I've lived all over the U.S., the last seven years in Las Vegas. The Believer piece was the most accurate portrayal of the city I've ever come across.

Las Vegas is, in many ways, the most American city.

* Top to bottom, the city hustles for your attention and your commerce. Everyone implicitly understands that if the customer doesn't like the product or service, there are a million other options. It's a welcome change compared to other we're-too-cool-for-you downtowns.

* It remains one of the only metro areas (perhaps the only one) in America where someone with a high school diploma can roll into town, get a job and, in fairly short order, make a middle-class life for him/herself.

* We're a big destination for immigrants of all types who come here looking for work -- busboys become valets become small-shop owners become big-shop owners.

* We're not sentimental when something doesn't work anymore. You see it on the Strip when hotels are imploded, sure, but you also see it all around town. We don't have a lot of half-dead, struggling businesses because, if it's not working, people try something new.

Having said all that? The summers are miserable.