For Vegas, if you seek the seedy, taudry, and nasty you will certainly find it. I believe you can find that in just about any city. For Vegas you can find anything you want and what is hardly ever talked about is the great hiking and biking trails. How about the great museums and fishing and boating. Heck, the Smithsonian is affiliated with the "Atomic Testing Museum". Come on, not every article about Vegas has to show it's darker side. Vegas is a great city.

"Goodbye, Las Vegas" http://tim-shey.blogspot.com/2010/12/unreal-city-or-goodbye-las-vegas.html

After reading my October issue of the Smithsonian and Mr Moehringer article, I rushed to my computer to send a scathing email to the Smithsonian.

I am so angry at the narrow minded, nothing new article about my hometown. I was born and raised in Las Vegas (a rarity for someone my age) and feel the need to defend my city against article. Although I live in Washington DC now, I love Las Vegas very much. I miss the people, the desert, the land, the lights, mountains, the family, the friends, the hot pink sky, parks, neighborhoods, bbq's and sagebrush. there isn't a Safeway in Las Vegas, hasn't been for decades. At least pretend to be interested in what your writing about. People came to Las Vegas because of natural springs, Hoover Dam and Nellis AFB. Do your homework and stop asking the strippers the history of Las Vegas. There are books out there.

The author is nothing but an elistist looking to spew his tourist experience with the world. Well guess what, I think there are better stories out there than yours. If this is all you have from living in Las Vegas for two year, I feel sorry for you. You missed out.

Mr. Moehringer took the easy route describing his life in Las Vegas. Low hanging fruit from a guy who should have the experience and intelligence to dig deeper. Las Vegas has been hit hard enough, the article adds salt in the wound. Have you no heart for the millions of people making a living in Las Vegas. Do you know what this article says to them and to me? You value only the superficial.

Do us all a favor Mr. Moehringer, never go back to Las Vegas. We'd appreciate it if you'd never write about your time in Las Vegas again. Maybe you should go to Vermont and stare leaves for two years and right about the obvious.

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2010/nov/03/vegas-literate/ This link pretty much sums up the intersection of perception and reality on at least one of your points.

Your article by J.R. Moehringer called Las Vegas: An American Paradox" was several notches below the high quality reporting usually seen in your magazine.
Mr. Moehringer's schizophrenic ramblings makes me think he needs a shrink. The contemptuous tone is despicable. It is a tragedy that Andre Agassi, who is considered a class act and obviously loves Las Vegas, is associated with this man's perverted view of his home town.

Margot Guenther

It takes a colossal amount of conceit for a person to spend two years in a city and feel that he has become an expert on it. I have lived in Las Vegas my entire life (31 years) and still don't feel that I understand this city well enough to write such a self-assured commentary. In 31 years, I have never seen nor heard of the majority of the places, TV ads, and neighborhood activities which Mr. Moehringer has dramatized in his desperate attempt to portray himself as some sort of modern-day philosopher. What I have learned, however, is that the "sinfulness" of Las Vegas only exists to draw in and cater to people who do not live in Las Vegas. If Las Vegas was the "City of Sin", in the way that this "author" and countless others have portrayed it, and so different from the rest of this country, then Las Vegas would not survive. I guess it's lucky for us that the rest of the world provides the sinners.
If I were you, Mr. Moehringer, I would think twice before sharing with the world that all you saw in your two Las Vegas years were casinos and strip clubs. I think that fact reveals a lot more about you than it does about Las Vegas. Shame on the Smithsonian magazine for supporting yet another installment of elitist Vegas-bashing from yet another individual who checks out a few tourist joints and feels he is now qualified to bore us with his pompous views on a city he knows nothing about.

Well said J.R.! We lived in Henderson for one year - and your comments captured our experience perfectly. Bravo, and I look forward to your next article.

While attending a convention in Las Vegas some years back I was overlooking a vast expanse of gambling tables and machines, wondering who those folks were that found this experience so enticing. Up strolled a Swiss gentleman attending the same event, who stood by me a moment then asked rhetorically "These are not America's decision makers, are they?" Penetrating insight, I thought.

A couple years later I had the chance to spend some time with a VP in the Trump organization and he described the mechanics and marketing behind generating the inflow of dollars that sustain his massive operations. From "grinder excursions" that bus in folks of modest means, to support of nearly any vice, these casino folks are at your service to help you lose your money.

I happened to be in Las Vegas again a couple of years ago and told myself I'd have an open mind, and would focus on food. From Bobby Flay to Thomas Keller to Mario Batali, I tried their various restaurants. The food was great, of course, but removed from their real world locations they seemed somehow plastic. As if their compelling native characteristics had been replaced by ersatz versions.

