It was 53 years ago when my wife and I went to Las Vegas for our honeymoon. Not the most romantic destination, but the closest and cheapest since we had no money. My father knew someone and got a us a deal at the Dunes, a hotel that people under fifty, maybe older, never heard of and one that long ago has since been imploded. Just like the famous Rat Pack Sands Hotel. Stayed there a couple times too. Just a simple two-story place that would be considered a budget motel today.
My mother loaned us her huge V8 Pontiac to drive across the desert wasteland. Gas was 24 cents a gallon.
Of course, Murphy’s Law stepped in. Somewhere on the Pear Blossom Highway the oil gauge went to zero. I pulled over and checked the dip stick. Dry. Looked underneath and spotted the leak. Not to be deterred from reaching our destination, I bought a case of oil. Every few miles I’d pull over and put more in.
After checking into an already tired hotel even back then, I tracked down a mechanic shop who picked up the massive vehicle for repairs. I called my mom and said it was going to cost $500. That was big money in those days.
Which brings me to one of the points of this column.
Las Vegas Used To Be Cheap
Everything from lodging to food was a bargain. Gambling brought in all the bucks they needed. And if not, it was a corrupt city and probably still is. They made extra income in other ways.
For those in my age bracket we can all recall billboards advertising $2.99 breakfasts. Some even .99 cents. Lunch buffets were $5. Full-blown dinner buffets with everything imaginable cost between $10.and $15. And it was good. Real food in those days. In downtown Vegas there was a place that for just a few bucks, you could eat all the shrimp you wanted. Big time shows were $20.
Elvis Presley was doing his Vegas schtick. It was sold out but I found my way to a side entrance and flipped some mafia looking guy in a tux a twenty-dollar-bill. He looked down and laughed. Okay, I was only twenty years old, and I could gamble all night with that twenty. Legally I couldn’t drink or gamble.
I did both and no one said a thing.
We ended up seeing Neil Sedaka for I’m sure some super low price. At the time I had no clue who he was. My wife did, loved him and it was a good show. I earned honeymoon points.
I recently went back to Vegas with my wife, daughter and granddaughter. We saw the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. A must see. But even cheap seats for the Wizard are over $200.
Times have changed. Like everything tends to do.
We went to some “fancy” restaurant and one of the chefs said he was going to prepare me a special fish. Made a big deal out of it. It was nothing special. I got my bill and as the saying goes, my jaw dropped. A tiny strip of fish, with bones, cost $103! Cocktails run over $25. You of course can find lower-cost places outside the big hotels, but people come for the massive resorts and all the fufu.
The Future Unfolds
After getting fleeced by the slot machines I walked over to watch a crap table. I used to play back in the day. You could bet for 25 cents. Today it’s 25 dollars. I don’t know how all the people do it. Or why? Everyone knows the house always wins.
They say Las Vegas is in distress. That tourism is down; the city is hurting. I was there on a Tuesday in July at 105 degrees. The Venetian was sold out, and the casino was packed. If America is having a difficult time dealing with inflation and gas prices, it was surely not evident in Vegas.
You can easily spend thousands in forty-eight hours just on food, lodging and drinks. You don’t have to gamble to have your pockets emptied.
I wonder if the costs today will be looked upon as inexpensive ten, fifteen, twenty-five years from now? Cocktails for $200? Dinners $400 a plate? Gas at $150 a gallon?
Well maybe in California.
Will a place like Las Vegas have AI robots running the blackjack tables? The crap tables? Machines already exist for those games. Could the casino floors turn into an exclusively non-human gaming operation? As it is, they have machines where you type in the cocktail you want, and a robot mixes it for you.
Those things could, maybe, bring costs down. Would thousands of jobs be lost? Would Las Vegas return to sand and lizards?
The world of machines is beginning to happen everywhere. We all see it in self-checkout. Self-driving cars. I have a friend who drives to L.A. and back every week. I asked if it doesn’t bother him going down there all the time? He said, Heck no; my Tesla does all the driving. He dials in the destination, kicks back and listens to books on tape and whatever else he needs to get done. The Tesla makes all the freeway changes and turnoffs. I’m not ready for that, but he’s very comfortable and has done it for years. That doesn’t mean I don’t love the idea of letting a computer deal with traffic. Hopefully it won’t curse the way I do.
Back in the day I loved Las Vegas. Not anymore. Today my granddaughter does. Especially when the credit card follows her around. Ironically, she’s the same age I was on my honeymoon. The circle of life.
If Vegas is hurting, I don’t know where the wound is.
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