Category: Las Vegas

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this little arrangement on Fremont Street and I have no idea whether it was something of a scam or not, although others at the location were claiming it was and I’ve seen some on-line reports saying the same thing happens. It’s a little odd as there seems to be quite a lot of regulation and organisation of pitches along Fremont Street, so I’m moderately surprised if there was anything that was seen as constantly damaging to tourism. And Las Vegas doesn’t like damage to tourism.

Essentially there was the announcement that “something big starts soon” and then nothing really did. There was a lot of calling for monetary donations, of which some people did, then a number of people were called from the crowd to stand in a line. They then were told to hold notes up which seemed to be taken away quite promptly and this was all part of the build-up to the main event. Indeed, even I was getting quite excited as to what decadent showmanship was taking place in front of me. But then two people from the line walked away, one quite angrily, and then the audience started to move away. This all took around ten minutes, so there was some considerable anticipation to the event. There had been some minor acrobatic performance, which received little crowd acknowledgement, but I thought that was some warm-up element. However, with the audience drifting away the event was then clearly over and there wasn’t much effort made to bring them back. But, maybe we all missed what would have been a spectacular event and maybe there was no scam at all.

I had forgotten about this until I read that there’s a problem with people doing exactly this in Times Square in New York, so perhaps I hadn’t just missed the point of the whole thing, perhaps the entire aim was to just build up anticipation and then never quite deliver anything. But, if there was something impressive that took place, others in the audience also missed it and a number shouted different degrees of abuse at the performers. It was all very strange. I hadn’t donated anything to this effort though, so I left feeling it was all quite interesting, albeit didn’t make any sense to me. I’d better add as well that I’m claiming the arrangement to be a scam, just that it did rather give the impression of not being very direct entertainment for the immediate enjoyment of the viewers. And maybe I misunderstood it all, that wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve got muddled up.

On 6 October 2022, another tragedy hit the city of Las Vegas when two people were stabbed to death and six others were injured outside of Wynn casino. There’s a separate Wikipedia page about the incident for anyone who wants to read about the background of this attack. The incident took place at 11.40 and I had walked by here at around 11.10, so I wasn’t far off in terms of the time. Although the attacker was targeting two show girls he also went on to attack nearby tourists, so I was fortunate not to have been nearby. Others, just by chance, were less lucky.

I hadn’t realised that something had happened until I tried to leave the Venetian later on during the afternoon to get back to the hotel. The exits were all closed off with staff directing people back to the main entrance, which was quite tricky to find in a large casino with bits shut off. The entire stretch of sidewalk between the Venetian and the Wynn was closed off whilst the police were investigating. It took me around 20 minutes to walk around the closed area as an indication of how much of the sidewalk had been barriered off. I took this photo at the junction which had by now reopened, but there are plenty of police still visible in the late afternoon.

A 32 year old man, Yoni Christian Barrios, was arrested at the scene for the crimes committed. In early December 2022, the Nevada courts decided that he was unfit for trial and he is now at a state psychiatric facility. I was talking to someone on a bus (it’s very hard not to get involved in conversations on buses in the United States) later that day when I went to downtown Las Vegas for the evening and he was the first die hard Donald Trump supporter that I’ve met in the United States. He was an interesting chap and I met him again by chance on another bus the next day and since our bus was heavily delayed by another police incident we had quite a long conversation about politics. I’ve related this conversation to friends and I might well come back to it on this blog, but for the moment the element that interested me was he claimed he could have been there and he wanted to carry a gun to defend himself from being stabbed.

Rolling back slightly, one of the elements that I dislike the most about the United States is the level of gun crime and general violence. It’s not really sustainable for a developed country with the astounding number of deaths from guns that take place every year, not least hundreds of children. However, it was very difficult on libertarian grounds to argue against the assertion that an individual should be allowed to have a gun to defend themselves in cases such as this. It seems in this case though that the attacker would have caused a greater loss of life if he also had access to a gun, so it is perhaps fortunate that he doesn’t appear to have done. It’s all not long since Stephen Paddock killed 60 other people when firing at them from his Las Vegas hotel windows.

Anyway, politics aside, it was Las Vegas that was the city that I felt safest in during my trip so I hadn’t really expected to hear of an incident during my time there. It was New Orleans that the danger was evident where the police have lost control and are in retreat as the city now has the highest murder rate in the United States and where I had my own little incident I’ll write about in due course. God bless though to all those involved in this horrific incident.

