Living in Vegas

There's only one house in the Vegas area (actually, it's in Henderson) I'm interested in:

Homer and Marge are moving up, or just out?

It's not a "true" version (besides the color); there should be a window on the second floor above the garage (this is where Maggie's room is). Also, the front appears to be xeriscaped, but as someone who grew up in the Marin County, CA of the mid-1970s, I'm used to that.

Of course, even on the show, there's one small problem; while the chimney is on the left side of the house (as you face the front door from outside), the fireplace is on the right side.

Quote: rxwine

If you see your house here, maybe.

Called the Naked city @ 1:47 I lived about 50' to the left. That was the alley. I moved in with some girl who moved out soon after.

It was a single story a corner apt. I even had a grass yard and "trees", That was in about 1991. I could not even legally gamble.
It was a large fully furnished 1 bedroom, The inside was not that bad. I paid like $325 per month everything included.

It didn't look as desolate as it shows in the video. It was a very busy community. I never had a problem and people were friendly. That lead to a pool and a courtyard where people had BBQs and played chess and other board games.

I walked to work on the strip every night.

Quote: kewlj

Wait a minute. The second picture is your 'unflattering' picture of living in Vegas? Ouch.

It has no personality, no soul, no yard,
no trees, it's a cookie cutter community
for a transient cookie cutter demographic.

My house is over 125 years old and in
the summer you can't see any part of
it from the road. The feeling here is a
world apart from the feeling you get in
Vegas.

Quote: EvenBob

It has no personality, no soul, no yard,
no trees, it's a cookie cutter community
for a transient cookie cutter demographic.

My house is over 125 years old and in
the summer you can't see any part of
it from the road. The feeling here is a
world apart from the feeling you get in
Vegas.

Well, EB enjoy your 125 year old house, with it's "soul and personality". I sincerely mean that. But I am not sure what your point is, nor how it became about YOU. This is a thread about living in VEGAS. With Vegas only being 'officially' 103 years old, I doubt there are many 125 year old homes remaining. Probably a few that have been preserved for historical purposes.

I live in a 4 bedroom home, in a gated community. I also own a second home down the street in this same community. It may what you refer to as a 'cookie cutter' community, but again, what is your point. I am in my early 30's and this is the first house I have owned. (I did previously own a condo). It is NOT my dream house. I wanted a house with a basement. I looked hard. As someone mentioned, they are hard to come by in Vegas. The reason stated is that the ground is too hard....Yet everyone has a swimming pool. lol My backyard is much smaller than I would like. Again, this seems to be a common thing in Vegas. My swimming pool and hot tub, take up most of the back yard, with very little room for anything else. I would love to have trees and grass. It just doesn't work that way in Vegas very often.

Someday, I will have my dream house and I am not even sure what that is yet. Maybe a ranch somewhere in Nevada within and hour or so of Vegas. Who knows. But for now, I am a working, middle class stiff in his early 30's and I am not the least bit embarrassed to live in a middle class gated, 'cookie cutter' community.

Quote: kewlj

As someone mentioned, they are hard to come by in Vegas. The reason stated is that the ground is too hard....Yet everyone has a swimming pool. lol

Interesting point. I'm not a pool guy, but there are a lot of them around. A lot more than basements. I understand the stuff that's supposed to make the ground so hard to dig in (and maybe make it less necessary to put in a foundation) is called caliche, and I'm told that where it is pure enough it is the raw material used to manufacture cement.

I'm impressed by the depth of the Homer scholarship here. I'd never have picked up on the thing about their chimney.

Quote: kewlj

But I am not sure what your point is,.

I thought the point was obvious. The type
of housing they have in Vegas is not designed
so somebody would say 'Oh, lets buy it and
live there for 40 years.' It's designed so people
will say it's good enough for now, we probably
will only be here a few years anyway. And 95%
of the time that's the case.

Quote: DrawingDead

I'm impressed by the depth of the Homer scholarship here.

As long as it's Springfield and not the Iliad.

More donuts.

The first fellow who moved into this house when it was new made his home there for the rest of his life. His name became very well known. He ran a jewelry & gift shop, among other things. With no donuts. Any takers on who that was?



