Eiffel Tower ambassador tells the stories behind the sights

High above the Strip on a clear and sunny Friday, the valley stretches out in a sumptuous vista for some lucky sightseeing tourists.

They have paid $15 to see Vegas from the 541-foot Eiffel Tower attraction at Paris Las Vegas. But they have turned away from the beige desert and the colorful hotels. They aren't even looking at sunbathers on the rooftop swimming pools.

They are looking at Vearn Rogers. And listening.

Look there at Caesars Palace, Rogers points. In a singsong voice, he tells them how it's changed since he moved to Las Vegas in 1984. Then he proceeds to tell them everything about the hotel and its history, how daredevil Evel Knievel tried to jump the Caesars fountain in 1967 and nearly killed himself; how, in 1993, the Fan Man paraglided into a boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe.

The crowd is transfixed by his words.

Rogers, tall and lean with a runner's build at age 52, is an Eiffel Tower ambassador. His job is to escort guests on the tower's elevator and answer the occasional question. When he was offered the job three years ago, he turned it down.

"Will I have to talk to people?" he asked the woman interviewing him. He didn't want to talk to anyone; Rogers is painfully shy.

Take the job, the hiring manager told him, and when something more suited to your personality opens up, I will transfer you. That was three years ago.

"I felt trapped," Rogers says. "But it's been a blessing in disguise. I discovered a talent I didn't know I had."

That talent is what he calls a photographic memory. Rogers remembers almost everything he reads. And he reads a lot.

As a shy kid growing up in Compton, Calif., Rogers buried his nose in books. It was a way to escape the bullies at school who teased him mercilessly for having a melodic voice. It's a firm voice with a lilt to it but it's not all that different from any other voice. It's certainly not a voice worthy of scorn. But other kids gave him hell for it.

After graduating from high school, he joined the Air Force for four years, then worked in a California warehouse making stuffing for mattresses and pillows.

The oldest of six, Rogers came to Las Vegas one day to help his sister move. He arrived at the Greyhound bus station with nothing more than $50 in his pocket and the Puma jumpsuit on his back.

He walked around Fremont Street, saw the talking cowboy Vegas Vic sign. He feasted like a king for 49 cents. He decided to never leave.

"Fremont Street is the reason I stayed," Rogers says.

He got a job at Imperial Palace, then the Flamingo, where he worked for nearly 16 years. He worked his way up to front desk manager before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. That's when layoffs hit the Strip and Rogers had to find another job. He worked at Bally's and the Rio before getting the Paris job.

For two years at the Paris, he stood on the platform in his official red coat, ready to answer questions from curious tourists or direct them to the elevator.

He rarely talked to people, just pushed the button that took the elevator to the observation deck.

Then one day, someone said, "This is all you do? Go up and down in an elevator and push buttons?"

It made him angry. He vowed to do something to make his job more meaningful. After his shift, Rogers grabbed a tourist magazine and stood on the sidewalk, reading it.

"I said, 'Wouldn't it be neat if I knew all these things about Vegas and could share them with people?' " Rogers recalls.

He went home and started studying. He surfed the Internet, researching Strip hotels. He memorized everything he could. Ask him about any hotel and he will tell you how much it cost to build, when it was built, who owned it, how it's changed over the years and more.

"I've always had a knack for remembering things," he says.

Soon, Rogers turned his elevator rides into minitours. His co-workers nicknamed him "Vegas Vearn" in honor of the trivia he possesses.

On this recent Friday, a woman expresses joy at her good fortune. She has been escorted by Rogers, who told her facts and stories about the history of Las Vegas, the valley's geography and the Bellagio fountains.

"We were lucky to get Vearn," she says, smiling.

"I watched this town go from a circus to a Disneyland," he says.

"Vegas is the world's playground," Rogers says. "You know what I love most about this place? I love that people are always happy and smiling."

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at
spadgett@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564. Follow @StripSonya on Twitter.