Re: Las Vegas' future--speculation welcome

Jules W. wrote: 
I've only been going to Vegas for a couple years so I don't have the
experience and wisdom of some of you who have been going since the days
of the Rat Pack, etc. However, I'm finding it sad that the Key Largo,
the Boardwalk, the Ho, among others, are going the way of the
stegosaurus. My first trip was to Key Largo, which was properly smoky
and tacky and had cheap eats (and maybe three tables, only one of which
ever seemed to be open)-- in other words, what I heard about Vegas,
lack of hookers notwithstanding. Almost every trip since then I've been
to the Boardwalk for the low limits, friendly folk, cheap snacks, and
Prince impersonator, and the Tropicana for the museum and free acrobats
and birds and low, uh, ceilings.  I've also stayed downtown at LVC,
which I really enjoyed (not to mention the $170. win at the nickel
slots).  While I like to visit and gawk at the artsy stuff at the
Bellagio and Venetian (I'll see about the Wynn in Feb.), I really have
a soft spot in my heart for low-rent, homey (but not necessarily
dangerous-looking) places where decor is often an afterthought. And
these seem to be disappearing.

So...here's the question AVLV'ers. Will Fremont and the empty land up
and down the Strip become gentrified and "glitzified" and eventually
priced out of middle-income budgets? Will places like the new Hooters
and the Gold Coast keep the best of cheap and tacky Vegas alive or will
the megaresorts become the only option for vacationing? What do y'all
think?

Jules W., professional pessimist
shedding a tear for the Boardwalk, that dump.<sniff>

No doubt that Hooters will be delightfully tacky.

I think on the strip we are seeing the tacky places being squeezed out (Boardwalk, Ho, Frontier, IP-eventually, BC-eventually, Stardust eventually).
.