Las Vegas
when someone says "I'm going to Vegas" , people usually answer: “Uuuh, Las Vegas”. Let's agree that there are not many places in the world that provoke exclamations with that tone of complicity.
This irrefutable truth is pointed out to us Michael Goldsmith , Vice President of Marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (and avid traveler with a reasonable resemblance to Steve Carell), whose mission is to convince the world that Vegas is always a good idea.
"When I talk to my father about what I do at work, I tell him: 'It's like being a goalkeeper at Real Madrid'. Most destinations have to establish their brand. We do not, everyone knows Las Vegas. We just have to handle that."
The mythical welcome sign to the city of Las Vegas
We meet Nicky Santoro from Scorsese and we have seen the tiger and the baby in Caesars Palace from The Hangover. We think we know what it is Las Vegas , but meet the (more or less realistic) expectations of 43 million visitors a year – 40,000 of them Spanish – It is not a minute peccata.
Many come to say that they came and then conclude, perhaps, that Las Vegas is all about casinos and parties. But they are also the mature waitresses with retro uniforms and infinite patience. The croupiers with impossible hairstyles, the multinational casts of Strip shows, the famous restaurants.
The clean-eyed gentlemen born in Colorado who work in downtown casinos with that exquisite American sense of civitas , never quite recognized internationally. Uber drivers moonlighting and dressed in shorts in winter (because they're from Michigan and this isn't cold compared to Michigan) or Algerian cabbies who'd rather be there than in L.A.
Lady Gaga concerts , the families with sleeping children in their arms on Fremont Street, the hipsters of the Arts District and the nightclubs where you can meet a star of The Hunger Games . The homeless, gamblers and lost of other classes do not seem as many as one might expect but they are part of the decoration. Oh, and Las Vegas is also those toilets (always very clean) with signs that remind you that it is not safe to drink alcohol during pregnancy.
Lawrence Reha, owner of the Makeshift Union barbershop
“Las Vegas is a playground for adults” , says one of our Uber drivers. We ask Goldsmith if this city built by gangsters in the middle of the desert is as wild as his legend promises. “Some cities are famous for their food, others for their shops or concerts. Here you have all that and you can do anything . That's where his reputation comes from ”, he answers us with a diplomatic smile.
And he throws the ball back to me: “ Are you staying in three different hotels? Great, That's Las Vegas - Different Experiences, depending on where you stay or who you come with. We have plenty of conventions – to get to this interview we've been through the hustle and bustle of the Fashion Show and the curse of ordering coffee at the world's busiest Starbucks – business travelers, professional and college sports, events of all kinds.
50 years ago they were Sinatra, Elvis, Cher... Now we have Lady Gaga, Aerosmith... and Cher ”.“ The hotel community does an incredible job ”, he adds, and perhaps this city is the only one in the world where people also come to visit hotels.
Las Vegas hotel architecture
Architectural (and socio-cultural) wonders such as the venetian and its gondolas, the Bellagio and its sources, the circus and his luminous clown, the Mirage or the Of the year , the Paris and its Eiffel Tower, resplendent skyscrapers, labyrinthine like huge shopping centers full of restaurants, slot machines and gaming tables.
The Luxor pyramid, the Excalibur castle, where tournaments between knights are organized and there is a recreational area for minors. The most colorful and incredible buildings are articulated around the Strip , six kilometers of neon lights, casinos and resorts that, in some sections, can be explored on foot, but which is best seen from small traffic jams that trigger the imagination of a traveler who will leave an average of 541 dollars at stake, originating 6,500 million dollars a year in this part of town alone.
Mitch Marier, public relations for MGM Resorts reluctant to put on his coat (he's from Michigan), guides us to the rooftop of the Delanos. And in this mythical golden tower, part of the Mandalay Beach Hotel , we discover that the city can be frigid; which, from above, looks even more like a toy –roller coaster included–, and how exclusive its atmosphere can be in places like this, the skyfall lounge.
Before celine dion aroused (so much) interest and respect in the world of fashion, that Carl Wilson published Música de shite – that essay that raised the tyranny of good taste based on an analysis of the Canadian career – and before the alternative decided that being open in their tastes was cool and necessary... more than fifteen years before that, Céline Dion began a residency in Las Vegas that marked a before and after. We have the privilege of perusing the understated Nobu Hotel villa where she stayed with her family for years.
It is Martha Morales, general director of this hidden gem of the mythical Caesars Palace, one of the most spectacular resorts in the city –where you get lost and appear in the streets of Rome–, who explains to us that at least one other diva has also spent the night there: Jennifer López.
