You Can See the Strip From Outer Space!
Written: Aug 14 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lots of stuff to do.
Cons: Harder to pick up hookers in bars.
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| CPXB's Full Review: The Strip |
I first moved to Las Vegas when I was about eight, so I'm as close to a native as you're likely to get. I've also seen the city radically change -- its population has grown four-fold since I was a chillun. Likewise, the Strip has radically changed since then. The hotel-casinos are bigger, flashier, and more opulent than ever with even more to do than ever. Las Vegas, generally, and the Strip in particular has been forced to offer a wider array of entertainment options due to the fact that more and more states have legalized gambling in some form -- to come to Las Vegas is not to gamble, to have a gambling, or entertainment, experience.
The heart and soul of this experience is, without a doubt, the Strip, particularly where Las Vegas Boulevard is cut by Tropicana down to about Spring Mountain. In that couple of miles you have the majority of the big, exciting hotels including the MGM, Mirage, Caesar's Palace, etc.
The experience is . . . well, it has a lot of surface impact. When I was growing up, and I virtually lived in the old MGM (currently Bally's), the Strip was different than it is, today. "Back in the day," the Las Vegas Strip was defined by real gamblers. Not just the high rollers, but a far, far higher percentage of actual table gaming (meaning stuff like poker and roulette, as opposed to the current trend to pack in the video gaming machines). The interaction was smaller, tighter, smokier, without as much of the high-intensity glamour you find at the Strip, today. Originally, Las Vegas and the Strip catered to gamblers and things were run by old bookies and card players who were now as legitimate as they could get -- and, yes, there was a lot of Mob influence.
Today, that's mostly gone. (At least on the surface. I must admit there is a deep, dark part of my soul which wishes that in some remote, hidden area of casinos things are as they once were.) The character of the city has changed substantially. To encourage a wider tourism base, the gaming industry has gone populist. The shift has changed from simply gambling to entertainment, and largely clean entertainment. While it is still relatively easy to find illegal drugs and prostitutes in the city, most of that must be handled more carefully in times past when it was a fairly simple matter to pick up both drugs and women in damn near any casino bar. That sort of activity, which was once a mere inch or so from being completely public, scares away too many of the family oriented, clean cut professional types to whom the city's image is being sold.
In short, Las Vegas' gaming industry has gone massively corporate.
Nevertheless, despite the loss of the dangerous edge that the Strip once had, Las Vegas has more to do than ever before -- no matter how much I might lament the loss of the old style, the new Strip has a vivacity of its own which cannot be denied.
The first thing which will hit you, when you emerge on the Strip at night, is the shocking color and light. Las Vegas at night is simply dazzling, if in an extremely gaudy way. The eyes are bombarded by things to see -- sorting them out, seeing past the surface glitz, can be a chore in itself, but is often worthwhile as often the architecture of Las Vegas contains details which are easy to miss but worth seeing for the attentive. Inside the casinos, you will be intentionally disoriented. It is always cool and dim, with no references to time whatsoever, in the casinos and no easy to find ways out. Furthermore, bombarded with even more visual stimuli a person can easily get disoriented and lost. This is, of course, intentional. Disoriented gamblers take changes; if it's hard to get out, maybe you'll just sit and play.
Then there is the dryness and heat. Since most gaming tourism is a night-time activity, the dazzlingly bright sun is often a non-issue, but even at night the heat can linger on in the nineties or higher during the summertime. Furthermore, at the Strip in particular, due to the numerous artificial lakes and fountains, the humidity is higher there than in the rest of the Las Vegas Valley, which can make it uncomfortable.
However, strolling the Strip is definitely worth it. You will see pirate battles, artificial volcanoes, laser light shows, water shows, recreations of tropical verdure and more. The best time to do this strolling is after sundown but before 11pm or so, when (especially weekdays) some of the attractions stop. Furthermore, virtually every casino these days has something in it to lure a person inside, be it albino Bengal tigers or indoor rollercoasters.
The shows on the Strip have also become progressively more elaborate, taking full advantage of both the wealth and technological advances of recent years. There are shows to be seen in Las Vegas which dwarf anything done anywhere else, including Broadway -- more and more of the shows, such as those put on by the Cirque du Soleil, are also less interested with strict titillation and focus more on excellent entertainment. And while the big, expensive shows are generally worth seeing, there are also dozens of less expensive shows -- many of them comedy -- which are also worth seeing. If you're into titillation, too, worry not -- while there are less shows of that nature in Las Vegas, they are in fact still there. Sex sells in Las Vegas, too -- sometimes, literally.
Foodwise, well, everyone tells me that Las Vegas is becoming the new international hot spot to eat. To be honest, since most of those restaurants are outside of my regular price range I haven't gone to them. However, even if you can't afford to eat at a restaurant started by Wolfgang Puck there is still plenty of excellent, moderately priced food to be had throughout the Strip. There is also a huge amount of decent, downright cheap food to be had, too -- especially after midnight or so when the breakfast specials start. Likewise, if buffet eating is your thing, Las Vegas has the largest, most complete and best buffets I've seen in the United States. They are literally in every decent casino and even in some not so decent ones.
To be honest, from my point of view, the least exciting thing to do on the Strip is gamble. Part of this is because I'm a native and I've OD'd on the whole gambling thing. I'm sick of seeing video poker machines everywhere. But . . . part of it is the expansion of machine gaming. There was once a time when gambling mean poker or at least blackjack -- and all casinos still have table gaming. But, today, the table gaming is a tiny island in vast seas of gaming machines. To me, the personality has gone out of gaming in Las Vegas to a shocking extent.
Also, well, there are crowds. They can range from the moderate to the nightmarish.
So, generally, the Strip has lots to see and do. From gawking at the expensive, intricate gaudiness to gambling to world class shows and dining, it's got it all packed into a spare few blocks. The loss of the dark edge might disappoint some people who have seen a lot of gangster movies, but in general it is good for general entertainment. There is something to do for virtually everyone.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
CPXB
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Member: Christopher Bradley
Location: Bangor, ME
Reviews written: 54
Trusted by: 34 members
About Me:
Visionary epic anti-hero out to radically transform society through laziness.
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