It is an inescapable fact that this city grows like mad when the mood hits it but it doesn’t really evolve that much. The things that happen here have always happened and likely always will. This unsentimental place will demolish and throw away landmarks with decades of history like yesterday’s sushi with a shrug and a drink order without a second thought but the things that went on in that place will still go on and they always will…

The City is the City is the City

By Royal Hopper 

As you drive down a Sin City byway on your usual way to your usual mortgage paying endeavor you drive by one of the usual dirty corners of the ever changing ever indifferent corners of the ever changing ever indifferent city(I know its a mouth full. I was in a mood).

Only something is different this time. The little corner , the little patch of dirt that is an unfinished drainage ditch from nearby construction is empty of the ner do wells that usually occupy it.
Their chariots of charity that usually hold their scant worldly possessions and they days scavenging booty are empty and lined skletal automobiles made of stainless steel (shopping carts genius) in a dirty homeless parking lot .
It doent take long to figure out why. Parked nearby on the asphalt curb of the adjacent road are two of Las Vegas’ finest in a black and white SUV.
Are these derelict individuals scared of “Metro”? Of course they are and they should be. but the dirty corners emptiness is short lived. The next day the police car is gone and the ner do wells are back. the shopping carts have stuff in them and a man with a sign walks wearily toward the corner wiping the dirt from his hand made poster board paper plaque and preparing for a days work of asking for money. The more things change the more they stay the same…

My first month at the Mirage in 1989 just after the place opened a man won a jackpot at one of the progressive machines took the winnings and ran off with the cocktail waitress leaving his wife in the hotel room. In 2018 security at a strip hotel is called to a room ..a couple was arguing so loudly other guests complained. In the first the offender wore a suit and tie in the second he wore a white tee shirt and dreads… The clothes change the date changes the city doesn’t. The City of Sin is still a bad place for couples with issues to go. The City of Sin is still the City of Sin..

There is a casino in Vegas called The Linq..Modern and upscale as a remodel gets the Linq uswed to be the Quad and before that it was The Imperial Palace a symbol of the crass over the top style of old Vegas. The Imperial had a huge collection of old cars including Bonnie and Clydes bukket ridden automobile. The Linq is a sleek art deco remodel. A slick new skin on an old Vegas gambling house. BUT…. There are still black jack tables in this old time worn Dragon of Sin, regardless of what skin it wears there is still alcohol and cheesy obvious pomotions, and ladies of the evening. People still do things they dont remember and usually regret ….a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose and Vegas is vegas is Vegas….

The City of Sin is a concept as much as a place. It will be how it is regardless of how anyone feels about it. The wrapper may change. The buildings may be bigger and the neon brighter more sophiscated looking corporate suits may replace the gangster pin stripe but it is still the City of Sin and always will be…..
Love You Sinners take care