I'm sure there is a real town behind the scenes, with over half a million folks they can't all be Caligulas. In fact, it is no doubt quite a large one, with people offering all the usual services - plumbers, doctors, bankers and more. Any city needs those people, and they don't have to feed the casino monster to support it. But without the Caligulas, this town would not exist, and that's what the author gets so right.

Can anyone imagine any other city that would advertise itself to potential tourists with "What happens in XXX stays in XXX? It's got Caligula written all over it.

Suck it up, Vegas.

Yes, the article is kitchy. And quirky. And it plays on stereotypes. It is also brilliantly written: dense with wry descriptions of choice observations . . . and it paints a picture of your neon desert that anyone who's been to Vegas can smile at.

So get over your bad selves. Lighten up. Go to a show. Breathe in the neon. Chill.

I've got a secret to tell you: No one goes there for the libraries. ;)

Viva Las Vegas.....I love Las Vegas....(native over 40+ years)

Great article. Laughed all the way through it. I would have already left Vegas, but the gravity eminating from the black hole that is my mortgage debt has trapped me.

I always thought to be a great writer you had to be a keen observer of the human condition and able to reveal from those observations new observations that change perspectives.

After reading this tired, cliched piece filled with anecdotes that can only be described as Jayson Blairesque, I need to revisit that assumption.

There sure are a lot of super-sensitive people here. Did you actually read the article, all the way to the end, or did you skim the first half sentence and then make up your mind what the whole thing was about? It's not an attack on Las Vegas, it's his account of what he saw and felt and thought -- and how that changed over time. Did you see the part where he says he grew to love vegas?

Anyway, since when is having a different opinion about something automatically an attack? If you're that insecure, how did you get past the title without bursting into tears?

http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=454556934000&id=713894787

Here is an accurate and beautiful portrayal of what Living in Vegas is really all about.

You know, we have a pretty bad homeless problem in Las Vegas. There's also lots of people who're trying to do something about it. Food Not Bombs has a potluck for the homeless every Sunday in Baker Park, and Neighborhood Family Services is doing what it can over at the Sahara Commercial Center.

My point is that both of these groups do their thing in the shadow of the Stratosphere - less than a mile from it, in fact. If Mr. Moehringer had actually gotten off the Strip once in a while and did a little walking around - you know, did some actual journalism - he might have had something more substantive to write about than this fluff piece. It might not have been a sure-fire crowd pleaser like yet another Las Vegas-bashing piece, but it would have had a hell of a lot more meat on its bones.

There are real people here, Mr. Moehringer - real people who are hurting, real people who are in trouble, and real people who are trying to do something about it. I'd have thought a Pulitzer Prize winner would want to seek out people like that and stories like that.

But I guess not.

I realize that he came here for the sole purpose of writing a book, and that these are his few impressions of the city when he un-cloistered himself from that job. His views will therefore be naturally skewed.

But come on. This piece is so lazily written and so full of cliches and superficial impressions that maybe it shouldn't have been written at all. It's been written before, countless times, and adds nothing to the discussion.

This article is nothing more, and nothing less, than a paycheck.

My favorite line in the whole article has to be this: "What I don’t say is this: I’ll miss the whole seamy, seedy, icky, apocalyptic tawdriness of it all. While I was busy hating Vegas, and hiding from Vegas, a funny thing happened. I grew to love Vegas."

Coulda fooled me.

In December of 2006, I had a dream about a Las Vegas Earthquake: http://tim-shey.blogspot.com/2010/02/prophets-eyes.html

I thought J.R. Moehringer's article was well-written. I have hitchhiked through Las Vegas several times. The last time I hitchhiked through Las Vegas was December of 2005.

I certainly echo the great majority of comments already made above. We have lived in Las Vegas for almost 50 years and have not experienced any of the author's woes. It is obvious that the author writes for money as reflected in this article and his participation with Aggasi's confession, and may we never see him again. However, my major disappointment is with the Smithsonian,who certainly lowered their standards when they,for some strange reason, agreed to publish this trash. Wonder if the Editor ever reads these comments and perhaps sees the error in judgement he/she made. I won't hold my breath waitng for that.

I'm a Las Vegan who happens to read a lot. Real grown-up books too, ones covering serious nonfiction subject matter such as current events, biographies and history. I even picked up and left some of these books at the free book exchange which is located in the Emergency Arts center, WHICH IS RIGHT BEHIND WHERE THE AUTHOR IS STANDING IN HIS PICTURE! Notice the author is looking in the wrong direction, which represents how he wrote this article in general.

