Las Vegas Through My Eyes – Part VII

note: This week I read that another classic Las Vegas show, La Cage Aux Folles, is closing after a run of more than twenty years. Those of you who never got to see this famous female impersonator show really missed a treat, especially in its younger days when the star of the show, Frank Marino still looked like Joan Rivers. I knew the show was doomed when I noticed that Frank's plastic surgeon was unable to keep up with the frenetic pace of Joan's.

As we got to know our new home, we were somewhere between residents and tourists. We were still overcome by the excitement of it all, yet we began to understand what happened "backstage" as well. The late 1990's in Las Vegas was an exciting time. So many cranes dotted the skyline at one time that locals began to joke that the crane was the state bird of Nevada. New neighborhoods popped up and were populated seemingly overnight. Each morning on our way to work, we would note that another letter had been added to the top of the Monte Carlo's new hotel tower; "M", "MO", "MON", etc. The newspaper was always full of commentary on whether the Stratosphere was a monstrosity or an icon, and even a devastating fire couldn't slow its construction. We couldn't wait for the opening of the next big hotel, many of which were built off-strip and catered to locals. Each new hotel was bigger, more lavish, and filled with more amenities than the last.

Then it happened - The Invasion of the Crumb Snatchers. Yes, yard apes, curtain climbers, nose pickers...children. Always a playground for adults, hotels began to take notice that people with children had two things going for them - they had money and they were old enough to gamble. Topless shows began to offer "covered versions". The MGM built an amusement park. The Monte Carlo built a lazy river. The Hilton opened a Star Trek attraction. A Gameworks opened on the Strip. The inside of casinos began to look like the outside of the It's A Small World attraction at Disneyworld; strollers were everywhere.

For some, Las Vegas had changed for the better. Parents could now bring their children to swim with dolphins and ride roller coasters. But for me, the shine was off the apple. The elegantly dressed audiences that filled showrooms began to be replaced by flip flop wearing masses. On the locals scene, casinos began installing bowling alleys, movie theaters, and even indoor playgrounds. The casinos didn't care who filled their slot machines and family-friendly entertainment began to replace adult-themed entertainment all over town. The Walmart crowd had discovered Las Vegas and had claimed it for themselves.

As the city grew, so did the surrounding suburbs. On the one hand we were happy to no longer have to drive twelve miles to the nearest Home Depot. On the other hand, we found ourselves living in a smaller and smaller geographical circle. For me, the end of the excitement of Las Vegas came when parents began to complain loudly about a billboard's photo of a topless woman hiding her nipples with a pair of dice. I thought the billboard was fabulous. But the casino succumbed and took it down. Prada bags were out. Diaper bags were in.

To be continued...

Surgery Update

It was a long night. Paul was released from the surgery center at the height of rush hour. By the time we got home it was nearing 6:00. He was so hungry.

The first order of business was food. But the minute that he sat down to eat, blood began to pour from his surgical dressing. True to form, the only thing he was worried about was getting it on the carpet, and not the fact that his body was leaking essential fluids.

We wrapped him up and rushed him to the emergency room. They checked the sutures, cleaned him up, redressed the wound,and ran some blood tests to make sure his blood was coagulating normally. It turns out that he just wasn't quite ready to be released from the surgical center earlier in the evening. After they patched him up and he quit leaking, they let us go home.

He is resting now, although I can't say "comfortably". The percocet seems to have a calming effect. Perhaps I should give him some of it as well!

Luckily, I can work from home as need be so he is well attended to. Again, thanks for all the get well wishes.

Pauls' Surgery Went Well

For those of you following the saga, the doctor just came out to the waiting room here at the hospital and told me that Paul's shoulder surgery went fine. I haven't gone back to collect him yet, but the doctor says we will be able to go home shortly. Unfortunately, he will never play the violin again (but then he never could play the violin anyway.)

Paul will be at home recovering on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday if anyone wants to call and talk to him.

Las Vegas Through My Eyes - Part VI

Over the next couple of years, I took Paul to Las Vegas many times to give him what I thought was the benefit of my "insider's" knowledge. I continued scanning the Sunday L.A. Times each week. One day, I came across an advertisement for a hotel I had never heard of – a place called "Sam's Town". It seems they had just built a new hotel tower that sounded unique. It turned out that the hotel was nowhere near the Strip, but by this time, I had grown accustomed to exploring outlying areas of the city and surrounding desert during my trips. I didn't care that we wouldn't be on the Strip and the rate was astonishingly low. In fact, it was so low that I apologized to Paul before we ever arrived because I was sure the place would be a dump.

To my surprise, what we discovered was a massive property marketed mostly to local Las Vegans. But this marketing concept had been combined with a hotel tower that could accommodate out-of-towners as well. What we found was a sparkling new high-rise hotel built in a square with hotel rooms along the outside edges of the square. The interior of the square contained a massive sunlit atrium filled with live plants and trees, a manmade waterfall, foot bridges, a revolving bar in the center and restaurants along the edges. The hotel's elevators were glass and offered a view of the atrium as they rose. The rooms were spotless and just as comfortable as any on the Strip. The casino was monstrous and was filled with low denomination (read affordable) machines that seemed to pay jackpots frequently. The food in the restaurants was top notch and dirt cheap, and served by the friendliest employees we had encountered. Sam's Town quickly became our little secret and it was the beginning of what came to be a huge push by other companies to provide adult playgrounds for Las Vegas locals.

During our frequent driving trips between Sam's Town and the Strip, we began to see another side of Las Vegas. This was a side that was purposely hidden from the tourists – a side that the locals kept quietly to themselves. The locals looked at the Strip as a place to avoid, or a place to work, but never a place to spend their free time. Instead they played in the outlying casinos where they actually had a chance to win. In the winter, they climbed the 1,000 foot walls of Red Rock Canyon, golfed in Death Valley, took picturesque drives through the Valley of Fire, and skied at nearby southern Utah resorts. In the summer, they boated on the waters of Lake Mead, and picnicked in the meadows atop Mount Charleston. And at the end of the day, they all went home to their brand new graffiti-free neighborhoods, sparkling swimming pools, and three-car garages.

Meanwhile, those of us in Southern California spent our time standing in line at the DMV, sitting in traffic on congested freeways, and circling endlessly trying to find a parking place near the beach. We spent our summers avoiding any areas where tourists might flock and instead took refuge in our tiny, overpriced, non-air conditioned homes. It may sound like a bargain now, but in the mid-1990's, bungalows in our neighborhood (California-speak for tiny houses with old wiring) sold in the mid-300,000's. Conversely, brand new homes in Las Vegas complete with swimming pools sold for $150,000 or less. The choice was ours to make. Continue to rent forever in the overcrowded Southern California valleys or buy our own home in Las Vegas where we could breathe and soak our toes in our own hot tub. At the end of our lease in 1995, we packed up and moved to Vegas.

Over the next 12 years, the city continued to evolve at breakneck speed. Some was for the better, some for the worse. To be continued…

Surgery Postponed

Paul's surgery was unexpectedly postponed until next week. Thanks to those of you who have offered best wishes.

I'll try to have some new blogs up this weekend.