Las Vegas
If you know me even a little bit, you're probably surprised by this one.
And you'd be right, I would have never planned a trip to Las Vegas on my own. In my mind, the city was a spectacle: casinos, bright signs, engineered environments. Like a mall, and malls make me nauseous.
After visiting, I'd say that while that impression wasn't wrong, it was incomplete.
I'm glad that my company chose it for our yearly kickoff. It nudged me to look at the city more closely, and I'm grateful for that.
Las Vegas is not a walkable city in any conventional sense. Sidewalks are narrow, roads are extremely wide, distances are long, and very few people are walking around. The default scale is automotive, not human.
But there are pockets.
Arts District
Arts District is compact enough that you can walk every street.
Older storefronts, small galleries, independent coffee shops. The sidewalk-to-road proportion is reasonable. There are even painted bike lanes and trees lining the sidewalks. Small blocks.
There's more than enough visual variation to keep you engaged.
Paradise Palms
A residential neighborhood known for its mid-century homes.
If this style of architecture speaks to you, it's worth the visit. Some homes are carefully restored, others untouched. It's fun comparing the originals to the modern interpretations.
The Strip
Even the Strip is worth experiencing once, if only for the infrastructure.
Pedestrian overpasses, bridges, escalators — a circulation system layered on top of arterials. I guess that's what happens when you design at automotive scale and then realize you have to accommodate massive pedestrian volumes. It's a unique setup.
People watching is fascinating, too. I'm not sure where else you'll find such an assembly of characters in one place, myself included.
Like Times Square, it's probably a one-time experience. But it's an experience nonetheless.
bonus
Lastly, I wanted to share a place that's definitely not a walkable neighborhood, and in fact, it's closer to the opposite: a vast parking lot surround by garages.
Why go there?
Well, once again, if you know me at all, you know the fastest way to lure me somewhere sketchy is to mention that there's a fancy coffee shop hiding inside one of those garages. That's exactly the case here.
Corsa Coffee is a remarkable place in an unremarkable setting. Very good coffee, subtly sweet sweets, an experience indeed.
And this is there was time for. If I had an extra day or two, I would have loved to visit Downtown and Spring Mountain (Chinatown). I'm sure there are other pockets I didn't find — so if you know of something that would be up my alley, let me know.