Vegas and Me

Sue and I spent a week last month in Las Vegas.  I guess you could call it our second honeymoon, but that would be a stretch since we really didn’t have a first honeymoon,  that is unless you count the 3 days we stayed at her uncle’s mobile home just outside King’s Canyon State Park in California.  We had too many things to do to get ready to move a family of mine and hers across the country to Charleston SC.  I’ve been married to this wonderful woman for 28 years.  Who knows where, or even if I would be, if she wasn’t here?

My first trip to Vegas was 1971 and to say it has changed would be putting it mildly.  Now, I will admit that my memory is clouded by a few brain cells lost to age and selective overindulgence, but I’m fairly sure I remember enough to make some comparisons.

Back then the draw was gambling - gambling with side orders of a quickie marriages and/or divorces and legal prostitution, but make no mistake, gambling was king.

Driving in from the south, after miles and miles of desert that made you wonder if you were ever going to get there, it suddenly popped up, almost from out of nowhere; an oasis of glitz and glitter.  After driving so long in the desert it could have been a lot less visually imposing and still look good.

There were a few tall hotels, but the largest structures back then were the casino signs, each showing the headliner act.  A lot of the shows were free and some, like Elvis, went for about $15 bucks a ticket.  The food was very cheap.  A breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast and orange juice was 50 cents in some places, no more than 99 cents in the others.  The Circus Circus was the only one I can remember that let minors in, and that was only in very restricted areas.

In one of the hotels we stayed back then, there were only two ways to get from the hotel rooms -- which was really no more than an attached motel -- in the back of the casino to the strip.  You could either go down the driveway and dodge cars or go through the casino.  There was a wide, red carpet that ran from the back door to the front door of the casino and a security guy eagle eyed us from one door to the other.  If we stepped off the carpet he was on us in a flash, reminding us that we were under age.  But in some cases, if you played your cards right (pardon the pun), you could find a crowded corner of a casino you could sneak into, underage or not.

Now, fast forward 42 years.  The gambling is still there, but it appears that Vegas has found other ways to get your bucks.  Now, almost all the casinos, especially on the strip, are tall, imposing looking buildings, and they all sport a hotel and a host of other things too.  One has a roller coaster that runs through it and out over the grounds.  Another is reminiscent of the Seattle Space Needle and has a spinning ride at the top that carries you out over the edge of the building so you can look at the ground some 900+ feet below.   The same one will also let you bungee off the top for $100+, and still another had a multi screen theatre and bowling alley inside.

The food has also changed.  Each place has at least a couple of places to eat and most have buffets that range from about $15 to $60+.  I was actually shocked and a bit irritated to find not one, but two McDonalds on the strip.

I’m not a gambler.  I’ll watch the high rollers a bit and play the slots, but even that has changed.  Gone are most of the old 3 reel machines and they have been replaced by the newer video models that not only let you change the amount of money you want to gamble, but actually change the game with the press of a button.  In fact, most machines I saw would let you bet any amount from 1 penny to 5 dollars, and the irritating part is when they preset the minimum bet to 50 cents or a dollar.  I’m not cheap, but don’t call it a penny or nickel or quarter slot and then set it to a higher figure.  If I want to play dollar slots, I will go find a dollar slot machine.

Oh, and being video they pay off with paper.  Press a button and get a certificate, no more coins clanking into the tray.  The tray is still there, just no coins.  I will admit I’m not well versed in slot machine psychology, but I always thought the sound of falling coins was the perfect tease to get someone to drop in a quarter or three.  What better way to coerce someone into trying their hand at the machines than seeing some lucky soul jump up and down while watching the tray to fill up.

As I said before, I’m not sure whether Vegas has outgrown me, or vice versa, but I do know that it’s not the place it used to be.   The only thing that reminded me of old Las Vegas was Fremont Street downtown; that is until they turned the overhead light show on.  Plus there was still the overall stench of cigarette smoke, but I smoked back in the old days so it didn’t bother me.  This trip it was almost smothering.

The only thing I saw that was absolutely the same is the lack of clocks.  There is no need worry about trivial matters such as time when the house wants you to spend your money.