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Las Vegan, I mean.
I didn't live in Vegas 'til 2004 but I first visited it over 20 years ago and remember what it was like just before the corporate types really took over. The place sure has changed, not least in escalating expense for visitors (I could go for a Bahamas trip for less than Vegas, which'd definitely be my preference), and it's a shadow of its former self. At least Downtown still has plenty of neon left and, despite some Disneyfication, the pedestrian mall, and removal of at least a few layers of seediness (if only on Fremont), has some Vegas character left.
The Strip's mostly devoid of character, nowadays. The corporations changed it -- actually, it wasn't the same once the Mafia were ousted as overt overlords, and everyone I know who worked here in the '60s and '70s tells me that the Mafia treated both guests and workers vastly better than the soulless corporations do -- but Steve Wynn pretty much set the tone for the face of the New Strip when he opened the Mirage. These massive Strip properties with the neon-free muted lighting and the often outrageous room rates and other prices are essentially just theme parks with suspect air...some are truly incredible in their details and the thought and expense that went into expressing the intended themes but they really aren't Vegas (not just 'Old Vegas' but the erstwhile Vegas that's still falsely presented in films and TV as now-Vegas). If I was going to build a Strip casino-hotel I think I'd take the bold step of making my theme Las Vegas, just to be radically different, and it'd be aglow with neon.
I was never a real 'Vegas person' and it's far from my natural habitat (I always felt that Vegas represented some of the best of the US and some of the worst of the US, at the same time, and my brief visits here seemed almost like anthropological field trips), but I can still see that there're some fun things to do here, some still for free, and the peoplewatching is undeniably world-class. Just don't let the superficial glitz -- much more calculated and less endearing than that of old -- obscure the facts that (a) the corporate casinos want every single dollar that enters this town and will do anything to get yours and to prevent you from getting theirs and (b) although it presents itself as a carefree, hedonistic destination, the Vegas Strip (Downtown, too) is anything but, behind that very thin facade, and it's probably the most uptight place in which I've ever spent time. And I really, really, really, really think it's bad, in many ways, that almost the entire Strip is now owned by two gaming corporations.
There are very few good deals in Vegas any more, even for casual gamblers. It used to be great here, even for those of us who didn't gamble, because everything was free or really cheap. That included room rates, food, many shows, and lots more. Not any more. Now the big shows, some priced in the stratosphere, pay for themselves and so do the bars and many of the restaurants and other concessions -- gambling's no longer the only moneymaker here and other activities and facilities don't just exist to entice gamblers. Now, too, the casinos have discovered the joys of running insanely-overpriced clubs and ultralounges that seem to overwhelmingly cater to (in my limited experience, having been dragged in to some...the only joyful note being that I didn't have to wait in line or pay for the dubious privilege) identical frat boys, L.A. blondes in little black dresses, and people determined to look bored and trendy while they drink unbelievably overpriced beverages. Bleh.
Working for most of the Strip casinos -- the corporate ones -- largely sucks because their mindset is that employees are expendable and interchangeable, they shape the state's laws (undoubtedly including the labor ones), and many casino managers are initiative-challenged drones who wouldn't recognize a novel thought even if they weren't afraid to have one. Now that I don't work for anyone but me, I don't have a lot of use for most casinos these days: I don't drink, I don't gamble, and I have more than enough time in the company of tourists and other drunks. I do, however, feel somewhat at home in off-Strip places like Sunset Station and South Point. The Station casinos, the Coast casinos, and South Point (owned by Mike Gaughan, who used to own the Coast group and set the tone for them) are not only friendlier to the gambler, and always have good and budget-priced shows by performers of yore, but are widely known to treat their employees well. If you're into gambling but not into losing lots of money, off-Strip places (including some Downtown) would be an idea -- actually, the very best places for winning video poker might be convenience stores and supermarkets out in the suburban boonies. As for food, it tends to be expensive on the Strip but here and there you might find a decent deal, though it's becoming harder now that maybe 85% of the Strip is owned by two companies who've largely dropped pretense of competition and providing visitors any good deals on food or anything else.
One place that's kind of like a flashback in this sense is Ellis Island, now part of a Super 8 motel on Koval Lane, just east of the Strip and just south of Flamingo Road, where a perennial favorite for locals and old-time visitors is a $4.95 steak deal that includes a baked potato, green beans, and salad. It's a pretty cool little place and is frequented by a lot of casino workers, who get special deals on drinks and so forth, and their entire menu is pretty well priced even if it's largely fairly unimaginative American coffee-shop food. I'm not big on chunks of meat but I've had that steak special a couple of times and it is not only priced well but is a thoroughly decent meal that'd likely appeal even more to the steak-o-phile who doesn't want to pay $20 or more for the Strip price on a slab of dead cow. I first tried the place on the strength of the word of a friend of a friend who delivers meat around Vegas and claimed that Ellis Island got better cuts of meat than most of the fancy Strip hotel restaurants. It's funky to the max, and the karaoke bar can be intrusive (it seems to attract mainly the tone deaf and very drunk)...I heard that the casino's bare concrete floors date back to the day that management decided to remove the carpet and never got around to replacing it.
Anyway, there're undoubtedly a few places like Ellis Island still hidden away. Food is also cheaper, in general, on Fremont Street and I know Binion's has a good and well-priced steakhouse and that the one just opposite it -- Fremont? -- has cheap food, though the only stuff I've tried there was unadulterated and unabashed junk food, including highly-suspect cheap hot dogs and a decent hamburger. Still, Vegas is nowhere like the town it used to be, and most of the changes -- for all the architectural, decorative, and other overdone splendors of these massive 'theme' hotels -- are for the worst, I think. But even though it's not Vegas, it's still Vegas. Kind of.
Oh, and I would love to share a dark alley with whatever moron came up with the "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" campaign: that slogan meshes too well with an ever-increasing American sense of entitlement to encourage many tourists to believe they can do whatever they want, sans consequences, including treat hospitality- and gaming-industry workers like garbage. Some of these tourists don't need any help with being obnoxious pigs, proving that the 'Ugly American' is an archetype as readily observed inside the USA as it is overseas (a good thing, in a roundabout way, because it just shows that they stand out against their own compatriots and that not all yanquis are of their ilk), and as soon as they catch Metro's eye (or that of casino security, including the Eye In The Sky -- get used to being on camera pretty much all the time in Vegas) they'll see the lie behind that idiotic marketing slogan.
One more thing -- one of the best things about Vegas is its location: the desert. If you get thoroughly sick of the Strip, et al. (and even if you don't), try to get out of town for at least an afternoon, even if it's only as far away as nearby Red Rock Canyon. I work on the Strip, so when I'm through I almost injure myself in the rush to get the hell away from it (thus my relative lack of familiarity with many of the hotels there, some of which I've not yet even entered), but even if your soul's only moderately sapped by the Strip's energy a good walk in the desert is guaranteed to fix what ails you.
So, yeah, I agree with the above point-of-view that Vegas kinda sucks, as a tourist destination, these days but you can still have a good time here, and I hope you do...one thing is for sure: you won't truly believe the place until you see it (and, arguably, you'll quite possibly believe it even less then).
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