Greater L.A.

When a four-story glass Coke bottle arose on the Las Vegas Strip next door to the MGM Grand, a rumor made the rounds that it would be filled with the Real Thing.

Instead, millions of dollars, not soda, was poured into the site to create the World of Coke, an attraction with the feel of a world’s fair pavilion. The bottle is an elevator shaft from the sidewalk to a permanent exhibit bubbling over with artifacts and images of the venerable beverage.

Visitors are hustled along a nostalgic streetscape by a troupe of engaging young actors portraying icons of Americana--a soda jerk, a grease monkey, the friendly town bottler. A mini-theater shows Coke’s bouncy TV ads of yore. A shop offers Coke merchandise of every stripe. It all adds up to a wearying formula for sensory overload--if it weren’t for a fountain dispensing free Coke, which keeps everybody upbeat and peppy.

The fountain is a study in Las Vegas understatement: 1,000 oversized Coke bottles spraying dancing waters in time to a wall screen playing Coke-themed music videos. Randy Hendrickson, portraying a soda jerk, answers a persistent and frequently asked question: “Coca-Cola doesn’t have cocaine in it. Our competitors have been spreading that rumor for 111 years.”