How can anyone function as a tourist anywhere for two years?

I've lived here for seven years. I've never been to a strip club, only rarely have a reason to go to the Strip or Downtown. IMO the folks who come and leave are the ones who try to live on vacation 24/7 and that isn't reasonable.

Those who come here and live their lives seeing the tourist trappings for what they are, and as minor (in a few cases not so minor) additions to their lives, manage just fine.

Can I echo the post above? Can't get over the fact that he is standing in the Arts District...

I guess you really have to be a Vegan to appreciate Vegas, this guy needs to go back to his cubby hole in Boston and hide, sounds like he cannot handle the heat. Vegas is real, with real people and excitement. My bio is being written by the fabulous writer Joe Schoenmann, he loves all the information given to him for this book. The people to talk to, the research is at his finger tips. the book is going to be exciting... Yes I say exciting... Not boring, maybe Mr. J.R. Moehringer needs to take lesson or get some tips from my wonderful Las Vegas writer. We are proud to be Las Vegans.. Yiiiipeeeeeee

I live in Las Vegas and I happen to read a lot. Real grownup books too - ones covering serious nonfiction subject matter such as current events, biographies and history. I even picked up and left some of these books at the free book exchange which is located in the Emergency Arts center, WHICH IS RIGHT BEHIND WHERE THE AUTHOR IS STANDING IN HIS PICTURE! Notice the author is looking in the wrong direction, which represents how he wrote this article in general.

I agree with most points raised by the comment writers. For a lover of reading, writing and all things "refined" the main irony he should have included in his list about our great city is that one of its most important visionaries and executives of our primary business,Glenn Schaeffer is founder of The International Institute of Modern Letters, graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and established Las Vegas as the country's first "City of Asylum" and establish a $2MM endowment Chair at UNLV in Creative Writing. Another, Jim Murren rec'd a degree in Art History and co- founded, with his wife, The Nevada Cancer Institute.

Perhaps the author of this article would have been better off spending his "non working" time getting to know these two and refining and advancing the love of his profession and hobbies instead of being a driver of an economy he claims he does not like.

I am glad you moved.Don't come back.

This is an unbelievably ignorant and small-minded portrayal of "Las Vegas," (Spanish for "the meadows") by an obviously lazy reporter. He may have previously rolled the point and won a Pulitzer, but if I were running the joint, he would have lost all his money with this story. Wouldn't you think a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist would have chosen a more interesting subject than a re-hash of the goings-on at strip joints and strip casinos. How boring. I only wish he could have ventured out to my house at the base of the Sheep Mountains, where it is so unbelievably quiet and dark at night, that even an Alaskan (or wanna-be Vermont boy) would be at peace. I search the sky every night for new stars, and the only sounds I hear are the sweet nickerings of the 100 or so horses that live nearby. I also wish he would have spent some time hiking in the Spring Mountains, only an hour drive from the strip, where he could have seen the oldest living things on the planet - 10,000 year old Bristlecone Pines and other plant species that exist no where else on Earth, or spent an hour walking through the wash in our northern valley where camels and sloths and giant cats once roamed and left the largest assemblage of large mammal fossils in the United States. What a shame that this journalist did not use a two-year residence in Las Vegas to educate readers. Instead, showing his generation, the author chose to write a story that sounds like the next trashy reality tv show, which does nothing to help persons appreciate life outside their social networks, cell phones and televisions screens. Shame on the Smithsonian for allowing such trash in their magazine.

How could an award winning journalist think that " The STRIP" is Las Vegas? Maybe so in the 60's or 70's but he failed to mention the growth in population & life beyond the STRIP!

How narrow is that! having a next store neighbor named CALIQUA tells u he didn't bother or cared where he lived, or maybe he liked the free freak show like a real transient voyeur.

Seriously all of the above + it does not seem you got out much while here. It sounds like you had low expectations and went out of your way to fulfill them. Congratulations on your dubious success.

29 year resident

This isn't bashing? "Vegas isn’t a real city. It’s a Sodom and Gomorrah theme park surrounded by hideous exurban sprawl and wasteland so barren it makes the moon look like an English rose garden."

It's definitely bashing. Mr. Moehringer never got past the stereotypes.

