
People of Las Vegas - Vigier
https://believermag.com/the-people-of-las-vegas/
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gwbrooks
I've lived all over the U.S., the last seven years in Las Vegas. The Believer
piece was the most accurate portrayal of the city I've ever come across.

Las Vegas is, in many ways, the most American city.

* Top to bottom, the city hustles for your attention and your commerce. Everyone implicitly understands that if the customer doesn't like the product or service, there are a million other options. It's a welcome change compared to other we're-too-cool-for-you downtowns.

* It remains one of the only metro areas (perhaps the only one) in America where someone with a high school diploma can roll into town, get a job and, in fairly short order, make a middle-class life for him/herself.

* We're a big destination for immigrants of all types who come here looking for work -- busboys become valets become small-shop owners become big-shop owners.

* We're not sentimental when something doesn't work anymore. You see it on the Strip when hotels are imploded, sure, but you also see it all around town. We don't have a lot of half-dead, struggling businesses because, if it's not working, people try something new.

Having said all that? The summers are miserable.

~~~
Ididntdothis
Last time I was there I thought LV is like growing up in Germany I always
thought the US was: pragmatic, over the top and innovative. Most of the US
feels very stale and over the hill to me but it seems in Las Vegas people are
still moving.

On the other hand: it’s pretty nuts to build such a city in the middle of the
desert.

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csomar
Many cities are in the middle of the desert: Dubai, Cairo, Doha, etc... Bonus
point: Land is cheap. No trees to care about.

~~~
presspot
Except for all of those trees (and grass!) we plant to help us forget we live
in a desert.

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LargeWu
I'm not sure exactly what the author's thesis is. Yes, there are people that
live in the city, and they don't all hang out at Caesars Palace every weekend.
This is not news. What strikes me about the Las Vegas metro area, apart from
the gaming zones, is how boring it is.

Yes, there's a lot of natural beauty, and I love hiking when I'm there. But
I've also been all around the metro area and honestly, there is just not a lot
going on. Apart from the casinos, it's a pretty generic desert city; lots of
chain restaurants and strip malls. There's not very much industry outside of
tourism/hospitality.

I would never say "I could never live in Vegas" because of the casinos. I say
"I could never live in Vegas" because there is almost nothing else going on.

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skellington
Hard to argue with your subjective opinion, but I would guess that objectively
there is more "going on" in Las Vegas at any given time than there is in most
major cities. It just happens to be very concentrated into a small part of the
city. But the number of high end restaurants, concerts, special events, shows,
clubs, etc. in Vegas is unusually high.

Outside of that area it is pretty bland suburban, but that area supports a lot
of interesting food choices because of the number of ethnicities in the city.

~~~
LargeWu
Yeah, I guess I don't disagree that there's a lot going on there, but it's all
in service of bringing in tourists, all sponsored by the casinos. Sure, locals
are welcome to partake in any of that, but it's not "for" them in a large
sense. It doesn't seem to have the same degree of cultural institutions that
other similarly sized cities have.

~~~
niftich
I live on the east coast, but I have friends in Vegas, so when I visit, I
avoid the Strip and touristy areas unless I want to specifically go out.

As a kid, I remember our family visiting Vegas multiple times as tourists;
going back as an adult has felt very different. It was a fascinating
transition to experience, not unlike when you stop flying window seats and
start flying aisle seats instead.

In my teenage years, I lived in an east coast city with a boardwalk and beach,
lots of hotels and condos and tourist shops. I hardly ever went to the beach
-- it could get crowded, and parking and not getting your car wet and sandy
would get complicated, so I often forgot that it's an option. All of that
works a lot better if you're staying at the beach.

I suppose Vegas residents may feel similar about the Strip or Fremont Street
during an average day, when they're trying to get stuff done. But if you're
looking for ways to spend an afternoon or night out around town, there's
plenty of variety, from shows to shopping, paid attractions, pedestrian
spaces, museums, diverse restaurants, bars, nightclubs: much more so than
metros of a comparable size: Charlotte, Sacramento, Cincinnati, Kansas City,
Columbus, Cleveland. Its weakest areas arguably sports, and smaller "local"
venues for bands on tour.

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buzzert
In my personal experience, Las Vegas also happens to be one of the nerdiest
cities in America. The Luxor hotel and casino, one of the biggest and oldest
on the strip, is also one of the first major establishments to host e-sports
events.

I’m also consistently impressed with how many comic book shops, card shops,
retro video game shops and video game bars there are. Even for Japanese rhythm
arcade games, a relatively obscure hobby that I enjoy, one of the best
communities in the US was located in Las Vegas at a place called Gemini Arcade
Palace. It has since closed down, but a couple others have already taken its
place, and the community is stronger than ever.

