Question of the Day - 11 September 2017

With bell-ringing, public tributes, moments of silence, and private prayers, today we commemorate events that touched all Americans and people around the world. Thanks to this question, we here at the Las Vegas Advisor and Huntington Press remember the shock of that day 16 years ago, and its grief and aftermath.

We put the question to a handful of our authors, whom we thought could best express accounts of what it was like in Las Vegas.

Jean Scott

When disaster struck on September 11, 2001, all Las Vegas eyes were glued to the TV, just like anywhere else.

For a few days life seemed to stand still, even when we wandered around doing necessary tasks, our pain so great we could barely breathe.

The normally raucous casino atmosphere was strangely quiet, with most of the gamblers scattered around only because their planes had been grounded and left them stuck in a place where they really didn't want to be. Everyone longed to be home—where most Las Vegans were whenever that was possible.

Barney Vinson

Unfortunately, it was a day like all the others at Caesars Palace, where I was a casino supervisor. The cards kept turning, the roulette wheel kept spinning, the dice kept tumbling. In the lounges, the TVs were blaring the dreadful news and customers and employees alike were shocked that such a thing was happening right here in our country. What the hell was going on?

Still, it wasn't enough to stop the action, and the day rolled along. But once the planes stopped flying to Vegas, reality set in. In the following weeks, tourism sputtered to a halt and for a while, it looked like the town would never be the same again.

But life goes on. With terrorism rampant around the world, Vegas is right back where it always was, thumbing its nose at convention and giving its visitors a moment in time to forget the bad stuff. And that's what it's always been about.

Brian Rouff

Basically, I cancelled all my business meetings, stayed home, and watched TV. So I have no idea what the rest of Vegas was like.

Interesting sidebar, perhaps: My wife called the real estate broker she was working for at the time to see if she was closing the office for the day. The broker, one of the craziest people I’ve ever known and not institutionalized, said, “I’m not shutting down my business simply because a few planes flew into some buildings.”

Needless to say, my wife quit soon after.

Deke Castleman

I wasn’t in Las Vegas that day, so I only heard about it second-hand. I recall hearing how eerie and quiet the whole city was — no planes flying in and out; no traffic on the Strip; many people huddled in sports books watching the big screens tuned to news stations; the restaurants and bars all hushed; no lines anywhere.

By contrast, traffic leaving was bumper-to-bumper for 24 hours. With all airplanes grounded, the rental-car companies waived the one-way fees and quickly ran out of cars. Some high rollers bought cars or rented limos to get home. One limo company reported transporting a passenger all the way to New York.  

But my strongest memory is hearing about the display of memorabilia that spontaneously sprung up along the fence in front of the Statue of Liberty at New York-New York. Someone set up a couple of card tables and other people dropped off T-shirts, hats, cards, plaques, or just handwritten notes, some from police and fire fighters from around the country. All to give thanks and show support.

I was scheduled to fly in on the 15^th, that Saturday. The planes out of Reno started flying a day earlier and I was surprised that I didn’t have to change my reservation. There was a lot of commotion at the airport as they tried to kick start the airline system; the anxiety on that plane was palpable.

When I arrived, Anthony Curtis picked me up and we drove slowly past the display on the corner of Tropicana Avenue and the Strip. Vegas was still reeling. But the big news concerned the layoffs of casino employees in the sudden and extreme downturn in visitation and business. Many weren't rehired and left. It took a long time for the city to recover.

Anthony Curtis

I learned about it at home while getting ready for work. I had a live-in nanny at the time because I was a single dad and she called me into the living room to watch the news. It was a strange day at work. Our receptionist, who was young and new on the job, was most affected. Her mother kept calling and imploring her to come home, because she was scared to be alone. I let her go. TVs and radios were on, but customers came in as usual to get their MRBs and buy books. They were on vacation and some didn’t even know what was happening. Pretty surreal. 

[Editor's Note: We were so touched by Candy's description in the comments (below) that we contacted and thanked her. She was gracious enough to send us the whole story, so we're posting it here as an update.]  

Some music groups/acts didn't make it in to Las Vegas for their scheduled concerts. For others already in place, they were filling empty seats for free. Alabama was to play at the Las Vegas Hilton, one show. I never knew if they made it in or not. I suggested to hubby that we cab over there and possibly get into the concert (reportedly sold out already). Hubby wasn't interested, so we didn't. To this day I haven't forgiven myself for letting him talk me out of at least checking it out.

Again, Harrah's was so great. I got into a second slot tourney (with much nicer perks) just for the asking, since other registrants weren't going to be making it in. This helped take up some of our extra days' time. Luckily, VP was good to me and I had enough money to keep on gambling. Imagine the torture, four days in LV, no money to gamble with. Yikes! We did have to wash and hang out some undies and such the last few nights. 

It was reported that LV citizens were driving to the airport and offering to take stranded people (strangers) to their homes for a meal, a bath, maybe overnight? I thought that was magnanimous. Also, the buzz (and the news) was that some folks who had to get home quicker were cabbing to dealerships and buying a car with intent to sell it when they got home. Was that just urban legend? I can't say for sure. But there were TV news spots aired from the airport about Las Vegans who went to help the stranded ones.

I mentioned that hubby and I had just flipped on the TV, the first tower aflame, part of the plane sticking out of the building. Tom Brokaw and a co-anchor were clueless, debating what in the world could have caused this terrible "accident"? Was the pilot disoriented?  Did they get misdirected from the air traffic control tower? What about reconstruction? Could it be done without a total leveling? They were to going to bring an architect in on the discussion.  Then, so surreal, the second plane flies in and hits the other tower ... right on camera! Like, OMG, another one! At that moment, Brokaw and company said, practically in unison, "This is terrorism." Soon the other two attacks were reported (Pentagon and Pennsylvania). It was sickening to watch and listen to all that was happening. Of course, the whole nation was seeing this as well if they had their TV on.

Then the news that all planes were grounded "in place," not necessarily where they were headed (what a nightmare for so many), and no idea when they would fly again.