The Strip's Willy Loman dreamers
April 8, 2008 | 4:52
pm
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority does not keep exact numbers
of pedestrians but estimates that in 2007, 36% of the 39.2 million tourists in
Vegas chose walking as the way to explore the Strip. As I mentioned yesterday, an uncomfortable pedestrian tunnel now covers
the City Center construction sidewalk on the Strip from Bellagio to Monte
Carlo.
So, to avoid the construction, more pedestrians are going across to the other side of the Strip and walking the stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard between Harmon Avenue and MGM. This is an area of the Strip that is still more like old Vegas than the slick mega-resorts being built and already open that shadow and surround this oasis of small business and freelancing entrepreneurs. This extra traffic is offering a brief renaissance to this little sidewalk bazaar/bizarre on the Strip that is slated to be torn down someday for an Elvis-themed casino. But there has been no date for that project yet.
For now, walking down this stretch of the Strip, I am accosted by a group of young people who hand me a compact disc of their hip-hop group. Then the men demand a donation for the disc that I did not want. But at first they are reluctant to take the music back and aggrieved when I insist that I am not giving them a donation. After some words, I am able to return the disc. But before moving on to other tourists, they won’t answer any questions about working sales on the Strip. Many of these sales folks are the sorts who don’t want their names published.
But the customer base of pedestrians on the Strip is irresistible. There are so many people that on a recent Monday afternoon I stood still for two minutes and counted at least 220 folks walk past me. I am sure I missed some people in my count. And this is only on one side of the Strip.
Lacking the ability to provide a volcano or dancing fountain, many of the barkers, sellers and frontline folks on this tiny part of the Strip across from City Center are costumed lures for the many small kiosks, bars, travel services, ticket discounters and cheap eats that make up this stretch of the Strip.
For the past two years, Philippine native Isabelo “Billy” Fausto has worked on a pedestal, painted head to toe in silver, making mime movements to convince people to ignore the large resorts all around; and instead he coaxes them into the tiny La Salsa Cantina for drinks and slots. He works as a self-described “dynamic living statue.” Next to him works a man in a sort of smurf Elvis outfit. “People love taking pictures with me,” Fausto says. “I am a performer and I love what I am doing. I used to be an acrobat but the group broke up. And so I developed this.”
Fausto says he has seen so much on the Strip that nothing fazes him. When the Monte Carlo’s roof caught fire across the street from where he works in January, Fausto was pleased that his show managed to distract the tourists who came to view the flames. “They started looking at the fire. But I put on the better show.”
A couple of blocks away, dressed as Elvis in his heavier Vegas guise, Shane Patterson, 43, works a few hours a day in front of the Harley Davidson Café posing for photos with tourists. The 6’ 5” New Zealand native just landed on doing the King three years ago as an idea for cash. The Harley gave him permission to hang out in front of the restaurant on the Strip. And he is simply working for any tips tourists may offer when he poses with them for photos. He estimates his income from being a street-working Elvis ranges from a few dollars to a few hundred, depending on the day. “You see crazy things out here,” he says. “You even hear crazy things. There is a homeless guy who yells an obscenity every 10 minutes as loud as he can.”
Even out-of-town visitors find the pedestrian traffic on the Strip irresistible. Dressed in conservative slacks and a button-front shirt, Stephanie Jones, 49, says she arrived a week ago in Vegas from Chicago on business to look into purchasing some homes that are in danger of foreclosure. Standing on the Strip near the smut racks offering massage parlors, escorts and private dances, she is handing out business cards of a very different sort to any passerby.
“I am passing out some cards here to see if I can make some money. I am a cash flow specialist,” Jones says. “I am just trying to hustle up some business, and with this many people walking by, I am bound to get some money.”
So, to avoid the construction, more pedestrians are going across to the other side of the Strip and walking the stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard between Harmon Avenue and MGM. This is an area of the Strip that is still more like old Vegas than the slick mega-resorts being built and already open that shadow and surround this oasis of small business and freelancing entrepreneurs. This extra traffic is offering a brief renaissance to this little sidewalk bazaar/bizarre on the Strip that is slated to be torn down someday for an Elvis-themed casino. But there has been no date for that project yet.
For now, walking down this stretch of the Strip, I am accosted by a group of young people who hand me a compact disc of their hip-hop group. Then the men demand a donation for the disc that I did not want. But at first they are reluctant to take the music back and aggrieved when I insist that I am not giving them a donation. After some words, I am able to return the disc. But before moving on to other tourists, they won’t answer any questions about working sales on the Strip. Many of these sales folks are the sorts who don’t want their names published.
But the customer base of pedestrians on the Strip is irresistible. There are so many people that on a recent Monday afternoon I stood still for two minutes and counted at least 220 folks walk past me. I am sure I missed some people in my count. And this is only on one side of the Strip.
Lacking the ability to provide a volcano or dancing fountain, many of the barkers, sellers and frontline folks on this tiny part of the Strip across from City Center are costumed lures for the many small kiosks, bars, travel services, ticket discounters and cheap eats that make up this stretch of the Strip.
For the past two years, Philippine native Isabelo “Billy” Fausto has worked on a pedestal, painted head to toe in silver, making mime movements to convince people to ignore the large resorts all around; and instead he coaxes them into the tiny La Salsa Cantina for drinks and slots. He works as a self-described “dynamic living statue.” Next to him works a man in a sort of smurf Elvis outfit. “People love taking pictures with me,” Fausto says. “I am a performer and I love what I am doing. I used to be an acrobat but the group broke up. And so I developed this.”
Fausto says he has seen so much on the Strip that nothing fazes him. When the Monte Carlo’s roof caught fire across the street from where he works in January, Fausto was pleased that his show managed to distract the tourists who came to view the flames. “They started looking at the fire. But I put on the better show.”
A couple of blocks away, dressed as Elvis in his heavier Vegas guise, Shane Patterson, 43, works a few hours a day in front of the Harley Davidson Café posing for photos with tourists. The 6’ 5” New Zealand native just landed on doing the King three years ago as an idea for cash. The Harley gave him permission to hang out in front of the restaurant on the Strip. And he is simply working for any tips tourists may offer when he poses with them for photos. He estimates his income from being a street-working Elvis ranges from a few dollars to a few hundred, depending on the day. “You see crazy things out here,” he says. “You even hear crazy things. There is a homeless guy who yells an obscenity every 10 minutes as loud as he can.”
Even out-of-town visitors find the pedestrian traffic on the Strip irresistible. Dressed in conservative slacks and a button-front shirt, Stephanie Jones, 49, says she arrived a week ago in Vegas from Chicago on business to look into purchasing some homes that are in danger of foreclosure. Standing on the Strip near the smut racks offering massage parlors, escorts and private dances, she is handing out business cards of a very different sort to any passerby.
“I am passing out some cards here to see if I can make some money. I am a cash flow specialist,” Jones says. “I am just trying to hustle up some business, and with this many people walking by, I am bound to get some money.”