He knew the guy who lived in this one, but that guy eventually left town & moved to Miami:

Quote: DrawingDead

The first fellow who moved into this house when it was new made his home there for the rest of his life. His name became very well known. He ran a jewelry & gift shop, among other things. With no donuts. Any takers on who that was?



He knew the guy who lived in this one, but that guy eventually left town & moved to Miami:

The answers would be The Ant and Lefty.

Quote: EvenBob

It has no personality, no soul, no yard,
no trees, it's a cookie cutter community
for a transient cookie cutter demographic.

My house is over 125 years old and in
the summer you can't see any part of
it from the road. The feeling here is a
world apart from the feeling you get in
Vegas.

The photos in this thread show some nice homes but they are not aesthetically pleasing to me and neither is most of Las Vegas. I would not want to live in a home devoid of natural landscaping nor would I want to live in a home where I could open a window and shake my neighbor's hand.

It's not about right or wrong, it's about personal preference and what one is most comfortable with. That's why they make chocolate and vanilla.

I don't like living in Las Vegas. There's no housing stock that really appeals to me.

I like Ohio. There's a lot of diversity of housing stock here. Also, there's more geographic diversity.

I went back to Ohio.

My city was gone.

Quote:

I went back to Ohio.

My city was gone.

I moved from NJ to Portland in part because of what I'd heard about Portland Women .

Funny, sometimes life does indeed imitate art.

But Las Vegas?

Too hot!

Quote: DrawingDead

Which is unusual compared to a lot of other areas where they have this peculiar and really disturbing phenomenon that involves frozen water falling out of the sky half the year,

Closer to one third of the year, if not one quarter. But, sure, I get the need for slanted roofs in some places. Mostly I've seen houses in Nevada, Florida, Texas and California. Most of these have slanted roofs with tiles and, as far as I know, very little frozen water at all ;)

Quote:

Another difference in Las Vegas from most of the country is that most houses and many other buildings are on flat concrete slabs without a basement or a crawl space. It is expensive to try to dig big holes in the hard desert soil.

In Mexico most houses are brick and mortar and steel. Basements and attics are rare and rather eccentric. Houses stand shoulder to shoulder, often leaving only a space about as wide to slip a sheet of paper through between walls of contiguous houses. They all have walls one story tall encircling the back yard, and some sort of one story tall wall or gate to close off the front yard from the outside world. Garages are rare and carports common. Roofs tend to be flat, untiled, and used largely for setting up laundry lines.

Quote: MrV

But Las Vegas? Too hot!

I always found an excuse to spend the summers in Lake Tahoe.

Quote: MrV

But Las Vegas?

Too hot!

Now in my 5th year, I don't know if I am getting used to the Vegas summers or what, but this summer was very tolerable. The best since I have been here (probably helps having a pool right outside the door). The worse period was about a week in early mid June with a few 110 degree days. Other than that it has been at or below 105 all summer. 105 sounds hot, but it is tolerable. Equivalent to 88-90 in other more humid places. It's when you get a string of days 112-115 that is bad, and we just haven't had that. As a matter of fact we had a number of days in the 90's and a few days in the 80's in August. That just hasn't happened during my tenure.

The best part about the cooler temps this summer is that it also means cooler low temps. Instead of overnight temperatures in the mid to upper 80's (or 90's during real hot days), the over night lows have been dropping back to the 70's. That makes such a huge difference. It means there is a much more tolerable period every morning to get up and out and get things done.

Quote: Greasyjohn

The answers would be The Ant and Lefty.

Mr. John wins the stuffed giraffe! And I thought posting those nondescript pics might be too obscure. Silly me.

The aesthetics of a lot of the newest housing stock and overall suburban feel doesn't really fit my taste either, but an awful lot of others do like it and it seems to be what's preferred in a lot more places than Las Vegas. By contrast, there has been some development of loft style housing in some older buildings in an area near downtown, but I think the supply of buildings & the number of areas that naturally lend themselves to that and the local demand for it is pretty limited. If you go around different parts of the Las Vegas valley (which many area residents never do) you can see the figurative high-water marks of many different distinct development floods from one part to the next. The most recent such flood being when California moved in, after selling their run-down LA tool shed in 2006 for about $1,000,000, and then setting out to demand that their new place become more like the one they just escaped from.

