Vegas, Baby

Wendall -- every other Thursday

I got married in Vegas.

 

Goofing around on my wedding day.

 

It’s one of the few decisions I’ve made in my life that I have never regretted for one instant. 

 

In Caesar's Palace the day before our wedding.

I actually hit a jackpot on the night before our wedding.

The scene of the crime.

 

James and I joined the ranks of Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Michael Jordan, “Bennifer” and many others in tying the knot in The Little White Wedding Chapel on the “downtown” end of the strip. Here’s the link if you’d like to take a look. https://www.alittlewhitechapel.com/page/famous-couples

 

One of our "professional" photos

We were married in the tiniest chapel (not the drive through!) by the Reverend Roy, with the receptionist as our other witness. When James went to kiss me at the end of the ceremony, he accidentally knocked a column over and the whole backdrop went down. It was perfect. 

 

A series of “professional” photos came with our $200 wedding package.

 

 

That column is about to go down.

 

Sunglasses are a must for a Vegas wedding.

Almost twenty-one years later, as my (same!) husband and I watched a documentary on the history of Sin City, I thought about what the city has meant to me over the years and why I’m not sure I want to go back.

 

The dearly departed Stardust, my old writing haunt.

 

When I first moved to Los Angeles in 1986, it took a while for me to make my way to Las Vegas. I had heard about the cheap hotel rooms and buffets, so when I needed to hide in a hotel room to finish my first script, I headed out in my 1965 Ford Galaxie 500, found a room at the Stardust for $19.99/night and settled in.

 

I would get up, work over a huge, cheap breakfast and hole up writing in my room until dusk. Vegas hotel rooms are incredibly quiet during the day. Then I would have a $3.99 prime rib buffet, take a drink to the slots, give myself $20 to lose, then head back up to write for another hour or so, watch cable—which I didn’t have at home—sleep, and start over. When I was stuck, I would walk the strip.

 

When Vegas tried to pull in gamblers with cheap buffets and free drinks.

 

In those late days of the 80s, some of the classic casinos had disappeared, but the Stardust, the Sahara, the Tropicana, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Maxim’s, the Riviera, Excalibur, the Thunderbird, Bally’s, etc. were still around, along with Caesar’s Palace. 

 

Excalibur, astonishingly still around.

 

During the early 90s, a whole new wave of themed casinos opened, as Steve Wynn and others blew up many of the older properties and added Treasure Island, the Luxor, the Stratosphere, the Monte Carlo and in the late 90s, New York-New York, the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, the Venetian, and Paris.

 

Courtyard at the Bellagio.

 

James's "hand eyelashes" in Caesar's.

 

The lobby of the Venetian.

The Venetian outside.

So the strip was an interesting mix of old and new by the time we got married. By then, the Stardust was gone, so we settled on the Sahara as our go-to hotel, with room deals as low as $25, free parking, and a fabulous history. 

 

The entrance to the old Sahara.

 

The free parking garage.

 

Heading in from the pool.

It originally opened in 1952 and, over the years, hosted performances by Sammy Davis, Jr., Liberace, Marlene Dietrich, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Cher, Tina Turner, and hosts of other others. Comedian Don Rickles started his career there and performed frequently.

 

It was at the far end of the strip, but we loved to walk, so that was no problem. 

 

Always loved the oversized feel of Vegas. See below as well.

 

We spent our wedding night at the Sahara and went several times a year from 2002 until the hotel closed in 2011. We always, always had fun. Although the property was sold and has been remade three times since, we can’t bear to go back, as it’s unrecognizable.

 

The Mirage before demolition.

 

They blew up the Tropicana not long ago and now the Mirage is just a large hole in the ground. There are no more cheap buffets, no free parking, and not many places for couples on a budget to hit the strip. However, the last time we went, we did visit some of our old favorites in the Neon boneyard, adjacent to downtown. 

 

You can still see the Stardust sign in the Neon Museum.

 

Sob.

So many casinos gone.

We all have to accept change, every day, but there are some experiences that need to be protected, intact.

 

So Vegas is somewhere we’ve decided, for the moment, to keep in our very happy memories, rather than in our itinerary.

 

--Wendall

A must-see place

Stanley – Thursday

Miss Denmark had never seen the Grand Canyon, so when she was in Minneapolis last month, I jumped at the chance to take her there. I have to admit to being a little devious about it all because I wasn’t particularly interested in seeing it again. I had my eyes on a bigger prize – one of the five places on the planet that everyone should visit.

Certainly, the Grand Canyon is grand, but it is really just an enormous hole in the ground – beautiful and awe-inspiring certainly – but still a hole in the ground. And there are others that are bigger and deeper, such as the Yarlung Tsangpo in China, which is three-times deeper and longer; and the Colca Canyon in Peru, which is twice as deep, but shorter. Other canyons are grand too, such as the Copper Canyon in Mexico and the Fish River Canyon in my southern hemisphere neck of the woods.

Yarlung Tsangpo

Colca Canyon

I have a list of five places that I think everyone should visit – not necessarily because they are beautiful, but rather because they are extraordinary in their own way. They are the Okavango Delta in Botswana, where the Kavango River forms a wildlife paradise before it disappears into the Kalahari Desert sands; Luxor on the Nile, because of the temples of Karnak and Luxor and the valley of the Kings; Jerusalem, because of its enormous religious impact on the world; Ankor Wat, because . . . . (it is astonishing); and Las Vegas. Yes, Las Vegas. Because it truly is a monument to one part of the human condition.

And Vegas was a good airport to fly into to visit the canyon.

Needless to say, Miss Denmark was blown away by the (put your noun here) of Las Vegas – the lights, the fakeness, the mindless gambling, the way people tried to live out some of their fantasies. And by the sheer number of casinos, each containing unbelievable numbers of ways to take your money. (A bottle of water in our Mandalay Bay room cost $18).

The Vegas of today is certainly different from the Vegas when I first visited it in the 70s. Then it lived up to its nickname – Sin City. Today, for the most part, it is relatively tame.

I learnt something too this time – about Miss Denmark. Actually a couple of things.

First, she likes to hobnob with celebrities.

Second, she's no profligate Nordic socialist. After getting over her amazement at the sheer size of The Golden Nugget, where we stayed first, she said she had to try one of ‘those’ machines. A slot machine. I found the new ones very disappointing – all electronic, with even the wonderful sound of money pouring into the receptacle below now simulated electronically. And instead of gleefully grabbing handsful of cash, you now take a little paper voucher to a cashier. Yuck.

Anyway, Miss Denmark sat down at a machine we could both understand. She put in a dollar, ‘borrowed’ from me and pressed the button. Since she had absolutely no idea of what she was doing or what to look for, she didn’t get excited when three 7s aligned. Since the simulated cash pouring into the receptacle was not convincing, she didn’t realise she had won. One button-press equaled fifty dollars. FIFTY DOLLARS. Her eyes widened, and I thought ‘oh dear – the worst thing to happen – a win on the first pull – addicted for life.’

But no, she stood up and said ‘That’s enough!’ Better still she handed me the fifty dollars! And we left Vegas as winners.

'What do those 7s mean?'

No longer a fistful of dollar coins

And then to the Grand Canyon. As I said - a big hole in the ground.  

So we were told.