Located in the heart of downtown Las Vegas, The Mob Museum offers the opportunity to revisit the colorful and infamous stories and larger-than-life figures that helped shape the landscape of organized crime throughout the United States and the part that Las Vegas played in the grand scheme of this shadowy world.
But this isn’t just some dusty old museum with a few scattered artifacts and pictures.
This is a four-story, immersive walk through time that implores visitors to get hands on and dive deeper into the world of gangsters, peace officers, hot lead and ice cold gin.
This is the story of the mob… Vegas style.
In a city full of can’t-miss attractions, this family-friendly stop should be at the top of your list.
Overview
The Mob Museum is a four-story museum that sits just steps away the world famous Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. It opened on February 14, 2012, and played a vital part of the resurgence of the downtown scene in Vegas.
The museum itself is self-guided although guided tours, field trips and an incredibly unique experience… scavenger hunts are available set-up through their official website. You can hold private events and corporate functions at the museum and well, it wouldn’t be Vegas without a wedding. So, yes, you can get married here too!
This attraction begs to separate itself from its stuffy contemporaries by seamlessly melding intrigue with explanation by not glossing over important parts of U.S. history. You don’t just get the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre story… you get the reasons behind it and the implications afterwards.
For those looking for a little more “hands on” experience, the Mob Museum has an entire day’s worth of interactive exhibits, multimedia displays and so much pop culture lore that you’ll desperately try to drop your new found gangster knowledge into casual conversations and parties… you know… to seem cooler than you are.
Just kidding… we know you’re already cool. You’re the bees knees. The cat’s meow.
Ok, enough of that.
The entire family though will be hard pressed to not walk away with each person having their own favorite part of this experience.
USA Today has called it the “best museum in Nevada” and that’s not a stretch. It’s a must-see for travelers who might be passing through or locals who are looking for a fun way to spend an afternoon.
The Underground at the Mob Museum
The Underground is “an immersive Prohibition history exhibit, featuring a working distillery and speakeasy, located in the basement of The Mob Museum.”
Translation: Learn some cool history while enjoying some snacks and moonshine or beer brewed right inside the building.
The Underground is composed of two unique parts. First, the working distillery which houses a 60-gallon, custom made copper-pot still that can produce a quantity of 250 750-mL jars of moonshine per week. It’s an additional cost to attend a moonshine sampling but it’s well worth it. They don’t just pour white lightning down your throat… they educate you on the process of making it and fascinating history context as well.
That leads way to the speakeasy which keeps about two kegs of their house-brewed beer on tap as well. But they have cocktails (like my favorite, The Old Fashioned) which they serve to you in a fun speakeasy way:
There’s also a secret hidden room just off the speakeasy. Can you find it? If you do, it offers up a fun, private experience that will give you an idea of what it was like to have fun without the “gum shoes” showing up and closing the place down.
Make The Mob Museum A Priority Stop
The museum itself is like stepping back in time during one of the most turbulent and compelling periods of American history where the nation’s soul warred with itself over the morality of the Prohibition Era, the vacuum that supply-and-demand created and the famous and infamous characters that emerged from it.
It is an incredibly fascinating time portal to step through and experience on more than one occasion because you’ll find something new or something you might have missed.
I lived in Las Vegas for more than four years before I finally made it a priority to check out, so I urge you, if you’re looking for something fun to do that’s not on a casino floor, make The Mob Museum a priority.
