Sleepy Lion in MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

Sleepy Lion in MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

Image by Bogdan Migulski
On February 23, 1993, MGM celebrated a "topping off" ceremony with the placement of the last panel of emerald green glass hoisted onto one of the 30-story hotel towers. A total of 5,005 green balloons were released, each containing a gift certificate valid for one complimentary stay in one of the rooms.
When the latest MGM Grand opened on December 18, 1993, it was owned by MGM Grand Inc. At that time it had an extensive Wizard of Oz theme, including the green "Emerald City" color of the building and the decorative use of Wizard of Oz memorabilia. After entering the casino's main entrance, one would find themselves in the Oz Casino and facing the "Emerald City". Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion were seen in front of the city. The "Emerald City" attraction featured an elaborate yellow brick road walk through. Complete with a cornfield, an apple orchard, the haunted forest as well as audio-animatronic figures of the Scarecrow, Dorothy, the Wicked Witch of the West, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. It would end at the door of the city, leading inside for a performance of "The Wizard's Secrets". When the MGM Grand began its extensive refurbishment in 1996, the Oz Casino was the first to go. The Emerald City was completely demolished, and the "Emerald City Gift Shop" was moved to a new shopping section of the casino. The store remained open until early 2003.
Originally, the main entrance on the Strip was inside the mouth of a giant cartoon-like version of MGM's mascot, Leo the Lion, but this entrance feature was changed to a more traditional entrance; many Chinese gamblers avoided the casino or entered through the back entrance, due to the feng shui belief that entering the mouth of the lion was "bad luck."[7] In 1998, a large bronze statue of Leo was added above the entrance to keep with the MGM Lion theme, while not scaring away their more superstitious guests. The statue weighs 50 tons, and at 45 feet (14 m) tall, on a 25-foot pedestal, is the largest bronze statue in the U.S.[8]


A statue of Leo, the MGM lion
When the MGM Grand opened, the intention was to create the first true destination hotel in the Las Vegas area by including the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park behind the casino. The plan was to make the Las Vegas Strip more family friendly by providing activities for children who were too young to be allowed to linger inside the casino. The theme park performed poorly, and did not reopen for the 2001 season. On December 5, 2002, MGM Mirage announced that the former theme park would be developed as a luxury condominium and hotel complex called The Signature.


Poker Room in the MGM Grand
A monorail was built to connect the MGM Grand to Bally's in 1995. The coming out party for the monorail on behalf of Bally's consisted of showgirls and guys from Jubilee helping the groups to the monorail. Characters from the Wizard of Oz greeted the groups on the MGM side. The track was later updated to became the southernmost section of the Las Vegas Monorail. The station was refurbished, the trains were replaced with Bombardier M-VI's, and the track was extended beyond the southern station to provide for track switching for the trains as well as a starting point for a potential future southern extension to the monorail line.


MGM Grand today, with sign promoting it as The City of Entertainment
In 2000, in an attempt to appeal to a more "mature" clientele, the hotel underwent a major renovation and almost all traces of the "Oz" theme were removed. The theme is now more of the Art Deco era of classic Hollywood and the hotel started billing itself as The City of Entertainment. More recently, the resort has used the phrase, "Maximum Vegas" referring to the vast amount of activities MGM Grand offers its guest.
On April 26, 2000, MGM opened a new satellite registration/hotel check-in center at the McCarran International Airport. This is the first of its kind opened by a hotel company at any United States airport.[9]
In 2005, MGM opened the "West Wing," a renovation of the original Marina Hotel rooms.
Beginning in October 2011, MGM began its "Grand Renovation" in which all of its rooms and suites in the main tower were fully renovated, along with the casino floor and other public areas. This has provided the hotel with a more modern appeal with its contemporary room design. The work is scheduled to be completed in September 2012.
Source: Wikipedia

NYC - Chelsea: 14th Street–Eighth Avenue Subway - Life Underground

Image by wallyg
Tom Otterness' Life Underground, a 2001 public artwork created for the 14th Street–Eighth Avenue New York City Subway station was commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York Arts for Transit program for US0,000 — one percent of the station's reconstruction budget. The installation is a series of whimsical miniature bronze sculptures depicting cartoon like characters in various bizarre situations, and other abstract sculptures, which are dispersed throughout the station platforms and passageways. Otterness said the subject of the work is "the impossibility of understanding life in New York" and describes the arrangement of the individual pieces as being “scattered in little surprises.” He became so obsessed with this project, that he delivered more than four times the amount of artwork he was originally commissioned to produce. His wife finally made him stop expanding the collection by imploring him to stop "giving away our daughter's whole inheritance." The complete series encompasses more than 100 individual pieces. Many of the figures have moneybag heads, and Otterness credits 19th century political cartoonist Thomas Nast as his inspiration for these. The works were put on public display in 1996 on the southeast corner of Central Park at Fifth Avenue prior to its installation originally scheduled for 1998. The entire project took 10 years from commissioning to the final completion of the installation.

Kansas-born New York City-based artist Tom Otterness has created a cast of playful bronze characters that can be found all over the city as well as throughout the country and in Europe. In 2000, he added Time and Money to the Hilton Times Square. In 2001, he installed his massive Life Underground in the 14th Street-8th Avenue Subway station. In 2005, he installed The Marriage of Money and Real Estate off Roosevelt Island. And his The Real World attracts the fancy of children in Battery Park City.

NYC - Chelsea: 14th Street–Eighth Avenue Subway - Life Underground

Image by wallyg
Tom Otterness' Life Underground, a 2001 public artwork created for the 14th Street–Eighth Avenue New York City Subway station was commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York Arts for Transit program for US0,000 — one percent of the station's reconstruction budget. The installation is a series of whimsical miniature bronze sculptures depicting cartoon like characters in various bizarre situations, and other abstract sculptures, which are dispersed throughout the station platforms and passageways. Otterness said the subject of the work is "the impossibility of understanding life in New York" and describes the arrangement of the individual pieces as being “scattered in little surprises.” He became so obsessed with this project, that he delivered more than four times the amount of artwork he was originally commissioned to produce. His wife finally made him stop expanding the collection by imploring him to stop "giving away our daughter's whole inheritance." The complete series encompasses more than 100 individual pieces. Many of the figures have moneybag heads, and Otterness credits 19th century political cartoonist Thomas Nast as his inspiration for these. The works were put on public display in 1996 on the southeast corner of Central Park at Fifth Avenue prior to its installation originally scheduled for 1998. The entire project took 10 years from commissioning to the final completion of the installation.

Kansas-born New York City-based artist Tom Otterness has created a cast of playful bronze characters that can be found all over the city as well as throughout the country and in Europe. In 2000, he added Time and Money to the Hilton Times Square. In 2001, he installed his massive Life Underground in the 14th Street-8th Avenue Subway station. In 2005, he installed The Marriage of Money and Real Estate off Roosevelt Island. And his The Real World attracts the fancy of children in Battery Park City.