Las Vegas isn’t packed with craft beer breweries and I think that a couple of the best are here and Banger Brewing. I had my bus pass (which I accept makes me sound like a pensioner) so I got a bus there, but then I realised it was only a ten minute walk from downtown Las Vegas so I just walked back. In the searing heat.

I arrived around ten minutes before Happy Hour so had a beer that wasn’t included in that offer whilst the server happily came back as soon as the cheaper prices kicked in. The menu on the board (which is incidentally available on webcam at https://www.tenayacreek.com/whats-on-tap/, which is a brilliantly smooth way of displaying up-to-date information such as this) is a little complex to understand at first look, but the server talked me through it.

Some of the beers produced by the brewery, with everything much more reasonably priced than in Las Vegas itself. It’s worth a meander to get here and I think everyone at the bar (other than me obviously) was local.

The Hazy Phantom Bride from Belching Beaver Brewery and I think that I’ve been to their brewery in California when my friends Alexis and Jose took me, but I might have got muddled up as it was a few years ago and pre-blog. As I’ve mentioned before, most of the reason for this blog existing is to remind me where I’ve been, as I have a tendency to forget things.

The Chocolate Stout Nitro from Rogue Ales, which as its name suggests was packed with chocolate and suitably smooth. This comes from Newport in Oregon, one of the numerous places that I want to visit when I finally get to visit the state. I had a lot of tap water whilst I was at the bar given the extreme heat outside, or at least, what I call extreme heat.

And to finish, the Pinch Hitter Pale from Tenaya Creek brewery themselves. A credible IPA which has plenty of peach flavour to it, something I think works in a beer, although the server said that customers were rather more divided on that. I’m not into US sports, or indeed any sports really, but whatever it was on the screens was exciting most of those seated at the bar.

This was a friendly operation and although they don’t do food themselves there are often food trucks parked up outside. The venue started in 1999 as a restaurant and brewery, but they decided to focus on the beer side in 2008 and they moved to these premises in 2015. I liked the laid-back and inviting atmosphere, with the server being personable and engaging. I perhaps didn’t try as many of the brewery’s own beers as I could have done, but the one I had was very agreeable. For anyone who doesn’t want to walk from downtown, a bus doesn’t take long and leaves from the end of Fremont Street.

In my never-ending quest to check the quality of fast food outlets in the United States, I was reminded that I don’t think I’ve ever been to Chick-Fil-A. This is their outlet within the Golden Corral casino in downtown Las Vegas, all clean and tidy with quite a significant queue.

I didn’t feel the need to have a drink given I’d just been given a free beer, not was I tempted by the kale crunch.

Service was fast and efficient despite the long line, with the staff member merrily calling customers forwards and making time to build up something of a rapport with them. It’s not easy trying to ask everyone a question such as “how has your day been?” or “anything planned for the rest of the day?” whilst trying to sound interested and also not faff around so the queue lengthens. I thought that they all did very well as young Mr Grace might say in Are You Being Served?

The service at the till was prompt, although the wait for the meal was a bit excessive for a fast food venue. I think I, and someone else who I was talking to (well, complaining with), waited for 12 minutes for these Chick-fil-A Chick-n-Strips. We weren’t the only ones muttering, the server shouted through to the kitchen on numerous occasions that they were taking far too long with these. But, that meant they were freshly cooked and I wasn’t in a rush. I must have received about six apologies from the staff member about the wait, so I felt it was impossible to be annoyed since they were doing their best.

There were a couple of free tables, so I seated myself ready to see if I’d be surprised and delighted. And, I was. Tender and moist chicken, with a crunchy exterior with the strips being cooked in peanut oil. The dip provided was the Polynesian Sauce, which I had to Google and it’s made up for this chain, but it’s something like a cross between BBQ sauce and sweet & sour sauce. It was as decadent as the chicken, this is of a quality that I’m not sure KFC has ever reached.

The reviews for this outlet are relatively high, although I found it odd that they’re not using contactless payments. Every customer was having to sign a printed receipt and I’m not sure whether this is location specific or just the brand standard. Anyway, it could be said this is an excessive blog post for four chicken strips, but they were suitably divine. I can see why this chain is becoming so popular in the United States and I’m sure that I might be popping back to have a little examination of another part of their menu.

Just photos, but I quite like these ones. Grand Canal Shoppes is located in the Venetian casino and is a shopping centre with expensive retail outlets and restaurants, all designed to feel like Venice with canals included in the whole arrangement. I wanted to have a look around before it opened for the day and a security guard kindly let me through to take photos, hence I had this ridiculous space to myself for a while other than for a few staff arriving early.