Danny, Edwina and me had planned to take a trip up to San Francisco, but changed our minds at the last minute and headed to Las Vegas–mostly because it had better weather.

I had never liked Las Vegas, but grudgingly I am pulled along to go there once every couple of years. What I despise about it is exactly what lures me there in the first place: I expect to win money.

We stayed, as always, off the Strip in a new and very nice hotel: the Marriott Renaissance. This property is on Paradise Road, right next to the new monorail. They have stylish decor, trendy soaps and shampoos, and the place is spotless. They are also right across the street from a free shuttle run by Mr. Wynn which leads, not surprisingly, to his new “WYNN” hotel and casino.

We took the shuttle, only about a one minute ride, to Wynn’s place and it is dazzling. The thing is everything is wonderful in Las Vegas for exactly one minute. Only a few years ago, Mandalay Bay was the IT place. It was replaced by the Venetian and the Bellagio and Paris and now they all look like fat, frumpy and over the hill casinos. Now faded Paris, for example, has a Parisian restaurant “Mon Ami Gabi” on the street, and even with 50% of the tables empty, the hostesses, who could not properly say “Good evening”(or Bon Soir) were unable to seat us. We walked out and had the usual depressing Las Vegas experience with over-hyped dining. Everything is dazzling for one minute and this place is no exception.

Mayor Goodman and the developers have hit on their new gimmick and it’s to claim that Vegas is becoming the next Manhattan. They are building a vertical city, to replace the one of oversized parking lots, moving sidewalks and stucco box clones in the millions spread across the desert. There are many, many tall condos going up in Vegas and they are, indeed, giving this city a feeling of urbanity that it has never had. A 61 acre development downtown may be Goodman’s signature mark on the city.

On Paradise Road, the overhead monorail and the new towers create a Singapore scene. It is only behind the Potemkin facade that one sees the ever present poverty and shabbiness of the “real” Vegas–the cheap motels and rental units that house a growing number of working class who sweep the floors and clean the toilets in the big hotels. The inflation of the housing market has pushed the price of a new home way beyond $400,000 and it is hard to imagine how the “new” Vegas will ever take care of its most impoverished residents.

But talking about depressing things has never been the Vegas style. An army of publicists regulates every utterance about Neonville and criticism is blasphemy. It’s all good, man: the alcoholism, gambling, broken families, bad schools, environmental destruction, traffic, smoking, drugs, strippers,pawn shops and gun violence….. Yes, what happens here, stays here.