John Smith, a daily columnist at the Las Vegas Review Journal and author of several books on the city, says nostalgia haunts locals like that security guard in the shade, but the Mob's absence is just another scapegoat. In fact, today it can take a full hour to travel four miles along the Strip's 24-hour traffic jam. The city attracts more visitors than anywhere else in the United States. And it's the fastest-growing. Every year 5,000 new people call it home.
Births outnumber deaths two to one.
The new Vegas can be found a good two hours before you spot the neon candy of the Strip from the window of a 737. Try the airport check-in counter. Some 280 flights depart from the Bay Area's three airports weekly, shuttling nearly 2 million Northern Californians a year. Every weekend, thousands of Silicon Valley locals head to Las Vegas, making it the most popular destination for valley travelers. On a recent Friday night in the low-lit Southwest terminal at Oakland airport, they're lined up early.