The problem with the article is it seems cliched and not a serious look at Las Vegas. Yes, the kitsch and trashy kicks of Las Vegas are celebrated in some movies-but generally they are kitsch comedies. Here the writer is writing a supposedly serious review of his time in Las Vegas.
He bemoans the Las Vegas lifestyle, yet was happy to spend so much time on the 'Strip' going to stripclubs, casinos, pools etc. So the writer is part of the problem. He never in all that time thought to hire a car and head to the suburbs. I mean this is a writer/journalist but he stopped short of actually doing something called research.
He never attended one First Friday, Neon Reverb, local museum, library or art gallery but bemoans the lack of culture. He never sought out any culture, he wanted the culture to come to him!
Las Vegas is a relatively new big city, it hasn't had time to grow as a city outside the Strip, unlike New York, Chicago etc. Even 15 years ago, most of the city was still desert. So the growth and identity of the suburbs isn't there yet.
My problem is the writing is a two-dimensional trash piece with no real depth. Rather than living in Las Vegas, it would appear the writer spent a week watching the TV series 'Las Vegas', then 'The Hangover' and a few other Vegas movies and decided that is the Las Vegas I know and what I will write back. Really the piece is that cartoonish!
Maybe the writer can write a similar plastic piece for New York and Los Angeles on common TV/movie stereotypes because this is poor.

I have lived in Las Vegas for 13 years and have never once met anyone named a Rainbow, Fabulous, Paradise or any other similarly descriptive name. Nor have i ever been invited to a party even remotely close to the ones Caligula is throwing. I would love to know where JR was hanging out in Las Vegas b/c it's a part of the city I certainly have somehow missed.

I lived in Boston, and I loved the Cape. I lived in Los Angeles, and I loved the Sierras. But guess what, I got tired of sharing them with crowds, and putting up with hours of freeways just to get out of the city. Now I live in Las Vegas and in just a few minutes I'm out in the lonely beautiful desert or up in rugged snow-capped peaks. Who cares about clichés & casinos, to me the last American luxury is getting away out into Nature ALONE, and Nevada isn't "a vast wasteland" but a paradise of secret spots to have my toe dipped into a mountain creek and my nose in a book. If some jerk was here for 2 years and never made his own personal discoveries, well that's HIS problem.

Mr. Moehringer, you will be suprised, as a "book person" to note that the Las Vegas Clark County Library District serves more people (7.1 MILLION) than the NY public libraries, and utterly dwarfs the visitation of the SF and Phoenix public libraries according to wikipedia and library webpages. To add insult to injury, the Las Vegas libraries circulate nearly as many items (13.7 MILLION) as the Boston public libraries and NY-Brooklyn libraries, and more than SF and Phoenix.

These are all places with MUCH larger populations.

Mr. Moehringer, if you actually went inside a LV library instead of enjoying the seedier side of Vegas (woohoo also!), you would see why. Modern facilities, high ceilings, comfortable seating, pleasant staff, and great places to be in.

Vegas is both kitchy yet also more typical outside the "tourist" areas then you would think. One cannot exist without the other. But that doesn't change the fact the city obviously tried to build an economy on one product and now is suffering for it. There was plenty of time to plan ahead but mindless greed reigned instead.

Reading this story makes me wonder how often the author strayed from his Spanish Trail digs. He obviously didn't see much of the city, because all he talks about are slot machines and strip clubs. It reminds me of a tourist who, upon finding out that I live in Las Vegas, asked me which of the hotels I live in. It never occurred to her that there is a city out there with neighborhoods, grocery stores, gas stations, schools and hospitals just like any other city. To her - and to the author of this claptrap piece - Las Vegas begins and ends with the Strip.

We visit Las Vegas every year, have done it for twenty years. Never did see the sights that Mr. Moehringer writes about. We, instead, take advantage of the fine shopping, the excellent food and entertainment.

As for culture, I particularly enjoy the galleries in comfort, minus the traffic of LA, the crush of NY or Boston - being able to admire works of great artists up close for free or at low cost. In Las Vegas I've enjoyed Rembrandt, El Greco, the Impressionists, Faberge and most of all, Steve Wynn's wondrous Vermeer.

He could have gone outside in the sun and walked through the impressive collection of desert plants at Las Vegas Springs. Or he could have taken a day trip down to the Colorado River and Grapevine Canyon, climbed the rocks and finished the day off with an excellent dinner at Harrah's in Laughlin. There is much of value to do in Las Vegas and southern Nevada. Too bad the author spent all his time in dark and seamy joints, he missed a lot.

A thumbs down to Mr. Moehringer's short sighted evaluation.

I don't think we have a single "Safeway" here in Las Vegas. He lost me at that point.

J.R., don't listen to these asinine comments. As someone who moved to Las Vegas just a year ago, I can associate with just about every one of your impressions.

