Las Vegas: From Sin City to Sophisticated Getaway

My History of Vegas:
I had last visited the “City of Sin’ ten years previously with my two children whilst still a single Mum. It had been part of a bigger trip when I had taken a month off my career to celebrate key milestone birthdays that we were all experiencing in the same year.
My son had turned eighteen that Spring and when given the choice of where to visit to celebrate he chose New York.

We had stayed there a week and then flown down to San Francisco. I wanted to celebrate by driving Highway 1 down the West Coast. I also saw Los Angeles as an opportunity for the children to visit Disneyland and Universal Studios one last time before they were finally grown and leaving home.

From LA we were originally supposed to fly down to Acapulco. I‘d always wanted to see the cliff divers and saw this as an opportunity to introduce my teenagers to a new culture but alas six weeks before our trip began all flights to that part of Mexico were cancelled due to issues with the cartel! I had, therefore, given the children the choice of our final destination: Yosemite, Lake Tahoe or Vegas and they had both chosen the latter.

Our journey across the desert wasn’t the greatest with a storm hitting halfway. My son and I, sat in the front of the hired car, could see the lightening hitting the highway in the distance and I inwardly panicked and wasn’t sure what to do but given everyone else was carrying on regardless I went with the herd!

After just 24 hrs in Vegas my daughter asked if she could fly back to the UK!
She hated it with a vengeance. I was forced to adjust our plans and find alternative opportunities that took us out of the city. This turned into a blessing as we discovered rafting on the Colorado River, amidst country that could easily have been part of one of my Western movie memories (see my previous blog)
https://amidlifeadventure.org/2023/06/27/the-western-movies-lied-to-me/
and best of all the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

And now here I was again, having taken a detour off Route 66 from Needles and travelled north. It certainly wouldn’t have been my first choice of place to visit but hubby had never been and wanted to tick it off his “travel list”!

It’s often said “that it’s not the place you visit but the company that you go with” and following this particular part of our trip I would probably agree. Las Vegas had never been at the top of my agenda of places to revisit but ten years is a long time and places change, some for the better, others for the worse!

Vegas Seemed to be Changing:
In ten years more towering accommodation options had sprung up. Looking behind The Strip, on the right as you drive in from the south, there was little or no space left. What had once been scrub land and empty lots was now filled with an array of places to stay and stay they did in their thousands! Mainly weekenders arriving on Thursday night and departing on Sunday Evening or Monday Morning. Everyone desperate to grasp their freedom and return home hopefully that bit richer or at the very least thoroughly entertained. 

The Vegas I remembered had grown up in ten years. Gone were the showgirls during the daytime hours looking for business, hoping visitors would stop and pay for a photograph. The touts were no longer there in the day either, giving out their endless stream of cards inviting you along to various strip clubs after dark.The city had cleaned up its act.
Maybe because more families seem to be visiting or perhaps it was the clean up that made families feel safer to visit.
The constant stream of litter that I remembered from ten years ago was gone too. Maybe because the daytime the touts has disappeared.
People were still drinking on the streets, one of the attractions of this adult playground, but instead of beers and lagers most visitors seemed content with one of the extra long cocktails sold everywhere in long thin tubelike glasses and to be honest drinking was no longer in the majority as it had been back in 2013. Las Vegas in the daytime was definitely better!

Drawn into the city by the urge to play in whatever format appealed, the visitors came out in force once twilight arrived. They mainly chose to eat early as if by doing so they would have the rest of the night to play.
As the afternoon turned into early evening the showgirls and touts also reappeared as if they had been on a curfew but in nowhere near the amount of numbers as I’d seen previously. The showgirls in their outfits of traditional feather boas and wings with all in one leotards or thong bikinis, fishnets and high heels were now, however, being threatened somewhat by the female visitors themselves. 

Modern Style Dress:
I’d never seen anything quite like it. 
Millenials and Gen Z girls brought up in the world of social media were no longer willing to just dress for their partners or on the hunt for that illusive Mr or Mrs Right. They were dressing how the hell they liked and no one was going to dare to comment. Regardless of size, ethnic origin, current status or age these girls were out to strut their stuff. I saw braless boobs hanging out of deep v necked dresses, slits so high you could see the lack of underwear, minuscule bikinis covered with crochet dresses and short tops. And if that wasn’t enough, God forbid that you were behind one of them climbing one of the many sets of stairs up to a bridge that criss crossed the busy car filled strip below. Hemlines so short that a glimpse of bare bum cheeks and occasionally more was not unusual. 