This part of the country does, however, graciously tolerate my life-long ambition to never, ever, own a lawn mower.

I was in Portland for 25 years, and liked living there for about 23 & a half of them. Until one day I discovered that it no longer existed, having been kidnapped and replaced suddenly in the dead of night by a nomadic tribe of soul-less but quite pretentious progressokiddies comprised of un-parented and over-privileged zombies from Boston, Connecticut, The News (both York & Jersey), and whatnot, for whom things like a hundred and twenty year-old longshoreman's bar had suddenly been gutted and stuffed with symbolic port-themed do-dads to make a post modern self-consciously artsy statement of "authenticity" to please the aesthetic sensibilities and Port-sy fantasy notions of the conquering tribe, and my 19th century urban neighborhood had gone into a coma apparently induced by a lethal dose of something called "chai-tea." The cable TV series "Portlandia" is not a joke, it is a rigorously scholarly anthropological documentary of a culture, in every detail. But I think the outer shell of the buildings of what used to be Portland back in the twentieth century is fine. And it wouldn't be a good idea to make the roofs there flat, even if the water coming out of the sky there isn't often frozen.

The housing stock in Mexico sounds like what I'm familiar with from spending a lot of time in the Philippines (a place that's an adopted second home to me) which makes some sense if you think about it. Weird obscure trivia: the capital of the Philippines was once Acapulco.

Quote: DrawingDead

This part of the country does, however, graciously tolerate my life-long ambition to never, ever, own a lawn mower.

I agree completely. I made a vow to myself in 1995 that I would never shovel snow or mow a lawn again in my life. I gave my lawnmower to a friend and haven't used one in 19 years. Unlike most people in Las Vegas, I actually have a fair sized yard with grass. I have no problem paying my lawn service $100 a month to do all the work and the bonus is that they also pick up the dog crap.

Quote: kewlj

Now in my 5th year, I don't know if I am getting used to the Vegas summers or what, but this summer was very tolerable. The best since I have been here (probably helps having a pool right outside the door). The worse period was about a week in early mid June with a few 110 degree days. Other than that it has been at or below 105 all summer. 105 sounds hot, but it is tolerable. Equivalent to 88-90 in other more humid places. It's when you get a string of days 112-115 that is bad, and we just haven't had that. As a matter of fact we had a number of days in the 90's and a few days in the 80's in August. That just hasn't happened during my tenure.

The best part about the cooler temps this summer is that it also means cooler low temps. Instead of overnight temperatures in the mid to upper 80's (or 90's during real hot days), the over night lows have been dropping back to the 70's. That makes such a huge difference. It means there is a much more tolerable period every morning to get up and out and get things done.

I think it was at about the 3rd year for me when this right now became my comfort zone, and has remained so ever since.

For me summer is now the time I must remember to always keep a light jacket in the car with me, in order to survive the super industrial strength air-conditioning inside casinos that is cranked to the red-line of "meat-locker" setting. I believe there is a conspiracy of silence about the carnage of summertime casino customers perishing from frostbite and falling icicles. But it is amusing to watch the poor suffering tourists who packed nothing but shorts and sandals, and it makes it real easy to identify the locals at a casino poker table: they are the ones with jackets in August who are not shivering, turning blue, and going into hypothermia.

Quote: DRich

I agree completely. I made a vow to myself in 1995 that I would never shovel snow or mow a lawn again in my life. I gave my lawnmower to a friend and haven't used one in 19 years. Unlike most people in Las Vegas, I actually have a fair sized yard with grass. I have no problem paying my lawn service $100 a month to do all the work and the bonus is that they also pick up the dog crap.

Lived in a house in Maryland 30 long years taking care of the big yard and shoveling snow.
Moved to Tampa 10 years ago and vowed no snow of course but no yard work as well. I am done with mowing a lawn.
Bought a townhouse in a neighborhood where all outdoor lawn work handled by whoever the homeowners assoc hires.
Love it.
Now considering moving to Vegas.
I moved to Tampa for my job, back then just a few worked from home.
Today we have 1/2 the workforce working from home.
I see a trend, probabbly 100 per cent soon which means I can work from anywhere in the country.
I really like FL though, tough decision.

