Las Vegas is all about enthusiasm , whether it ’s pump your clenched fist at a nightclub or argue in a sports Browning automatic rifle about why the Golden Knights is a stinking name for a hockey game team . In fact , Las Vegans are generally a jolly passionate bunch … and there are more than a few things to get all worked up about .
Getting away from the Strip
Some locals are intimate with every new social club and eating place on the Strip , while others wo n’t hesitate to say " I never go there ! " Either way , anyone who live on here make love there ’s much more to Vegas than the tourist corridor , and will waste no clock time plan a slip to Red Rock Canyon , Mount Charleston , Valley of Fire , or Lake Mead to enjoy the natural beauty of Southern Nevada … and escape the neon glow of Sin City .
Elvis
Las Vegas has a weird fixation with Elvis Presley . Maybe it ’s because he set a platter for trade - out shows at the International Hotel … which became the Hilton … . which became the LVH … . which finally became the Westgate … but still has a statue of Elvis out front . The singer ’s image is synonymous with Vegas . Weirdly , we do n’t have time for the young , cool Elvis , but weeat upthe fat , senescence , unhealthful , late-’70s edition who comes packaged for your public toilet in a jumpsuit . But the true bequest of Elvis is n’t found in the countless imitator up and down the Strip ( although they are in reality becoming less common these days ) . It ’s found every time Britney Spears , Jennifer Lopez , or Rod Stewart get hold of the stage . Elvis set the standard for how to increase your brand value with long - running gambling casino residencies . Why go on tour when you may just have all your fans get along to you ?
Beer
You thought wine devotee were pretentious ? Las Vegas isfull of beer snobs , and with ripe intellect . The foxiness beer manufacture is booming right now , and local breweries like Tenaya Creek , Bad Beat , and Joseph James are leading the gang . It ’s gotten to the period where any hot eatery on the Strip needs to have at least a few topically brewed beer on draft . Which ones are the best ? That ’s a fierce debate . peradventure you could decide for yourself whenMotley Brews ' Downtown Brew Festival returns this fallto offer a duo hundred tasting .
Parking
One of the great things about Las Vegas is that all of the big hotel on the Strip have free parking … except that changed earlier this year , when MGM Resorts Internationalmade the garage at most of its properties on the Strip give - to - park . That includes place like the Mirage , MGM Grand , Luxor , ARIA , and Mandalay Bay . Circus Circus is nontaxable because sometimes it feel like Circus Circus should pay you to be there – not the other way around . you’re able to pass over the charge if you have a local ID ( at least until the end of the year ) . But gestate a wave of hysteria if and when that insurance policy expires .
Electronic dance music
There is no metropolis in the United States more possessed with DJs than Las Vegas . Their faces are on billboards , in magazines , and on stage at the top nightclub in the biggest resort hotel on the Strip . It ’s almost like they ’re player or something . The biggest names take in crazy quantity of money , and more than a fewcelebrities are getting in on the actto make a few excess bucks . Some fans are so passionate , they ’ll wedge themselves against the front of the microscope stage on a packed , sweaty dance floor and nod their head to every electro - beat . They ’ll also tamp down the Motor Speedway for theElectronic Daisy Carnivaleach summer , which is the bighearted EDM event in country , with intimately 400,000 in attending over a three - day weekend . On the flip side , there are people who hate this kind of music with just as much fervidness , and long for the days when every kid dreamed of wager guitar … instead of playing a laptop computer .
The name of the new NHL team
Las Vegas is at long last going to have a major conference team . After a monumental packaging movement that generated an telling show of public support ( and season ticket commitment ) , the NHL awarded an expansion team to Sin City . We already know they ’ll toy in the brand unexampled T - Mobile Arena , but one burning questions rest : what will the squad be called?Team proprietor Bill Foley had discourse the Black Knights as a hypothesis , which most people found weird . Then a name with " mortarboard " in it was be adrift , which was just puzzling , since the league already has the Chicago Blackhawks . But now , the whole issue has been settle . Almost . peradventure . Foley has live back to his original idea , saying the team will be called the Desert , Golden , or Silver Knights . Whatever the name , the debate over it has stirred up boisterous treatment in fun bars across Las Vegas . And we have n’t even start to recall about the logotype yet .
Gambling
Not everyone in Las Vegas gamble , but it ’s a handsome understanding why a sight of people come here – either to inhabit or visit . However , the casino commercial enterprise is the top industry in the res publica of Nevada , and everything seems to revolve around it . Every centime reckoning , and that ’s why you ’ll not only see slot automobile in fancy hotel lobby , but also in supermarkets , convenience stores , and the airport . The citizenry who love to gamblereallylove to take chances . That ’s why they ’ll do it pretty much anytime and anyplace – often for hours at a clip .
Old Vegas vs. New Vegas
You hear it a lot . People say Vegas was honest when it was run by the mob . But is that really dead on target ? mayhap ; the caption of Vegas was build on fly-by-night casino operators , gangster , and a reputation for being a home where rules did n’t implement . We now inhabit in a new earned run average where most big casinos are part of publicly traded corporate empires and there is no margin for misplay . A prime example : The Cromwell hotel was originally travel to be call the Gansevoort , until Caesars Entertainment cut tie-up with the original investors when it was revealed they might be link up to the Russian mob . While Vegas keep its felonious past tense as part of its history , we ’re living in a unexampled , squeaky - clean epoch . irrespective , money and profits rein everything … so mayhap thing have n’t really changed that much after all .
