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Las Vegas launches another remake, but what about the leprechaun?

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Goodbye, O’Sheas casino.

Goodbye, Imperial Palace (well, at least the name Imperial Palace).

Though the recession has remade Las Vegas in a number of ways, it hasn’t wiped out the town’s penchant for swapping the old for the new.

Sidelined amid Wednesday’s unveiling of plans for Caesars Entertainment’s open-air cluster of bars, restaurants and shops was the news that two down-market mainstays of the Las Vegas Strip will cease to exist in their current forms.

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Imperial Palace will be retooled and renamed as part of a $550-million, Rick Caruso-designed entertainment district called the Linq, business leaders told The Times. Today, the casino is mostly known for its ‘dealertainers’ -- the Stevie Wonder and Dolly Parton impersonators who deal cards and sing -- although its onetime owner gained some infamy in the 1980s for throwing birthday parties for Adolf Hitler.

The former Imperial Palace will also swallow O’Sheas, whose rowdy atmosphere brought to mind the days of mud wrestling at the New Frontier, a casino that was imploded to make way for a hotel that never broke ground.

For a time, O’Sheas’ chief entertainment was the show “Freaks,” which included a glass eater and a man who impaled himself. The casino’s longtime mascot was a leprechaun, which seemed appropriate for a place that always smelled like St. Patrick’s Day.

Yes, Caesars executives plan to recreate an ‘O’Sheas-like’ venue inside the Linq, the Las Vegas Sun reported. But it’s unclear whether it will include beer pong, a psychic or the 4-foot-1 man known as Lucky the leprechaun.

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-- Ashley Powers in Nevada
Twitter.com/ashleypowers

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