Quote: MrV

I moved from NJ to Portland in part because of what I'd heard about Portland Women .

Funny, sometimes life does indeed imitate art.

But Las Vegas?

Too hot!

Have you ever eaten at Dan and Louie's oyster bar? I wonder if it still exists.

Also I used to frequent Jakes famous crawfish.

One more bit of info you probably don't need is I worked on the original bart [I think it's called] thru down town. I think some block there was all brick and forgive the slang but while we worked there we called it the "pussy bowl", pretty incredible, it was almost like some competition for the ladies to see who could wear the least to work.

My best Homer impersonation, AHHHHH,

Quote: petroglyph

...on the original bart [I think it's called] thru down town...

I believe you're thinking of the "MAX" (cutesy name for Metropolitan Area Express). The "BART" (for Bay Area Rapid Transit) is what they called the same kind of rail transit lines in San Francisco. Easy to mix them, seems like Max & Bart look and act like close relatives.

Oregon and Washington are beautiful states. Columbus river is a great escape. Few casinos. Great place to raise family. Being born and living in big city, it will probably be difficult to adjust to a quite life style and might feel like an exile.

I don't like places where I feel 'put upon',
and I always feel that way in Vegas. The
heat or the traffic or the long walks to the
casino floor or the tourists.. And now it's the
bums with the signs downtown. I saw a guy
with a sign here last week and did a triple take,
haven't seen one in 10 years.

Vegas always feels like an ordeal to me now,
and that's what I call it to myself when I'm
there. The Ordeal. Just get through it and
it'll be over eventually. For me, living there
would be hell because I know what it's like
to live places that aren't hell.

Quote: DrawingDead

Quote: petroglyph

...on the original bart [I think it's called] thru down town...

I believe you're thinking of the "MAX" (cutesy name for Metropolitan Area Express). The "BART" (for Bay Area Rapid Transit) is what they called the same kind of rail transit lines in San Francisco. Easy to mix them, seems like Max & Bart look and act like close relatives.

Pardon me for being pedantic, but MAX is "light rail" whereas BART is a "high-speed" ("heavy rail") subway system. The San Francisco equivalent of MAX is MUNI Metro.

Quote: ThatDonGuy

Quote: DrawingDead

Quote: petroglyph

...on the original bart [I think it's called] thru down town...

I believe you're thinking of the "MAX" (cutesy name for Metropolitan Area Express). The "BART" (for Bay Area Rapid Transit) is what they called the same kind of rail transit lines in San Francisco. Easy to mix them, seems like Max & Bart look and act like close relatives.

Pardon me for being pedantic, but MAX is "light rail" whereas BART is a "high-speed" ("heavy rail") subway system. The San Francisco equivalent of MAX is MUNI Metro.

I actually appreciate the "pedant". The last time I was there I believe was around '89? I remember they were trying to come up with a name for it. The light rail versus heavy rail to me is strangely interesting. Yes it was light rail. My contribution was the catenary system above.

I stand corrected then. Didn't know they weren't all called "BART" in San Francisco. No doubt from having seen the system getting built in Portland & been on them that the Portland area "MAX" transit lines are light rail & definitely not heavy rail, and they look a lot like what I see Phoenix has been putting in more recently as local rail transit, to a casual observer.

And in a lame attempt to relate it to the main thread topic, what Las Vegas has (the monorail) is short, not actually in Las Vegas at all, doesn't seem to resemble any of those in form or function, and I haven't yet found a single person who considers using it as practical everyday regular transportation. It probably works for some visitors in Strip hotels. There are buses, but Las Vegas is not a place I'd recommend for folks who don't want to use a car to get around town.

I'm interested in apts in the Henderson zip codes 89012, 89014, & 89052. I haven't visited the apts in 89052, but plan to next spring. These are the apts I plan to visit in 89052 & invite anyone's opinion on any of them:

The Summit at Sunridge
Horizon Pines (maybe too expensive)
Camden Legends
Sunset Hills
Bella Terra Apts.
Pacific Islands in Green Valley (not in 89052)
ReVentana Canyon Apts.

