Mark Stone's Blog - Posts Tagged "las-vegas"
Ruminating About Las Vegas
Vegas was once a stomping ground for me when I played pool for a living. I’ll not get into what all I did there to save the innocent and guilty (and myself) some embarrassment and it’s not as if I’ll ever play pool for money again, but I liked Vegas. It was dark and mysterious and exciting because you never knew what might take place there on the Strip or (better yet) in the shadowed alleys off the Strip.
In short, Vegas was an adrenalin rush—a place with a ground made of cement and pavement from which storied structures stood overhead, dwarfing all those who pass; Vegas was the mountain bridge from which you could bungee jump without the bungee. There was a chance you might splatter, but if you did not, ah, the feeling you got was incredible.
That was then.
Sometime in the early-to-mid 1990s, a terrible thing happened. Vegas became “Las Vegas”, an amusement park where folks took their kids. Seemingly overnight, the real Strip was moved to Fremont Street and what replaced the Strip was Disneyland. Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with Disneyland; it's great and terrific and a total blast, but there already is a Disneyland.
So, what I was wondering tonight while lingering in a flu-hangover after doing too much upon feeling better this morning is whether Las Vegas will ever return to being "Vegas"; that seedy place wherein danger lurks and adults play and each oncoming second is an exhilarating mystery. Yes, that, the Vegas of old, the "real" Vegas, the one that inspired novels and stories and gritty tales and realized dreams and birthed nightmares.
So I wondered and I googled, as one is wont to do when wondering and pondering. I searched “Las Vegas too family oriented” and turned up this article on 20/20.
http://abcn.ws/136ZYGh
One can only hope “Vegas” has returned.
In short, Vegas was an adrenalin rush—a place with a ground made of cement and pavement from which storied structures stood overhead, dwarfing all those who pass; Vegas was the mountain bridge from which you could bungee jump without the bungee. There was a chance you might splatter, but if you did not, ah, the feeling you got was incredible.
That was then.
Sometime in the early-to-mid 1990s, a terrible thing happened. Vegas became “Las Vegas”, an amusement park where folks took their kids. Seemingly overnight, the real Strip was moved to Fremont Street and what replaced the Strip was Disneyland. Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with Disneyland; it's great and terrific and a total blast, but there already is a Disneyland.
So, what I was wondering tonight while lingering in a flu-hangover after doing too much upon feeling better this morning is whether Las Vegas will ever return to being "Vegas"; that seedy place wherein danger lurks and adults play and each oncoming second is an exhilarating mystery. Yes, that, the Vegas of old, the "real" Vegas, the one that inspired novels and stories and gritty tales and realized dreams and birthed nightmares.
So I wondered and I googled, as one is wont to do when wondering and pondering. I searched “Las Vegas too family oriented” and turned up this article on 20/20.
http://abcn.ws/136ZYGh
One can only hope “Vegas” has returned.
