Reprinted from the August, 2014
"Vegas Spotlights" column of The Vegas Voice monthly
newspaper.
Saying Goodbye to the
Old
and
Welcoming the New Faces of
Las Vegas
As the years pass, no one could have
expected a town to change its face as much as ours has in the past
decade.
Having been here almost nine
years, I've seen the prosperity of the early and mid-2000s go from feast to
famine as that decade ended and the "teens" began.
I've witnessed tourism drop like a
rock and property values quickly plunge..only to see the vitality of this great
city "rebuild" itself as the years marched on.
But now....could our city be
resurrecting itself once again, this time from the ashes of recession
to optimism for a future even brighter than we experienced a decade
ago?
I believe Las Vegas will soar to
heights none of us every thought possible, because we have one element so few
areas of the country can GUARANTEE each and every resident
or tourist who pays us a visit ....
FUN !
...FUN...not just on a one mile
street, but FUN in so many locations across the city as it grows...and
grows...and grows !
What make me so optimistic about
our future ?
The belief in American capitalism
seeing corporations invest vast sums to "get into the action" of this, the
"Entertainment Capital of the World".
And what better proof?
...watching the face of Las Vegas
landscape "reinvent" itself as these investors pour their millions
(and billions) into our economy.
And it may have started with the
commitment of a former mayor, Oscar Goodman, who,
along with his amusing and smiling photos with a martini in one hand and a
showgirl in the other, brought a sense of "It's gonna to be
OK "...
...if you remember that the one
aspect of life no one ever gets tired of....is HAVING
FUN !
We capitalized on our past with the
opening of the Mob Museum in the downtown area
!
(and if you haven't visited it
yet...you've missed a wonderful and fascinating day looking at this city in the
desert through the dreams of those who built it !)
Mob Museum
What
followed?
CULTURAL
ENLIGHTMENT through the vision of further downtown redevelopment in the
tantalizing....
Smith Center for the Performing
Arts
Reynolds
Hall
(in the Smith
Center)
(where Broadway productions and major stars across the
country and world now long to appear)
and...
the intimate....
Cabaret
Jazz
(also a part of the Smith
Center)
Need further proof? Just examine the
massive changes in our hotels and casino properties !
..and in doing so, we've
combined...
... looking at the future while
respecting the past.
We built City Center which included
the new Cosmopolitan and
Aria Hotels in 2010....
The Cosmopolitan
Hotel
The Aria
Hotel
Yet...though certain landmarks of
the past were preserved as well.....
The "Cromwell", at
Flamingo on the Strip....
The
Cromwell
used to
be...
Bill's Gambling
Hall
and
Before that...
The Barbary
Coast
And...in
Downtown...
The "D Las Vegas
Casino Hotel"....
D Las Vegas Casino
Hotel
used to
be...
Fitzgerald's
The "Downtown
Grand"....
Downtown Grand Hotel and
Casino
used to
be...
The Lady
Luck
In late June, 2014, the LVH Hotel
and Casino was acquired by Westgate Resorts, and already the LVH sign has
been dismantled and renamed....
The
Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino
LVH Hotel and
Casino
Before that....
it used to be...
Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and
Casino
Before that...
it used to be...
.jpeg)
International Hotel and
Casino
At the end of August, 2014....there's
the SLS...
SLS Hotel and
Casino
(which some have said stands for "Sahara's Last
Stand")
used to be....
Sahara
Hotel
On October 30, 2014....there will be
the Linq Hotel...
The Linq
which used to
be....
The Quad
...next to our newest and exciting Las
Vegas attraction, The Linq Project, a new shopping and dining
area...including...
.jpeg)
The High Roller
...with this view of the Las Vegas Strip and
valley.
which used to be...
The Imperial
Palace
And you sports fans haven't been
forgotten in all of this !
In May, 2014 the first shovel broke
ground for the...
MGM/AEG Arena....a 20,000 seat $375 million complex...expected to open in
2016....
.jpeg)
MGM / AEG
Arena
(behind with New York New York Hotel with plans
to attract both a National Hockey League and National Basketball Association
team)
Yes...the face of Las Vegas is
changing.
And all of us are so fortunate to
be an exciting part of watching all of this develop....day in and day out
!
Dick
Arendt
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