Notice that your detractors use the crutch of Red Rock Canyon and Mt. Charleston as proof that Las Vegas is somehow less depraved than it is. Vegas is defined by gambling and excess, plain and simple.

Would I define Seattle by Mt. Rainier? No.

I have nothing to add to your article. It is excellently written and captures the spirit and culture of Las Vegas perfectly. If anyone ever asks what Vegas is like, I will be forwarding this along.

"except Vegas, because Vegas isn’t a real city"

Wow. What a hack.

Would you judge California based on Disneyland alone? Of course not. Then how can you really see Las Vegas blinded by your images of the Strip or what you see on the television news? Many of us live here, raise children here and go about our business without ever lurking in the world J.R. inhabited. But I suppose tales from the "barren" suburbs don't sell papers.

There seems to be an error in the article.

The author, obviously of fine literary pedigree, indicates his stay was two years, but clearly based on his severely limited exposure to the cities of the Las Vegas valley, he must have meant weeks. An honest mistake, surely, that the Smithsonian.com editors should have caught.

William
Las Vegas, NV

P.S. Please let me know when this memoir is available, so I can make the drive to Los Angeles, CA to borrow it from a library. Thanks!

Initially the defensive reaction from Las Vegas residents surprised me. Anyone who has spent time in the city (as I have) has to recognize the reality of which Mr. Moehringer wrote. Are there other realities? Of course. But the immensely entertaining description of the Vegas most visitors encounter was spot-on. And I guess that explains residents' outraged defensiveness: Moehringer described their home a little too accurately.

I wonder if the memoirs of Andre Agassi will be equally tainted? Perhaps Mr. Agassi should consider another author before his book flops.

To all of the whiners whose feelings are hurt: QUIT CRYING!

Your comments of "Yes, we do have libraries, see, we're smart!" and "The beauty of the desert" are sad. Quit grasping at straws. Vegas is a bunch of boxed-in ranch houses sprawled around a series of a couple dozen buildings in a dusty, rocky, barren desert. The economy is almost entirely subsistent on the gaming industry, the weather is downright awful from May-September, and the workforce is predominantly uneducated. This city is NOT world class, nor does it hold a candle to dozens of other US cities in terms of Quality of Life.

You embarrass yourselves by defending Las Vegas. Its like defending someone giving a negative review of an old, battered Hyundai just because you have one. You're free to like it, but that doesn't mean it sucks any less.

If you're thing is trite, trashy, empty entertainment, than Las Vegas is your place. I don't understand why Las Vegas celebrates this kitsch in movies and commercials, and yet gets defensive when it's pointed out.

Let's face it-Las Vegas is last in many quality of life indicators, has a high suicide rate, high incidence of cop-related shootings, inadequate medical and health services, high foreclosures, an unsustainable and runaway environmental and housing development (non)plan, and an uneducated work force. Need I continue?

If that's your thing, cool. But, don't get angry at the writer for pointing these things out.

This isn't bashing Las Vegas, just sit down for a second and look at the stats and facts and stop being so defensive.

I'm surprised Mr. Moehringer, a person who must utilize books and references for his articles, didn't visit one of the many excellent libraries in the Las Vegas Valley.
He might have been pleasantly surprised at learning each is integrated with a lovely art gallery in which area artists are invited to exhibit their work. I lived many decades in the Mid-Atlantic states and don't recall seeing anything like that there. Maybe Las Vegas could be a role model for parochial people like Mr. Moehringer.

The very day I received my Oct.issue of the Smithsonian I called the editor. How can they feel it's all right to publish trash like this about my home. Las Vegas has been home to me for 50 years. Did he bother to go to any of our churches? Did he work with the senior citizens or Hospice? Perhaps if he watched the elderly fighting every day to live just one more day in our great City that they call home he would see the pain and sorrow he brought to them because they had their pride of home ownership slandered by a young self centereb ego. I am 73 and I love America. My home in Las Vegas which the last time I looked at a map is a part of this great country we all call home. Did this so called writer do or go to anything of real value? All I know from bieng born in Kentucky is he who sleeps with pigs is a pig.

Sounds like this guy could have spent more time writing than hanging out on the Strip, nudie bars and big Agassi celeb parties.

Narrow minded?! ...actually I think the author has a problem with decision making skills. In every city I've lived in (10 - 'cause of my father's job - minister), I have seen good and bad.

You have choices wherever you live; what part of town you reside, where you bank, what activities you participate in, and so on.

The author could probably have moved (unless he, himself was caught up in that "housing bubble" he vented about), he could have had dinner in many terrific restaurants NOT on the strip, and if he ended up closing his blinds and simply listening to television commercials - - well, that was his choice.

