Althouse: Looking for humans in Las Vegas.

October 31, 2017

Looking for humans in Las Vegas.

55 comments:

Chest Rockwell said...: I’m in Vegas for Halloween as well. Thought it would be a bit crazier.; 10/31/17, 9:55 PM
rcocean said...: The casinos have no windows, so daytime and nighttime look the same.; 10/31/17, 9:56 PM
rcocean said...: Las Vegas Casino downtime is Monday Afternoon to Thursday AM.; 10/31/17, 9:58 PM
MikeD said...: Gotta love it! Professor, agree or disagree, you've got the most interesting blog of all I read. Even when you don't opine. However, I'm an Amazonsmiles member donating purchases to Tails of Joy!; 10/31/17, 9:59 PM
FIDO said...: I have a friend visiting Vegas on THANKSGIVING! He is a foreigner so that date means nothing to him.

I am betting that Vegas will be even more empty then.; 10/31/17, 10:08 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: Althouse posted picture four for me.

I know it.

I am Laslo.; 10/31/17, 10:09 PM
FIDO said...: Looking at Trip Advisor, and it seems I am incorrect.; 10/31/17, 10:11 PM
Big Mike said...: We had only half as many kids show up as last year. Stuck with bags of candy. Anyone else have the same experience?

@Althouse, keep looking. Humans are there somewhere.; 10/31/17, 10:13 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: "We had only half as many kids show up as last year. Stuck with bags of candy. Anyone else have the same experience?"

A few more kids than last year.

All around six-years-old or below.

Lot of young families moving in the neighborhood.

I am Laslo.; 10/31/17, 10:19 PM
Sprezzatura said...: I'd like to comment that the place (i.e. Lost Wages Central) looks less sad w/o the loosers doin' what they do.

OTOH, these look like selective pics, i.e., this looks like the LLR-y Cheese's section of LV. So, I'd assume the kids are doin' other stuff. Presumably the Ls are still L-in' outside of Althouse's macro angle.; 10/31/17, 10:25 PM
Flat Tire said...: Those photos have caught the creepy casino vibe. The only good times I've had in casinos were breakfasts in Fernley, buying range cattle from a Shoshone guy. He delivered exactly what I bought. They spent the rest of their lives trying to kill me and laughed at our northern California fences. Good times. The rest of the state is beautiful and a mix of Native, Scots/Irish, Basque, Hispanic and just oddballs. I love Nevada.; 10/31/17, 10:28 PM
Rob said...: The thing about 21st century Vegas is that you can no longer tell the working girls from the tourists.; 10/31/17, 10:29 PM
Sprezzatura said...: BTW,

Is cleo w/ a man's face and these gals w/ cellulite some sorta strategic/marketing thing-y that's supposed to make normal gals feel better about themselves?; 10/31/17, 10:39 PM
LordSomber said...: It's like a Bizarro World version of Atlantic City in the '70's: Empty Slum.

(Feel free to correct my far-grasping pop culture metaphors.); 10/31/17, 11:15 PM
chickelit said...: Flat Tire said...Those photos have caught the creepy casino vibe.

They look like Stephen's paddock. His world.; 10/31/17, 11:22 PM
Etienne said...: They put the restaurant at our local casino way in the back.

They make you walk past all the machines that are making all sorts of noises.

My hot rod buddies and I usually go to breakfast every Saturday just to drive our cars. The only people we see are the security guards who hope we might put some money in the machines. But we walk right past the bells and whistles.

We just want the $3.00 Elvis Hunka-Hunka breakfast, with unlimited coffee refills.; 10/31/17, 11:44 PM
jake said...: Well if you were looking for humans you could have swung by Downtown Summerlin where my family went trick or treating, but mostly stood in line. Plenty of humans, especially the miniature variety.; 10/31/17, 11:50 PM
jake said...: FIDO-

You'd be surprised the crowds here in Vegas on Thanksgiving for exactly the reason you state.; 10/31/17, 11:56 PM
Mark Nielsen said...: Laslo, we all love you. You know that, right?

But really, after all the white van comments, the thought of kids trick-or-treating your house is the scariest thing I've heard today.; 11/1/17, 12:01 AM
Kirk Parker said...: Mark,

Laslo's van isn't white any more -- that would be racist!; 11/1/17, 12:32 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Laslo's van is rainbow.; 11/1/17, 12:40 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: "The rest of the state is beautiful and a mix of Native, Scots/Irish, Basque, Hispanic and just oddballs. I love Nevada."

