Bad Mojo
June 21, 2010
“Do you have a cigarette?”
“Can you spare any change?”
“Hey man, help me get a sandwich.”
This was not how I wanted my Saturday night to begin.
Last night, however, the streak sort of came to an end.
I’m not sure if it was the heat, the booze, or a combination thereof, but last night on Fremont Street there were a few shouting matches, a few fisticuffs, and worst of all … a busload of panhandlers.
Literally.
A few weeks ago, someone emailed me with regards to the new influx of posers on LVB. The person informed me that the LAPD was cracking down on the posers along Hollywood Boulevard, and that it was getting too difficult for them to work the streets in LA. Instead of sticking around Hollywood, waiting to get busted for loitering, etc … these posers were hopping on buses to work the Las Vegas crowd.
I lived in Hollywood for a couple of years, and the posers and panhandlers were part of my every day existence. I wasn’t bothered by them … it was Hollywood. I would really expect nothing less.
Las Vegas, however, is different.
Vegas is a tourist destination that depends on an overall perception of safety, and it simply cannot afford the “seedy” perception that other municipalities can get away with. Although the posers have been here for a few months, this weekend, Las Vegas got its first huge influx of a new Hollywood demographic.
Street kids.
Fremont Street - Street Kids
Fremont Street - Street Kids
Fremont Street - Street Kids
If you think about it, this makes perfect sense, and I am surprised that it has taken this long.
The Hollywood Greyhound bus station is about 100′ from the corner of Hollywood & Cahuenga … an intersection which is also the epicenter of the LA runaway community. The Las Vegas Greyhound bus station, located adjacent to the Plaza Hotel, is about 100′ from the Fremont Street Experience. What this means is that Greyhound provides door-to-door service between Hollywood Boulevard and Fremont Street. All it takes is a cheap bus ticket and a 5 hour nap.
Las Vegas Greyhound Bus Station
Anyone who has ever lived in Hollywood is no doubt very familiar with the kids of Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards. These are kids from all over the country who leave abusive or broken homes (not all meet this criteria, but most do), hop the nearest Greyhound bus to L.A., and arrive to find the city to be nothing like they see on television or in the movies. They live on the streets for a few years, and eventually it becomes a lifestyle. This is why it’s not uncommon for some of these “kids” to be in their 20’s, and in some cases … even 30’s.
Frankly, on some levels, I can relate to this demographic, and I do have a soft spot for them.
I was the product of a violent and abusive home, and I more or less raised myself from the age of 8 years old, when my parents split. I usually had a roof over my head with my mother, and I often got money from family to buy food, basic necessities, and whatnot, but I was under very little supervision. I learned to take care of myself pretty quickly. I was never really what I would call “homeless” per-se, but there were times during my youth when I didn’t have a place to go for two or three day stretches.
During these episodes, I often made myself at home on the F train. Late at night, this was one of the least dangerous and least populated trains. None of the IRT trains were good for crashing. They had a harsher ride, and were typically more dirty than the IND stock.
My point in saying this is to illustrate that I don’t have anything against these kids. I understand them, and greatly empathize with them. I suppose I was one of them to some degree … with one notable exception.
I never, never, ever panhandled. When I needed fast money, I grabbed a bicycle, hit the streets, and worked my ass off for 12 hours per day making deliveries. Some of those deliveries were contracts put together by multi-million dollar corporations, and some of those deliveries were glaucoma remedies. Either way, I did what I had to do … so long as it did not involve touching anyone’s weiner or standing around begging for spare change.
I didn’t hassle anyone or interrupt anyone, and because of this, my sympathy was put to the test yesterday.
Panhandler: “You got a cigarette, man?”
Me: “Nope”
Panhandler: “You got some spare change?”
Me: “Sorry, no.”
Panhandler: “Fuck you then.”
I walked between the Plaza and the Las Vegas Club a few times, and variations of the above conversation played out each time. It wasn’t just me, though, anyone who ran the LVC gauntlet was fair game. As if this were not bad enough, two groups of kids got into fights while I was standing near the Golden Gate, and by the end of the night, one of the kids needed paramedics and an ambulance.
Las Vegas Club - Street Kids / Runaways
Fremont Street - Ambulance
Fremont Street - Ambulance
Fremont Street - Paramedics
Fremont Street - Paramedics
Fremont Street - Ambulance
While I completely understand that the scene in LA has gotten too hot, and while I also recognize that these folks depend on handouts in order to survive, I think hopping a bus to Las Vegas was a miscalculation on their part. They would have been better off heading to Berkley or Portland because believe me 100% when I tell you this:
The current situation is simply not going to work out.