Here are apts. I've visited in the 89012 & 89014 zip codes, & invite any opinions on any of these:

Adobe Ranch
Sunset Winds
Horizon Ridge (this could be in 89052)
Arroyo Grande (89052?)
Galleria Palms
Camden Fairways

One or two of these may not be in any of the zip codes I mentioned.

I'd also appreciate any opinions/knowledge of crime rates in these zips. I'm currently researching this, but if any of you know off the top of your head re: crime rates, I'd like to know your assessment. I am aware of a murder on S. Stephanie near Gibson & am shy of that area.

Those areas are reasonably nice and relatively safe. I wouldn't hesitate living in those areas. Actually, I did live in an apartment in 89014 about 20 years ago. One of my offices is also in 89014.

Quote: Sonny44

on S. Stephanie near Gibson & am shy of that area.

I'm a little confused. Stephanie and Gibson both run north-south, mostly parallel about a half-mile to a mile apart, and I'm not aware of any place where they'd intersect. Maybe you're thinking of some area between them, perhaps around Galleria Dr or Sunset Rd? If so, that'd be the location of the biggest regional shopping center in Nevada, and a sizable casino property at Sunset Station. That is simply a busy high traffic area with a lot of people doing what they do in those kinds of busy public spaces, and for that reason alone, nothing to do with relative safety, I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least one instance of some Bubba getting mad and offing his Betty-Sue. But I'm just guessing on where along both Stephanie & Gibson you might be looking.

Quote: EvenBob

I don't like places where I feel 'put upon',
and I always feel that way in Vegas. The
heat or the traffic or the long walks to the
casino floor or the tourists.. And now it's the
bums with the signs downtown. I saw a guy
with a sign here last week and did a triple take,
haven't seen one in 10 years.

Vegas always feels like an ordeal to me now,
and that's what I call it to myself when I'm
there. The Ordeal. Just get through it and
it'll be over eventually. For me, living there
would be hell because I know what it's like
to live places that aren't hell.

Maybe it's because I moved here from Los Angeles, but one thing I love about Vegas is the absence of most of these things. Traffic? Maybe if you go to the MGM on a holiday. I can easily go a month without spending one second in traffic. For a long time, I felt giddily liberated driving around town. Like, if you need to change lanes or something, you look and all you see is empty space.

Walking the casinos can be a bit of a pain, but I can use some extra walking. Now I park on the top floor of the parking garages, so I get a nice view. Then take the stairs, then walk to the game. A nice little "free" 15 minute walk. And the people watching is unparalleled.

Overall, I'm not sure of any city that has a better hassle to amenities ratio. From great Mexican joints to elite restaurants, I can hit them all with a cost in time and stress that's less than driving to the nearest grocery store in LA, NY or CHI. Plus, I have options 24/7. I guess you could live somewhere else and it would be marginally easier to get around, but you'd be driving to Applebees.

The homelessness bothers me, but not as an annoyance.

Quote: DrawingDead

I'm a little confused. Stephanie and Gibson both run north-south, mostly parallel about a half-mile to a mile apart, and I'm not aware of any place where they'd intersect. Maybe you're thinking of some area between them, perhaps around Galleria Dr or Sunset Rd? If so, that'd be the location of the biggest regional shopping center in Nevada, and a sizable casino property at Sunset Station. That is simply a busy high traffic area with a lot of people doing what they do in those kinds of busy public spaces, and for that reason alone, nothing to do with relative safety, I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least one instance of some Bubba getting mad and offing his Betty-Sue. But I'm just guessing on where along both Stephanie & Gibson you might be looking.

Sorry about that. It's the area between S. Stephanie and S. Gibson, south of 215 & north of W. Horizon Ridge Parkway. I'm thinking the further from freeways & the Boulder Hwy, the better. Most crime occurs along those corridors, altho along 215 in Henderson doesn't seem bad. As I say, I'm still researching. I won't have anything to do w/ anything east of 515 thru Henderson, either. The areas I'm considering seem pretty safe.

