Driving south on Las Vegas Boulevard a few days before Christmas, it’s easy to get lost in the moment. The grand, audacious, larger-than-life spectacle of the Strip does that to me every time.
As a native son of the neon, I grew up with the wonder of this endlessly fascinating place. The early images still glow in my memory.
On the north end of the Strip there was the Sahara with its great pool and the iconic camel and Bedouin statues. Moving south, the Riviera, pink in my memory, came into view. The iconic La Concha alone was a mind-blower to a boy from Henderson. There was the Silver Slipper, where I saw some of my first pro fights, and the more mature Frontier.
There was the Stardust with its dazzling sign. In those days I think everyone believed it had a million bulbs. I was certain that it did. That sign made it easy to get lost in the neon and forget that it was a casino factory where one of my sisters dealt ’21’ there and another worked in the cage.
As a teenager, I worked downtown at the Nevada Hotel and later at the Westward Ho and the Aladdin. My late brother worked on Strip construction crews from the building of Kirk Kerkorian’s International to the even more stunning rise of Bob Stupak’s Stratosphere tower.
My father, gone for more than two decades now, was a union painter who helped brighten an earlier generation of casinos. If I close my eyes I can still see him in his painter’s whites, the shirt and pants he wore to work. He always had a soft spot for the Tropicana’s once-famous fountain, which he’d painted several times.
Through the years, from Caesars Palace to The Mirage to CityCenter and more, Las Vegas upped its game again and again. Its ability to reinvent itself to the world has not only been a winning business strategy, but has also been an important part of its reason for being. If Las Vegas can change and adapt to good times and bad, then the rest of us can, too.
It’s no wonder Las Vegas has been an oasis for immigrants and those seeking a second chance in life. For those who embrace it as a lively factory town at heart despite all its distractions and notorious shadowed side, Las Vegas is as American as any of the great manufacturing cities of the East. (And our winter weather is much better, transplants from Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo will remind you.)
Looking back at the old Las Vegas, and forward to the next one, is an entertaining exercise, but it’s the present that consumes most of us. And most annual wrap-ups and thoughtful reminiscences are sure to be filled with prayers for those touched by the mindless violence on Oct. 1.
The public outpouring and VegasStrong message have been heartening and sent an undeniable signal to the world that our broken hearts still beat and we cannot be defeated.
But I believe we would do ourselves a terrible disservice if we failed to learn from the event. Las Vegas is renowned for its ability to change and adapt to changing times and tastes. This is nothing if not a learning moment.
Security in the tourist corridor must evolve rapidly. It’s long past time to reassess the automobile traffic on the Boulevard. While no place can exist in a completely secure bubble and still call itself free, the casino industry historically has been better known for watching the money than the tourists.
While it’s true that 2017 will always be remembered for one infamous day, let’s make sure that it will also be remembered as the year Las Vegas once again reinvented itself, this time as America’s safest place to play.
John L. Smith is a longtime Las Vegas journalist and author. Contact him at jlnevadasmith@gmail.com. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith.