The vibe that was going down on the west end of Fremont last night will not work here, nor should it. Hollywood is one thing. It’s part of the culture. Las Vegas cannot handle it.
Tourists from Minnesota will not put up with the hassle and … hell … now that I am in my 40’s, I don’t think I want to put up with the hassle either. Somebody is going to have to go, either the tourists or the runaways, because the Fremont Street-cum-Hollywood Boulevard thing is completely unsustainable.
Just when Fremont began getting its groove back. Just when the perception of Downtown safety was on the rise ……. this.
It’s not good.
Anyway, despite the general unpleasantness of the west side, the evening was not a complete bust. The Aerosmith Tribute band was quite good, the Binion’s craps pit was packed, and I even got a few hands in at the world’s most famous poker room. I also spent some time in the Plaza party pit, which is something that I do not do very often due to its location across the street from the action. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the talent at the Plaza, and I may put this venue into somewhat higher rotation going forward
In any event, the primary message of this article, to anyone who will listen, is that the Downtown must nip the street kid situation in the bud before it gets out of hand. It’s the wrong area at the wrong time.
I’m sure we all have sympathy for the kids, but you can’t just take a place over. It’s not fair to the people who own the casinos and are trying to make something happen, and it’s not fair to the tourists who are looking for a stress-free place to spend their hard earned vacation money. If this continues, it will be a real setback for the perceived increase in Downtown safety.
Fremont Street cannot let itself become Hollywood Boulevard East.
Not now.
Not when it has come this far.
Written by wbeem on June 21, 2010 at 2:03 am
Welcome to the establishment.
Written by ColinFromLasVegas on June 21, 2010 at 3:25 am
I think I alluded to this problem with street urchins hanging out in Fremont Street in a prior post you had a long time ago, Rex. Not sure. But this just adds another problem on top of the problem before.
And that problem before was the city had a fight with a lawsuit on Fremont Street regarding allowing panhandlers, homeless, street urchins, hookers, criminal element people and those standing on soapboxes exhorting the masses to read on the internet about VegasRex.
They lost the lawsuit. Freedom wins. And the bells of freedom resound all throughout the Las Vegas valley.
The security guards from the casinos used to chase them along, along with the police. This was common practice. To protect the tourists.
Now?
No. Because the assholes that stand around and wait for free money MUST have protection of their First Amendment Rights. This is FAR more important and these idiots must excercise their panhandling abilities which is afforded to them courtesy of the law. Because those people MUST be accomodated in order to fucking destroy the tourist trade here. Because more and more panhandlers are needed there on the front lines to achieve this destructive goal.
If it entails chasing tourists away, this MUST be done. And these knuckleheads are allowed to cuss at tourists all they want because hell, they got the law on their side…fuck everyone else.. BECAUSE these First Amendment rights pertaining to free speech are sacrosanct and MUST be protected and exercised regularly to show they are more important to the livelihood of Las Vegas…not tourists.
Talk about whacked out priorities. Sheesh.
I think you and I, Rex, should go in business and set up on a street corner with a sign that exhorts the masses to give us money. Because we actually care about Las Vegas. And if you give that money to us, we’ll spend it stupidly. Because after all, giving it to us will keep it out of the hands of the lowlife scum just down the street from us. Sort of one of those “give it to us, not them idiots” things. It may catch on. You never know.
Lemme work out the little details on it though. Still in the drawing board phase. It will take a little bit of planning…..
Written by FleaStiff on June 21, 2010 at 3:24 pm
South America has the right idea.
There the police death squads take street urchins out to the jungle pits.
Problem solved.
Written by mike_ch on June 21, 2010 at 10:44 pm
ColinFromLasVegas: Yes, the First Amendment is more important than gambling in Las Vegas. In fact, most Americans would probably choose to shut down Las Vegas than lose the amendment if they had to pick one of the two. Jesus christ, man, where is your head at?
Every urban setting has it’s blights. Would homeless people be any less homeless hanging out anywhere else in the city? Not really. Would they be just as inconvenient anywhere else in the city? Yes. I doubt that Rex wants these people off Fremont so bad that he would rather they be in his own corner of town, nor would anyone else.