The Nobu is intimate and European, almost business, in a very competitive hotel market: "One of the reasons why we are so popular is that we were the first to offer celebrity chef room service ”, or what is the same, elaborations of the emblematic Nobu restaurant directly to your room at any time of the day.
“Many come to Las Vegas just for the Nobu . People have this idea of the city of sin, but there are many ways to enjoy it without being a sinner, ”she laughs. Las Vegas is also a place of settlement for heavyweights like Lady Gaga, who has been on the bill at Park MGM's Park Theater, with capacity for 5,200 people, since December of last year.
El Cortez Jackie Gaughan Suite
Janet Jackson began her residency at Park MGM in May, as did other pop icons such as Britney Spears –who just canceled her second due to her father's illness–, Gwen Stefani and the Backstreet Boys, whose 65th show at Zappos Theater we witness. Spend a night with these idols who are reunited with their long-time fans in a family format It has become another reason to travel here and cover yourself unapologetically with the most self-conscious merchandising.
The Cirque du Soleil is another of the great hooks for those who don't just want to 'buy dreams'. People may not come specifically to see their shows, but most visitors dedicate at least one evening to one of the 6 or 7 that they have on the bill in the city at the same time.
The Beatles perform at the Mirage , a nostalgic wonder with songs by the four from Liverpool featuring artists from all over the world. One of them is Nel Martín, a former roller skating world champion from Barcelona, who has been with this show for three years now.
“I didn't think I would last so long here and now I love it, especially nature. I like it better than Barcelona! It has everything you need,” he confesses, telling us that he often escapes to Red Rock Canyon.
French-Canadian acrobat Marianella Michaud, his co-star, shares his passion for the national parks that surround this oasis of debauchery. For Puerto Rican Zoeth Cardenales, who has been in Las Vegas for 10 years, the best thing is “the joy of the public, especially the children. And here you never get bored, everything is open 24 hours The challenge? Doing 10 shows a week means being in constant training.”
Las Vegas is, without a doubt, Martina Barbarian, an elegant thirtysomething who has been Director of Park Hosts for a year for the enormous Park MGM and our hostess in the nomad-hotel . Martina tells us in perfect Spanish that she is a fan of the Spanish series Velvet and that she loves her work. She is the architect of the fact that products with a Spanish stamp await in my bedroom... and a photo of my husband!
“I wanted to buy you some comics, I saw on your social networks that you like them, but I didn't have time”, she explains, thus raising our concept of personalized stay to unexpected levels. In her apartment they prepare the visits of the VIP guests. “We do a Google search to surprise them.
Nomad hotel restaurant
We even have a partner, Anthony, who writes poems. He wrote one for a client about a duck that was his pet; she jumped for joy at finding it.” People come looking for unique experiences , curated moments, and they want to know what's going on in the local area.
“ Being honest is our way of connecting , we tell them the truth about what they can expect. Most are not well informed, they come with an old school mentality that this is just a gaming destination. In turn, locals want to know what's new on the Strip.
"Everyone talks about Eataly, for example," he tells us. Thanks to openings like this Italian market, more people come to the Strip than ever. “ Of course the passion for the game remains, but more is invested in doing different things: the coolest restaurants, the most interesting atmospheres and shows ... It has totally changed the perspective.”
The MGM theater is where Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars have their residence. “It is exciting to see the energy of the public when leaving a concert. But what I particularly appreciate is the Creative Hospitality Mindset . It's what brought me here.
In addition, many people on the Strip have opened businesses in other areas, allowing us to try quality food from all over the world at half the price. This is a great city to live in, a thousand times easier than Los Angeles ”. Comparisons with neighboring California, where rent is more expensive and traffic jams more exasperating, are frequent.
The colorful corners of the Arts District
In case anyone is wondering, here the institutions also invest in insufflating some alternative cultural energy. in the small Arts District we discover that Las Vegas is also Alexander P. Huerta – who worked in a casino until he had a 'stendhalazo' in front of Picasso's Dream – or the abstract Deana Khoshaba, whom we caught creating on one of the best days of her life.
And the entrepreneurs who set up trendy cafes or second-hand shops to get lost for hours among prom dresses and Hawaiian shirts. Our first contact with the city was a trip in the DeLorean. Las Vegas is the Strip but also the sixties and seventies aftertaste of Downtown , where we landed at night to check-in at El Cortez.
