Ruined Vegas

     Vegas used to be the place to go.  It used to be hot, it used to be fun, it used to be fantastic!  Now, it's been ruined.  People can ruin anything.  A lot of people will tell you Vegas was ruined when the corporations took over.  It wasn't ruined by the corporations, it was ruined by the tourists!  Let's take a look, shall we?

Here's the Dunes hotel.  Don't look for it, it's long gone.  They blew it up.  This was always my all time favorite sign here, and those stupid idiots blew it up!  The Dunes was old Vegas.  From back in the day when lounge shows here were actually pretty good.  The Sands drew in some people, too.  They had one of the hottest shows going!

Oh yeah, Frank Sinatra and the gang!  Pack, Rat pack, crowd, whatever.  See how they all wear suits?  Even Sammy Davis Jr. is wearing a suit.  It looks like it was made from some velvet curtians he found somewhere, but it's still a suit!  Back then if you weren't dressed nicely, they threw you out of the casino.  Now all you need to wear is some torn shorts, and flip flops.  If you went to see this show, it was an event!  People came from all over to see these guys!  I was never a huge Sinatra fan, but if I could I wouldn't mind going back in time to see their show.  It was supposedly spectacular!

     Now Vegas has shows like "O."  I guess the show title is short for "Oh geez, why did I spend all my money to see this crap?"  Who the hell makes a show called O?  Did all the other letters before O have a show too, and failed?  Maybe I'll want to see it when they get to X.

You had to be dressed up to be in the casino back then.  Here's good ol' Frank dealing some bacarat.  You'll notice everyone is in a suit.  Yes, I'm sure this was all posed for the photo, but does that matter?  No, it doesn't matter, quit picking apart my pictures!  I worked hard to find it!  (Actually, I didn't work hard, I just typed "Sinatra casino" into a search engine and there it was.)

You don't have to dress up to come here anymore.  Sadly, you don't even have to behave now.  People come here now and drink, pass out, and get robbed by hookers.  Actually not all of them get robbed by the hookers, some people walk away from a slot machine leaving their credits in it, and then lose their money that way.  Or they leave their wallet on a slot bank, or they drink until they can barely walk, steal a "Wet floor" cone and then pass out on the sidewalk.  Don't believe that last one ?  Well, here you go:

Weddings here used to be exciting!  Elvis was married at a chapel here!  You could come here and elope.  It was romantic, and sexy, and just so fantastically exciting!  Now idiots come here, get drunk, and then want to get married.  Note that he's so drunk, he needs a straw in the beer bottle to help him continue drinking!  Is this a wedding you want to attend?  And afterwards, they'll probably be looking for yellow cones to steal!  (Yes, this is a picture from a movie.  That doesn't mean people don't come here and really act like this!)

The restaurants used to serve steak and lobster for $4.99!  There used to be places that had steak and eggs for $0.99!  What the hell happened?  Now you're lucky to find a cup of coffee here for $5!  They overcharge for the food, and then serve you crap!  Now people come here to try and eat a six pound burrito in an hour and a half!  (Yes, this is an actual challenge you can undertake at the Sahara hotel.)  What the hell?  I want to take an hour and a half to eat a $0.99 breakfast and play some keno, not shove six pounds of Mexican crap down my throat!  And doesn't this gent look handsome while he's trying to eat?  How classy.

Can you hear "Viva Las Vegas" playing on his Ipod?  How classy to wolf down that huge mess with some wires in your ears!  What a pleasure it is to see people like this!

I guess this is where my blog ends today.  I can remember after moving here going downtown to play blackjack.  Now if you go downtown you risk getting mugged.  Even on the strip you could find a $5 minimum blackjack table to play on.  Now you're lucky if you can find one with a $15 minimum.  Money's getting tight, and they want $20 to eat at a buffet.  What happened?  Stupid greedy people!  Most people don't dress up here anymore.  The food costs too much.  The shows suck.  Welcome to Las Vegas 2010.  And they wonder why visitation is down.