More than a few books and documentaries have sought to expose the reality (sometimes sinister, often just sad) beneath all of Las Vegas' sheen and swagger, but Beneath the Neon by Matthew O'Brien offers a completely fresh take on the idea.
He digs deeper -- literally: O'Brien, a journalist for the alternative weekly Las Vegas CityLife, spent a year poking around in storm drains that run underneath the town, and soon realized the tunnels (and their inhabitants) told a whole other story about Sin City.
O'Brien found himself under the MGM Grand in the wee hours dancing a two-step, learned a recipe for meth, followed the escape route of a murderer, and chased ghosts of figures that defined the town's heyday (from Bugsy Siegel to Frank Sinatra). In these and other first-hand vignettes, O'Brien reveals a Las Vegas infinitely more authentic -- and compelling -- than that which you'd pay to experience above ground.
written on Monday Jun 25, 2007
Vegas,
underground,
book.
