Eastbound...and Down?

Well, here's something you won't see every day. From December 8th through 11th, the Palms will be hosting an exhibition of Property from the Life and Career of Burt Reynolds, with the lot being auctioned off on the 11th and 12th. If you're like most of us, your only chance to win an Emmy or a Golden Globe is at auction, so check it out.

A Pawn My Word

One of the top free attractions on N. Las Vegas Blvd., Gold & Silver Pawn is surely the world's most famous pawn shop, thanks to being immortalized on History Channel and, now, parodied in the comedy revue Pawn Shop Live, which debuted at the Golden Nugget before retooling for a move to the Riviera. At peak times you can expect to wait in line just to get inside the shop. Those hoping to catch sight of the TV shows' star personalities are likely to be disappointed, although a few years ago my friend Steps managed to have her picture taken with Chumlee, so you never know. That same visit I

picked up a DVD of Prime Cut for a few bucks, but you won't find such low-level hock-shop fare there today. If you're shopping for coins or funky antiques, you're in luck. Yes, you can find items for sale that were featured on an episode of Pawn Stars: 19th-century barbed wire, anyone? If you have a few grand to blow, there are signed and numbered limited-edition Picasso and Chagall prints hanging in the back of the store. 1873 boxed edition of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea? Check. 1866 copy of American Card Player: A Lone Hand, Featuring Euchre, Whisk & Bazique Card Games? Check. Tony Curtis's autograph? Check. The shop is open 24 hours, but if you're dropping by desperate to hock something in the wee hours, that means a walk-up window is available. If they're not in the market for what you're selling, they'll readily recommend another shop, or in some cases one of the specialists who appear as consultants on their show.

Us Fossils Gotta Stick Together

I had a pet trilobite once. Len Moffatt even named it for me: "Trilby." Since I'm obviously a fossil hound from 'way back, it stands to reason that I'd be lured in by the sign for Jewelry & Minerals of Las Vegas, at Sahara and Santa Rita. Two expansive showrooms are crammed with fossils, minerals, polished agate, carvings, art, and geodes so honking big you could crawl inside them. There are even bargains galore: I spotted ammonites on sale for $1, and you can get shards of kyanite for a quarter. Make great gifts!

The Gambler's Mecca

The Gamblers Book Club has moved to several locations in its long, storied and peripatetic career. When I finally made my first pilgrimage, it was residing in a small storefront on Eastern south of Tropicana, and I found myself in book collector heaven. Shelves and shelves of books, which despite repeated visits I've never managed to note down every title so I can add them to my to-be-read list. They'd frequently be visited by authors like Nicolas Pileggi and David Schwartz, some of whom were dropping by to be interviewed for their regular podcast. And aside from classic titles like Ovid Demaris's Green Felt Jungle and Doyle Brunson's How I Made A Million Dollars Playing Poker (the original title of his Super System), and all the latest titles on everything from Backgammon to the Mob, they had collectibles! Remnants of vanished casinos, like an El Rancho ashtray or, my personal favorite, bars of soap from the Stardust!

Gamblers Book Club has finally relocated to its old downtown stomping grounds, moving in with the Gamblers General Store at 800 block S. Main. (A clerk at the General Store told me the Book Club had bought them out.) Now more than ever, this is the one place anyone who's serious about studying their game, or anyone who's serious about collecting gaming paraphernalia, has to visit. The General Store was always a cool place, a veritable museum of ephemera like old slot machines and gaming tables, except that if you raked in enough chips at the casinos, you could actually buy them. Want an old Hooters blackjack table with a "Big Pair" bonus? Check. Your friends want to humiliate you into buying a deck of Hannah Montana playing cards? Check. Got twenty grand to blow on an old fruit machine? Check. 

My advice? Go early and often. Show up on the weekend for a 10% discount. Don't forget, the American Casino Guide has a discount coupon as well!

Archaeologists of a Vegas Vanished

If I ever go broke in Las Vegas, this will be the real reason why. Lost Vegas Antiques at 625 S. Las Vegas has some of the same campy collectibles you might find at any shop devoted to antiquated pop culture (Betty Boop! Elvis!), but with a heavy concentration of stuff related to the old Vegas casinos, as you might guess from the neon signs in the window for the Mint and the Sands. There's an age-21-and-over admission restriction, but once you get past the vintage showgirl photos, signed porn star pictures, 1960's Playboys, and old ads for Nevada brothels, there's a treasure trove of souvenirs from the fabled casinos of yore, from coffee mugs to ashtrays and jackets. Oh, sure, other vintage shops in town might have some chips, dice and matchbooks in a case or two at the front of the store; at Lost Vegas, they have buckets of the stuff to sift through until you find that one you've been looking for. I haven't been so happy since I was a preteen stamp collector rifling through the two-for-a-penny bin. One of the owners was telling me they used to be located in the Tropicana, and later at Neonopolis downtown. Their current location is nestled between Showgirl Video on one side and the Graceland Wedding Chapel on the other, and it just doesn't get more Vegas than that.

Souvenirs, Cheap! And They're Green, Too!

Hey, want an interesting collectible from your favorite casino? Next time you ask your cocktail server for a drink, ask if she'll bring a bottle of water with that. I assume you'll do the right thing and leave her a nice tip (like a buck), but even so you might get a great deal on a souvenir keepsake: Many casinos are now putting their own labels on their bottled water. Save one and take it home and you have quite the conversation piece. Besides, what other collectible can save your life if you're stranded in the desert, or at least help you out if your car's radiator boils over? If you are foolish enough to open it up and drink it, don't toss it in the trash to take up more space in a landfill somewhere; refill it and reuse it! Remember: Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! (Pictured, left to right: Sandia Casino, New Mexico; El Cortez, Las Vegas; Hooters Casino, Las Vegas; Margaritaville Casino, Biloxi; Route 66 "Party of the Decade" Limited Edition, New Mexico)

Hey, here's a bonus collectible for you: The Stratosphere doesn't put any cheap disposable plastic cups in their hotel rooms. Their cups are a heavier plastic, with a faux-frosted-glass finish, and the Stratosphere logo across the front. And: top-rack dishwasher safe! Don't toss them in the trash! Take them home and toss them in the dishwasher! Ask your housekeeper for extras and you can have a set of glasses that will be the envy of all your friends! Hey, anything we can do to make our Vegas trip greener and pick up some cool keepsakes while we're at it.