[dynimagelv]

it was at one time a SUPER fantastic place to live....now its only fantastic....

[ScoopLV]

I remember the first time I visited Las Vegas -- I blew through town on my way to the Grand Canyon and I saw a gas station with a sign out front that read, "Free aspirin and sympathy."

That was an excellent sign.

On my way out, I was stuck here, waiting for my flight, so I went to the MGM Grand (back when it what is now Bally's) and played $1 blackjack for 18 hours. I lost my last fifty dollars over the course of 18 hours and drank $200 worth of Johnnie Walker (that was the best they poured for the $1 players). I had to get a cab with the emergency sawbuck I kept in the hidden pocket in my wallet. I slept all the way home. Today, I'd never have made it on the plane. TSA would have bounced my ass.

Three days later, one of the guys at the blackjack table at the MGM walked in to the camera store I was working at to pay my way through college. He was doing the "gamble to get drunk" thing, too. "Didn't I just see you plowed out of your mind, splitting 10s at the MGM?"

THOSE were the days.