The Crazy Girls statue at the Riviera never ceases to attract attention from passers-by on the Strip. The Siegfried & Roy bronze sculpture can be found among foliage near the sidewalk outside The Mirage. The Harrah's Las Vegas sign is adorned by golden Harlequins and bright colors. Caesars Palace includes a fountain featuring a Roman god accented by fog effects. A man passes out cards featuring nude women. The porn peddlers are easy to find along the Strip. Rosewood Grille signboards can be seen in many places along the Strip, including this one outside Walgreens on the southern end of the street. This hybrid Harley, complete with bird perched atop, can be seen outside the Harley Davidson Cafe Wednesday, Mar. 8, 2006. The Harley consists of metal parts along with shrubbery molded as a bike.handed statue where visitors can stop and pray. Photos by Ronda Churchill.

Here's one way tourists have it all over us locals.

When we travel the Strip we're usually driving, and that means we're too busy trying not to hit other cars, trying not to let other cars hit us and trying to avoid hitting jaywalking tourists to look around.

But when tourists travel the Strip they're usually walking, and that means they're likely to notice things we preoccupied locals don't.

A neat statue. An impressive building facade. Even just the astounding array of human life found along Las Vegas' most famous road.

What might you see if you were to walk from one end of the Strip to the other? You'd see a few sights that are can't-miss obvious and others that are more subtle and require looking up, looking down, looking around or just looking with a different perspective.

None of the finds we offer here is on a level with the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty -- unless you're talking about the minor-league versions that can be seen along the Strip -- and they're not necessarily big or important.

Just call them a few of the often-overlooked visual treats that help give the Strip its distinctive character.

There are all sorts of art objects, both deliberate and found, along the Strip, and all offer great photo opportunities.

Take, for instance, the camel sculpture outside the Sahara that would make a nice prop for a family Christmas card. For added Vegas effect, pose the family in their hotel-provided bathrobes to create the full Three Wise Men motif.

1.

But it's at the Riviera that you'll find the city's best-known, and maybe most popular, example of Strip -- in whatever sense of the word you choose -- art: The Crazy Girls sculpture, which features rear views of dancers from the hotel's long-running show.

Veteran Strip hikers know the best thing about the Crazy Girls sculpture isn't the sculpture itself -- although some do find it rather breathtaking -- but the reactions of passers-by to it. So take out the video camera and prepare for found performance art at its best.

One of the most mystifying sights along the Strip is the "Cloud" installation outside the Fashion Show mall, which brings to mind a flying saucer about to crash in some old sci-fi movie.

If nothing else, it provides shade on a hot summer day and gives a sense of what it'd be like to have worked as an extra on "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

Everybody knows about the gondoliers who ply the waters outside The Venetian. But look up at the top of the columns flanking the hotel's entrance and you'll see sculptures of a winged lion and what looks to be a hunter.

Take a look, too, at the upper edge of the hotel's facade and you'll see where, if ever a legion of crossbowmen were to appear in Las Vegas -- to repel, maybe, invading hordes from Pahrump -- they'd certainly be.

2.

Outside The Mirage is another popular, if less risque, example of Vegascentric art: The sculpture of Siegfried, Roy and an unidentified tiger.

The magicians opened shortly after The Mirage made its debut and played there until Roy's career-ending encounter with one of the act's tigers. So, while the sculpture may once have been a kitschy stop on a walking tour of the Strip, it has taken on the aura of a sort of shrine among camera-wielding tourists.

3.

While you're at The Mirage, walk underneath the resort's sign -- the one with the giant image of headliner Danny Gans -- and look up at the facade of Harrah's across the street.

Because it does require looking up, few passers-by may notice the impressive tableau of two smiling, reclining harlequins at the top of the roof. At night, the multicolored lights underneath offer a colorful accent, but you won't be able to see the well-crafted figures quite as well.

4.

The Mirage justifiably is known for its impressive landscaping, which incorporates a variety of water features including dolphin sculptures and a fountain, which at night simulates a lava-spewing volcano.

But only a short walk to the south is the landscaping at Caesars Palace, which doesn't get as much press as The Mirage's but certainly is worth seeing.

There's some nice topiary, well-maintained greenery and numerous statues that combine to create an entryway that's hard to fully appreciate when zipping by in a car.

Most intriguing: A fountain featuring a statue of a Roman god accented by fog effects.

Check out, also, the front fountains, which look nothing like they did when Evel Knievel jumped -- not totally successfully -- over them in a previous era of Las Vegas.

This will require a leap of imagination, but indulge us here.

You won't find them in any guidebook, but the Strip is home to street performers who'd give the buskers of New York City and street mimes anywhere a run for their creative money.

For example, all along the Strip, you see sweatshirted men and women slap cards of artistically posed nudes into the hands of passers-by with an assurance that'd make New York's three-card monte dealers envious.

Meanwhile, fans of the visual arts should check out the enigmatic posters all along the Strip of a tuxedoed man holding a giant lobster by its claws.

Like all good art, the image elicits questions. An ecological statement about the dangers of chemicals entering the planet's seas? A critique of American mass consumption? An absurdist statement about the culture of Las Vegas?

Sure, the posters say they're advertising the Rosewood Grille, home of, as the images put it, "the ultimate lobster experience," and we suppose it could be. You sure don't find lobsters like that at home.

5.

Examples of impressive topiary can be seen all along the Strip. For a twist on the standard designs, check out the front of the Harley-Davidson Cafe, where the outdoor dining area features a motorcycle covered by hedges, bushes and various strains of vegetation.

Think of it as a Chia Harley. And, unless you've walked by or happened to be stopped for a red light at Harmon Avenue, you've probably never seen it.

6.

The MGM Grand's lion and the giant Coca-Cola bottle outside of GameWorks are well-known sights along the Southern end of the Strip. But check out, also, Hawaiian Marketplace, a retail plaza that executes its theme happily, if not downright enthusiastically.

There are mock thatched roofs and light sconces shaped like pineapples, simulating what it must've been like to attend a 1962 Polynesian-themed patio party. Check, too, the statue of King Kamehameha the Great.

Finally, south of Tropicana Avenue, check out the Strip's ever-shrinking stretch of mid-20th century hotel architecture.

While the famed Glass Pool Inn is gone, you can still catch the Happi Inn and White Sands Motel -- that's "motel," and definitely not "hotel" -- and imagine what it would have been like to pull in your 1961 Chevy Bel Air sedan at the start of a Las Vegas vacation.

STORY BY JOHN PRZYBYS PHOTOS BY RONDA CHURCHILL REVIEW-JOURNAL