You create your own reality, Mr. Moehringer. It sounds like a pretty negative one that you've chosen. I wish you luck. ...oh that's right, luck is probably a bad thing since you believe that only Las Vegas suckers "are on that trip" in life.

A lot of people who like to bash Las Vegas either came here to make their fortune, and lost, or never really got out to explore the city/cities. Las Vegas ,as most people see it, is actually several cities that have combined to make one large metro area. The last time I drove it, it was 34 miles from top to bottom before I ran out of homes. TV,and other media outlets portray a different "Vegas" than I have seen since I moved to Southern NV from the Northern Half of CA. For me, I couldn't wait to get out of CA. There are only 2 things I miss from CA-trees, and fresh produce. CA is a beautiful state that the politicians have messed up.

Las Vegas also has a growing arts community in the 18b Arts District, and I am one of several hundred members of the Vegas Artists Guild.

The big difference with Las Vegas and other big cities is that Las Vegas is relatively young when compared to others like New York, San Francisco, Sacramento, etc.. The little frontier town of Las Vegas is still in the process of growing to meet the demands of the huge influx of people it has taken in over the last 2 decades. There are going to be some growing pains for this frontier town, and I am glad that I can be here as it develops into a world class city.

This young man did not look around at the wonderful community called Las Vegas. I am a 65 year old woman who has lived here for 25 years. I have lived in Europe, SF, NY
Las Vegas is wonderful...get your facts straight....E

From what I read in this article it appears that Mr. Moehringer visited The Strip Casinos, strip clubs, high end restuarants and hung out with the rich crowd. There is another side to Vegas. A side of Vegas where the average person lives in a one bedroom apartment; or the average family lives in a two or three bedroom house.
We have regular neighborhoods where people mow their grass or tend their gardens and talk to their neighbors. Applebees or Chilis is the most expensive places these people go except for maybe a birthday or anniversary. We have parks, churches, American Legions, children, adults, veterans and more. It appears Mr. Moehringer did not take the time to see this part of our city before trashing it.

I have been a fan of Moehringer's writing for many years. The Tender Bar is more than an amazing book, it's the bar that all memoirs are now held to. Too bad the literary community in Las Vegas didn't reach out to this world class author while they had him.

Dear Mr. J.R. Moehringer and Smithsonian.com,

As a resident of Las Vegas for twenty years, an employee of a casino for ten, and a student at UNLV, I was astounded by, not only Mr. Moehringer's article, but Smithsonian.com's approval of publication.

Las Vegas has suffered enough. Whether comments were made by political figures, media or noted writers, Las Vegas is still the entertainment capital of the world. Despite high unemployment and taking the number spot for foreclosures, customers still enjoy the great weather and the ability to do what one wishes.

I greatly respect Mr. Moehringer's credentials and experience as an author. He is no doubt well educated and well written. But someone who grew up by the bar really lowered it by writing this article.

Thank you and hope to hear from someone soon.

Lawrence Totaro
Las Vegas, NV

I can't believe a top caliber magazine like The Smithsonian would publish something so trite, so cursory, and clearly written by someone with a bizarre view of Las Vegas.
Did you live on The Strip?
And if everyone left here feeling remorseful, etc, then I don't know why they would keep coming back.
This article needs a reality check.

So sad your "Reporter" didn't get out of his "Uncomfort Zone" to see the rest of Las Vegas sometime in his two years of living here. We have schools, Agassi even has one! Libraries that have books not broads and churches and dry cleaners and. It seems to me that people find what they are looking for where the go and what they come away with tells you a lot more about the seeker than about the place. I am disappointed in the Smithsonian.

JR should have pocketed the 50’s. Although U.S. Grant went bankrupt, he redeemed himself writing his biography. Surely the writer of a best selling memoir owes a debt of gratitude to Grant. It is also one of the great autobiographies with a keen eye on history, war, politics and personal growth. Its commercial success sustained his family after his death. But then again, Franklin wrote a pretty good autobiography as well.

In two words, this article is a cheap shot.

Instead of participating in the city’s life, the writer, too lazy to get out and see it for real, sat and stared at his TV, then decided that qualified him to write the "inside story" on Las Vegas. It makes as much sense as going to the movies, then writing the real story of Hollywood. It's as authentic as eating a bowl of chowder, then posing as an authority on Boston.

The story reads as though Moehringer excavated a cache of show-biz clichés. He found some tired forty-year-old jokes about Las Vegas, strung them together, and fobbed them off on the editors of Smithsonian.