Each to their own. My partner grew up there and has a love/hate relationship with the state, and esp Vegas. Me? I put most of Nevada down around Wyoming and New Mexico in terms of ugly. Not all of the state, of course - Wyoming has the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and the Wind Rivers. Nevada has Tahoe and the Ruby Mtns by Elko. Indeed, I spent 5 years in the Carson Valley, within sight of the Heavenly Valkey ski area, 20 minutes from it and S. Lake Tahoe. Could be at the lift when it opened, ski an hour or so, and be at my desk before 10. From the office, dominating the skyline was Jobs Peak. Best of two worlds - mild climate in the valley, but huge snowfalls up at the nearby ski areas. Actually had to shovel less snow there than I did in the Denver area.

Didn't really notice that much Indian in the parts of NV I frequented, or visited, at least in comparison to the rest of the west. Definitely not nearly as much as I run into in either MT or AZ, where we have houses. The Basque is interesting though. At least where I was in NW NV, there was a decent sized Basque community. Outside the valley floors (which had a lot of cattle), there was a lot of sheep ranching, and at least there, it was dominated by the Basques. Didn't realize it until my kid came to visit, and one of the other attys took us to a Basque restaraunt. One of several. After that, would work with her to take guests visiting us to a Basque restaurant, instead of the Italian place our boss preferred. Much better local color.; 11/1/17, 1:19 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Talking holidays - we visited Vegas over Valentine's Day last year, and it was dirt cheap. She had whined that I never took her anywhere then, and esp out of town. Perfect getaway from PHX - just over a 4 hour drive (I wanted to fly, but got overruled). We are thinking of making it a tradition. Having grown up there, she has some idea of why some times are good and some aren't. Early to mid Feb is supposedly good because so many people blow their wads for Christmas and don't have enough left to blow it in Vegas in Feb., or something like that. Was expecting to spend the night there next week, on the way back down to AZ from MT (took the Audi down a couple weeks ago, but plan on bringing the 1 wheel drive Tahoe down for good). But looks like snow this coming weekend (not in Vegas, of course, but in NW MT), so maybe delaying for a week or so. She prefers cutting east in UT before we hit the AZ border on I-15, then swinging around the north rim of the Grand Canyon. But I talked her into going through Vegas instead. 400 or so miles from SLC, but a much easier drive that way.; 11/1/17, 1:37 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Final thoughts. First photo made me remember my time as a patent atty in NV. The firm I was with may have had the top gaming practice in the state at the time. Which meant that I was involved in a lot of it. Did some card games, even slot machine bases, but, in particular, I worked on slot machines themselves. At the time, I could usually recognize the company making a specific machine from halfway across the casino floor. Mostly from the artwork, but there were other tell tales too. By the end, it was almost an obsession - I couldn't look at machines without guessing as to their providence. I became somewhat jaded, when I wasn't tuning them out completely. A good night at the slots for me would be only losing $.25 on $.05 games. Last weekend, here in AZ, my partner wanted to go out with her daughter and son-in-law to one of the local casinos (falsely advertised as being just like Vegas). I gave her money, and begged off, explaining that with a math undergraduate degree, MBA, and years working with inventors and engineers in the gaming industry, I know deep down that I am going to lose. That is how the games are always designed. Maybe not tonight, but ultimately the numbers always catch up with you. I don't enjoy that feeling, and so avoid casino gambling like the plague. Instead, while she was blowing my money on the slot machines, I was at the local B&N bookstore. Much happier.; 11/1/17, 2:00 AM
PB said...: Taking pictures in a casino without permission will get you tossed out or arrested. Be careful prof.; 11/1/17, 4:14 AM
FleetUSA said...: Yikes. Just yesterday a.m. I praised this blog for thoughtful commentary on interesting current event issues and other things to some friends. I am afraid they followed up to find a Vegas picture show. Not quite what I was praising. But I did say AA is an acquired taste and they need to stick with it for several weeks to get the flow.; 11/1/17, 4:54 AM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: We had lots of children this year. Although we thought we had plenty of candy, it started getting low about 7:30 and I ran to the store and bought more. Kit-Kat, Reese's, and Milky Way to begin with and Hershey's Kisses and Snickers for back up. This is our last Halloween at this house as we are moving to Dallas in December. My 12 year old didn't even trick or treat last night. Of course, after Voodoo Fest in New Orleans with us Fri., Sat., and Sun., he had a different kind of Halloween experience. They are serious about costumes down there.; 11/1/17, 5:05 AM
tim in vermont said...: Althouse's pictures have done nothing to change my mind about Las Vegas. A decent course on statistics and probabilities is all you need to cure you of places like that. Most of the people I have known who like to gamble, kind of remind me of Peanut Butters, they seem to have a deep faith that God loves them better than anybody else for some reason and wants them to win. Or something like that.; 11/1/17, 5:35 AM
DavidD said...: Well, there are 5 in the first picture, but I didn’t see any more after that.; 11/1/17, 5:47 AM
Tim said...: It must be an interesting bit of psychology to understand the statue of the naked women displaying their backsides. Notice how shiny they are? Someone at the corporation has an advanced degree, I expect. I think the reasoning would go along the lines of, "People -mostly men but by no means all- will get a vicarious thrill by being able to fondle the butts of these imaginary women. Harmlessly transgressive. This makes them happy and happy people spend money."; 11/1/17, 5:54 AM
whitney said...: It may be empty of humans but I know it's still noisy as all get-out with the ding ding ding of the slot machines; 11/1/17, 6:09 AM
Paddy O said...: Fleet, you can also teach them how to scroll down and see other posts.; 11/1/17, 6:11 AM
rehajm said...: Remember back when climate change was the biggest crisis threatening humanity? Well, the House Science Committee is fighting back against science deniers, those who ignore scientific consensus within government, and calling out those bought and sold by deep pocketed special interests.

