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I took my first trip to Vegas finally. I had about two weeks of vacation time to burn at my work or else I was going to lose it. I saw an excellent Black Friday deal, but I couldn't find anyone to go with me in such a short span of time. I ended up booking the trip alone. I was nervous, because it was a last minute decision and I thought I'd get bored being by myself. Well, I was wrong. If anything, this place has too much to do.
The strip has many activities, restaurants and shows. Even if you're not a gambler or drinker, there are endless things to do. I'm not going to cover everything I did, because I'm sure it has already been covered on this forum many times. I made this post because I wanted to give my impression of the city from an east coasters view. I'm hoping this could help people who are thinking of relocating or are just looking for general info. I realize two weeks isn't enough time to give an in depth review of the city, but I figured it couldn't hurt to share my experiences.
I spent a few days on the strip, but I also spent a bunch of time driving all over the city and visiting local establishments. I purposely drove through different areas of North Las Vegas first and stopped in a few different places to walk around. There were many undesirable areas, but overall I thought everything looked very clean. I felt relatively safe while I was walking around during the day, but at night it was a completely different story. It's not an area I'd live in, but I have to laugh at what Las Vegans consider "ghetto". Being from Boston, your definition of ghetto is our definition of a walk in the park. These areas might be bad by Las Vegas standards, but it's not nearly as bad compared to the seedy areas of Boston (Dorchester, Roxbury, Lawrence, etc).
The next place I visited was Henderson. I thought this was a nice city with very convenient access to the strip. There were lots of stores and restaurants. The housing seemed a little older compared to the rest of Las Vegas. Some of the neighborhoods looked really nice, but there were definitely some bad ones as well. The Green Valley area seemed the nicest out of all the places that I visited in Henderson. I will say that I was definitely startled when I saw three police cruisers at a gas station with their guns drawn and pointed at a suspect. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I didn't want to find out and got the heck out of there fast. I hope that's not a routine problem in the city.
After Henderson, I headed over to Enterprise. This area seemed like more of an up and coming area, but not quite there yet. I saw lots of construction going on and drove through some of the neighborhoods. Overall it seemed nice and it also had very convenient strip access, but it seems to be lacking the shopping and conveniences of the other areas that I visited. It's also very brown and spread out. I didn't see much green anywhere. After spending a couple of hours driving around, I decided to keep traveling down route 160/159, which turned out to be the pinnacle of my entire trip to Las Vegas.
Hello Red Rock Canyon:
Too bad this picture doesn't do it justice. I also saw people hiking, riding their mountain bikes, etc. What an amazing place.
As I continued down route 159 I eventually ended up in Summerlin. This area was simply clean, green and beautiful. I loved the layout of the downtown area. Lots of places to dine and shop. The entire area felt like I was visiting the suburban neighborhood from Edward Scissorhands. However, I absolutely could not stand the housing in Sun City. Each house was a carbon copy of the next. You could argue that most of LV is like this, but this place was exceptional. I couldn't tell the difference. Also, I'd have to imagine that rush hour is a nightmare with these street layouts. Getting in and out must be a pain for the residents. It looks like someone from Boston designed the streets, lol.
I headed up to Lone Mountain and Centennial after my adventure in Summerlin. Lone Mountain seemed very quiet and generally nice. There were a couple of spotty areas and it didn't seem as convenient as Summerlin or Henderson, but it was still a decent place. I imagine you could find good housing deals in this area and still enjoy the benefits of having Summerlin close by. Centennial was very nice. It looks like they are still building this area out, but it seems like they're trying to take the best of Henderson and Summerlin and merge it together. It might be a little bit out of the way, but I can definitely see what their vision is and how it should attract residents to the area. Judging by the massive plazas, it looks like they are trying to turn this place into the shopping/activity mecca of LV outside of the strip. I liked the layout of Centennial the best out of all the areas that I had visited.
Alright, to wrap this up, I'll try and list my Pros and Cons of the city during the short time that I was there from an east coasters perspective.
Cons:
There is a homeless problem off of the strip. I stopped at one gas station on the corner of Flamingo and Maryland Parkway and was asked no less than three times by three different people for money. I denied all three requests. It was really sad to see some of the homeless drug addicts that inhabit the area. However, I will note that this problem did not seem to exist in the nicer suburban areas or on the strip itself. It would also be fair to note that most cities, including Boston, have this problem. It's not exclusive to Las Vegas, but it definitely felt like there were a lot of shady characters in the areas around the strip.
Housing is both a pro and con for me. Yes, you can buy a cheaper house in a nice area, but your neighbor can hear you break wind. I'd love to live in Vegas, but there's no way I want my neighbor to be right there watching my every move, especially if I'm in the pool. You can buy houses with larger lots, but that's when prices start to skyrocket. It's a mixed bag for me, because I love my privacy. I couldn't stand living that close to my neighbor. I need at least 30 feet of breathing room. I also couldn't see how the gated communities were any safer than the regular ones. All I had to do was wait outside until one of the residents pulled in. It seems like unless you have a guard gated community, there's no point.
Family and friends. If you're like me, you will be far away from your family and friends. This can be the hardest part of relocating. You would need to figure out ways to meet new people. On top of this, there are no birds or trees in Vegas. I know this sounds silly, but it can make you feel very lonely and desolate if you're used to living in that kind of environment. Did I also mention that it's windy as hell in Vegas? That's something I wasn't aware of before I got there.
The economy is obviously limited and is heavily dependent on tourism. It sounds like they have been trying to diversify for years, but progress has been slow. It's probably better to have a job before you move here.
