Center for Gaming Research: Paradise Misplaced <style type="text/css">  </style> <style type="text/css">  </style> <link href="../stylesheet.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">  <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="UNLV: Center for Gaming Research, virtual museum, xanadu" name=Description> <META content="xanadu hotel, xanadu casino, " name=Keywords> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1498" name=GENERATOR> <link href="stylesheet.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <style type="text/css">  </style></HEAD> <BODY vLink=#999999 aLink=#333333 link=#000099 bgColor=#ffffff onload=preloadImages(); text="#000000"> <table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=790 bgcolor=#000000 border=0> <tbody> <tr> <td width=600 bgcolor=black height=50 rowspan=2><a href="http://gaming.unlv.edu"><img src="../cgr_head.gif" width="428" height="47" border="0" alt="Center for Gaming Research"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align=right width=170 bgcolor=black height=50> <div align="center"><a href="http://www.unlv.edu"><img src="../UNLV.gif" width="90" height="27" border="0" alt="UNLV home"></a></div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=790 border=0 height="40"> <tbody> <tr> <td width=170 bgcolor=#c10202 height=40><a href="http://www.library.unlv.edu/"><img src="../ulib.gif" alt="University Libraries Home" width="153" height="33" border="0"></a></td> <td width=300 bgcolor=#c10202 height=50> <div align="left"><a href="http://www.unlv.edu"><img src="../UNLVtxt_onRED.gif" alt="UNLV" width="265" height="34" border="0"></a></div> </td> <td width=300 bgcolor=#c10202 height=50 valign="bottom"> <form method=get action="http://sitesearch.gigablast.com/search"> <input type=hidden name=sc value=0> <input type=hidden name=sites value="gaming.unlv.edu"> <input type=hidden name=iu value="http://gaming.unlv.edu/cgr_banner.gif"> <input type=hidden name=iw value=748> <input type=hidden name=ih value=81> <input type=hidden name=ix value="http://gaming.unlv.edu/"> <input type=text name=q size=30> <input type=submit value=search border=0> </form> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <a href="index.html"><img src="banner.jpg" alt="Xanadu" width="790" height="60" border="0" /></a> <TABLE width=790 height="1" border=0 cellPadding=4 cellSpacing=1> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top width=171 rowSpan=2 bgcolor="#666666"> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=171 border=0 height="1200"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top width=170 height=1 bgColor=#666666><a href="http://gaming.unlv.edu"><img src="../cgr.gif" width="170" height="149" alt="Center for Gaming Research" border="0"></a><br> <div id="menu"> <p><a href="../about/index.html">About the Center</a><br> <br> <a href="../abstract/index.html">Gaming Abstract </a><br> <a href="../subject/index.html"><br> Subject Guides</a><br> <br> <a href="../reading/index.html">Reading Room</a><br> <br> <a href="../v_museum/index.html">Virtual Museum</a><br> <br> <a href="http://library.nevada.edu/speccol/gaming/index.html">Gaming Collection</a></p> <p><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><img height=32 alt="" src="line.gif" width=165></font></p> <p><a href="../academic.html">Academic Users</a></p> <p><a href="../media.html">Media/Industry</a></p> <p><a href="../curious.html">Just Curious</a><br> <font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><img height=32 alt="" src="line.gif" width=165></font> <br> <a href="http://library.nevada.edu/speccol/">UNLV Special Collections</a><br> <br> <a href="http://www.library.unlv.edu/">UNLV Libraries</a><br> <br> <a href="http://www.unlv.edu">UNLV home</a><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br> <img height=32 alt="" src="line.gif" width=165> </font> </p> </div> </TD> </TR> </TBODY> </TABLE> </TD> <TD width="591" height="1" colspan="2" bgcolor="#000000"> <div align="center" class="header2"> <font color="#F2FCB5"><strong>About this exhibit </strong></font></div> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD colspan="2" vAlign=top bgcolor="#F2FCB5"> <div align="left"> <div align="center"> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td width="50%"><p align="center"> <b> <br> </b><font face="Arial"> <a href="extfrcl.jpg"><img border="0" src="extfrclsm.jpg" width="200" height="127" alt="Xanadu"></a> </font> </p></td> <center> <td width="50%" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><p align="left"><font face="Arial"> What is the true purpose of <i> Paradise Misplaced</i>? Is it a front for a sinister conspiracy? A call to arms? A subtle critique of today's Strip? It is actually none of these things, but they sound pretentiously grandiose. </font> </p> <p align="left"><font face="Arial">So what is the real ghost behind this machine? To learn the "real story" behind this website, read on. </font></p></td> </center> </tr> </table> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFDFAE" height="209"> <tr> <td width="100%" height="35" bgcolor="#F2EBBF"><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Archiving a non-existent past...</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" height="0"><font size="4"> </font> <font size="3"><font face="Arial">Preserving an accurate record of the world is challenging. Indeed, any good historical account is dependent upon its source material. When that past never really existed, the task is all the more difficult. When the Xanadu was still a possibility, it was, in a sense, "real." The Xanadu Corporation was an actual business entity and the studies and plans that they commissioned were inarguably tangible. But for the mere accident of its non-existence, the Xanadu would occupy a place in the historical record among other now-gone Strip casinos: the original (and copycat) El Rancho, the Last Frontier (and New Frontier), the Sands, the Dunes, the Castaways, ad infinitum. </font></font> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">It is an oft-repeated truism that the winners write history. This is rarely true in the literal sense, that victorious entities engage in an Orwellian doctoring of the past, but it is true that historians are drawn, by and large, to successful things, even successful failures. People and thing who fail unobtrusively are, for the most part, ignored.