I expect those Congress critters who were just recently calling to criminalize science deniers will temper their enthusiasm somewhat...; 11/1/17, 6:13 AM
Warren Fahy said...: Interesting to see what interests you, Ann. At least as much that's phallic as feminine, it seems. Objectification isn't really simply bad, is it? It's kind of true, and even good, in it's strange way. (I mean if you look at your foot long enough you'll go crazy wondering what the Fu-? but if you keep looking at it it will finally make perfect sense.) Appreciating the physical is good. And it may get harder to say its bad the older one gets. So easy to blow off such things in youth when they seem more optional, I guess. Enjoy Vegas - body parts everywhere in the architecture. :); 11/1/17, 6:17 AM
Jason said...: In somewhat related news, Mandalay Bay has announced that they are suspending their in-room magazine loading service.; 11/1/17, 6:45 AM
rhhardin said...: It does't lack people. It lacks dogs.; 11/1/17, 6:47 AM
Rusty said...: Laslo's van has a waterbed.
And
A cute puppy.; 11/1/17, 6:48 AM
tim in vermont said...: Ok, this is a great World Series. It might have been worth it to fly west to watch the games at a reasonable hour.; 11/1/17, 6:59 AM
rhhardin said...: It might be the aftermath of a deadly rampage.

Deadly rampage is the big news word today.; 11/1/17, 7:04 AM
MathMom said...: When I was finally old enough to gamble (but too poor), I put a quarter in a slot machine on the way out to the parking garage. One lone slot machine, right by the door. I got nothing. Not even a gumball. I think they should give you a gumball, for spending a quarter.

Hubby had a business trip at Disney World on one of our vacays from Saudi Arabia. We went to Vegas on that same trip. Both places had the same feel of empty desperation to me. The differences were that you could tell night from day at Disney World, and it didn't smell like thick cigarette smoke.; 11/1/17, 7:19 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: tim in vermont said...

Ok, this is a great World Series. It might have been worth it to fly west to watch the games at a reasonable hour.

Save the flight. Set your clock three hours earlier.; 11/1/17, 7:30 AM
donald said...: I miss the old Riviera.; 11/1/17, 7:31 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Vegas is like Chuck-E-Cheese for adults.; 11/1/17, 7:31 AM
Caroline said...: Excellent photo essay, @althouse; 11/1/17, 7:35 AM
Cath said...: You are quoted in the WSJ today! In Jason L. Riley's column.; 11/1/17, 7:53 AM
JZ said...: My wife says she doesn't like casinos because of the ugly carpet.; 11/1/17, 8:00 AM
MadisonMan said...: We had only half as many kids show up as last year. Stuck with bags of candy. Anyone else have the same experience?

I gave away 120 big candy bars last year -- ran out. This year? Maybe 75. Leftovers galore.; 11/1/17, 8:03 AM
Original Mike said...: "We had only half as many kids show up as last year. Stuck with bags of candy. Anyone else have the same experience?"

We had more kids than we've ever had. I've lived here 24 years and in the beginnig there were virtually no kids. But all of the oldsters in the neighborhood are dying off.; 11/1/17, 8:38 AM
Delayna said...: Haven't been to Vegas since 2000. Walked down the Strip, went into each casino, put a dollar in the dollar slots and hit the "cash out" button to receive a casino coin.

Cheapest souvenirs in town. Do they still do casino coins?; 11/1/17, 9:02 AM
Molly said...: THat statue of NY Knicks number 10 does not look anything like Walt Clyde Frazier. Or am I being racist?; 11/1/17, 10:09 AM
DAN said...: Las Vegas is what it looks like when you do the first thing that pops into your head.; 11/1/17, 12:09 PM
Known Unknown said...: Vegas sucks.; 11/1/17, 1:25 PM
Daytime said...: Althouse in a place like Vegas....how plebeian.; 11/1/17, 3:40 PM
tcrosse said...: Get in touch with your Inner Hillary and Deplore Vegas: a Deplorable place for Deplorable people.; 11/1/17, 4:00 PM
Daniel Jackson said...: Gee. You don't suppose recent events might have a dampening effect on tourism in Sin City?; 11/1/17, 4:11 PM