Quote: Rigondeaux

Maybe it's because I moved here from Los Angeles, but one thing I love about Vegas is the absence of most of these things. Traffic? Maybe if you go to the MGM on a holiday. I can easily go a month without spending one second in traffic. For a long time, I felt giddily liberated driving around town. Like, if you need to change lanes or something, you look and all you see is empty space.

Walking the casinos can be a bit of a pain, but I can use some extra walking. Now I park on the top floor of the parking garages, so I get a nice view. Then take the stairs, then walk to the game. A nice little "free" 15 minute walk. And the people watching is unparalleled.

Overall, I'm not sure of any city that has a better hassle to amenities ratio. From great Mexican joints to elite restaurants, I can hit them all with a cost in time and stress that's less than driving to the nearest grocery store in LA, NY or CHI. Plus, I have options 24/7. I guess you could live somewhere else and it would be marginally easier to get around, but you'd be driving to Applebees.

The homelessness bothers me, but not as an annoyance.

Great post Rigondeaux!

@ Bob, have you considered a scooter? You could get one with a horn and be up everybody's ass.

edit, rig one up with a laptop and you could post continuously as well, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination

Quote: Sonny44

It's the area between S. Stephanie and S. Gibson, south of 215 & north of W. Horizon Ridge Parkway.

I don't know what's up with that. I'd have guessed it'd be pretty sleepy. But I did just glance at a map and see a fun challenge there for some realtor's marketing strategy charmingly named "Robbers Roost Avenue."

Quote: Rigondeaux

Maybe it's because I moved here from Los Angeles,.

Maybe? I hate LA worse than any other
city. I lived in SoCal for 7 years and dreaded
the few times I was forced to visit LA.

Quote: Rigondeaux

Maybe it's because I moved here from Los Angeles, but one thing I love about Vegas is the absence of most of these things. Traffic? Maybe if you go to the MGM on a holiday.

Coming from another traffic hellhole, Mexico City, I can understand this. Indeed traffic's rather light in Vegas, but not entirely absent. The Strip does get busy from time to time. When there's construction on the Strip, it gets backed up pretty bad.

Then, too, moving around using public transportation the equivalent to traffic is boarding. The SDX is pretty good, but the Deuce can take a long, long time to accomplish boarding at the more popular stops. Often it's best to let a waiting Deuce go and wait for the SDX.

Quote:

Overall, I'm not sure of any city that has a better hassle to amenities ratio.

Interesting unit of measure.

Quote: EvenBob

Maybe? I hate LA worse than any other city.

Condemning the whole town?

Los Angeles? I knew one woman lived in one of the Beach Cities and had a legal secretarial job two doors from her home. No need for a car. There wasn't a beach, gym or jazz place she would want to go to that she couldn't walk there in ten minutes. I knew one elderly landlady who never wanted troublesome tenants so she never put her empty apartments on the market. It was always friends of current tenants who moved in and the whole complex was a weekend BBQ and Pool Party full of actors and wannabe actors. Need entertainment? A trip to Santa Monica to visit some wharf rats was fun or else go up to Malibu and hear a girl cuss out some guy trying to pick her up while he is riding a rice burner instead of a Harley. Or go further up the coast to Santa Barbara where young ladies come out of expensive salons coiffed and dressed to the nines but discussing how they used to ride rice burners but now favor Harleys and wine bars.

Seattle? Some hippie once asked me how to get to the bus station. He had been in town for three days and it hadn't stopped raining. Three whole days? Wow. What did he expect? I'd drive to quaint coffee shops with exotic menus, The Herb Farm, used book stores, chess games, an antique store and snack bar staffed by actresses and artists, poetry stuff with ladies in slinky black outfits, juice bars with weird concoctions. If I needed a computer ... three doors down I could go visit my cats, turn on the woman's computer. Who needed to actually buy one? I don't think I ever really noticed the rain.

Tucson? Now there is a town in which I noticed the rain. Three days I was there and it was utter monsoon. I left. A classmate of mine had lived in Tucson for a few years. He loved it. Anyone knew how to drive a truck could make a good living taking a quick load to Chicago and coming back buying drinks for everyone. Every apartment complex, even in the slums, had a swimming pool. And he said he has never found anyplace as teeming with compliant teen age girls as Tucson.

