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First of all, for those of you who have not heard, this week MGM/Mirage secured financing to complete City Center.  We are still waiting on the Fontainebleau’s financing issue, but Las Vegas is guaranteed that at least one project will open by the end of the year.

I’ve been over both of these projects ad-nauseum this month, so I have nothing to add other than … I hope they both open and succeed.

I also doubt that this completely puts an end to the City Center drama (as a matter of fact there is a construction code issue hanging over the place), but we’ll see.

Anyway …

A couple of months ago while doing the “neighborhood series” where I toured through one inner-city neighborhood after another, I mentioned that we did have neighborhoods that were upscale, unique, and not completely suburban and cookie-cutter.

The two that sprang immediately to mind were Sunrise Mountain and Alta Drive.

I headed out to Sunrise a couple months ago, but this week I finally grabbed the camera and spent a few hours on Alta.  It is not a neighborhood I frequent, because other than homes, there is nothing there.  Unlike Sunrise, there is no view to speak of, nor are there many attractions.

The glaring exception is Pop’s, which is located at the far west end of the ‘hood.  It’s one of the few real Cheesesteak joints in Las Vegas, and it has a bit of a cult following here locally.  If you are in the mood for Las Vegas’ take on Pat’s and Geno’s … then this is a place you must try.

Is it as good as Pat’s?  It’s probably close enough.  Like I have mentioned before, there is only so much you can do with bread and meat.  I’ve dined at both Pat’s and Geno’s on the same day, and while many claim that there is an overwhelming difference, they taste more or less the same to me.  So does Pop’s.  It’s cheese, steak, bread, and sauce.  How badly can you screw it up?

While the majority of our “nice” neighborhoods are in far-flung locales such as Summerlin, The Lakes, and Green Valley, Alta Drive is most notable for its location … literally 1 mile from Downtown Las Vegas.

While “Downtown Las Vegas” and “nice neighborhood” are almost always mutually exclusive in the eyes of the average tourists (and most locals for that matter), people tend to forget that the current sprawl of the Las Vegas Valley is a relatively recent phenomenon in the Las Vegas historical timeline.

For decades, “Las Vegas” ended at Decatur Blvd., and anything beyond that was literally “the desert”.

Quite obviously, since the inception of the town as a resort, we have always had wealthy people in Las Vegas, and living in the middle of nowhere was simply not an option.  At least not if you wanted things like electricity and running water.  As progress marched on and roads were built, a large amount of “white flight” occurred, and left the Downtown area relegated largely to the working class and in some cases, the outright poor.

Throughout this evolution, Alta is one of the few areas that has retained not only its prime Downtown-ish location, but has also retained and maintained its decidedly upper-upper class exclusivity.

The other very unique thing about the Alta road is its mild serpentine winding, and the 30 foot drop that immediately precedes entry to the neighborhood.  When you enter from the West Side, the entrance into Alta is a fairly dramatic one.   You come off of a hill, then immediately start swerving left and right.   If you got up enough speed, I imagine it would be the automotive equivalent of a roller coaster.

Since the good old days are long gone, Alta is now a semi-major thoroughfare.  It now runs past the Suncoast Hotel, and terminates near Red Rock Canyon.

For all practical intents and purposes, “Alta Drive” refers only to the area between Martin Luther King Boulevard and Decatur Boulevard, and the historic area is even more narrowly defined as the stretch of Alta between Decatur and Rancho.

In my opinion,  given the historical importance of the area, they should change the name of the road  west of Decatur.  I’ve always said the same thing of Las Vegas Boulevard north of Fremont and south of Russell, but nobody listens.

Maybe when I’m Mayor …

Many of your favorite resident Las Vegas celebrities and personalities have quite possibly owned homes at one point or another in this neighborhood.  As a matter of fact, Siegfried, Roy, and their large family of White Tigers live just a couple of blocks north of Alta and Decatur.

While the neighborhood is rich in history and importance to the Las Vegas community, it can be somewhat of a challenge for sightseers. While some unique houses are certainly visible from one of the dozens of residential streets in the neighborhood, many other roads are behind gates, bars, trees, and walls.  Alta is sandwiched between some decidedly high-crime areas, and there is somewhat of a fortress effect that takes place here that is not nearly as prevalent on Sunrise Mountain.

While the neighborhood is attractive, it’s not particularly welcoming.

As a matter of fact, I spotted a train caboose in the yard of one house, and when I got out of the car to investigate, I was met with the following sign:

I assumed that they were bluffing, or that it was a novelty sign, so I approached a break in the gate to get a quick shot, and was greeted by this:

Apparently they really don’t want people to gawk at their home, which begs the question … why design it like a train station?   Why stick a train in your backyard if you don’t want people to look at it?

Seriously, if I designed my house to look like a space station, and stuck a full-sized rocket in my yard, I would be shocked if people didn’t stop to see what in the hell was going on.  It’s like the Bellagio Fountains chasing people from the front of the property saying “There’s nothing to see here!” during a show.

If you want to fly under the radar, that’s all well and good and I respect that … but if you do something really out of the ordinary, I’m going to look.

Same with you women that run around in low-cut dresses complaining that “Everyone is always looking at my boobs!”.  Put the damn things away, and nobody will look.  Alas, common sense is dead.

People build “Look at me!” houses, then sick the hounds on you when you look.  What can you do?

Anyway, it would be hard for me to recommend a trip to this area if you don’t have a car … because most of the cool stuff is simply not visible to the average person.

If you already have a car, however, it won’t take more than an hour out of your day to tour the area.   It’s definitely “different” than the majority of the neighborhoods in the city, and that in and of itself might make it worthwhile.  If you are going out to the Suncoast or Red Rock, Alta would make for a more interesting route than the freeway or Desert Inn Rd., and really would not take much more time.

And hey, if you’ve had enough to drink, and get enough liquid courage coursing through your veins, you may want to check out a particular backyard train exhibit.

I know a particular dog that eagerly awaits the challenge.

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