My son breaks out laughing when he hears the term "world of concrete." It’s just funny, he says.
However this trade show Jan and I are attending in Vegas is a bit more than that. 1500 booths, 60,000 people. its just WOW.
And of course, so is this fastest growing city in the US. New hotels are going up in every corner. Old favorites are under the wrecking ball. The Stardust, one of my old favorites with its garish purple color and wonderful name, has replaced the sign that headlined the greatest stars ever with one that reads "Thanks for 48 wonderful years." And the famous curved facade is half gone. In a week — maybe two, construction will start on its replacement.
These old hotels are too small to make the money that the owners need. If its not 3000 rooms, it won’t pencil out. However I agree with Jan’s comment that they are just tooo big. When it takes 15 minutes to walk from the elevator to the Starbucks, and then another 15 to get to your car or a taxi, it is in fact just tooo big.
The place is expensive, too. I remember when you could get a room for $50 bucks in the best hotel in town and the food was cheap and plentiful. I was at Steve Wynn’s billion dollar extravaganza and went in to the "drugstore" to buy a hair brush. (I had left mine in the car and it was in the garage and I would need the brush before morning.) The very helpful clerk handed me the only hair brush for sale in the store. It was in a turn of the century box, and was made in England. It had "original" hog bristles and was of a certain design. The cost $220. I settled for a $2 comb that probably cost less than a cent to make.
This is a town where $100 steaks are not unusual, hotels for under $150 a night are scarce as blackjacks, and $100 bills come out of the ATMs. Not a $20 in sight.
Its early nights for me. The show is huge, fills the three main halls of the convention center ans spills out into the parking lot. We are looking for folks that build and repair garages, and there are a lot of them here. We had to park about a half mile away in a hotel lot. and when we decided we had had it for the day, walked a mile and a half to get to the car. Today its taxi time.
Later
JVH