I notice that the fine print under the comments box includes the following: “Smithsonian reserves the right not to post any comments that are unlawful, threatening, offensive, defamatory…” Well, Smithsonian, I am offended and you have defamed an entire city.

I've lived here for thirty years. Sure, there is definitely some sleaze here. But we usually laugh at it - it's for the tourists, just like dice clocks.

Well, Mr. Writer, the real Las Vegas exists. It is millions of honest, hard-working, fully-clothed individuals who work, pay their taxes, and raise their kids here. They also study, teach, create, volunteer, meditate, and go to church. They even pay their mortgages. They generally avoid the tourist casinos, except for attending the occasional concert or Cirque du Soleil show.

Somebody just gave me Agassi's book for a birthday present and I haven't read it yet. However, unlike Moehringer, I know what an open mind is, and I will read and evaluate it on its own merits.

Shame on you, J. R. Moehringer, for following the easy, much-traveled path just to earn a few bucks. Shame on you, Smithsonian, for publishing the results.

Another gambling addict who never ventured too far from a casino. He chased some tail and blew all his money in the casino only to say its not his fault.

He bet everything and lost, now he must write about how awful the city is. It's a shame he never ventured out to see the real Las Vegas or meet the people who live here.

President Obama got a Nobel Prize and so did this writer... Goes to show you it doesn't take much real talent any more to get one of those...

I found the article in Oct 2010 - Winner Take All very interesting. Even more interesting to me was a photo of a young man in the Rio All Suite Hotel passing a dancer. I know that my son who is now deceased was in Las Vegas a few years ago and I believe he stayed at the Rio. I realize that there is a very slim chance that this is him but I am wondering when this picture was taken I would appreciate any information you might get from the author about this picture. My thanks to Mr Moehringer for any help he could offer. As I said- my son died early from an illness and I would like to know if could have been him in the picture.
Thank You Kenneth Kasinski

Las Vegas offers a multitude of choices. This author apparently chose to enjoy the Library that offers strippers rather than the incredibly fine Clark County Library system with it user friendly website etc, or the UNLV and College of Southern Nevada libraries.
He chose to spend his spare time enjoying the sights at the topless pool rather than hiking in the magnificent scenery of Red Rock National Park or driving to Mount Charleston, Cathedral Canyon or a little further, Valley of Fire.
He chose to gamble in the casinos rather than exploring ghost towns of Nevada or horseback riding or playing miniature golf or doing the all the crazy carnival rides available in the casinos, or boating on Lake Mead,etc etc.
This author evidently was so distracted by the glitter, he never found the gold, the real value in Las Vegas and Nevada, a city and state of hard working service providers, musicians, artists, professionals and writers. Perhaps the Smithsonian could provide "Air Guitar" by Dave Hickey (a Las Vegas resident) as a travel guide to its Vegas bound writers. Hickey points out Las Vegas is not a Vermont culture but is a culture unlike anything the rest of the nation can provide. With a little research and an open mind, maybe future Smithsonian articles would be more than a whining rehash of "The house always wins".
A few years ago, a young newspaper writer set out to experience the United States by driving coast to coast. He took only four lane highways and ate at Burger King and McDonalds. He reported that the scenery and food was boringly monotonous all the way. Is this the same author all grown up?

It is disheartening, to say the least (and as you will find out, least is not my style) that a periodical with the tradition for scholarship, high quality educational as well as entertainment standards, let this one through the net.

This writer has the imagination & journalistic integrity of a slug. Empirical studies know, the answers you get are skewed by the questions you ask. So if sleaze comes to Las Vegas, sleaze is all he will find. I've lived in New York and Miami- I know the spectrum of urban existence in "resort destinations". I have lived in Las Vegas for over 20 years, I don't drink, smoke, or gamble- and religion has nothing to do with it.

Start here:
The Red Light District isn't Amsterdam, 34th St isn't Manhattan, the pedophile market isn't Bangkok. Do Gentleman's Clubs, lap dance establishmenst, and "happy ending" massage parlors play a larger part in of this town than other Urban hubs? Perhaps. I don't have the statistical analysis. Is there a predator for every prey? Yes. If you have a weakness, will it be exploited? Every time, anywhere. Are we still the ADULT fantasy capitol of the world? I hope so. Enough of my friends, both directly & indirectly involved in the hotel/casino industry, are out of work or threatened (as much as the rest of the country.

Is that all there is to Vegas? Hell, no! We are many communities. A large retirement population, family neighborhoods indistinguishable from those across America, commercial centers with little or no direct connection to Strip Glitz, just what you see in any other big town/small city. We have art and craft fairs, indoor swap meets, garage sales. There are endless Ethnic celebrations, concerts, fairs like the Renaissance Festival or the Highland Games, sporting events.