I feel like this might be related to the “refreshing lack of class
consciousness” the author mentioned in the article. Nobody faults anyone for
being a nerd (or drag queen, or crackhead, etc.) in Las Vegas.

~~~
taurath
Thats because they're realizing that the boomer population is aging out of las
vegas. Meanwhile the millenials are turning into prime spending age, and
they're going wherevcer they want to go. They've been trying to get millenials
in for at least the last 10 years with big name electronic artists and now
also e-sports. For the most part it seems to be working.

That said, I do tend to agree with you that overall that there's a bigger nerd
market there per capita than most cities.

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kenmdotcom
Seconding the underappreciated hiking and wilderness access that Vegas
provides. This excellent site is a huge portal to all natural areas, trails,
etc. in the area: www.birdandhike.com

~~~
ghaff
It's really the redeeming feature of Las Vegas events for me. In addition to
the places that are within an hour or so, you're only about 3 hours from both
Zion and Death Valley National Parks and only something like 4 1/2 to the
Grand Canyon.

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Topgamer7
To be fair, I'll ask pretty much anyone "You still living in X" and follow
that up by "And how is that going?"

It's not that something that I would say because I can't believe anyone would
choose live in Vegas, it's just how I talk.

When I visited Las Vegas it occurred to me that it's a town like any other,
just has a big tourist section. At least, it occurred to me when I saw that
the urban lights reached the horizon when I was on the High Roller.

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AnimalMuppet
For several years, I went to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)
trade show in Las Vegas. It was usually in April, occasionally in March. One
year all the palm trees looked dead. There had been a hard freeze, and the
palm fronds (leaves) had all died. The trees weren't dead, but they looked
dead...

... except at the Mirage, which spray-painted the fronds green.

That's how absolutely phony the tourist parts of Las Vegas are.

~~~
stronglikedan
If by "phony" you mean "smart" then I agree.

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psweber
I recommend going to Vegas and not doing any of the "normal" stuff. There is
great camping 25 minutes from the strip. You can park on the strip for free
and go to the hotel pools. Tons of a beautiful hiking and climbing.

~~~
OkGoDoIt
Parking at the hotels on the strip is no longer free :-(

But yes, there’s plenty of stuff to do in Vegas beyond the obvious. My
favorite: Red Rock Canyon just west of Vegas is beautiful for hiking!

~~~
rollerboi
Woah. When did they start charging for parking at the casinos on the strip?

I lived in Vegas from 2009-2012, and I used to always park at the Bellagio
whenever I took tourist friends to the strip. My mom used to always tell me
"Yeah, parking is free because the casinos pay for it!" Sad times now that
that's no longer the case :(

At least the casinos' tax revenue still makes up for a lack of a state income
tax...right?

~~~
mastre_
> When did they start charging for parking at the casinos on the strip?

Years ago, sadly. And it's not just that it's no longer free, it's actually
creating more traffic. The whole Vegas experience is non-trivially worse for
it.

~~~
ghaff
The Wynn/Encore apparently brought back free parking last year.

The parking charges are a pain. Previously I would just pick up a car at the
airport if I were using it to go somewhere like Death Valley after a four-day
conference or so. Now it makes more sense to either rent a car at one of the
hotels or just go back to the rental car center at the airport.

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gonzo
I was born and raised in Vegas, left when I was 25 for Dallas. Never went back
except to visit family.

Dad was born there in 1936, and passed away there in late 2018. His father
moved there to work on the dam during the Depression. Met my grandmother on
Fremont St, which was then the only paved street in town. (4 blocks long.)

I have deep roots in Vegas, I know it really well, and I really dislike it.

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subsubzero
Overall a good well written article. I would have like to see some mention of
the outdoor activities there, red rocks, Mt. Charleston etc. Also how the
residents feel about the looming threat of water shortages(being its a city
growing rapidly in the desert), How the city did after the 2008 housing
crisis, (I assume pretty well?). Also Tony Hsieh's DTP(downtown project) and
what residents think of it and its shortcomings.

~~~
ianai
2008 crippled it. It didn’t recover from it for years after the rest of the US
did. Lots of homeless people. Many more working multiple crap jobs to get by.

Edit-btw if you work in IT never ever work for a casino. Every casino I’ve
heard of treats IT as a cost center. Even the database admins and programmers.
You will be treated like a waste of time and money.

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rsync
I highly recommend The Believer magazine and encourage you to subscribe to it
as I do.

