Richard O.
Yelp
Wow. Poor, poor, poor Neonopolis. If Shakespeare rose from the dead and wanted to write a new tragedy, it would probably be about Neonopolis. Act 1 would be the facility opening, Act 3 would be Jillians and the hope of Star Trek: The Experience coming here, and Act 5 would be Las Vegas Rocks closing. Neonopolis is to Las Vegas like what the Virtual Boy was to Nintendo: both had noble dreams and looked excellent on paper, but both ended up being complete failures in reality.
Quick history about this place. Most of the retail space was vacant throughout most the facility's history, and it was tough to fill the empty spaces with establishments. Jillians was a fun arcade/lounge type of place similar to Gameworks and Dave and Buster's, but it suffered from badly maintained machines and overpriced games. Not long before it closed, the fraternity I was in held a rush (recruitment) event in one of the banquet rooms in there, and while it was fun it was one of the few good things about Jillians. The place closed shortly after.
It had a movie theater, but why go to a theater there when you could just go to another one closer to where you live, and where parking is easier? Plus, the lack of air conditioning IN A DESERT made it difficult to lure moviegoers in. It soon closed.
They later had a Poker Dome event. It was a nice facility, and the spectator areas were pretty cool and high tech. Unfortunately, watching people play poker is nowhere near as entertaining as actually playing poker. In fact, watching Garry Kasparov play chess would probably be more exciting than watching poker. Now while some of you might enjoy watching poker on television, I just can't get into it. Needless to say, when the champion was crowned, they didn't do this again.
When Star Trek: The Experienced closed down at the Hilton, Trekkies like myself were heartbroken. However, we were relieved when told that The Experience would be relocated to Neonopolis. Unfortunately, after numerous auctions selling props from The Experience took place, it's relocation to Neonopolis is about as likely as Captain Picard manning the Starship Enterprise again. The Experience remains stranded in the Delta Quadrant, and Neonopolis remains in the Neutral Zone.
Las Vegas Rocks closing looks to be the final nail in Neonopolis's coffin. It's quite sad, really. Neonopolis had everything in paper to be THE revitalization for the Downtown area. And while First Friday and the large number of plush and comfortable bars and lounges are revitalizing the area in itself, Neonopolis remains a proverbial ghost town, a reminder of what could have been, but never was.
PROS:
Filmmaker looking for a creepy, deserted place? Here you go!
CONS:
Everything
THE VERDICT: Just pretend it never happened.