Seems we’ve been inundated with bad news lately: from 40,000 locals possibly exposed to hepatitis and HIV to ricin showing up at a hotel to an animal clinic burning. Now seems like a fine moment to offer a reminder of some good stuff. Here’s a few things we love about living here.
> No state taxes. ’Tis the season to count this blessing, as well as our tradition of having our cake and eating it, too.
> Cake. Specifically, cupcakes from Vegas’ own Cupcakery.
> Celebrity chefs and, of course, the food they create. Joel Robuchon; Wolfgang; Emeril; Guy Savoy; Mario Batali. Pretty soon, the Food Network will be operating right here. Bon appetit.
> Low utility costs. Okay, so summer doesn’t count, when $200-plus power bills are the norm. But two months of garbage pickup for under $40? A free landfill? And a water/sewer bill of under $90 for last July? As Homer Simpson would utter, “Yeah, I think I can live with that!”
> Reality’s always optional here.
> Telling people we’re from Las Vegas. No, we don’t live in a casino. Yes, it is fun. Yes, half of our friends are strippers.
> Late-night dining at Tiffany’s Café in White Cross Drugs. Greasily delicious food, authentic Downtown atmosphere and a friendly staff of old-timers make this the best restaurant-in-a-drugstore option in town.
> The free 3-D M&M’s movie at M&M’s World on the Strip. It also includes a free tiny package of M&M’s!
> The music scene. Seriously, it’s better than you think. We’ve got damn good local bands like The Clydesdale, A Crowd of Small Adventures, Caravels and Anthems. You can buy tickets at the door for buzzed-about headliners that sell out three-night runs in LA (and most of the time, pay about half the price). Plus, in October, Vegoose!
> The Anthem waterfalls. Until Steve Wynn builds a casino in Henderson, this is the closest thing off-Strip has to an absurd “wow!” factor. True to Vegas form, it draws just a bit too much attention to itself (do there have to be two?), and we do feel guilty enjoying it so much when the Valley is parched, but—a waterfall! In Vegas!
> Southern Nevada Water Authority’s success at getting residential users to conserve. Sure, the SNWA is about to ruthlessly suck water from ranchers upstate, but until then, we’re seeing our neighbors tear out the lawns and put in the rocks and water less. And those commercials!
> High-quality local commercials. This is also Jimmy Kimmel’s favorite thing about our fair city. We still miss the “Go Desert!” commercial sung to the tune of the theme from Ghostbusters, but we’ll be happy enough if John Barr and Glen Lerner continue to shill.
> Foreclosure bus tours.
> We’re always able to find a parking space. Or valet it.
> The promise of CityCenter. A recession/depression looms, but so do a hundred cranes over a monster development right on the Strip. May more foreclosures be avoided and may it turn out to be as amazing and money-churning and Vegas-stimulating as its marketers promise.
> Wholly overused slogans. Our Vegas may be showing in revealing this, but we feel a self-satisfied smirk cross our faces whenever we’re watching a movie or TV show, only to hear the millionth variation on the “What happens here stays here” theme. Yes, it’s nauseating; but we’re (from) Vegas, baby, Vegas!
> Our ability to make any bad Strip story disappear. Remember the driver who plowed into a bunch of Strip-goers? Or the nut job who opened fire on the Strip? Or even the Monte Carlo fire? These are horrib—Hey look! A billboard with boobs on it! Never mind.
> A city history straight out of a Martin Scorsese movie.
> The incredibly beautiful construction of Frank Gehry’s Lou Ruvo Brain Institute Downtown.
> Three Trader Joe’s in town and a whole bunch of new Fresh & Easy supermarkets.
> Fantastic restaurant rows on both ends of the Valley. It’s only been open a few months, but the Sansone Park Place on Eastern Avenue between Silverado Ranch and Serene is already a local hit. It plays host to White Chocolate Grill, Makino, a chili place that has eight (drool!) options, Le Golosita (the best gelato on the planet) and Sweet Water Prime Seafood. Meanwhile, in Summerlin, the more established Boca Park continues to pack its parking lot with top-shelf restaurants Kona Grill and East Side Pizza. Strip malls? Yeah, sadly. But yum.
