LAS VEGAS — When the cast and crew of “The Hangover” rolled into Las Vegas in the fall of 2008, people were not impressed.

“I have to say, there’s something wonderful about this city,” Bradley Cooper told the Review-Journal in 2013 during the “Hangover Part III” press junket at Caesars Palace. “I mean, we were in the elevator in the first one with tiger scratches on our necks, and no one cared.”

Then the movie, about four friends — well, three friends and an oddball brother — who check into Caesars Palace for an over-the-top bachelor party they don’t remember, opened on June 5, 2009. It quickly joined “Casino” (1995) and “Ocean’s Eleven” (2001) in the pantheon of quintessential Las Vegas movies.

As “The Hangover” turns 15, here are 15 things you may not have known about it:

1. The movie was inspired by a true story — a far less scandalous true story. In 2002, producer Tripp Vinson (“The Exorcism of Emily Rose”) was in Las Vegas with a couple of dozen friends when he went missing from his bachelor party and blacked out.

“And when I was revived, I was in a strip club being threatened with a very, very large bill I was supposed to pay,” Vinson told Deadline in 2009. “It was not a fun experience at the time, but it made for a funny story.”

2. The Caesars Palace suite the characters woke up in doesn’t exist. Production designer Bill Brzeski and his team created that suite at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. It was built on Stage 15, which also was home to the “Ocean’s Eleven” remake.

From left: Zach Galifianakis, lBradley Cooper and Ed Helms (and a baby) in a scene from “The Hangover.”

3. Despite all the evidence of a seriously debauched night in their hotel, Caesars Palace executives only officially requested that one scene be changed. In the script, Alan (Zach Galifianakis) bought the blackout-inducing drugs in the Caesars gift shop.

“They, very rightfully so, said that that couldn’t happen on their property, because it would never happen,” director Todd Phillips told us in 2013. The transaction ultimately took place in a liquor store.

4. Phillips developed a bit of a gambling problem while living in Caesars Palace and could be found playing blackjack in the middle of the night — in his pajamas.

“I think that’s why (Caesars Palace) let us film here,” he told us during that same interview. “Because I lost $55,000 on night one.”

5. Mike Tyson was not in a healthy place while filming his scenes. “Somebody had told me something about a movie, but I wasn’t coherent as to what he was talking about,” Tyson told the Hollywood Reporter in 2013. “They made it sound like it was low-budget, not a serious movie.”

Then he encountered Galifianakis and Justin Bartha, who played the missing groom, Doug, at Nick Cannon’s birthday party at Pure, the Caesars Palace nightclub now known as Omnia. Tyson had no idea who they were.

“They said, ‘We’re going to be shooting a movie with you in two weeks,’ ” Tyson recalled. “I didn’t even know. I said, ‘Really?’ And I started drinking with them. I was a little wasted at the time. I still didn’t understand the movie until like a week and a half later, when I was on set with these guys.”

During an interview with Yahoo Sports in 2012, Tyson said he was high when filming his scenes. “They had to know I was messed up,” he said of his co-stars. “I couldn’t talk. I had the cocaine talk.”

Later, when he was swarmed by a group of children asking him about the movie, the encounter made him want to get sober.

“That changed everything for me, which I’m so appreciative,” Tyson told ABC News in 2012. “That was just some good stuff.”

6. Four tigers were trained to perform specific tasks on screen. The Jim Henson Creature Shop supplied a life-size animatronic tiger, which contained 30 servo motors and required two puppeteers to operate, for certain scenes.

7. The Best Little Chapel, where Stu (Ed Helms) married Jade (Heather Graham), was just a facade built in the parking lot of what’s now known as the Bungalows Hostel, 1236 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

A wax figure of actor Zach Galifianakis portraying the character Alan Garner in “The Hangover” movie is displayed during the unveiling of the “The Hangover Experience” at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino on Jan. 1, 2015, in Las Vegas. (Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for Madame Tussauds / Tribune News Service)

8. You can, however, get married in a replica of the Best Little Chapel at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas. Packages include wax figures of Phil and Alan as witnesses, as well as a chance to hang out in the attraction’s “Hangover” hotel room, and range from $2,500 to $10,000.

The Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel, meanwhile, offers a “Hangover”-themed wedding package that includes a ceremony officiated by an Alan impersonator, and Jägermeister shots for the couple, for $950. A Stu impersonator is available for an extra $150.

9. Jade’s apartment complex? That’s the Wild Wild West Gambling Hall, the one-time site of the Athletics’ proposed stadium, which Station Casinos closed in 2022.

10. During a break in filming, Cooper, Phillips and Graham went to see Cirque du Soleil’s “Zumanity” at New York-New York.

Despite what Graham said were assurances by “Zumanity” staff that they’d be left alone, Cooper ended up shirtless, being rubbed all over by cast members, during the show.

“They were like, ‘We’re not gonna take you guys up onstage,’ ” Graham told us in 2009. “We were like, ‘Oh good.’ And then they grab Bradley, take his shirt off, and he’s like, ‘Ohhh!’ Really freaking out.”

11. As written, Ken Jeong’s Mr. Chow was supposed to be introduced in his underwear. Jeong suggested the scene, filmed in the vacant lot at Mandalay Bay Road and Giles Street, should be done in the nude.

“When Ken jumped out of the trunk, there was a policeman who said that people were complaining from Mandalay Bay, which was in no way true,” Phillips told the Hollywood Reporter in 2013. “He said, ‘You keep doing it, and we’re going to shut you down.’”

According to Helms, the cop said something like, “This is Vegas — we don’t act like that. This is not that kind of town.”

“Behind the cop, as he’s saying this,” Cooper added, “is a billboard of naked women.”

12. The scene in which the guys bring Chow his money is a direct homage to the desert meeting between Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro) and Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) in “Casino” — down to the reflection of the arriving Mercedes in Chow’s sunglasses. Both scenes were filmed at the Jean Dry Lake Bed.

13. A 1965 Mercedes-Benz 220SE that was wrecked for the movie is on display in Las Vegas. The car has no wheels, and its interior is destroyed as if by the tiger. It can be seen at the Hollywood Cars Museum, 5115 Dean Martin Drive.

14. The movie grossed $277.3 million domestically, besting 1984’s “Beverly Hills Cop” to become the highest-grossing R-rated comedy ever. It’s since been surpassed by “Deadpool” ($363.1 million) and “Deadpool 2” ($324.6 million).

15. Cooper auditioned for Phillips’ 2004 comedy “Starsky & Hutch,” but the duo didn’t really bond until the casting process for “The Hangover.” They went on to produce the movies “War Dogs” (2016), “A Star Is Born” (2018) and “Joker” (2019) together. Since “The Hangover,” Cooper has 12 Oscar nominations while Phillips has three.

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Residential tenants of the Northern Warehouse Lofts in Lowertown have been adjusting to life without a working elevator since last week. Many of them are artists who base their businesses out of the six-level building and the loss of their sole elevator has left them scrambling — and it’s happening soon after repairs resolved an elevator breakdown at the Tilsner Artist Lofts next door.

Constructed in 1903 and converted to artist lofts in 1990, the Northern Warehouse building at 308 Prince St. is known as the headquarters of the St. Paul Art Collective, which has hosted annual art crawls since 1977.

The warehouse has a history with its unpredictable elevator, according to tenants. Nathan Begnaud, employee of Leather Works Minnesota, works out of the second floor, and says the elevator has been a reoccurring problem. The elevator broke down June 5, but was fixed relatively quickly before breaking down again two days later, he said. It remained out of service as of Friday afternoon.

Catherine Johnson climbs the stairs at Northern Warehouse Lofts in St. Paul’s Lowertown with her dog, Zachary, on Thursday, June 13, 2024. (Samantha Wurm / Pioneer Press)

It’s not entirely clear what is wrong with the elevator, said Catherine L. Johnson, who lives on the fifth floor and has had multiple reconstructive surgeries. Though in contact with building managers, she has received no definitive answer on when the elevator is estimated to be repaired. She said many of the tenants have been “cultural contributors” to the St. Paul community, and without a working elevator, they are unable to carry out their work.

