Ten years behind L.A. I’ve heard it said about Las Vegas, but I’ve never been quite sure what it meant beyond the usual putdowns: “unsophisticated,” “uncultured,” and “well, you know, retarded.” It’s difficult to be magnanimous in the shadow of such descriptions, but it’s possible that those suave Angelenos have a point dangling below their up-tilted nostrils. California passed a “no smoking in bars” law over a decade ago. At the time, such a restrictive rule seemed unimaginable in Las Vegas, but now, Nevada voters have passed their own anti-smoking law by a surprisingly large margin... Continue reading »

An article about Las Vegas appeared in today’s New York Times. Online, the story is available only to those who subscribe to “Times Select,” but that didn’t prevent its immediate appearance in toto on a numbers of blogs (like this one). I received the story by email last night. My first thought after reading “City as Predator” was that it was another annoying rant against Las Vegas by a parachute journalist on an expense account... Continue reading »