Posted on 09/17/2015 10:15:38 AM PDT by Vigilanteman
Don't get me wrong, there is STILL a lot I like about Las Vegas: cheap flights, lot of choices, inexpensive rental cars and relative proximity (six hour drive) to three of the four most important people in our lives: our grandchildren.
But this time, we agreed to a three night stay at a brand name hotel along the strip in return for listening to a time share spiel, which we politely declined.
It is a LOT different from the Las Vegas I knew as a pup when I was single and working in the LA area and my kid brother was also single and a cook at the Lady Luck Casino on Fremont Street. In those days, I could take a morning bus from a shopping center and return 24 hours later for a nominal fee. My kid brother and I would hang out, gorge ourselves on reasonably priced food, play nickle poker and admire all the nearly nekkid females in the casinos, at swimming pools and walking down the streets. It was guy heaven and it didn't cost a lot as long as you just looked.
So, while I expected change, I was shocked at the magnitude of the change. Reasonably prices food is hard to find. If you go to a brand-name commoner chain like Denny's a little off the Strip, it is there but the places are packed be people looking for the same thing. Beyond that, knowing a local namely, my elderly Uncle who no longer drives, but we took to a place called Boulder Station which is FAR off the beaten track and caters to locals and an occasional bus tour, or take out such the "world famous" Port of Subs which is in a Shell gas station not far from our brand name hotel, food is priced almost as bad as New York without their hot dog and snack carts.
In fact, the source URL shows my credit card receipt from the Port of Subs, where we paid nearly $12 for two small bags of chips, a soda and subs which would cost us about $8 at a Sheetz or WaWa here in Pennsylvania for 2-3 times the selection of ingredients and breads.
Still, it was one of the best eating bargains in the area by far. But look at the slip . . . everywhere in Vegas has a space for tips-- even if you wait in line, take it out, eat at the counter and do everything but sit and be served as is a normal prerequisite to expect food on tips everywhere else in the country.
Lordy! They want you to tip on already overpriced food? Even the buffet at Boulder Station wanted tips where you got your food cafeteria style and wait staff did nothing more than bring your drinks. Hey, but at least the food here wasn't overpriced.
And don't get me started on the hotels. They are only lightly occupied these days (the reason we were getting three nights for the city occupancy tax of $9 per day), but they still have a lot of people standing around doing little, including jealously guarding a luggage cart, which would've been handy for check-in and check-out, but I didn't want to p*$$ anyone off by offering an insufficient tip, so we ponied our own damn luggage in and out.
And where did all the foxy nearly nekkid women go? You can see them on billboard and billboard sized bused driving around, but their numbers are scarce compared to when I was a pup. The cowboys and manly dudes you used to see have all been replaced by metrosexual men in tuxes and pony tails which, I suppose, is why there isn't much market for nearly nekkid women anymore.
When the mob ran Vegas, they knew they could make their money on the gambling, so the attract gamblers, they gave a lot a away. Now that corporations own a lot of the facilities, their MBA’s tell them that they must make a profit from every cost center.
There are only 2 corporations that now control almost all the properties on the strip, 21 out of 30: MGM and Caeser. Lack of competition sucks for tourists.
It would help to know when you were a “pup,” so we can know what time frame we’re talking about.
Should have used spell check. Sorry!
Also LV has become a major destination for overseas tourists. Higher demand = higher prices.
Early 1980s.
Laughlin is the new “Old Vegas”
The place is full of people and politicians who want to make it just like everywhere else. They moved there to get away from the way things are, back east for example, and now want to make it just like the place they left with all the rules, regulations, mentality.
People still drive 1500 miles just to be able to smoke a cigar in public, and thats the only thing that keeps them in business. But I think they don’t quite get that anymore.
“my kid brother was also single and a cook at the Lady Luck Casino on Fremont Street.”
I guess it’s been a while for you.
The Lady Luck was closed for years and is now the Downtown Grand; the home of my favorite craps table in Vegas.
I can recall a steady flow of Crown Royal/Cokes while in the casino, as long as I kept the server happy with an occasional tip.
Same with mortgage lending. It used to be a service of your local state bank. It made a steady profit for the bank and was good for the local community.
Then all the MBA boomers started arriving fresh from college and the goal was to maximize the profit from every cost center. Banks became interstate and home mortgage hustlers.
Nobody goes there anymore — it’s too crowded.
We spent (pun intended) three days there over Labor Day. Stayed at the Bellagio. First lunch there was $60 for soup, sandwich and a drink, so we started eating out after that. If you tried to store your own food in the room fridge, they charge you $50 per day.
Las Vegas still has what you go to Vegas for, just costs more. We saw Cirque du Soleil Beatles for $170 each. Was it worth it? Well it was an extravaganza, won’t forget it soon.
Two things surprised me: Lots of families with kids, at least at the Bellagio. And they still allow smoking in the casinos. Sometimes we were choking.
But overall, a good weeekend.
Try the Sourdough Cafe at Arizona Charlie’s.
I’m going to self-censor my comments on Las Vegas.
I think it was an old Bugs Bunny cartoon that referred to it in an episode as “Lost Wages”.
Its a “destination” now. My wife and I went there earlier this year. Not because we gamble, but because it was a gateway to some of the places I wanted her to see.
I found the buffets to be reasonably priced.
Nothing else was.
I also thought the number of tourists from out of the US made most of the experience tedious.
But, you get what you get.
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