This is the 200th Green Felt Journal column I have written. Over the past eight years, I’ve used this space to explore Las Vegas, gaming and hospitality. Please indulge me as I look back over the first 199 columns.
My first GFJ came in the first issue of Vegas Seven, released February 4, 2010. The column itself (and its name) was the brainchild of then-editor Phil Hagen; it’s a take on Ed Reid and Ovid Demaris’ anti-Vegas potboiler, The Green Felt Jungle (see “The Book That Tried to End Las Vegas” for the whole story on that volume).
That first column was about The Wonder Pets and Las Vegas. These animated heroes of a Nick Jr. show had flown to Las Vegas to rescue the Rat Pack—in this reality actual rodents who are having trouble with their act. A dose of teamwork solves the problem, and the pets celebrate with a G-rated night on the town. I was struck by their outside view of Las Vegas as “a place with lots of sparkly lights” that wasn’t about style or luxury, but about fun and freedom. I closed by suggesting that a return to these roots would help the city climb out of the recession. You can decide for yourself how prophetic that was (not).