Iconic signs welcome us in the surrounding streets. It's almost midnight, the patrons drink and play slot machines in a cloud of tobacco, electronic music and the smell of carpet. John Dorweiler, the affable manager of this Hispanic-style hotel built in the 1940s , guides us through the corridors where Sharon Stone fell inert in Casino.
One of the doors, armored and with an old video intercom, catches our attention. is the jackie gaughan suite , which was the residence of the former owner and his wife, Bertie. Here are preserved the fantasies of a time when flaunt was appropriate : from the double wooden doors with enormous golden handlebars (his initials, J and G) to the swan taps, through the bubblegum pink carpet and a kitchen in which the appliances of that time still work.
The symbolic decorations of the city of Las Vegas
Nearby is one of the visitor's favorite spots off the Strip, the picturesque fremont street , a covered passage with more than 12 million light bulbs and more than 220 loudspeakers where you can see free performances, the Winnie the Pooh equivalent of Puerta del Sol in the form of a topless nun (don't even think about taking photos without permission ), 'trospid' strippers and some Elvis addicted to dangerous substances.
The set is, however, strangely familiar, and literally entire families fly over it on a zip line. There is also a zombie passage, restaurants... and casinos. Five minutes away is the neon museum, a cemetery of posters that also defines the city. Since 1996, in this old motel, they store signs of artistic and historical value in the open air and without a valid explanatory sign.
The oldest is from the 1920s and one of the most recent, the giant guitar from the Hard Rock Cafe that crashed in 1990 . Also the Tropicana or Binion's Horseshoe, the casino of the mobster Benny 'Cowboy' Binion, guilty of the carpeting in the hotels and the provision of free drinks to any player.
Pierre and Sandra Megens say 'I do' at Graceland Wedding Chapel
Not far away, the wedding chapels line up. One of them, Graceland, boasts of having been the first to hold an Elvis-themed wedding in 1977 , and also of being the place where Jon Bon Jovi no less swore eternal love to his wife, Dorothea, in 1989.
There we attend the silver anniversary of a Dutch couple whose family has come by surprise to accompany them. We got the surprise when Elvis he enters the room and tears us up with emotion as he sings.
An arch of eyebrows and a wry smile. They are given to us by New Yorker Tom Bartlett, stage director of Magic Mike Live , when asked if he likes living in Las Vegas. This show produced by Channing Tatum (The Hateful Eight, Hail, Caesar!) –whose London version, still to be released, already has a sold out poster– is an adaptation of the Steven Soderbergh film starring Tatum himself Tatum and Matthew McConaughey : an ironic approach to the stripper world in a masculine key and for (almost) all audiences.
An intellectualized excuse, in case anyone needs it, to cross off another classic in the city from the list. But watch out: We are not strippers but dancers, performers, we come from the world of sports, television... ”, points out JD Rainey backstage. Groups from Australia or Iceland come specifically to see them. To land the lead role, Ryan Carlson had to recite a love poem to Channing Tatum's face.
Cast of Magic Mike Live
“I had never acted. I went to his house and he told me to imagine that he was the girl of my dreams.” Another of the boys, Mark Romain, stresses that his work "involves a lot of physical and emotional effort." It's pretty epic, as redheaded Jackson Williams defines it, adding: “The bad thing is when women attack you. They grab you, they push you, they scratch you. Sometimes we come out bleeding.” Really? "Really".
Luckily, they can escape doing adventure sports that are also epic. And it is that all roads in Las Vegas lead to the desert: do not go to the valley of fire or the grand canyon yes that would be a sin.
Arlene Bordinhao, PR for Sundance Helicopters, insists her tours aren't dizzying (at least, no more so than the revolving restaurant on the 106th floor of the Strat). She tells us as she brings us to the Luxor to see an exhibition about the Titanic and she infects us with her enthusiasm for this place and for life in general.
And we realize that we've been here a week and we haven't played a dollar. The cheerful airport machines remind us that we are on time but it is already late. We finally admit that the las vegas skyline we find it as beautiful as Bernini's canopies.
_*This article and the attached gallery were published in the number 129 of the Condé Nast Traveler Magazine (June). Subscribe to the print edition (11 printed issues and digital version for €24.75, by calling 902 53 55 57 or from our website ) and enjoy free access to the digital version of Condé Nast Traveler for iPad. The June issue of Condé Nast Traveler is available at its digital version to enjoy it on your favorite device. _
The omnipotent views of the Grand Canyon from a helicopter