It’s going to be difficult to improve upon SmartAlix’s coverage of CES for this blog, so I won’t try. He rocks. What I did was tour the area and see what else is going on in Las Vegas. Throughout this week I’ll put up pics taken during the CES show which you’ll find no place else, with my comments.
What’s weird is that the town is changing again. Since the building of the Wynn Hotel, which is now packed with people, the town decided that it was time to grow again. This meant the building of an entire city within a city, a project called City Center. The details are here. This is a ludicrous $9 billion project to build an entire town with condos, hotels, restaurants, mall, firehouse, etc. It reminds me of that creepy Florida town, Celebration, built by Disney.
From the Paris hotel you could look over and see the 66-acre big dig being done for Project City Center.
Everywhere you looked there was new construction. There are add-ons to all the existing hotels being built too.
Yes, say goodbye to the Stardust. Finally scheduled for demolition.
Coverage of the CES Show itself, links:
CES Coverage Day One
CES Coverage Day Two
CES Coverage Day Three
CES Coverage Booth Babes
CES Coverage High-End Audio
Smartalix’s CES Retrospective #1
The ugliest and most obnoxious city on the planet.
We’ll miss the Stardust. My honey and I always stayed there for trade shows. Especially the original 2-story section out back leftover from the 1950’s.
Cities, in general suck and aren’t fit for human habitation, but if you have to visit one, Vegas is the one. The Strip is a cool place. Where else can you walk down the sidewalk with a beer in your hands?
In the upper left of the first picture, isn’t that Spiderman swinging around in front of the Monte Carlo?
Vegas is what the future will be like, although it just won’t be the same without the Stardust.
FUn that ALOT of corps have found that Vegas is a GREAt central point for distribution, manufactouring, and HOW to get away from Cali taxes…
Over 1 million people in what WAS, an ADULT play ground.
#1: And as a resident, I would say those are it’s good points!
If you drive around town the first thing you notice is that there are condos/apartments/houses, strip malls, and that’s about it. Of course, you pay sky high rates for driving around because this is one of the accident and stolen car capitals of the country. It’s illegal to feed the homeless, our mayor (an ex-mob lawyer) loves his wine and strippers, and although prostitution is illegal in Clark Country (one of the few where it is illegal in the state) there are over 100 pages devoted to escort services in the phone book.
As for the stolen car thing, my boss’ car, parked in his driveway, had a crowbar taken to the door to open it. Same thing was done to a neighbor who happens to be the head of the local SWAT team. A coworker had his car stolen last week, only to have it found wrapped around a tree. And then there’s the story that made the national news about a family moving here on Christmas who parked their truck containing everything they owned in a casino parking lot only to have it stolen. And on and on… Yes, Vegas is a delightful city!
Is the sands still around?
The Dunes was brought down in 1993 while the Sands wasn’t torn down until ’96. Gotta keep your implosions straight!
The Sands Expo Center (behind the Venetian) is still there.
#3 — unless they changed the law along the way, public walking around and drinking used to be legal in New Orleans and environs.
Bah…
Despite the charm being stripped away by Harvard MBAs (the mob of the 21st Century), Vegas is still one of the most beautiful cities in America. I can’t imagine how anyone would think otherwise…
You anti-city types can take your misanthropic attitudes and hike on out to your secluded mountain shacks and live at the height of Unibomber chic all you want… That’s just more culture for me to enjoy.
If I had to state one goal in my life, its to never in my lifetime allow my feet to touch a non man made surface again.
New York City, Chicago, San Fran, Vegas, Toronto, London, Paris, Tokyo… If I can see the ground, I’m too far off the path…
11. ” That’s just more culture for me to enjoy.”
Culture? Las Vegas? Plastic town? Shirley you jest. And yes, I just called you Shirley.
Oh thats right, your referring to The Venetian, Italian culture, or The Paris Hotel, French Culture. Sorry, my bad.
As opposed to driving 50 miles to the Shoney’s near the truckstop outside Skeeterville, but you gotta get there before 8:30 cause Uncle Jimmy, the cook, has to leave early on Fridays to go help with the Skeeterville Corn Shucker’s football game?
Screw that. Culture isn’t just big events… and not all culture is equal. Chicago is my ideal town, but Vegas has its charm… and its a 24/7 charm… an on demand culture for an on demand lifestyle…
Besides… For all its plastic and despite replacing the Mafia with the Board Of Directors, the beast still has a belly. And that’s where the party is.
#10 – I thought they took a lot of that away to try and tone down Mardi Gras. If you can still do it, more power to them. (Should be able to do it everywhere. 😉 )
I find the place subtly depressing. When I mention this to people who go here a lot they say that it”s always been that way. But I think it’s just a shade worse than before. It’s not that you cannot have a good time, but there’s a definite Atlantic City thing happening in Vegas.
Hi
Appreciate that this is a little off topic (to say the least!), I apologise but I am wondering if anyone here can help me. I am currently looking at opportunities concerning Dubai Property . I’ve heard an awful lot about this recently. Just wondered if anybody here has bought anything out there and can comment good or bad. Look forward to your thoughts,
Thanks
James