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial" size="3"> Not considering failures skews history. Because most attention is given to successful casinos (in the instance of gaming history), most people think that all casinos are inherently easy to run. Only by considering the casinos that did not make it can historians truly appreciate those that did. <i>Paradise Misplaced </i>can be considered an attempt to reclaim history for the downwardly mobile. </font></p> <p><font face="Arial" size="3">Paradise Misplaced is the end product of PROJECT XANADU, a detailed research expedition into the history of failed developments on the Las Vegas Strip.</font></p></td> </tr> </table> </center> </div> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#CC99FF" height="209"> <tr> <td width="100%" height="35" bgcolor="#F2EBBF"><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">But seriously...</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" height="142"><font size="3" face="Arial">Within the archives of Special Collections are several treasures that are worthy of greater attention. For example, given the copious amount of material in the Sands Collection, it would be possible to virtually recreate the old Vegas Sands. </font> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">The Las Vegas Strip has been since its inception in the late 1940s notorious for devouring its own past. It almost goes without saying that once a casino outlives its usefulness it will be imploded and replaced. There is nothing wrong with this in the business sense, but people develop emotional attachments to casinos as sites for their personal social dramas. </font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">Once, all that could be done was to bemoan the bulldozer march of progress and look at old postcards. Now, with the advent of new technology, the demolished past need not be forgotten. Paradise Misplaced points to the future of the past--not a mummified past bound in acid-free wrappings and sealed in a vault, but a past that is as living as the future.</font></p></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <tr bgcolor="#FFFF99"> <td width="100%" height="35" colspan="2" bgcolor="#F2EBBF"><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">About the author...</font></td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <td width="70%"> <p><font size="4"> </font><font size="3" face="Arial"> <a href="index.html">Paradise Misplaced: The Xanadu</a> is the creation of Dr. David G. Schwartz, the Director of the <a href="http://gaming.unlv.edu">Center for Gaming Research</a>. You can read more about his other creative projects, which include books, articles, and other fascinating projects, on his website, <a href="http://www.dieiscast.com">DieIsCast.com</a>.</font> </p> <p> </p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial"> Schwartz consistently denies reports that he has formed a consortium to acquire land on the Strip and build the Xanadu. But he has been spotted in conference with several gaming consultants and financiers, however, and is occasionally seen gazing speculatively at the Strip from his office window. As he sometimes says, the truth is usually stupider than fiction.</font></p></td> <td width="50%"><p align="center"><a href="../../research/campus/dgs.html"></a><img src="../about/ds01.jpg" width="150" height="222" alt="Dr. Schwartz"><br> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Dr. Schwartz</font> <br> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </div> </div>  </TD> </TR> </TBODY> </TABLE> <link href="../stylesheet.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <table width="790" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" align="left" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" bordercolor="#000000"> <tr> <td colspan="2" bgcolor="#F2FCB5"><div align="center"> <p><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="index.html">main</a> | <a href="history1.html">history</a> | <a href="outside.html">outside</a> | <a href="inside.html">inside</a> | <a href="then.html">Vegas then</a> | <a href="estimates.html">estimates</a> | <a href="theme.htmk">theme</a> | <a href="MartinStern.html">Martin Stern</a> | <a href="poem.html">poem</a> | <a href="whatif.html">what if?</a> | <a href="aboutx.html">about</a> </font></p> </div></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <div align="left"> <p><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="3" color="#000000"><b><font size="4"><font size="3">© 2001-2007 University of Nevada Las Vegas</font> </font></b></font> <br> <font size="2"> <font color="#000000">All site content is <b>copyrighted material </b>and may <b>not </b>be reproduced without prior permission.</font></font></font></font></font></p> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000">Questions? <a href="http://gaming.unlv.edu/about/contact.html">Contact</a> the appropriate person.</font><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">  <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> var sc_project=297536; var sc_partition=1; </script> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter.js"></script> </font></font></font></font></font></p> <font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><noscript><a href="http://www.statcounter.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://c2.statcounter.com/counter.php?sc_project=297536&java=0" alt="hit counter" border="0"></a> </noscript></font></font></font></font></font><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">  </font></font></font></font></font></div> </td> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <div align="right"><a href="http://www.unlv.edu"><img src="file:///R|/Shared/Special/Dave's Gaming stuff/CGRwebsite/UNLV.gif" width="90" height="27" alt="UNLV" border="0"></a></div> </td> </tr> </table> <div align="left"></div> </BODY></HTML>