It was like they were competing for some sort of prize for the most “outrageous, revealing outfit!”. Interestingly you didn’t see the “posing Instagram” crowd we had got used to and frustrated by in Europe. I’m guessing here the photos had been taken and posted before they even left their hotel rooms where provocative poses could be fully delivered sober until they were satisfied with the photographic result. 

Ladies visiting with partners or husbands weren’t going to be outdone by the youngsters either with some of the over 40’s joining in on this new trend.
Don’t get me wrong this parade of flesh wasn’t the majority but it was certainly a noticeable change.After all most of these young ladies were still in primary school last time I visited!

Call me old fashioned but whilst the old Vegas could be a bit “in your face” this made the city a worse place to be at night and certainly not one where I would want my teenage or young children present. I can only conclude that the skimpy outfits so often seen at film premieres, concerts and award ceremonies worn by the rich and famous and then broadcast across social media has had a massive impact and if you want to wear something like this to follow some Instagram idol where better than in the original City of Sin.  

Alongside the new accommodation blocks there were also new shopping areas and it seemed as if the developers had taken into account the often extreme summer temperatures, as we were experiencing whilst there, and made sure visitors had to walk out onto the pavements as little as possible. There seemed to be more indoor air conditioned connections between the casinos, something that I definitely appreciated and saw as an improvement. 
Interestingly some of the shop windows were full of the types of dresses aforementioned. Whilst offering additional choices to those visiting I couldn’t help but think they also provided outfits for those girls who maybe arrived in Vegas unprepared for the current trends.

Downtown Vegas:
This was still a bit of no go area when I’d last visited but with the advent of the Mob Museum and nighttime DJ’s and “light shows” in Fremont Street this seemed to offer another experience in the city. Along with the crowds we chose to jump on the “Deuce” bus and take a look.
The Mob Museum definitely added to my understanding of how the city had developed and the involvement of the then mafia. More poignantly it also gave me clearer insight into how today’s criminal gangs operate worldwide. How making money illegally has grown expotentially and is often hidden in clear sight.
Fremont Street was, however, like turning back the clock. Personally I felt like all the “old sleaze” had congregated in this roughly mile long stretch of covered street.
Single entrepreneurs dressed as shirtless cowboys, high heeled dominatrix and silent dummies advertised their wears in the hope of soliciting money for a photograph with them or in the case of the dominatrix maybe more? 
Girls danced on bar tops or on the DJ stages in skimpy outfits reminding me of the days when feminists called this out as degrading the sex. 

The homeless were present in greater numbers and the smell of cannabis, which had wafted daily in the visitor end of Vegas now pervaded the atmosphere. The majority of those crowding the pavements were either already drunk or swilling back the alcohol to achieve this state. 

The  “icing on the cake” was the old lady sat in her wheelchair holding a sign telling everyone she was needy and poor and if you paid her she would show you her tits! Money was obviously not as forthcoming as she hoped and so the sign was lifted anyway in an attempt maybe to encourage people to donate. I felt angry that she felt she needed to do this but also sad. Imagine if this was your granny!
This definitely wasn’t for us and we made a speedy exit! In making the visitor area better it seemed like those who no longer fitted in were driven to Fremont!   

Conclusion of Our Visit:
This was the first time I had been accompanied to Vegas by “a man” much less “a husband” and it definitely delivered a different experience. As two like minded adults we were able to experience the many facets of entertainment offered by this metropolis. We visited museums during the day, appreciated architecture, gardens and sculptures. At night we sampled the Wynn buffet, two Cirque du Soleil performances, opportunities to photograph the city lit up at night and the odd flutter on a blackjack table. 

It felt sophisticated and not sleazy as I feel Vegas had once been. Somewhere we could return to, if finance permitted, to sample more shows and entertainment and to properly relax during the day under the heat of the desert sun before venturing out in the evening.                                                                                               

As our visit drew to a close we retraced our steps back to Needles by car and set off on our final voyage along Route 66 towards it’s end point at Santa Monica.