Efforts to reach the staff of Artspace, the organization that manages the Northern Warehouse Lofts, were unsuccessful.

The elevator is up to date on inspection — the last one being in January — and, at least on paper, doesn’t appear to have any recurring deficiencies, according to a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections. The modernized elevator was installed in 2008.

Another tenant said he lives on the fifth floor with his 86-year-old mother. On Monday, she had a mandatory doctor’s appointment and had no other choice but to climb up and down the five flights of stairs. Ever since, she’s been taking ibuprofen regularly to relieve her sore legs. At the end of this month, the pair plan to move, but they worry about the logistics if the elevator still isn’t working. He’s considering hiring professional movers, but understands that some movers charge extra for climbing stairs.

Marc Anderson, a local percussionist, said although it’s inconvenient, the broken elevator is just something “he has to roll with.” Anderson’s studio is on the second floor, but he’s still considering rigs to help him move instruments and has resorted to storing a sound bass and a gong in his girlfriend’s garage.

Jeff Morrison, a multi-media installation artist, said his art is composed of many large items. Since he’s on the sixth floor, he’s unable to move them. His parents, who are both in their 80s, and his sister, who’s had two knee replacements, were in town this past weekend, but weren’t able to see his studio.

Morrison said his gallery is dependent on showing his work. If the elevator is offline and he can’t move his art, then he has two options: cancel a show or hire a moving company. Both carry a financial burden, he said. Collectors of his art who may be elderly, disabled or have a lack of mobility can’t come upstairs to his studio.

The Northern Warehouse Lofts isn’t the only residential building in Lowertown that has struggled with the loss of its sole elevator. Located next door to the Northern and owned by Artspace, though managed by a separate company, the Tilsner Artist Lofts lost elevator access from May 22 through May 30. It was the latest in a long series of hiccups and breakdowns involving the building’s sole lift.

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The National Weather Service has confirmed that some of the damage left by severe storms across central and northern Minnesota on Wednesday evening, June 12 was caused by tornadoes.

Severe storms flipped a camper along State Highway 6 near Rabbit Lake north of Crosby on Wednesday night. The National Weather Service says the damage was caused by a tornado. (Kirsti Marohn / MPR News)

Meteorologists are still working to determine exactly how many tornadoes touched down and how strong they were.

Wednesday’s storms left extensive damage to trees and power lines, flipped boats and campers and damaged some buildings — with the Brainerd Lakes region particularly hard-hit. There were no reports of serious injuries.

The Weather Service office in Duluth sent storm survey teams Thursday to the Brainerd Lakes area, as well as east into parts of Aitkin and Carlton counties.

Those teams confirmed tornado damage at:

Rabbit Lake along State Highway 6 north of Crosby
Clamshell Lake near Crosslake
Cedar and Hammal lakes in western Aitkin County

“The NWS has not yet determined if the damage in Crow Wing County and Aitkin County is all from a single continuous tornado or if there were several tornadoes. Due to the rural and forested landscape, not all parts of the damage path were immediately accessible by ground,” the Weather Service reported in an update Thursday evening.

The agency is working to get aerial imagery to further assess the damage, and determine the path and strength of the tornado or tornadoes.

Storm survey crews also confirmed a weak tornado tracked for about 5 miles near Wright in Carlton County.

Wednesday night’s storms also caused significant damage in areas from St. Cloud and Sartell north toward Little Falls and Camp Ripley.

Residents and utility crews will continue working on storm cleanup on Friday. As of Friday morning, only a few dozen homes and businesses across central and northern Minnesota remained without power — down from more than 15,000 in the immediate aftermath of the storms.

Crow Wing Power reported that its crews had to replace more than 16 broken utility poles, in addition to damage to power lines.

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