They Still Gamble in Vegas...Don't They?

When we last left everywoman heroine, Lily White…she left for Vegas with $8, a debit card, and a credit card to her name. So what happened to the rest of her budget?

Oh…and she really wishes she could show you the pictures…but guess who’s still being difficult…

I Saw a Show:

In the recent past, the words “Vegas Show” always meant a few things: Feathers, sequins, and aging showgirls. While that might be a great piece of retro-entertainment now…you rarely found someone who’d actually WANT to watch a full out Vegas show. Any headliners of note were probably on the downside of their career. If you were playing Vegas…it wasn’t a good thing.

And then the Cirque came to town.

Once Montreal’s alternative circus came in with Msytere -- and actually turned a profit – it was cool to work Vegas again. And boy, did the names come! Nowadays, you can find huge names playing unlimited engagements. Why? Vegas offers stability! (I KNOW! Who would have thought that?) Where else in the world can you play six nights a week and get perks like you can’t believe? No wonder magicians, musicians, comedians, and freak shows a like love working in Sin City.

There’s Celine and her Coliseum (along with Elton who covers for her). Barry Manilow has rebirthed his career for my Aunts and their friends in Vegas. Cirque de Soleil not only has more than three shows running – but some of their best former employees have now created competing shows. Penn and Teller devote themselves to freaking people out with their bloody magical stylings. And even Broadway favorite Phantom of the Opera has settled into a new 90-minute running time and familiar sold out performances.

Comics have also found a new haven…filling up theatres three and four times the biggest clubs they used to work on the rode. Comedic workhorses such as Rita Rudner, George Wallace, Howie Mandell, and even that annoying schmuck Carrot Top pack the houses nightly. Laugh yourself to death at any one of the casino’s show venues and you’ll forget about the money you blew at the craps table.

The only downside is that with the bigger names, came the bigger price tags. The cheapest tickets at the box office easily start at $50 or more per person. So watching a show every single time you visit (for most people) is a real budget breaker. But how can you make things easier?

Turn to vendors who sell tickets for the same night performances. In some cases, you can get up to 50% the regular ticket price using Tix 4 Tonight. Tix 4 Tonight opens up the lines at its four Las Vegas locations at around 10 a.m. There, on the several plasma TV screens, they’ll show you the list of tickets available for shows that night (both the discounted price and the regular price).

I’m not guaranteeing you’ll get tickets to Love or A Brand New Day for some incredibly low price. But if you’re willing to spend time and money…you can find a really good deal. Lenny and I were able to watch Howie Mandell at the MGM Grand for a pretty sweet deal because we passed by a Tix 4 Less booth near our hotel. So, don’t think that a good show is out of your reach…you just have to know where to reach for it!

I Walked Around Las Vegas’ Roots:

The cheapest thrill you can do in Vegas? Walk around and look! If you’re not turning your head every five minutes to see the someone wearing their exotic pet or showing off their cosmetically altered body – you’re checking out the architecture of one of the many replicas that Las Vegas has created (The Doge’s Palace, the Eiffel Tower, Steve Wynn’s ego…).

But why limit yourself to the strip? Lenny and normally do stay there, but this time around we went Downtown. According to some – we went slumming. But to each their own, right?
Anyway…the advantage of staying downtown is being on Fremont Street. In it’s heyday, Fremont WAS a big part of Vegas. It’s now home to what regular’s call “grind joints.” These are casinos that exist purely for gambling at the low end. The only exception to this rule is The Golden Nugget (Which after being purchased by fish restaurateurs Landry’s, is undergoing extensive refurbishment).

Other than the Nugget…everywhere else is pretty much a dive (Okay, Fitzgerald’s is great if you’re learning how to play craps – low limits!). But if you are a history buff, Fremont is worth your time. Why? In an effort to save parts of its history, Las Vegas has taken some of the earliest and most notable artifacts and put them back on display.

Tucked away in a failing shopping complex call Neonopolis, are a dozen or so neon signs from Vegas’ early days as a small, wild town have been refurbished and lit nightly. It’s really kind of cool to see these old signs. I come from a generation where the Circus Circus Clown was the landmark we looked forward to the most when we visited Las Vegas.

But you look at these signs and marvel at the two things. First, just the ingenuity involved in creating these signs in a time where technology probably wasn’t even a word is simply amazing. Second, it just reminds you of a different time. In today’s Las Vegas, you can have anything you want quickly and for a price. Back then…hotels touted the fact that they had STEAM to heat their rooms to get their clientele.

Times have changed…haven’t they?

So there you have it. Lily’s Vegas adventure without gambling. Even after having done it…it seems weird to say “I didn’t come here to gamble.” Will I do it again? Maybe. It just really depends on what kind of things you’re looking to do in Vegas. I am just glad I could prove I can do it!

Hope I spun a different tale of Vegas for all of you this time around!