As competitors, judges and attendees start to prepare their travel plans to the World Food Championships, we have created a series of blog posts highlighting some of the fun things to do and see in Downtown Las Vegas.  Click on the links to check out the previous posts in this series:  Andiamo Italian Steakhouse, Park on Fremont.

It’s time to settle all family business.

Turning our sights to some culture and history, one landmark jumps out in Downtown Las Vegas as a must see.  Located at 300 Stewart Avenue in the heart of downtown, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, aka “the Mob Museum” is a iconic structure that is as impressive on the exterior as the exhibits that lie within.

Just a block and a half from the Kenmore Kitchen Coliseum at the 3rd Street Alcove of the Fremont Street Experience, attendees and competitors can leave their guns and take their cannoli in just a quick skip over to this historic landmark.  In a city that invents, demolishes and then reinvents itself in glorious fashion, the Mob Museum rests in the former federal courthouse where the Kefauver Hearings took place and is included on both the Nevada and National Registers of Historic Places.

As you tour through the museum you’ll see some amazing photos and exhibits that detail a very specific part of our country’s history. A time when we stirred out of our “rugged individualist selves” and learned that there was power in many. Cities grew exponentially.  As Henry Ford’s  assembly line technique spurred the industrial revolution, concurrently “mob” syndicates used the same conceptual ideology to create giant networks of specialized workmen to usher in an era of organized crime.

Pop culture glorification of organized crime stories told in movies like the Godfather and shows like the Sopranos fuel our collective interest in the subject matter.  The Mob Museum is interestingly left with a juxtaposition where they appear to want to satiate our desire for this type of content, but are still very careful to try and not glorify their actions. It’s an interesting line that the Mob Museum walks finely.

Exhibits that you should definitely take time to see include the “Sin City” exhibit that speaks specifically to Las Vegas and a time when organized crime “ran the city.”  The museum also features theatre presentations, interesting artifacts and interactive exhibits that you’d expect from any top museum of this type. Tell your consigliore to carve out a couple hours from your schedule and definitely make time for this entertaining sight-see.

Keep an eye on the WFC Blog for more “Things to Do” during your stay in Downtown Las Vegas.