Bottom line (that does NOT involve any part of the anatomy), we are fed up being the easy target for two-dimensional thinking. It's going to cost. Your marker is due.

The above fits our experience of living in Las Vegas fro 6/97-7/99. Now admittedly we were there for a construction mgmt job, the Venetian, but the area where we lived Spring Valley with visits to Summerlin was like many big cities.
They wee building a new library in our community, and coming from a college town we sought out the library participated in community meetings with staff exploring what we wanted in a library.
Red Rock is great for hiking,Mt Charles is good for skiing in the winter & sliding for those of us from the northern part of the US who were NOT there as refugees from winter.
For those of us outdoor enthusiasts, I was glad to attend Sierra Club meeting & find people who watched birds & linked the brazen artificial feather dancers to more traditional birds and trips to places like Wheeler Peak & the rest of Nevada. The valley water mgmt system was a great place with classes on plants, bushes grasses to plant (from around the world) that were part of or compatible with zeroscape. (low water usage characteristic of the LV valley. They also had interns from universities & a great library to help homeowners plan their landscape. This was a great planning idea. With all the people flocking to Las Vegas planning for water usage in a desert environment takes lots of public education. It's a good proactive move instead of trying to grow what you did back home where the rain fall was 15-40 " per year.
One of my favorite public education, community building pieces was the garden segment about 9:00a.m. on public radio. The host responded to a question about trouble with tomato plants that wouldn't set fruit in August. The comment, when the temperature does go below 80-85 degrees Fahrenheit, it's hard to get tomatoes to set fruit almost no matter what you do. :-)

I have been to Las Vegas only once and loved it. Found it a very interesting city and compared to New York and San Francisco it certainly fits in with its own personality.

There is so much more than the strip as the Hoover Dam and Lake Tahoe are very beautiful spots along with the Red Rocks area and the Sierra Nevadas are beautiful as well.

Yes there is all that is offered on the strip but there are also some of the best restaurants and shows. We saw shows at various casinos and ate very well while in Vegas - so it is what you want it to be.

VIVA LAS VEGAS - it does have it all!!

And bringing up political scandals and a medical malpractice issue? Does the author really think that scandals like that only happen here in Las Vegas? Sadly, that goes on in every city in this country. He makes it sound like we're this awful city because that happened here.

As someone who has lived in Vegas for 16 years, I have to say that it sure sounds like the author didn't take much time to explore and get to know the real Vegas outside of the Strip. Instead of hanging out in strip clubs like the Spearmint Rhino, maybe he should have been hiking out at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, skiing up at Mt. Charleston or touring one of the city's museums. And yes, we do have libraries here - almost 15 in the city to be exact. People do read here. Almost everyone I know is in a book club.
The author also seems to question why anyone ever settled here. If he had done his research, he would have found out that people settled here because of the natural springs that once ran through the city. Hey, if he had taken the time to visit one of our cool cultural attractions called the Springs Preserve, he might have learned that.
He might also be surprised to learn that the community has schools, parks and churches just like every other big city in the country. We're not just the Strip and gambling and strip clubs. This article was kind of a narrow-minded view of the city by someone who doesn't know it.

Wow, it used to be you had to go much lower-brow than the Smithsonian magazine to get such a trite, hackneyed, cliche-ridden attack on Las Vegas (note the full name of the town, by the way -- tourists call it "Vegas"). I managed to live there 20 years (and my parents have for more than 50 years) without living next to a bordello, or going to a strip club. These things were always there for the tourists, and the locals knew that just beyond the strip, it was a fairly normal town. I hope the editors of this magazine can one day visit the real town, and realize just how embarrassed they should be to have published a piece like this.

Again, another person bashing Vegas. I am a native Las Vegan and yes the city has problems. But Vegas is also less than 4 hours from the North and South Rim Grand Canyon. Less than 2 hours from Zion N Park. I do not know of any neighborhoods that allow parties from Thursday-Mon that require earplugs to sleep. After 10pm it's light's out in most neighborhoods. Las Vegas has the best retail stores, best restaurants, and some of the best hotels in the world. Every morning when I wake up, I view Red Rock Canyon (14 miles from Downtown and world class rock climbing)) and can see the peaks of Mt. Charleston over 11,000 ft. I do not frequent strip joints and I do not hang out on the Strip like most locals. Yes, we can use a museum or two and yes I wish the summers were cooler. Las Vegas also has over 20 state of the art libraries that are visited by thousands of residents. So get over the bashing already, it's unattractive.