Ask a Native
Ask a Native
I’m a 30-year-old single city girl with a 24-hour morning-flight layover in Las Vegas. I have never visited, and I have some cash to spend. What should I do?
December 6th, 2012
Despite its reputation, Vegas is a little less late-night oriented than you may expect, but the real action still happens after happy hour. Translation? Late afternoon is a perfect time for a disco nap. Time it so you can don that little black dress and hit the town around 8 p.m. Check out the urban/artsy Cosmopolitan for nightlife. Read more »
Ask a Native
What are the best Vegas holiday traditions?
November 29th, 2012
For those who demand a scene more Currier & Ives than Ansel Adams, a trek to Mount Charleston is in order. Given the right conditions, visitors can take an honest-to-goodness sleigh ride (On actual snow! With actual horses!) and then warm up at the lodge with a fire pit and a (brandy-spiked) Mount Charleston Coffee, just like grandma used to make. Read more »
Ask a Native
Do people really eat at Vegas buffets on Thanksgiving? That seems sad.
November 22nd, 2012
Of course they do, and it’s not necessarily sad. There isn’t a day on the calendar that folks aren’t lining up at our buffets. And why not, especially given the dramatic improvements we’ve seen in buffets in recent years? These aren’t your grandpa’s chuckwagons anymore. Read more »
Ask a Native
You’ve written about differences between “old” Vegas and “new” Vegas, but what about the gap between “old” Las Vegans and “new” Las Vegans?
November 15th, 2012
I have a theory about the social interconnectivity of Las Vegas: If you were here before the big growth spurt of the 1990s, you are but one degree of separation from everyone else who was also here then. Sure, it’s just a theory, but I test it every chance I get. Read more »
Ask a Native
What is that weird, windowless building on Las Vegas Boulevard, just before Fremont Street, with the antennas on top and the metal-grid facade?
November 8th, 2012
There are a few weird buildings downtown, but this one, at 125 Las Vegas Blvd South, is easy to decipher. That’s because my dad worked there in the 1970s, when it served as offices for Centel, the local telephone-service provider. According to county records, the building has been owned since September 1957 by the telephone company, first known as Southern Nevada Telephone Co., later as Central Telephone Co. (shortened to Centel for consumers). Read more »
Ask a Native
Who is the greatest Las Vegas stage performer of all time?
November 1st, 2012
Yes, the admittedly excellent Tom Jones is a contender. And of course, there’s always the Rat Pack, particularly the magic moments when they crashed each other’s stages. Still, I’m sticking with Vegas legend Louis Prima, particularly when performing with Sam Butera and the Wildest. Read more »
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While Vegas residents don’t all live in hotels, a good share of us do live in weekly motels. Why?
October 25th, 2012
Who would need such an arrangement? Often, people whose lives are on a severe trajectory, either up or down, and Las Vegas attracts plenty of trajectory-challenged folks. From the hopeful new arrivals with no cash and few possessions looking to land a job and reboot, to those struggling with various demons, the weekly motel offers a crossroads from which to start—or save—a life. Read more »
Ask a Native
Why doesn’t Las Vegas have traffic roundabouts like Summerlin?
October 18th, 2012
But to answer your direct question, those European-style intersections were master-planned into Summerlin’s infrastructure before that suburb was built, which came after most of the rest of Las Vegas. In fact, Summerlin’s earliest roundabout, built in 1990, is considered the first modern roundabout in the U.S. But don’t expect to see them in long-established areas anytime soon; the infrastructure changes would likely prove too challenging. Read more »
Ask a Native
Where are all the blimps? I moved to Las Vegas in 1995 and remember seeing multiple airships above the Vegas skyline shortly after my arrival. I want my blimps back!
October 11th, 2012
Both New York Magazine and Travel & Leisure covered the story—Las Vegas was one of the few places in the world where passengers could buy a ride in a blimp! The former named the blimp ride “Best View in Vegas” (Nov. 13, 2000) and the latter, in its May 2000 issue, detailed the experience of the blimp’s $179 sunset “Champagne cruise” over Vegas. Read more »
Ask a Native
Downtown’s “new” casino, The D, is replacing Fitzgeralds, but does the building itself qualify as “old Vegas”?
October 4th, 2012
Absolutely—both by date (1979, 10 years before The Mirage ushered in “new Vegas”) and ownership history (it was built by the Stardust’s Al Sachs and “known associate” and local luminary Moe Dalitz). The two owned the Sundance until 1987, when Reno’s Lincoln Management bought the hotel and rebranded it as Fitzgeralds. Read more »
