshot in neon history.
@@12voltvids doesnt really make sense for it to flash differently but ok
Great job on this!!
Thanks. Much effort was put into this. First shooting it 30 years ago and then restoring equipment to play the obsolete tapes to digitize and finally editing it into this to preserve history of the old Las Vegas.