A couple of quick notes before I get started here....
- I've been really delinquent getting a new post out..... I'll definitely be better. But I have an excuse - Shelley and I had a 6-day visit with great friends of ours, the first 3 days in Las Vegas, and the final 3 days back "home". We had a fantastic time, but my "writing time" obviously didn't exist, and I've been catching up with things in general as well. I'll make sure I get out at least one new post each week going forward, partly because it is possible to queue them up.
- If you like my writing, or the way I think, or both, you can subscribe to the blog. At the bottom right at the end of this, there's a "Subscribe via e-mail" prompt. Click it, and you'll get me every time I write here.
Now back to our regular programming......
Sometimes strange things happen in strange places. Like getting sentimental. In Vegas, of all places.
My first trip to Viva Las was in the spring of 1994. I was in my second year of business school, and a group of 5 or 6 of us went on a spring break trip in the southwest part of the county. Flying into and out of Phoenix, we took in spring training games in the Phoenix area..... convoyed up to the Grand Canyon...... trekked around Zion National Park for a couple of days...... visited Bryce Canyon and saw the funky rock formations there. And then, the last day before returning to Phoenix, we stopped in Vegas for a night.
We were in Las Vegas for probably only about 12-16 hours, most of it at night, staying in a small hotel a block or two off the southern end of the Strip. Tired from a day of driving, and pretty conservative guys as a whole, we didn't do anything that night..... we just turned in. But I woke up reasonably early the next day, walked out of the hotel and up part of the world-famous Strip. It wasn't like anything I'd seen before, or probably will see again.
And no, I didn't take Vegas by storm, winning enough money to pay back my school loans. Truth be told, I didn't know how anything worked, and I don't think I even put any money into a slot machine (though I later learned that one of my friends had likewise gotten up early, and left a little bit of money in a slot machine).
But I was fascinated. And Vegas had some specific draws for me, so I was back several times over the next few years. By my estimation, I probably have been to Vegas about 8 times since then, with over half of those in the latter half of the '90's.
First off, I loved the math of blackjack. I learned how to count cards, so I could expect to pretty much breakeven when I played. Of course, being financially conservative, I didn't (and don't) have the nerve to wager big stakes (anything more than $5 or $10/hand), because of how fast you can start losing..... In fact, in my second (this time solo) trip to Vegas, I spent an entire day walking up and down the strip, stopping in every casino to understand their stakes and the subtle nuances in their rules (# of decks they used; did they hit "soft 17"; did they only let you double down on 10 or 11; did they allow a double down after you split, etc....) which impact the odds. And then I sat down for an epic 6-hour run at a single $2 table at the Excalibur. The epic part being that I never left my seat, despite having probably 5 drinks. And I think I probably lost about $10 after all was said and done.
Another allure that brought me back multiple times was the annual King of the Beach tournament, held at the Hard Rock Hotel. This was back in the late 90's, when 2-man beach volleyball was at its peak, with stars such as Karch Kiraly, Randy Stoklos, and the "Primitive Prince" (my personal favorite) Scott Ayakatubby. Each September, the year's King of the Beach (single player) would be crowned in a round-robin tournament, in which all the top players partnered with everybody else..... sometimes even with guys they really disliked. And over the course of the 3- or 4-day event, you'd hear in the stands about which players had been partying too hard the night before. It was Vegas - great weather during the day, guys and girls in the bleachers in swimsuits and suntan lotion, and then having fun at night - which for me, meant playing low-stakes blackjack, on or off the strip.
But that Vegas is gone. Or at least it's gone for me.
For me, Vegas is the Strip. Sure, there's the downtown area, with its grittiness, but I've always spent almost all of my time on or near the Strip. And in the early days, that meant going to the Hacienda at the south end.... the Luxor, Excalibur, Tropicana, and MGM Grand just north of that..... continuing on to Bally's, Harrah's, Barbary Coast, the Flamingo, Aladdin, and Imperial Palace on the east side of the strip. On the west side, there were a couple of storefronts and a Holiday Inn that I actually stayed at once - and then a lot of more or less empty space leading into the majestic Caesars' Palace, with its dramatic entry. The Mirage and Treasure Island had recently been built, but beyond them were vestiges of the original Vegas, with the Frontier, Stardust, and Circus Circus. And across from them were stalwarts like the Sands, Riviera, and the Sahara.
