By dawn’s early light: At sunrise, the Strip takes on serene personality

Kimberley McGee

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2002 | 8:23 a.m.

Many Las Vegans consider the Strip to be a congested attraction teeming with tourists.

But in the early morning hours there exists a quiet beauty of an international city waking up to another day.

Viewing the Strip in dawn's light, at about 6 a.m., one might even say Las Vegas is pretty. Angelic trumpeters perched on Roman columns herald the morning in front of Caesars Palace.

The smiling statues that pepper the entrance to the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace are illuminated with golden light as the sun glints off their faux-finish.

Freshly cleaned fountains gurgle alongside the Bally's people mover. A late-night gambler perches his last Long Island iced tea on the lip of a fountain before calling it a night as a pack of early rising joggers pass.

Across the street, more joggers wind through the shade trees and dodge walkers along the wide sidewalk in front of the fountains at Bellagio.

A businessman, with a steaming cup of coffee and a Wall Street Journal tucked under his arm, strolls across the vacant six traffic lanes of the Strip from Flamingo Las Vegas to Caesars Palace.

Bundled in winter coats, couples walk briskly past hulking limos lined under the Frontier's porte-cocheres.

Above the walkers plays a symphony of bird songs. Nestled in treetops, the avian litany is drowned out during the day by the constant hum of traffic.

On the ground finches feast on discarded cocktail fruit and carry torn pieces of napkins, newspaper and adult entertainment fliers back to their nests.

As the day lengthens, the tugboats outside New York-New York are scrubbed clean by hotel employees in preparation for the tourists who will pose in front of the bay for souvenir photos.

City and hotel maintenance employees fish advertisements and beer bottles from the previous night's revelers out of the fountains and the bushes in front of the Aladdin.

Street sweepers putt past Paris Las Vegas' L'Arc de Triomphe, shining the cobbled roads that lead to the hotel-casino.

The scenery is maintained for the onslaught of tourists who push past the tidy attractions outside for whatever they imagine awaits inside -- gambling, free tiger shows, arcade games -- later in the day.

As the Campanile Tower at the Venetian chimes 9 a.m., the streets begin to fill with taxis, limousines and rental cars. Tourists jostle along the walkways between hotels, stopping to snap a photo or wave into video cameras.

The golden hours, when the simple beauty of the Strip's landscape takes center stage, has slipped away for another day.