If you’re used to entering the Golden Nugget Las Vegas from the hotel-casino’s self-parking garage, prepare to be wowed.

A recent renovation project has turned an inconspicuous rear entrance into a conspicuous one.

Gn entrance6 — Hotels on the strip just got schooled.

Golden Nugget fans will recognize this entrance as the one nearest the former Carson Street Cafe. The Carson Street Cafe was replaced by a new Claim Jumper restaurant, as well as the excellent Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar.

A focal point of the revamped hotel entrance is a massive overhead chandelier. Which is usually where chandeliers are kept.

Gn entrance5 — Yes, it’s eye-catching, but be careful. You’re on stairs, and gravity still applies, even in vegas.

The chandelier is made up of 124 individual lights.

We should probably note at this point we completely made that number up, because who has time to sit around and count lights?

Gn entrance3 — We trust we’re the only ones to notice that when you stand under the chandelier, it resembles a liquor bottle. Just saying.

The new entrance includes a shiny new facade, with windows from top to bottom. The windows provide tons of natural light inside. Yes, natural light inside a casino. It happens.

Gn entrance2 — The golden nugget’s going to need more squeegees.

The entrance renovation had a practical purpose in addition to the aesthetic one.

A fancy new staircase leads up to the hotel’s newly-renovated convention and meetings spaces. About which we probably should have gotten more information. But that might have involved “research,” which we tend to be against, unless it’s research into slushy drinks.

Gn entrance4 — There were people conventioning even as we were taking these photos.

Roam around the Golden Nugget a bit and you’re sure to find other surprises.

The casino floor has been renovated over the last few months, rooms in the hotel’s Gold Tower have been renovated (we stayed, we loved), and the hotel’s famed shark tank pool was recently spruced up with resurfacing and other changes we didn’t get the specifics of because we were too busy watching people water slide through a pool with sharks. We’re easily distracted like that.