Ask a Native
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 »
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Does Richard Florida’s “Creative Class” urban model make sense for Las Vegas? Will the creative class really come here?
September 27th, 2012
I don’t know if it makes sense, but it’s happening. If you head out to Fremont East after dark, you’ll have to snake your way through hordes of “hipsters” in order to taste Thai food or handcrafted cocktails, or to groove to local bands or bumping DJs. Read more »
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What’s so historic about the Historic Fifth Street School, and why is it on Fourth Street?
September 20th, 2012
Timely question as Election Day approaches, since the Fifth Street School was where I first registered to vote. The building’s spell as home to the Clark County Registrar of Voters was just one of the varied roles it’s played since it was built as an elementary school in 1936. By the 1960s, residents began to move to the ’burbs, and the school closed, leaving the city and the county to use the schoolhouse as various government offices. Read more »
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Recently, a report indicated Las Vegas drivers are among the worst in the nation. Why is that?
September 13th, 2012
I’ve driven about a half-million miles in more than 30 states, and drivers in Las Vegas seem par for the road. Which is to say: distracted, self-important, distracted, poorly trained and distracted. Read more »
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Some of our libraries are kinda sexy. How did that happen in our bland stucco sea?
September 6th, 2012
Credit Charles W. Hunsberger for those stylish, desert-friendly buildings. As the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District’s visionary director of 21 years (1972-93), Hunsberger is credited with greatly expanding library facilities (and services) across Southern Nevada during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Read more »
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Other than nightclubbing, I find Vegas’ late-night scene to be lacking. What gives?
August 30th, 2012
This reminds me of the first time I was enjoying a Manhattan outside my native state. Just as I was getting into a rhythm, someone started loudly tapping the rim of a highball with a knife. I looked about, worrying I had inadvertently wandered into a wedding reception. Thankfully, it was merely the barkeep, announcing last call. I actually had to ask what “last call” meant. Read more »
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Can downtown Henderson ever have a renaissance like the one in Las Vegas?
August 23rd, 2012
Your question comes on the heels of a new coffeehouse (named, simply enough, Coffee House) opening on old downtown Henderson’s main drag. It’s the latest of several java joints that have tried to give the Water Street scene a jolt (RIP, It’s a Grind, the first, and Mocha Joe, the last). Read more »
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What is the best time of the year to visit Las Vegas?
August 16th, 2012
During our too-brief autumn, the sun starts its southern dip, making the light and shadows beautiful and the weather sublime. (Bonus: The performing arts season is in full swing by then.) Nothing is better than October’s warm, windless days and cool, dry nights, a treasure too often overlooked by locals and visitors alike. Read more »
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Why don’t locals say “South Las Vegas Boulevard”?
July 26th, 2012
If you had asked why we don’t say “North Las Vegas Boulevard,” the answer would have been obvious. There is a city called North Las Vegas, and, sorry, it doesn’t get to have naming rights on our most famous boulevard. Plus, if there were a “South Las Vegas Boulevard,” people might think there’s such a thing as South Las Vegas. Read more »
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Is there a buffet in this town that’s still worth a damn?
July 19th, 2012
Bally’s Sterling Sunday Brunch is a standard setter—and for $85 a person, it better be. It’s fancy and formal, and with all-you-can-scarf sea bass, lobster tails, caviar and the like, this is definitely not a steam-cart subterfuge. My taste, however, runs more toward the country-club casual found at the Four Seasons Verandah ($37), where on Saturdays and Sundays you’ll see guys in seersucker shorts and polo shirts sidle up to gals in summery dresses to share some of the best-tasting breakfast grub in town. Don’t miss the fresh mini-doughnuts. Read more »
