Living Las Vegas

At Home in the City of Lights

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Top Vegas Hotels: Bellagio, Luxor, Rio

Roads from the Ashes: An Odyssey in Real Life on the Virtual Frontier, by Megan Edwards

Shopping & Dining

Shopping Beyond the Strip

“But where do real people shop in Las Vegas?” is a question I often hear. I’m not sure I understand how being a tourist makes you a fake, but it’s true that visitors often have different shopping needs from residents. It’s hard to buy light bulbs at the Caesars Forum Shops, and while the Chocolate Swan has some lovely comestibles, they don’t include Cheerios.

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Let There Be Lake

To people who live in Las Vegas, “The Lake” usually refers to Lake Mead, that other-worldly wonder created when Hoover Dam blocked off Boulder Canyon. I say “usually,” because there are other bodies of water that also generate comment. The “water features” at the Bellagio and the Wynn resort are called lakes, and so are “The Lakes,” a set of man-made ponds in a high-end residential development on the city’s west side. But the one most likely to compete with its big brother on the Colorado is a relative newcomer in Henderson: Lake Las Vegas.

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Karaoke at the Bootlegger

“Karaoke.” Try suggesting it to your out-of-town visitors and see what kind of response you get. Among my friends, it ranges from “You’ve got to be joking!” to “Eeeew!” So then I have to say, “No! This is different! It really is!” And then they look at me sadly, knowing in their hearts that Las Vegas has stripped me of every last vestige of good taste.

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Grocery Shopping in Sin City

Las Vegas has a well-established reputation as a good place to eat, mostly because cheap, all-you-can-eat casino buffets are a long-standing tradition. More recently, with the advent of big-name chefs and their prestigious restaurants, Las Vegas’s reputation has expanded.

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I Came, I Saw, I Rode the Escalator: The New Forum Shops at Caesars Palace

The Forum Shops “Phase III Expansion” opened on October 22, but somehow I didn’t get there until a couple of days ago. Until then, I had to wonder how in the world somebody could engineer a triple-decker spiral escalator. Of course, I also had to wonder about the awesome new tenant improvements and over-the-top pseudo-Roman décor…

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