When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Hunter S. Thompson

30 July 2005

Vegas, meet the Village; Village, Vegas.

Curbed: Las Vegas' East Village: They Nailed It

Curbed, one of our favorite New York City blogs ever (it's about Topic A in NYC... real estate!) has a mindsnapping set of artist's renderings of a proposed "East Village-themed" retail shopping complex, to be built in Las Vegas.

Hey, if EPCOT can have a faux-Paris complete with polite waiters and bad croissants (it's Bizarro World! Everything's exactly backwards!) I guess there's no reason that you can't put a Famous Original Ray's Pizza and a mini-Washington Square arch in Vegas, along with some Far West Village details for seasoning (cobblestone streets, a "Meatpacking District" entertainment zone.)

Authenticity is the last thing on their minds, really. They're selling the idea of "East Village as shopping mall," or "lifestyle destination." Hell, they're even putting in a "diamond district." (Where, exactly, do they think they're going to get the ultra-Orthodox Jews? D'you think they could borrow some Mormons from Utah? Would that work?)

Scary. And no, it's not a joke... here's an article from the Las Vegas Business Press documenting the current plans.

No comments: