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You are looking at what used to be The Desert Club Apartments, The Winnick Apartments, The Flamingo Arms Apartments, and The Summer Bay Resorts.

Back in 1962, this entire area was known as “Flamingo Estates”, and it was actually one of the few neighborhoods in central Las Vegas built to be livable without owning a motor vehicle.

For as long as I have lived here, this square mile area was, by far, the most convenient area in which to live in Las Vegas.

The apartments were certainly not the nicest, but neither were they the worst. I knew many a person who called the place home, and a solid majority of them were reasonably happy there.

This was one of the few RESIDENTIAL neighborhoods on the Vegas Strip, and I actually contemplated moving there more than a few times. There were few vacancies, and the views from the units sucked, but you could literally walk out your back door and directly into the Flamingo in about 60 seconds.

This area, bordered by Koval Ave, Flamingo Ave, and Twain Ave … and bisected by Winnick Ave, was actually a thriving little neighborhood. On any given day, you would see people out walking around, riding their bicycles, or hanging out by one of the complex pools.

It was also interesting to ride the monorail, and literally look at people watching TV or making their beds through the open windows. Having a transit train passing within yards of residential windows was a little slice of Brooklyn on the West Coast.

Of course, the area also had problems with crime, drugs, and prostitution, but there are few neighborhoods near The Strip that don’t have these issues to one degree or another. This neighborhood shared many of the same characteristics of any other inner-city neighborhood, but it is not an area that I considered “bad”.

It was a solid working class area, bounded by several major hotels and a timeshare complex.

The location could not be beat, and therein lied a large portion of the problem.

Anything in Las Vegas that is even remotely located on decent real estate is not going to last for long unless it is owned by a major corporation.

Therefore, in October of 2007, a major corporation did what major corporations do best. Destroyed a neighborhood.

This would not have been so bad if they had replaced the neighborhood with something other than a vacant lot, but to date, they have replaced it with nothing.

Harrah’s bought the apartment complex in 2006, and in September of 2007, they gave every resident a 30 day eviction notice.

This caused quite a stir here locally. While 30 days is standard for an eviction notice, it is not standard to evict such a large number of people in such a short amount of time. It caused more than a little bit of panic, and it received a large amount of media attention.

At the time, Harrah’s did not convey their intention for the property. They merely told everyone to get the hell out.

I remember walking and driving through the neighborhood after the evictions were announced, and watching U-Hauls, pickup trucks, and even grocery carts packed with personal belongings everywhere. It looked like a massive evacuation. It was also very sad. The neighborhood was there for as long as I had known Las Vegas.

I found myself on Winnick Avenue today, and the sight depressed me. Not only did the apartment complexes leave, but the Summer Bay Resorts have packed up and relocated to the other side of Koval as well. Harrah’s traded properties with financially troubled Summer Bay, and gave them an additional $29.5 million to sweeten the deal.

As soon as Summer Bay agreed, Harrah’s promptly knocked down those buildings as well.

As if the vacant Echelon Pit and Plaza lot were not bad enough, the near-east side is now starting to look like Detroit as well. The Blue Harbor Apartments were knocked down for Convention Center Parking, and the amount of vacant land over here just seems to be growing by the month.

The whole Winnick area just looks like a wasteland. Given that the area has looked very similar to this for nearly a year, I’m not 100% sure why they couldn’t allow residents more time to move out of their units.

They have not even begun to build on the property.

Frankly, I’m not sure when they are going to build on it either.

Soon after the evictions, word was that Harrah’s was going to build a Convention Center on this land. The Center was scheduled to be completed in 2010. Unless they start working very fast, it doesn’t look as though this will happen.

With convention attendance down, as well as tourism, I don’t know how much sense it would make to build anything at this present time.

Frankly, I don’t know what the plans for this land are now.

I just know that I pass by it several times a week, and it is a damn shame to see what has become of it.

I’m not a huge fan of buying up land just to sit on it and let it fester, but that seems to be all the rage in Las Vegas these days.

Anyway, here’s to a neighborhood that once was … and here’s wishing that something cool will eventually take its place.

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