Pros:
The city design and layout is excellent. It's very easy to navigate thanks to the grid system and you'll almost never need your GPS. I never once felt like I was lost and this was my first visit.
The food is unbelievable. Being from Boston, I am a complete food snob and thought LV or the West Coast in general couldn't hold a candle to the little Italian mom and pops restaurants/delis in the North End of Boston. I was wrong (Parma, Maggiano's, Cugio's deli, etc). All of these are off of the strip and the list goes on and on. I'm also embarrassed to admit that I had one of the best east coast pizzas in LV (Secret Pizza, good lord this place should be illegal). The Mexican food is outstanding (Mundo, Tacos El Gordo and KoMex if you like fusion). Lotus of Siam is by far the best Thai food I've ever had. As you can see, I was eating way too much. Most people think gambling and drinking are vices that you need to stay away from if you live in LV. I disagree, I think it's the food. I would probably weigh 300LBS if I ever moved to LV.
People don't go out of their way to speak to you, but they are very friendly and do make eye contact if you initiate a conversation. This is very different from Boston/NY, where people generally try to avoid eye contact and are always in a rush to go nowhere. The people of the city (off of the strip) seemed like regular folks with very tolerant libertarian attitudes. This was a huge plus in my book. This leads me to my next point, if you are a single guy in your 20's or 30's, this place is heaven. The women here seem very approachable compared to the women I deal with in the northeast (they also look a lot better, but don't tell anyone I said that). I'm no casanova back home, but I had dates with three different women during the two week span that I was in Vegas. These were just random women I had met along the way, not club girls or the kind you "rent". The fact that I was from Boston also seemed to play into my favor when I was speaking with them, but I'm not entirely certain why or maybe I was reading too much into it. Their attitudes seemed to change a little whenever I mentioned it though. It could have been luck, but it seems like if you are presentable and respectful, they will have no issues carrying a conversation with you.
Traffic. Yes, I know Las Vegans complain about all the traffic they have, but I'm listing this as a pro. I placed myself into rush hour traffic for three days to see what all the fuss was about. Simply put, if you are from Boston, NJ or NY, their traffic is a joke compared to what you deal with on a daily basis. They really have no idea how good they have it.
The weather is incredible compared to the northeast. I know it gets 100+ June - Sept in LV, but 70 degrees and sunny each day the rest of the year? I think I can live with that folks. Not to mention it's a dry heat with no humidity! The people here have no idea how lucky they are when it comes to the weather. I almost want to strangle the people on this forum that complain about having to turn on their AC during the summer. Try sweating through 90-100 degrees of heat with full humidity for four months of year and then sliding into freezing cold winters for another five months. There's nothing like waking up at the crack of dawn when it's 12 degrees outside and having to scrape your windshield clean or clear snow in the freezing cold.
Cost of living. Where do I start with this one? The home prices are ridiculously low and are probably some of the best bang for buck deals that you'll find in the entire country. The cost of everything in general was significantly lower than what I pay in Boston, including food. I went to In-N-Out burger for the first time (great fast food burgers) and the price was so astonishingly low that I thought they had made an error on my order. I checked the receipt, it was right. Then I decided to walk into a grocery store to check the prices on things I normally buy. Everything was 30%-60% lower than what I normally pay. It felt like everything in the city was half off. Even the casinos weren't charging rip off prices for dining. It seemed very reasonable for what I was getting.
The city itself is very clean and modern. Despite what some of the doom and gloomers on this board say, I saw construction crews everywhere building new houses. I'm not saying things are booming in the economy, but it sure didn't look like things were as bad as some people make it sound on this board. There is absolutely NO new construction going on in my state right now.
Anyways, I think Las Vegas is a great city. Yes it has problems, but they aren't any worse than the ones you might experience in other cities. I hope this helps anyone from the east coast that is looking to relocate. As I said earlier, I only spent two weeks in Vegas, but I spent much of it placing myself in situations that would help me understand whether I wanted to relocate or not. I'm sure some native Las Vegans may correct or discredit my information entirely, but I did as much as a could in a short period of time.
Thanks for posting so readibly .....I am one of the hardline Las Vegans.....even tho I no longer live there, it is quite possibly the [to me] best city on the planet....Yep it has some Cons....but the pros greatly outweight the cons......people that post such a well written and well rounded essay are to be praised, and I can't give yours enough......Tjanks for being fair
Thanks for the post. I'm a New Englander relocating to LV in 3 months. I can't find anything to disagree with on your post. I noticed pretty much the same pros and cons. Although I'm not single so am not looking for dating, you are 100% correct that the people in LV are SO much friendlier than New Englanders (huge, generalizing broad brush strokes, but you get what I'm saying) Well written!
Your trip would have been perfect had you spent some time downtown, too
Yes, I did spend some time in the Downtown area and thought it was fantastic. It was much more than I expected it to be. Lots of old school Vegas charm, bands playing (free) and great food for a low price. They did a great job breathing life back into this area. I will definitely visit it again.
Did I also mention that it's windy as hell in Vegas? That's something I wasn't aware of before I got there.
Can you (or anyone else) expand on this a bit? I did some research and Las Vegas's average wind speed was on par with Boston's so I'm curious to learn more details about your experience.
Is LV actually super windy or did you just happen to experience a windy spell during your visit? Any locals care to comment?
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.....I am one of the hardline Las Vegans.....even tho I no longer live there, it is quite possibly the [to me] best city on the planet....Yep it has some Cons....but the pros greatly outweight the cons......people that post such a well written and well rounded essay are to be praised, and I can't give yours enough......Tjanks for being fair 
