"for a price you can press the button that controls these fountains"
I think the first time I saw these they were fun to watch. Its 110 degrees and water shoots up high into the air. It has a cooling effect as a gentle mist goes over all the crowds of people on the sidewalk.
I have stayed at the Cromwell, formerly (Bills and before that Barbary Coast) and these fountains get old fast once you have a room that faces them for a few day. It sounds like a war with cannons going off every half hour in the daytime and then every 15 minutes in the evening till midnight.
And heaven forbid some high roller pays $250,000 to press that red button in the gold box that makes it all happen regardless of the hour waking up everybody in the neighborhood.