Waiting
We ’re busy , we have things to do , and we ’re bollix by convenience . Compared to other live destinations around the country , Las Vegas is ridiculously convenient : the airport is right next to the Strip , and while the public transportation system is n’t staring , it ’s reasonably comfortable to get yourself around . That ’s why even the slightest traffic delay can get us frustrated , and we have no patience for obtuse drivers with California permission plates who are n’t quite sure where to deform . And look outside a night club ? That ’s for out - of - towners . allow me speak to the doorman .
The new football stadium
We could n’t be happy with just a hockey team . Now that Pandora ’s boxful has been opened , we tap for a football game squad as well . Investors ( including Sheldon Adelson ’s Sands Corporation ) and lawmaker are in the process of fast - tracking a novel NFL - worthy stadium to appeal the Oakland Raiders . mutant fans are giddy just think about the thought , but others are worried about the cost . The plan is to increase the hotel elbow room taxation and make out - of - townsman pay up for it … which sounds good in theory , but between the parking boot , resort fee , and new taxation , those tourer may resolve to not visit as frequently as they used to .
Smut peddlers
They ’re the people lease to hand out cards on the Strip with ads for cartoon strip clubs and accompaniment services , and they do n’t like to take no for an answer . The only things more infuriating than their tenaciousness is the trash they leave behind .
Homegrown rock bands
Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra may be synonymous with Las Vegas , but they ’re outsiders . The Killers , Imagine Dragons , and Panic ! at the Disco are really from Las Vegas and have patriotic fans who may or may not have been there from the beginning . Regardless , these bands appreciate their Vegas roots , return to headline euphony festivals and even film the occasional music video here . The Killers were also the first act to headline the new T - Mobile Arena and even advert one of their albums after a locals - oriented casino .
Implosions
Until that hockey team show up , check old casinos get destroy will continue to be our favorite looker sport . There ’s nothing quite like watching an implosion in soul , and everyone makes a point to do it at least once . Vegas is so meddlesome , it in general does n’t have time to apprise its own history . So once a gambling casino get a small too honest-to-goodness , it needs to be all demolish to decipherable room for a brand - newfangled , shining replacement . In late year , implosion have been done in the heart of the night as a way of life to minimize crew and gawker , but mass still make a level to set up their warning signal clocks and check ‘em out . The most late example was the Riviera hotel ; its towers were really fetch down in two freestanding demolitions – spaced weeks apart – over the summertime .
The school district
Most of Southern Nevada falls under the Clark County School District – make it the fifth - prominent school day territory in the nation . This means every problem and insurance in the classroom is under one giant umbrella of bureaucratism and ( mis-)management . Public meetings with parent can get pretty disputative , which is among the reasons the school dominion is presently taking steps to bust up into diminished precinct . It ’s a step in the right focal point , and something every parent of a public schooling pupil would love to blab out with you about .
The merits of Downtown
The City of Las Vegas has led a move to make business district a glad property once again . Overall , the area ’s revivification has been a succeeder , with an influx of new bars , eatery , hotels , condos , business , tech startups , and a tidy dose of beautification here and there – not to mention cool case like theLife is Beautiful festival . The most dramatic move was luring online retail giant Zappos to Downtown , where their headquarters sits inside the old City Hall building . The company and its chief operating officer Tony Hsieh have made a full stop to be fully involved and have recycled C of millions of dollars back into the community . Their influence has led to the establishment of the Downtown Project , a group of business owners and investor who ’ve transformed the area . Some contend their influence is too strong ( with a pissed grip on the tenants at the Downtown Container Park , for example ) , while others say we can finally take pride in Downtown again – and show that it ’s about much more than Fremont Street .
Resort fees
Sometimes you reckon you ’ve score a expectant deal when book your hotel room online – until you show up at the substantiation - in desk and are hand an extra charge of about 20 - 30 bucks . That ’s on top of the original cost , taxes , bow-wow fee , and that $ 20 you ’re skip toslip over the counter for an upgrade . It ’s call a " holiday resort fee , " and it ’s say to shroud stuff like the exercising way , Wi - Fi , and the air your breathe . You sleep with … all the thing the regular hotel charge used to get across in one price . So call it for what it is : a surprisal fee that ’s just one of the ways Las Vegas hotels are trying to bang its node . Even though it affects tourists the most , locals resent it too – since it create our township look high-risk – and maybe , just maybe , we wish to enjoy a staycation on the Strip every now and then too .
signal up herefor our daily Vegas email and be the first to get all the intellectual nourishment / drink / fun in town .
Maridav/Shutterstock
flickr/James Marvin Phelps
Courtesy of PT’s Brewing Company
Anthony Mooney/Shutterstock
Valentina Photo/Shutterstock
Dmitry Morgan/Shutterstock
Courtesy of Manica Architecture
JStone/Shutterstock
Flickr/Tom
Flickr/b10lm
Courtesy of The Mirage