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When I began coming to Las Vegas about a decade ago, Sunrise Manor was my favorite neighborhood in town.  This was The off-strip neighborhood to be in my opinion.

It was actually my first choice as a Vegas home, but I moved here during the Real Estate boom, and properties in the area just weren’t commanding reasonable prices at all.

The houses there are custom built.  Unlike Summerlin, Green Valley, Aliante, The Lakes, etc … Sunrise Manor is actually a very unique place in Las Vegas.

Although some people (including myself) often refer to the area as “Sunrise Mountain” or simply “Sunrise”, the correct name for it is “Sunrise Manor”.   To make matters even more complicated, the neighborhood is still mis-named.  The mountain on which most of the neighborhood actually sits on is  “Frenchman Mountain”.

Apparently, the mountain drinks wine, laughs through its nose, and refuses to wear deodorant.

There is a “Sunrise Mountain”, but it is north of the central neighborhood.  I suppose “Sunrise” just sounds nicer than “Frenchman”, so they adopted the former name.

Sunrise Manor is not in the City of Las Vegas.  It is just east of the city limits, and is actually a “Census Designated Place” within the boundaries of Clark County.   As of the 2006 Census, approximately 200,000 people inhabit Sunrise.  To put this into perspective, if Sunrise Manor were its own city … it would be roughly equivalent in population to Spokane, Des Moines, Richmond (VA), and Little Rock. It’s quite large for such a little known place.

Sunrise Manor ranges from the very wealthy, to the very economically depressed.  My favorite place is the more upscale area on the mountain.  The higher you go, the nicer it gets.

While I won’t go into the names of who lives there now, some “celebrities” do, indeed have houses on this side of the hill.  As a matter of fact, I once looked into buying a house on the mountain, and the Real Estate Agent informed me that Arnold Schwatzenafricanamerican once owned the house.

Was it true?

Hell if I know, but it was huge and built like a fortress, so it certainly would not have surprised me if the Terminator at least used it as a vacation home.

In my opinion, Sunrise has the best view anywhere in the Las Vegas Valley, if not the nation.  That is what drew me to the place initially, and still compels me to make the 10 mile drive at least once every few months.

Very few tourists make it to Sunrise, though.

The primary reason for this is because the neighborhood is bordered by the economically depressed “Nellis” area.  “Nellis” is named after the nearby Air Force Base, and is bisected by its main thoroughfare, Nellis Blvd.   Nellis looks much like the pictures of the other inner-city neighborhoods that I have shown you, sans the charm.

Any neighborhood within a few miles of Nellis Air Force Base is generally considered off-limits to people who wish to see their next birthday, and even though this reputation is slightly exaggerated … perception is everything.

Nevertheless, when people ask me about hidden treasures in Vegas, I often recommend a trip to Sunrise.  It’s very easy to find.  Take Charleston Blvd east until you hit Hollywood Boulevard.  Hang a left, and pick which side street you wish to climb up the side of the hill. Any of them will do, as they all connect to Los Feliz Street.

When you finally reach Los Feliz, get out, look back, and you will see sweeping views of the valley.  You will be able to see about 40 miles in any given direction.

This view is unlike any other city panorama you are likely to see.  The reason for this is that, even though you are on the side of a mountain, you are still at the exact same elevation as Las Vegas Boulevard in the distance.  You are actually getting a side-view of the city from some 15 miles away.

How is this possible?

The Las Vegas Valley slopes down from West to East.  As you are driving along Charleston, you are losing elevation, but when you climb up the mountain, you quickly make up for the lost altitude.  The  reason it looks like you are higher than The Strip, is because of the tilt of the valley.  You are looking over the nearby neighborhoods, but you are just about at eye level of The Strip and Downtown. I’ve never seen anything quite like this anywhere else.

The architecture of this area is also the most interesting in the entire Vegas Metro Area.  Sunrise has a large amount of really cool houses, including my favorite … a Chinese Pagoda.   As it were, I managed to run into the Asian residents when I pulled up to take the photo.  They waved, smiled, and seemed like friendly people … but they spoke Chinese, so an interview was out of the question.

This is the only Chinese I know:

“Me Chinese, me play joke, me go pee-pee in your coke.”

The rest of the language sounds like a modem when you accidentally pick up the phone line, so there was nothing more I could do.

Adding to the architectural oddness, is the largest Mormon Church in the State of Nevada.  It is located in Sunrise.

When I first encountered this Mormon church years ago, I remember remarking about how odd it was for Mormons to set up a temple in Las Vegas.  Mormons don’t drink, gamble, or avail themselves of strip clubs, so it seemed quite out of place.

When I read about the history of Las Vegas, though, I learned that the city was actually originally settled by Mormons while trying to convert Indians to the Mormon Religion.  Las Vegas was actually part of something called the “Mormon Corridor”.

Doh!

What happened?

Sometimes even the best laid plans go awry.

Anyway, Sunrise was developed before large developers ruined Las Vegas with sterile and bland tract housing.  If you ask me, Pulte, KB Homes, etc, really stole the soul of the city.   I can’t understand the mentality of anyone who would by a McMansion in a Home Owner’s Association.  It just feels like a cultural lobotomy.

Anyway, back to the view.   Aside from “weird-house-spotting”, the indisputable attraction of Sunrise is the view.  Here are a couple of photos I took a few years back to compare with those taken today.

You can see the entire Vegas Valley from the upper part of Sunrise, and at night it is also very impressive.  I am going to go back in the near future with a tripod so I can get some night shots as well.

Of course, no neighborhood in Las Vegas is completely immune from the city as a whole.

While cruising around Sunrise, I noticed that,  like the rest of the city, they also had their fair share of gang graffiti. While walking around a bit, it was also apparent that vice is just as prevalent in the rich section of town as the poor.

While taking photos, I almost stepped on two freshly used condoms laying in the rocks next to a million dollar home.   When you have remnants of prostitution on the side of a mountain, you know you are in Las Vegas. What can I tell you … it’s the nature of the town.  This is why people try to hide themselves behind gates, but it’s a false sense of security.  In this city, you can never truly isolate yourself.

I walked around, hiked some of the nearby hills, and had a good time re-visiting the neighborhood.

When I was getting ready to go back home, I pointed the car down the hill, and I caught a whiff of something that smelled like …  Um …  Shit.  Sorry, I just don’t know how else to describe it.  Being the curious sort, I followed said smell, and when I found the source … I realized just how accurate my nose had been.

There is a small ranch on the side of the hill called, oddly enough, “Sunrise Ranch”.  I have no idea how they got that name.  Apparently there was a rodeo taking place at the ranch.  I stopped to whisper to a couple of the horses (supposedly they respond to that), and headed back into town through the ghettos that dot the majority of Eastern Las Vegas.

If you have never been to Sunrise, I would recommend it.  It will not take up more than two or three hours of your trip, and you will likely see a side of Vegas that you have never seen before.  It’s an odd and quirky place with odd and quirky people, but that is part of its charm.

I would consider it one of my favorite “hidden gems” of Las Vegas, and I think most people who enjoy interesting perspectives of cities will appreciate it.

My only advice would be to watch where you step.

Nothing can turn a good trip bad like slipping on a used Trojan.  Although if you are a woman out there considering artificial insemination, taking a trip to Sunrise might just save you a small fortune in “product”.

I always try to find the silver lining.

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