Most people define an entire city by a few things they've seen on TV. Seattle is about as rainy as Philadelphia. Sure Los Angeles has freeways, but it has more than that. Some say Las Vegas is Los Angeles Street Gangs and Casinos. Maybe they are right. I've not experienced the street gangs though.

Sure there are druggie areas and some really dangerous streets. A straight man can't walk on Charles Street in Boston without two females as an escort to protect him from the onslaught of the gays. A few streets in the Mission District of San Francisco were tough, but I tell you the cold air off the Bay is the toughest thing ever. Rickshaw Cafe in Chinatown. No danger. Chinatown in San Francisco has everything, even a Kosher restaurant!

Generalizations about cities? I don't really think they are likely to be valid.

Quote: FleaStiff

Condemning the whole town?.

LA is mostly an armpit. There is no 'downtown',
it's just strip mall after strip mall and complex
after complex. Traffic is beyond god awful, it's
so horrible you almost have to laugh at it
hysterically. Whatever LA has going for it is
far outweighed by its pitfalls.

Quote: EvenBob

LA is mostly an armpit. There is no 'downtown',
it's just strip mall after strip mall and complex
after complex. Traffic is beyond god awful, it's
so horrible you almost have to laugh at it
hysterically. Whatever LA has going for it is
far outweighed by its awful scenery and inconveniences.

Quote: EvenBob

LA is mostly an armpit. There is no 'downtown',
it's just strip mall after strip mall and complex
after complex. Traffic is beyond god awful, it's
so horrible you almost have to laugh at it
hysterically. Whatever LA has going for it is
far outweighed by its pitfalls.

I've been to a ton of cities following the Grateful Dead.
I liked LA, alot to do before and after a show.
Most boring city to travel to to see the Dead, Atlanta.
Very boring town. I remember a Sunday nite after a show, asked some locals for a good place to go.
They looked at me weird, its Sunday nite in the South, nothing going on. The town is closed.

Quote: EvenBob

LA is mostly an armpit. There is no 'downtown',
it's just strip mall after strip mall and complex
after complex. Traffic is beyond god awful, it's
so horrible you almost have to laugh at it
hysterically. Whatever LA has going for it is
far outweighed by its pitfalls.

I hate this.
I dread that.
LA is an armpit.
Revel won't re-open.
I won't stand in line.
Vegas is a horrible place.

Bob, when is the last time you had a positive or pleasant thought?

You must be a real joy to live with. Lol.

Quote: kewlj

I hate this.
Bob, when is the last time you had a positive or pleasant thought?

I'm right 95% of the time, my wife hates
it. Dreads it, I should say.

I gave LA a chance, it let me down every
single time. No more. I like Chicago more
than LA, and I really loathe Chicago.

I love Deadwood, SD. And Mackinaw Island.
And San Francisco. And Mill Valley, CA.

Quote: terapined

They looked at me weird, its Sunday nite in the South, nothing going on. The town is closed.

Some places are like that. Even resorts turn things down on Saturday night so there is no merriment on the Sabath.

Once I was hitchhiking out of Indianappolis and after three days my pilot asked me how I liked "Mingles", a singles bar of note. I was recounting it when I suddenly realized he had not been there and I asked how he knew I was. His response was simple. No other bar for a young single man in this entire town! He knew I'd find it.

Quote: EvenBob

I love Deadwood, SD. And Mackinaw Island.
And San Francisco. And Mill Valley, CA.

There ya go! There is some positive feedback. I'd like to hear more from THIS guy and less from the hate/loathe/dread guy. :)

The only time I went to San Francisco, I hitched down the Pacific coast, and wound up spending christmas eve at the YMCA in Berkeley (broke).

Christmas morning, I took BART to downtown SF, and got off at the main station (Market Street?).

I walked up the steps and while taking my first look at SF a group of people came up singing christmas carols.

Before I could blow them off a woman who'd been passing by came up to me and said "Watch out, they're Moonies!"

So, WTF I told myself, let's play with these guys.

I let the Moonies pick me up and try to convince me to join their cult.

