Sin City is not all it seems. Beyond the intoxicating whirligig of casinos,
concerts and costumed performers, local neighbourhoods are blooming
with street art, while hiking trails offer desert vistas
WORDS: CELESTE BRASH. PHOTOGRAPHS: TANVEER BADAL
LAS VEGAS
CITY LIFE
Las Vegas is a monument to human ingenuity
and vice; capitalist performance art let loose
in the outer reaches of the Mojave Desert; a
neon-lit oasis existing solely to entertain us.
Each year, up to 40 million people visit the city
of just 635 ,000 residents that’s home to the
world’s biggest tourist trap: the Strip. Many
travellers might feel predisposed to dislike Sin
City for its brashness, its lurid aesthetic, its
populist appeal — but I find its unique brew of
hedonism and heart intoxicating.
My first stop is the residential Arts District.
In March 2020 , when casinos on the Strip
were closed for an record six weeks in
response to the pandemic, the focus shifted
to other neighbourhoods. Consequentially,
here and in Downtown, local artists were
hired to paint murals. Today, Frida Kahlo
smiles down on me on a Main Street full of
small businesses, including craft breweries
and vintage clothes shops. Many Americans
are now moving to Vegas; it’s not just the
sunshine, good salaries and affordable
housing that lure them, but the thriving
culinary scene and community feel.
The Vegas that most visitors flock to is the
Strip, a cartoonish theme park of a boulevard
serving up a sensory overload. As a blonde
American gondolier sings to me, beautifully,
in Italian, as she paddles me around The
Venetian Las Vegas hotel, it dawns on me: this
place isn’t meant to be authentic; it’s a world
of make-believe.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t real thrills
to be had. At dusk, I drink delicious cocktails
covered in glittery pop rocks, at a bar made to
look like a fantasy facsimile of 19th-century
Europe; I watch The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du
Soleil, and am brought to tears by its intensity;
then, almost as a rite of passage, I forfeit the
contents of my purse to a slot machine. There
are worlds here to explore, and, when it comes
time to leave, I’ve barely scratched the surface.
To entice new people to visit and others
to return, Las Vegas continues to grow and
change, launching bigger casinos, more exotic
restaurants and sexier shows. Dozens of new
attractions and events will open this week and
dozens more the next. Vegas rolls with novelty
and innovation, and the house always wins.
Clockwise from above:
New York-New York
Hotel & Casino, which
features a 15 0ft replica of
the Statue of Liberty; a
heritage sign displayed
as street art, Fremont
Street, Downtown;
gondoliers at work in
front of The Mirage
hotel, home to The
Beatles LOVE by Cirque
du Soleil; cocktails
at Esther’s Kitchen;
Fergusons Downtown, a
recently revamped arts
and shopping centre IMAGE:
GETTY
138 NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.CO.UK/TRAVEL