> Penn Jillette. Between Penn & Teller: Bullshit! and Dancing With the Stars, this may actually be the city’s best recent ambassador. So he dances like Frankenstein, so what? He’s our Frankenstein.
> Chicken-fried lobster at Binion’s.
> Beer footballs.
> Flip-flops in February; shorts in late March.
> The Runnin’ Rebels. Screw Kansas. It was an awesome season.
> Mixed Martial Arts. And its cheerleaders.
> All-you-can-eat sushi, breakfast burritos or pancakes at 1 a.m. on a weeknight, all within a 10-minute drive from anywhere. Nutritionists everywhere shudder—hey, we’re the fattest city in the nation according to Men’s Fitness, might as well enjoy it.
> The most quotable politicians on the planet. Gibbons in the middle of the hepatitis scare—attacks media “buffoonery.” Enough said.
> Purple mountains’ majesty.
Part 1. There’s something comforting about being surrounded by mountains on all sides. It’s like being the last Cheerio in the bowl of milk. When I travel, the mountains are the first thing I notice to be missing from the new landscape. In New York, Miami and D.C., it is the pancake flatness that makes me feel like the sky has been smeared on a little too thick. Every day, the interplay of sun and Vegas mountains delivers infinite permutations of awe: watching the sun rise up over the Strip while heading home from afterhours on the I-15 North. And then, as it sets, noticing how it first lights up the mountains to the east, darkening the sky to a deep bruise-y purple, while to the west, it is reversed, plunging Red Rock and Mt. Charleston into darkness while the clouds take on sherbet colors in the twilight. I know I could probably have any one of these gifts elsewhere and maybe even with a little water thrown in, but to have that powerful, thought-provoking, we’re-all-just-little-Cheerios feeling available to me every day is a guilty pleasure I just can’t fathom trading in for a little thing like the ocean. –Xania Woodman
Part 2. Local writers who use Cheerios metaphors.
> Exploration Park in Mountain’s Edge. A hill! From which to see the Valley! Check it out.
> No more primaries!
> The new, big, fat, extra lanes of U.S. 95 through the Rainbow curve. Worth the wait.
> Plastic cones.
Part 1. Above all on my morning commute, when those construction cones bring the most delight. Funneling all the cars into one lane, their brake lights consonant with the big orange cones.
We crawl—crawl—by all of them, one at a time, so that we can take particular note that these cones are not the rubber sort, but of the plastic variety.
Plastic cones as far as the eye can see.
Awesome.
Part 2. Plastic cones reconsidered.
They are bigger and stronger than a real rack, and are much better suited to endure, into a very old age, the long haul of tugging, pulling, pushing, motor-boating, bank-vaulting and any sort of obsessive idolatrous worship. –Joshua Longobardy
> Our enduring ability to love the unnatural. For example, fake rain. The Desert Passage has become the Miracle Mile, but they kept the awesome fake rain storm.
> The Pinball Hall of Fame. Vintage games from the ’40s to the ’90s, and all playable for a quarter or two.
> Midnight bowling. As long as it’s not cosmic.
> CineVegas. The ever-growing film festival is becoming one of the best in the country, and the crowds prove that Las Vegans will support adventurous, independent filmmaking, as long as a few stars show up to walk the red carpet.
> Tommy Burger’s chili fries.
> Local brew pubs. We may never have our own winery, but Las Vegas is really keeping our bellies satisfied in the suds department. Tenaya Creek, Gordon Biersch, Big Dog’s, Chicago Brewing Company, Barley’s ... we could go on, but we’re getting a bit thirsty.
> We have every shopping option imaginable. Okay, so we still haven’t gotten that Ikea store yet, but who needs Swedish meatballs while they’re shopping for a desk?
> Casa de Shenandoah. It has penguins, and also, Wayne Newton.