Living Las Vegas

Real Life in the Shadow of the Strip

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Top Vegas Hotels: Bellagio, Luxor, Rio

A View to a Thrill

The Stratosphere Tower is nothing new. It opened in 1996, which makes it practically a senior citizen in Las Vegas years (which are sort of like dog years, only more so). I moved here in 1999, but I happened to be passing through in 1995, when maybe 200 of the tower’s eventual 1,149 feet had risen from the north end of the Strip.

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Pass It On: Freecycle Las Vegas

Nevadans like to claim that the rest of the country sees our state as a trashcan, the perfect spot for dumping radioactive garbage. After all, it’s just a big empty desert, so what the heck? But as righteously outraged as we feel about Yucca Mountain becoming the nation’s nuclear dumpster, Nevadans are not guilt-free in thinking of the desert as a convenient place to unload crap with impunity. We may not be throwing toxic waste in our own backyards, but far too many of us have been divesting ourselves of hideous old couches in vacant lots.

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The Whole Dam Family: The 48th Annual 31ers Reunion

Last Saturday morning, I drove down to Boulder City to attend the 48th Annual 31ers Reunion. 31ers, for those not in the know, are people who came to southern Nevada in 1931. That was the year word went out that, after years in the planning stages, construction on the huge new dam across the Colorado River would finally begin.

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Las Vegas Gemütlichkeit

It’s beer season! If, as I do, you happen to like men in lederhosen and oompah music, this is good news. Ever since I spent two years in Germany, I’ve liked autumnal traditions involving oversized mugs and shouting “Hoi! Hoi! Hoi!” I’ve checked out three local Oktoberfests so far.

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Big Fat Greek Food Festival

There must be an ecclesiastical law requiring Greek Orthodox churches to raise money by selling food. If there is, let’s hope the patriarch never repeals it. I don’t know where I’d go for an annual fix of saganaki…

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Living in Las Vegas -- what's it really like? Ten local writers share news & views from Southern Nevada.