Here are two clever ideas: a parking meter that collects coins for charity. It’s painted a different color than normal parking meters, so you can’t mistake it for one. The second one is a sign that tells how long it is before you get the next walk signal. The idea is to keep pedestrians from crossing while traffic is zooming by, and, to a large extent, it works. I first saw one of these in Hamburg, Germany. This is the first time I have seen one in the United States.
I headed towards the Strip from downtown, and passed by Las Vegas High School. The exterior artwork is really nice. The cement squares in front of the school are painted by each senior class. The picture of the bench has the story of the “Senior Squares”; you can read a transcript of the text here.
I rode my bike down the Strip (not a good idea in the later afternoon when it gets really crowded, but this was slightly past noon), and decided to stop at the mall. When they do Christmas ornaments in Las Vegas, they do them as only Las Vegas can.
As I wandered through the mall, I saw a large video screen advertising some show called “The Magic of Christmas” or some such, starting in only 5 minutes. I decided to hang around for it. Big mistake. It started with a video showing a little girl and her parents on Christmas Eve. Little girl is talking about how they’ve just moved to Las Vegas and she misses the snow and skating and all her friends. Parents assure the child that she can have a wonderful Christmas in Las Vegas. (The actors in this video were the most excruciatingly white-bread people imaginable, and their lines were delivered with all the sincerity of a politician’s campaign promises.)
Screen goes up, and you see the child’s bedroom, and in come Santa’s elves, who just happen to be these gorgeous women. They go into dance routines set to Christmas music, with interspersed dialog about how they are going to make angst-ridden child’s Christmas magical and special. The elves realize they don’t have any candy canes, and Santa makes his appearance. He joins the dancers, walking back and forth (at least the people who put this travesty together had the good sense to not make Santa a dancing role). About the time Santa started singing, I fled. I guess I just don’t have that Christmas spirit—at least not Las Vegas style.
On the way to the Strip, I passed this elegant little house, which happens to be a law office. On the way back to where I’m staying, I passed through a heavily Hispanic area of town. All the stores had Spanish and English signs—except this one restaurant.
