Question of the Day - 17 June 2020

Choice number 3 as I was around in those days and enjoyed it immensely.  Bu then the last choice came up and that is the one I would vote for for one reason only, you can never go back and if you don't like the way things are THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!  All the whining, bitching, moaning, and crying over the past is getting old and tiresome.

You always had to pay for parking in the older days.  The strip was a wet dream back then and Fremont street and others downtown were not closed off.  You parked your car in any lot or hotel garage, received a time stamped ticket for redeeming your vehicle later on, however every casino in town would "comp" that parking ticket just for showing up in the casino.  Later, when leaving the parking lot, you showed the stamped ticket and went on about your business.

The grass is always greener.....We want everything to be perfect - 1. Everything good from the mob era without the mob.  2. Legit run businesses without the corporate greed.  It's fun to kick it around.  We're all full of crap.  

I agree you can't go back but must look forward.  Maybe the "bean counters" looking to squeeze out the last $.10 such as parking fees, resort fees, etc will consider taking better care of the customers and find they will have a better bottom line.  
I do miss the attitude of Benny Benion--give the customer a good bang for his/her buck. Now days the corporate attitude is take as much of the customers money as you can and offer very little in return.  A few comments from the peanut gallery.  

Thank you for your excellent explanation of the expressions surrounding a “dose/pinch of salt.”

I suspect the majority will be guessing based on reading about it, movies, etc.  Therefore, I suggest two additions:

1.  "I personally experienced Las Vegas in the 1950s and 1960s.

2.  "I did not personally experience Las Vegas in the 1950s and 1960s.

I would look forward to comments (AFTER the ACTUAL poll comes out) from those who were really there during those years.  The good, the bad, the ugly.

They way the question is formed (not so much the choices), it looks like a simple yes/no answer...so then the remaining question would be WHY...why do you think it's better now, or why do you think it was better then. I think implicit in Sean's comment is that cherry-picking the things we liked then and merging them with the things we like now doesn't really answer the question. In fact, maybe a more appropriate question would be, what do you like most about "old Vegas" more than "now Vegas" and vice versa. But it all comes back to the original question...Do you prefer the "old Vegas", both good and bad to the "now Vegas", also both good and bad. And then we can ask, like some of the choices and responders have mentioned, what of the "good" is most important to have, and what of the "bad" is most important to not have.

In the old Vegas, 100% of visitors smoked (or so it seemed, at least...I remember seeing one guy wheeling an oxygen tank and smoking). You went to a restaurant, somebody next to you could and often would light up a cigar. There were no non-smoking areas. Consequently, the old Vegas smelled and often looked like a giant ashtray.

The new Vegas is still the smoke-stinkiest city in America, but at least there are such things as nonsmoking hotel rooms, etc.

The Blue Air of the Old Days, especially in show rooms is gone!  However, the LOUD MUSIC at the current show venues needs to be toned down.  The old technology didn't allow a performer to make a portion of their audience deaf. The sound board runs in the red for most shows now.  Crazy!

3..3 and 3.....  are you kidding me..  Let's  have skimming along with murder..extortion...torture... yeah... that's the way to do it.  

I grew up in the 70’s-80’s Vegas, so I never really got to experience the 50’s-60’s years, but remnants of them were still around in the 70’s. I’d settle for the years Dan Tanna was still parking his Corvette inside his house. 

Roy,
It was a 1957 Red Thunderbird Dan Tana parked in his home.

The mob was around in the 70's and early 80's. I started going to Las Vegas in 1974 and I can say for sure it was better before corporations took over.

Here is what those of us who experienced in those days miss and can never be again.....The class of society in those days, in dress and manner. Real classic talent, no technical enhancements. Showrooms like classy supper clubs, not herded in like cattle. Enjoying a cocktail or two, not drinking to get drunk and acting stupid. Las Vegas was the original, the real thing. Today it's a parody of what people envision that it was and exaggerate it. As far as the Mob, we were never even aware of their presence or that they existed. I don't expect it to return to those days and still love it and it's resilience that will be tested now, more than ever.

difference between now and then is that back then you were not hassled, hustled, or conned. Mostly because the mob wanted happy customers. Now everyone wants your money thinking we are fools who come to town to throw away our hard earned bucks.  We are constantly being begged for change, handed porn flyers on the streets, hustled by Fremont street shows, or robbed by the strip casinos.  There is simply no more courtesy nor respect today.