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There has been some talk of Nora 2 online lately, and I realized that unlike Naked City, few people outside of Las Vegas are really familiar with the area.

Nora 2 is the “other” infamous neighborhood near The Strip.

“Nora 2” is actually the police designation of a one square mile area of low-rise apartment buildings and strip malls, adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center, and about half a mile behind the Wynn Hotel.

As a matter of fact, the Wynn hotel is an omnipresent fixture on the Nora 2 horizon as it is one of the few structures visible from practically every street in the neighborhood.

In years past, the neighborhood has been, and is still … known by a half dozen other names.  Personally, I called it “Crack Alley” for years.  I called it this because this is the name that was conveyed to me by cab drivers when I first moved here.  I remember the first driver who ever admonished me about the place.   “Don’t drive down Sierra Vista”  he told me “That’s Crack Alley”.

And so, a moniker was born.

After the new police station was built last year, I dropped the “Crack” name and began using the police designation for the neighborhood … Nora 2.   Since the neighborhood is not an “alley”, and not everyone in the neighborhood is a crack dealer, it just seems like a more reasonable name.

Roughly speaking, Nora 2 is bounded by Paradise Ave, Desert Inn Rd, Maryland Pkwy, and Twain Ave.

Since moving to Vegas, I have become intimately familiar with Nora 2. Most of my local shopping is done in and around the area, and I have to traverse at least part of the neighborhood several times a week.

As a matter of fact, I often walk through N2 on my way to the Boulevard Mall to do my shopping.  Yes, you heard right, an American that does not have a pathological aversion to using their own feet as transportation.  We aren’t extinct.  There are three of us left.

For the most part, I don’t have many problems in Nora.  In fact, issues are rare.  Like most other “inner city” neighborhoods, people don’t bother you if you don’t bother them.

It is not uncommon to be solicited for drugs or prostitution while walking through N2, but having grown up in DC, NY, and LA …  it’s not a big deal for me. I just politely decline and move on.

There are exceptions, of course.

A couple of years ago, I rode my bicycle through Nora 2.  When I got to the intersection of Cambridge and Sierra Vista, I heard “clink”, “clink”, “crash”.

Apparently the large beer bottle which had been launched in my direction was more resilient than the pitcher with poor aim had anticipated.  Not only did it miss my head, but it skipped along the sidewalk twice before finally having its journey unceremoniously ended by a nearby concrete wall.

On this particular day, a group of about five young gangbangers had some sort of intellectual objection to my being present at this particular intersection.

I don’t remember all of the things they were screaming at me, but I do remember being scolded for being of the Caucasian persuasion, and at least one of these gentleman implied that I engaged in carnal relations with my maternal parent.

I considered approaching the gentleman and seeing if there was perhaps a way that we could solve our disagreement in a verbal manner … perhaps with a friendly game of trivial pursuit … or rock, paper, scissors … but a bulge under one of the guy’s jackets indicated to me the next projectile delivered in my direction might be a little faster and “bullet-y” … so I decided to begrudgingly accept the group’s proposal to quote “Get my white ass out of there”.

This was an exceptional experience, though.

On most days Nora 2 is full of people just going about their routine. Maids and busboys coming home from work, kids playing, and yes, the occasional drug dealer and crackho.

Unlike me, however, the LVCVA has a major problem with the area.

That problem is the Las Vegas Convention Center.

It sits on the northwest edge of Nora 2.

Unlike the relative safety of casinos, there is no such expectation of safety when one ventures into surrounding Vegas neighborhoods.

Unfortunately for the Convention Center and the neighborhood,  there have been crime problems involving tourists who have used the eastern parking lot.

Over the years, the County and the Convention center have used various means to ensure the safety of self-park conventioneers.  They have installed elevated security booths.  They have installed emergency call boxes along Desert Inn Road.  They have put bicycle security officers on constant patrol when conventions are in town.  They have even gone so far as to completely demolish entire apartment complexes adjacent to the Convention Center, such as the notorious Blue Harbor Apartments.

Despite all of these measures, the neighborhood was still perceived as being too unsafe for an area so close to a major tourist destination, therefore in 2008, a brand new police station opened up specifically to serve Nora 2.  That police station is now located, you guessed it, directly adjacent to the Convention Center.

Say what you want about it being erected to serve the residents of the neighborhood, but those of us who live here are well aware that it was built to protect the Convention Center first and foremost.

But that’s not all.

In late 2008, the County eliminated half of the Convention Center parking lot in Nora 2.  As of this moment, they are building a fire station on that property … which will be directly across from the police station.  The fire station is slated to open in July of 2009.

It appears that they are trying to make the neighborhood “Public Safety Central”, but the jury is still out on how well all of this will work out.

Personally, I have a stake in the fate of the area.  I don’t live directly in Nora 2, but I live close enough so that when that area sneezes, my neighborhood catches a cold.

Since Flamingo Estates has been razed, Nora 2 is one of the few remaining working-class neighborhoods within walking distance of the Vegas Strip.

Given its location, I have a feeling that the entire area will eventually get knocked down, and sold off piecemeal to developers.

While most in Las Vegas will say “good riddance”, I won’t be one of them.

While parts of the neighborhood would definitely qualify as a “ghetto”,  other parts of it have potential.  The shopping infrastructure along Twain is already in place, and there are still some good places to eat.  If they cleaned the area up, it could be a viable urban center.

And if Las Vegas needs anything, it’s more real viable neighborhoods instead of the sterile, fake towns that seem to be in fashion these days.

Anyway, next time you are in town, you may want to consider taking a leisurely bike ride through Nora 2.

Be sure to drop by the intersection of Sierra Vista and Cambridge, and tell them Rex sent you.

If you catch the bottle of Malt Liquor before it hits you in the head, guess what?

Free Booze!

You’re welcome.

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