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Comment by LargeWu | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure exactly what the author's thesis is. Yes, there are people that live in the city, and they don't all hang out at Caesars Palace every weekend. This is not news. What strikes me about the Las Vegas metro area, apart from the gaming zones, is how boring it is.

Yes, there's a lot of natural beauty, and I love hiking when I'm there. But I've also been all around the metro area and honestly, there is just not a lot going on. Apart from the casinos, it's a pretty generic desert city; lots of chain restaurants and strip malls. There's not very much industry outside of tourism/hospitality.

I would never say "I could never live in Vegas" because of the casinos. I say "I could never live in Vegas" because there is almost nothing else going on.

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Agreed. I lived there for around a decade. About 2 years in I would have written something like this article. Soon though I just felt surrounded by malcontents. The Anthony Bourdain episode about LV was pretty accurate. It’s a town founded and populated with people who wanted to flee where ever they were to somewhere no one would ever visit them. There’s this really abusive undercurrent that would stem from that mindset being present in the population in mass numbers.

Consider the timeframe of this piece though. The towns been booming for about as long or longer.

Hard to argue with your subjective opinion, but I would guess that objectively there is more "going on" in Las Vegas at any given time than there is in most major cities. It just happens to be very concentrated into a small part of the city. But the number of high end restaurants, concerts, special events, shows, clubs, etc. in Vegas is unusually high.

Outside of that area it is pretty bland suburban, but that area supports a lot of interesting food choices because of the number of ethnicities in the city.

Yeah, I guess I don't disagree that there's a lot going on there, but it's all in service of bringing in tourists, all sponsored by the casinos. Sure, locals are welcome to partake in any of that, but it's not "for" them in a large sense. It doesn't seem to have the same degree of cultural institutions that other similarly sized cities have.

I live on the east coast, but I have friends in Vegas, so when I visit, I avoid the Strip and touristy areas unless I want to specifically go out.

As a kid, I remember our family visiting Vegas multiple times as tourists; going back as an adult has felt very different. It was a fascinating transition to experience, not unlike when you stop flying window seats and start flying aisle seats instead.

In my teenage years, I lived in an east coast city with a boardwalk and beach, lots of hotels and condos and tourist shops. I hardly ever went to the beach -- it could get crowded, and parking and not getting your car wet and sandy would get complicated, so I often forgot that it's an option. All of that works a lot better if you're staying at the beach.

I suppose Vegas residents may feel similar about the Strip or Fremont Street during an average day, when they're trying to get stuff done. But if you're looking for ways to spend an afternoon or night out around town, there's plenty of variety, from shows to shopping, paid attractions, pedestrian spaces, museums, diverse restaurants, bars, nightclubs: much more so than metros of a comparable size: Charlotte, Sacramento, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Columbus, Cleveland. Its weakest areas arguably sports, and smaller "local" venues for bands on tour.

the high-end restaurants on/near the strip are ridiculously overpriced for the quality of food. even the dining experience at most retaurants feels cheap and fake.

you can find much better food at better prices in other cities and even off-strip in vegas. for instance, i'd generally choose louisville (kentucky) over vegas for dining experience (for affordable ethnic food of all sorts, take a road-trip to LA).

Over the last 20 years I have been involved in probably 2000+ events in the Las Vegas area.

Hiking, biking, camping, car shows, rodeos, basketball games, art festivals, weddings, boating, skiing, funerals, plays, races, hockey, debates, conferences, air shows, auctions, skydiving, rallys, service projects, highway cleanups, fireworks, swim meets, concerts, you name it.

If you couldn't find anything going on, it may not be about the location. That list would probably look the same for a lot of people in a lot of locations. I'm pretty confident there will be some engaging event happening within 10 miles of wherever you are in the world tonight. Just because you don't participate doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

It's a 3 million person suburb. There is no "there" there.

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