Very persistent, very weird; i was very happy to get away from them later that evening; they tried to force me to go to their farm, presumably for programming.

Bunch of clueless, desperate idiots.

Reminds me of a client whose wife left him to go live at Rajneesperam.

Pissed him off to pay her alimony so she could bang the bagwan.

Quote: MrV

The only time I went to San Francisco, I hitched down the Pacific coast, and wound up spending christmas eve at the YMCA in Berkeley (broke).

Christmas morning, I took BART to downtown SF, and got off at the main station (Market Street?).

I walked up the steps and while taking my first look at SF a group of people came up singing christmas carols.

Before I could blow them off a woman who'd been passing by came up to me and said "Watch out, they're Moonies!"

So, WTF I told myself, let's play with these guys.

I let the Moonies pick me up and try to convince me to join their cult.

Very persistent, very weird; i was very happy to get away from them later that evening; they tried to force me to go to their farm, presumably for programming.

Bunch of clueless, desperate idiots.

Reminds me of a client whose wife left him to go live at Rajneesperam.

Pissed him off to pay her alimony so she could bang the bagwan.

I remember the bagwan [wasn't his helper Sheila?], that guy really really got some strange. He also had what 19 Rolls Royce's and them morons [yep] would still go out and panhandle to bring him more money. Sad

There are a bunch of Moonies on Kodiak, they own a big canery there. They do a lot of things that really irritate the rest of the locals, tax free.

How bout that cult in Oregon where the guys all castrated themselves waiting for the spaceship behind Hailbot to pick them up so they took cianide. Sheesh where does a person find useful idiots when you need 'em?

Quote: kewlj

There ya go! There is some positive feedback. I'd like to hear more from THIS guy and less from the hate/loathe/dread guy. :)

I agree, I've been wondering the same thing for a while now.

I'm glad you have a happy place, Bob.

Quote: MrV

Bunch of clueless, desperate idiots.

.

So clueless they now own dozens of companies
around the world that make planes, cars, boats,
they have fish factories, heavy equipment factories,
they own TV stations and newspapers (like the
Washington Times) and even own United Press
International. Not bad for idiots.

Quote: FleaStiff

Some say Las Vegas is Los Angeles Street Gangs and Casinos. Maybe they are right. I've not experienced the street gangs though.

I think most people in the Las Vegas valley, especially those who came in the last couple of growth & development waves within the last dozen or so years, would have a hard time finding some of them if they tried. Does the chip collector thread have one from the very old neighborhood institution called the Town Tavern Casino at Jackson Ave & F Street? If so, I'll be really impressed. There are some longtime good friends who do live in the really old neighborhoods ("West Las Vegas" which isn't actually very west & "Northtown" which isn't really very north now) that I think rightly have the most well deserved reputation for having to cope with that awful stupid crap. But they are there because they choose to remain in the homes that have been part of their family for three generations and counting.

I think that's a funny thing about that, is some of the oldest and arguably toughest parts of town with more than their share of trouble from some feral numbskulls on the streets are also the most stable in a peculiar way. Folks have lived there since it was mostly a railroad town, and never left. In some cases really never, since I've met some folks in those 'hoods who really have never been to the Strip in their lives, don't know how they'd get there, don't even go downtown, say they have no interest in doing so, rarely have any reason to leave the familiar neighborhood at all, and are as oblivious to the vast suburban rings around them as their smaller but well defined pieces of the town are to the suburban folk. The older neighborhoods I have in mind have some actual physical barriers of separation along some sides of them. Everybody there knows who is who and what they are up to and chapter & verse of what their grandma did back in the day and is immediately aware of someone visiting who isn't part of it. It is a legacy of early in the last century when it was intentionally defined as the "other (wrong) side of the tracks" in the old railroad town until all the explosive growth leapfrogged over them.

There are also some newer & more transient areas with similar issues on the streets, and it is more plausible for someone to wander into them without knowing what was up, but the older ones are more significant to me, and larger than those transient 1960's & 70's era little apartment ghettos that are mostly near the Strip. People can whiz through those not so old smaller ones in their cars pretty quickly on their way home without necessarily being aware of the street life going on.