Living Las Vegas

Real Life in the Shadow of the Strip

sponsored resources

Top Vegas Hotels: Bellagio, Luxor, Rio

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

Helldorado Days

When I first moved to Las Vegas, a new acquaintance described it as “a sweet Western town.” I remember thinking he was nuts, but over the course of the last seven years, I’ve begun to discover what he was talking about. Often completely overshadowed by the glitz of the Strip is a community whose members ride horses, cultivate beards, and reminisce about the good old days when all it took to cause a traffic jam on Las Vegas Boulevard was three Packards and a milk wagon.

Continue reading...

Book Review: Skin City

If you’re interested in finding out more about what’s happening in Vegas these days (and staying here), allow Jack Sheehan to be your Sakajawea. In Skin City: Uncovering the Las Vegas Sex Industry, he takes his readers on a tour to gentlemen’s clubs, swing parties, porno video awards ceremonies, interviews with madams, sheriffs, strippers, prostitutes, gigolos, and many other hard-working folks who help keep Las Vegas’s reputation for sin fresh and well-deserved.

Continue reading...

Spamalot Hits the Strip

Ever heard a Brit say, “Brilllliant?” I wish I could say it that way, because it’s the perfect word for describing Monty Python’s Spamalot, and I would love to be able to pronounce it in a manner befitting this wonderful new show. A Monty Python fan ever since I first learned about dead parrots and fish slapping, I was ecstatic when Steve Wynn beat out Los Angeles to bring Spamalot from Broadway to the Strip. The second I learned about a special preview show to benefit our local public radio station, I bought a ticket…

Continue reading...

From Star to Dust: The Pulverization of a Legend

The folks at Boyd Gaming didn’t announce the time and date of the Stardust’s exit from the Las Vegas skyline, but that didn’t mean they weren’t planning a spectacle. When I arrived around 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, there was no doubt that all the rumors flying around the Web (and my own discovery of a slightly cryptic sign on Industrial Road) had been accurate.

Continue reading...

Dust to Dust: The Impending Implosion

The Stardust’s annihilation is drawing nigh. The building has been picked as clean as a cow skeleton after a piranha attack. The remaining structure doesn’t even look like the Stardust any more, just a nondescript multi-story framework. I think it’s fair to say that the Stardust is already dead. The implosion will be its funeral.

Continue reading...