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Las Vegas is LosAngeles
By encinoman
So why did I read The Movable Buffet so religiously? Because having gone there at least once a year since 1988 for the Consumer Electronics Show (and for the late, unlamented COMDEX) I&;ve come to love Las Vegas, although my wallet and sinuses could probably not handle it for more than a week at a time. Like the ice caps melting, I&;ve watched the casino gaming pits where I play blackjack shrink, with the real estate taken over by an army of slot machines for a generation of Americans who prefer to interact with screens rather than a boisterous table of degenerate gamblers.
Las Vegas was built on millions of people from Los Angeles coming to gamble in the desert, whether they stayed at the palaces on the strip or did a Las Vegas turn around, gambling all night and driving back without sleeping. (The first time I drove to Las Vegas I saw five dead bodies on the side of the I-15 from two separate accidents where the drivers fell asleep).
Las Vegas and Los Angeles share a lot, including thousands of former Angelenos &;native&; Las Vegans are always begging to go home. Meanwhile the &;What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas&; encourages tourists to treat the city as their toilet, although it contributes to some surprising local industries.
Las Vegas and Los Angeles share a temperate to boiling climate and a sprawling aesthetic, but with magnificient parks just a few minutes away. Then there&;s In &;n Out Burger, minimalls, a love of bling and money, a sprouting of magnificent cities out of nothing, jammed freeways but troubled real estate markets, entertainment stars and wanna-bes, luxury and poverty almost side-by-side, gangbangers and pointless violent crime killing the best of our youth (here here, there there), insane people, and both Bugsy Siegel and O.J. Simpson!
Las Vegas holds up a mirror to Los Angeles. But it&;s not a funhouse mirror anymore.
Tags: CES, COMDEX, gambling, Las Vegas, Los-Angeles, Movable-Buffet, O.J.-Simpson
This entry was posted on November 6, 2009 at 9:09 pm and is filed under Las Vegas, Los-Angeles, Uncategorized.
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One Response to &;Las Vegas is LosAngeles&;
Vegas Gambling Goes Hollywood « Monday Morning Media Quarterback Says:
November 20, 2009 at 8:34 pm |
[...] I know, they call it &;gaming&; rather than gambling, or more properly, losing. As I noted after 20 years of tradeshow gambling in Las Vegas, &;Like the ice caps melting, I’ve watched [...]
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