But importantly, there was space. When you looked down the Strip, you could see the curve of the road. Sure, you also saw a few giant signs advertising the big acts ("Danny Gans" and "Siegfried and Roy" at the Mirage were terrific!). But there was actually space. Each property had its own character, and there were distinctions as you transitioned from one to the next. And most of the big hotel/casinos were set well back from the road, such that walking the Strip felt like a journey to a lot of different lands. In a few minutes, you crossed from Rome (Caesars') to an oasis (Mirage) to the high seas (Treasure Island), and they all had their own character.
Now..... it's different. Last week, Shelley and I spent 3 days in Vegas with some wonderful friends; our most recent visit had been in 2010. It's dramatic just how much change has happened in those 5 years.
You might have noticed that some of the places I listed above are in italics. For those who've been to Vegas recently, you know why - it's because all of those places no longer exist. Most of them have been torn down completely and replaced with bigger, more glamorous hotel/casinos that represent something new. The places that I've seen go up are amazing - they include Mandalay Bay; Delano; New York, New York; Monte Carlo; Bellagio; Paris; the Venetian and Palazzo; the Wynn and Encore; the entire City Center complex (Aria, Cosmopolitan, and Vdara); and Linq. The Aladdin was renovated, and then re-envisioned to become Planet Hollywood. Where the Barbary Coast used to be, a modestly-sized but obviously classy place (the Cromwell) now sits. And all of these places are fantastic, with world class entertainment and food in virtually every one of them.
On top of all of the big new properties, though, another transition has happened, and much of it has taken place within the last 5 years. Actually, the transition has occurred below, or in front of, all of the new properties, and even some of the old properties. Vegas real estate is both expensive and lucrative, so every square inch that can be covered with a business is now covered with ways for somebody to get your money. Chain restaurants.... souvenir shops..... even businesses like CVS or Walgreens now litter the sidewalks. All of that open space - gone. The ability to look down the Strip and see how the road curves, and to pick out the high-rise casinos that are a half-mile down the road - gone. Now, when you look up and down the strip, you just see a littering of bright lights, billboards, and flashing signs. You can hardly see the road, or tell one place from another.
Frankly, it's overwhelming. In a way, Vegas has always been oppressive because of its glitz and glamour. But now the oppressiveness isn't just inside the casinos, it's on the very streets and sidewalks. There's just no getting away from it. And some of it is pretty comical, as you see how things are integrated, or not integrated, into the existing properties. For example, at the Treasure Island, there used to be a great, fun show that would play several times a night. A small lagoon was in front of the hotel - on one side of the lagoon, a stately boat "sailed" along..... and from the other side, a dastardly pirate ship set its sights on the former boat. Over the course of a few minutes, cannon fire, rope swinging, and swordplay ensued, all accompanied by dramatic and suitable music and an "oohing and ahh-ing" crowd on the sidewalk. I can't even remember which side ultimately emerged victorious, but that didn't matter - the point was, this was "Treasure Island", and there was a pirate ship battle right out front! It was awesome, and consistent with the theme and character of the place.
Flash forward to 2015. Now there's a Gilley's restaurant, CVS, and a Señor Frog's (!) right where the lagoon is or was. And perched right in front of them are the original 2 ships that took part in the multiple nightly battles. Being "out of place" doesn't really state things properly.... it was just weird for anybody with memories of the "old" Vegas - which really isn't that old.
Mind you, there's a lot of fun to be had in Vegas. Obviously, if you like gambling, few places in the world can match it. I think every noteworthy chef has multiple eateries in the city, and my limited sampling suggests that most are probably pretty good. (And treat yourself to Jean-Philippe's Patisserie in either the Bellagio or Aria - the pastries are ridiculously good.) Of course the shows are also pretty notable, with a mix of the old (Donny and Marie!) and the new. The sheer density of entertainment and good food that you can pack into every 24-hour period is stunning.
But the allure of Vegas is now different. Or really, the soul...... the character of the place...... seems to be different. It's not that Vegas wasn't always about money - face it (and I do so), it always has been about money. But previously, it was also about the environment. It was about the mystique. It was about the imagination of being somewhere else in the world, living a glamorous life and seeing exotic things that you didn't ordinarily see. And most of that is now gone, from the moment you step outside the casinos and see the wall-to-wall commercialism.
Will Shelley and I go back? Certainly. But we'll look at Vegas with different eyes, as we already started to do while on this trip. And part of this was unavoidable. You see, after all of the trips I've taken there over the years, something inconceivable happened.
I got lost.
Twice.