#11: Las Vegas Has Its Own Statue of Liberty — Las Vegas, Nevada
The Statue of Liberty standing beside the Las Vegas Strip can look surprisingly convincing when photographed without the surrounding casinos, but it is actually part of the New York-New York Hotel & Casino. Opened in 1997, the resort compresses recognizable pieces of New York City into a theatrical Nevada skyline, including skyscraper-inspired towers, the Brooklyn Bridge, and a replica of Lady Liberty. The statue is considerably smaller than the original monument in New York Harbor, yet its familiar pose and green exterior make the reference unmistakable. It even became involved in an unusual case of mistaken identity when the U.S. Postal Service used an image of the Las Vegas replica on a 2011 Forever stamp intended to depict the original Statue of Liberty. Collectors eventually noticed differences in the face and other details, revealing that millions of stamps actually showed the casino version.