It’s a bit silly for Rex to call it unfair to the casinos of all things, some of the city’s biggest taxpayers, when the reason people are hanging around in public like this is the failure of the city to put them anywhere else. City Hall’s position has been to go around chasing the homeless and shutting down parks and other public places they take up residence in, hoping that they’ll go squat in another town’s boundaries (or another metro entirely) if they get tired of all the harassment.
If you want to blame anyone, go blame them. Their official policy on this stuff is “be so inhospitable and unaccomodating as to make these people leave.”
Written by Howard Park on June 22, 2010 at 1:54 am
Honest, over the last few years I’ve felt just a bit safer on Fremont than on parts of the Strip, esp. the north Strip. In any case, the guy who really scares me is the one who hits first and askes questions later. Any panhandler who is agressive won’t last long — there are planty of cops on Fremont.
Written by james h on June 22, 2010 at 3:32 am
i was on freemont street last week, last monday to be exact,,,and of all the times ive been there, i thought this time was the worst, the street people were everywhere. lots of 40ish year old men, underweight, dirty, missing teeth, drunk, all getting just a little to close. the street just had a bad feel, the worst ive seen. its only a matter of time before a tourist gets hurt or killed, it wouldnt take much for this to get out of hand. as a tourist attraction, freemont street should be cleaned up, the beggers, street kids and derelics, all need to be gone…the city should just make it too difficult for them to be there…new orleans just started arresting everyone that didnt have money, put them in jail trucks, kept them for 12 hours, made them feel unwelcome and funny thing….they went somewhere else, they didnt like the hassel of being detained, and along the way the police found many people with warrants and such…this is war, a tourist war, if las vegas wants the tourist money, then las vegas needs to provide a safe fun environment…
Written by Disco Stu on June 22, 2010 at 2:28 pm
No, this is not good at all. I enjoy Downtown. I truly have fun down there. This is not what I want to experience on vacation. I will not experience this on vacation. This will make Downtown excursions go from my favorite part of many trips to a place I will avoid entirely.
It isn’t like you can simply stay away during certain hours. These are street kids. They will be there all day long. They know people have small bills on them. Who wants to book a hotel stay on a street where they’ll be harassed every time they walk out the door? I understand why the kids are there from their standpoint, but I’m not playing their game.
Written by ginny on June 22, 2010 at 5:45 pm
As a solo female traveler (coming from Minnesota) I am not looking forward to this in two weeks. I always enjoy staying downtown, but hate being called after and harassed by the street folks, but then again I have had it happen on the strip just as much if not more.
Written by leni on June 23, 2010 at 9:55 pm
If this is true then our love affair with vegas will come to a screeching hault, I can go to mexico if I want to feel unsafe. The reason we go to vegas is for the fun and we feel safe. We can also have fun in Cuba where we are %100 safe and the people are the nicest I have met anywhere. I’m pissed I already booked the GN in july. The wife is not going to like this.
Written by The Fonz on June 24, 2010 at 12:45 am
As a male from Minnesota, no, I don’t want to be hassled by dozens of beggars looking for a handout instead of wanting to do something productive with their lives.
I get that it’s a challenge to pull thyself up by the bootstraps when you have nowhere to turn, but if there’s a will, there’s a way.
I don’t donate a dime to anyone on the street begging for a handout, it only enables the behavior.
And no, I’m not interested in being hassled all day long just because I scrape and scrimp in order to afford a few days of low-roller entertainment in Vegas.
Written by Aero on June 24, 2010 at 2:04 pm
They should hire Rudy G. as a special consultant on this matter. He cleaned up Manhattan. I’ve had several encounters on Fremont in the past and none were too memorable. Rex is 100% correct in that, if it becomes a “every time I walk 10 ft there’s another person in my face asking for a nickle” type situation, I will avoid Fremont St. The only thing I’ve ever “donated” to these folks is food.
Written by Mike on June 24, 2010 at 8:49 pm
I’m heading out to Vegas in March and planned to stay downtown for the first time. When I was out that way last March I checked out FSE and enjoyed it way more than I ever did the strip. The whole less-pretentious atmosphere aside, it’s nice to be able to wander around without some pushy guy in an Elvis costume trying to hand you playing cards for a free limo to his strip club at his timeshare full of girls who want to give you bottled water and fly you around the Grand Canyon every two minutes.
Hopefully FSE doesn’t fall victim to the same nonsense