Vanessa and Ryan arrived at the Mob Museum for the launch of the 4 pm walking tour. So we stepped into the lobby for a photo with J. Edgar. They were from California, and Ryan, a musician, had been to Vegas several times for the Punk Rock Bowling Music Festival. The tour was awesome. On Third Street we stepped into Hogs & Heifers – the biker bar famous for its canopy of women’s undergarments assembled above the bar. At Casino Center we stopped to note Block 16, our historic “Red Light” district. At the Plaza Hotel, a sensational 20 story new mural by Shepard Fairey was in progress. Historic Fremont Street was performing par excellence. At Las Vegas Boulevard we ran into Jay Leno himself in a crowd showing off a fancy car from his famous collection. When we got to the Container Park, the Praying Mantis sculpture of Burning Man fame was spitting fire on command. Turns out Vanessa has been to that festival – twice! To me, it seems like Vegas is always speaking across multi- generations, a measure of its pop culture authenticity.
