Fun City Motel - the corner of seedy and charming

Where the Griswalds got married

This is where I stayed when I lived in Las Vegas. A rather charming place with an awesome location. You can see the Stratosphere looming overhead. Vegas World was there when I called Fun City home. Cab drivers called it "Vagrants World" because it was in a seedy part of town. Not everything in Vegas is glitter.

I had forgotten about this place until I saw the Chevy Chase movie "Vegas Vacation" and at the end they got remarried at the wedding chapel that is built into the motel.

At night, this part of the strip (it is on the world famous Vegas Strip) lights up like a Christmas tree. However, every place has a backside and Vegas is not immune.

The back of the motel

I stayed in room 222 I could not believe someone took a picture of it. I was glad to be upstairs for the view faced west. I could see Mr. Charleston in the distance, and with the dry climate, you got amazing sunsets with lots of color. But you always had to remember where you were at. One night when the Las Vegas SWAT team did a drug raid on one of the bottom floors. I was really afraid lead would fly.

top left door was home

My room had a view of the pool and Mr. Charleston

The place is dirt cheap and favorite spot for strippers who have flown in from L.A. to work the clubs for the weekend, stay here. One of the girls was a regular that I got to meet and a total pro. She was not into drugs, porn or prostitution. She was doing it for the money. I mean to stockpile money in a short period of time. Capitalism is a wonderful thing. She would always use my cab. I only regret I never saw her naked.

Sort of a Film Noir look to it

I hear you can still rent rooms for $165 a week - with a kitchen! and be just feet from the strip. How can you beat that!?

Comments

What happened to Tommy Duncan and Sticks of Fire blog?

The image below is a 2005 TBT article I still have about the Tampa blogger scene. The big boy was Tommy Duncan. He stopped blogging around 2008, and was never seen again. Here is what Creative Loafing said about that era: "The 40-something blogger founded the most-often-cited independent Tampa Bay news blog, Sticks of Fire, in Feb. 2004, and the site, without much financial assistance from advertising, is still going strong today with a stable of more than a dozen regular contributors. In 2005, Duncan was featured in a tbt* story about the young lions of the local Internet. Today, about half of them have fallen by the wayside or (in the case of famous sexy blogger Rachel Moran) moved to New Jersey. Duncan keeps on posting. The local digital scene has grown, but he's not sure it has improved in quality."

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Bay and Beach taxi van service

Working hard to secure Tampa airport,cruise and hotel service, it seems now Bay and Beach taxi are now using vans with horse trailers (you can see the trailer behind the van). They can move more people and luggage with those. The picture here was taken at the airport and a ton of people got off. Nancy has modern ideas about customer service , and how to run a fleet. Just saying. I am sitting like a lump this morning when I should be moving. We have lost so much business. Related articles Hanging out in holding Republican National Convention in Tampa

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Happy Hillary Halloween

Is there anything scarier than Hillary. Some would say Donald Trump, perhaps. My friend set this up on his porch and I thought it was pretty cool. It's not really a political statement, it's just trying to show humor. Keep in mind, that we do live in an era where people seem to have lost their sense of humor. Anyway, if he done it with Donald Trump I would have still laughed. Happy Halloween!

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Ivy Farms pool part of history

I found this article on the Daily Press website. It will mean nothing to anyone but it means a lot to me. This article wad written in 1993 when the possibility of closing Ivy Farms pool was real. I hear in 2010 it was demolished by the city. Just another nail in my coffin. I always wanted to get up there and swim one more lap. That will never happen July 22, 1993|By VIRGINIA BIGGINS Daily Press NEWPORT NEWS — Three decades ago when the Ivy Farms swimming pool was new, people of all ages came early and stayed late to swim, sunbathe and chat with friends. DAILY PRESS: Neighborhood kids campaigned to get their families to become members of the pool, which they saw as the only place to be on a hot summer day. Many joined the Ivy Farms swim team. posted from Bloggeroid Now the pool, one of the oldest in the city, may have to close because its membership has dropped from an all-time high of 300 families in the 1960s to 50 families today. A combination of economics, shifting popu...

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UBER TRUTH: poor and minorities left stranded

Traditional laws and regulations require transportation companies to serve the entire community regardless of pick up location, whether you pay with cash vs. a credit card, ownership of a “smart phone”, ADA requirements or other socioeconomic conditions. In fact, the underlying reason for regulations is to ensure EVERYONE receives service. Uber requires customers to own a smartphone and a credit card. Others “need not apply”. Remember, Uber only wants to serve who they want, and not be required to serve an entire community. They want a highly regulated taxi environment, but an entirely unregulated environment when it comes to “their business”. According to the PEW Research and widely reported on major news outlets: Only 56% of American adults own a smart phone; If you are 65 years or older, that number drops to 18%; Only 38% of those making less than $38,000 a year own a smart phone; And only 36% of those people with a high sc...

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Tampa Taxi Shots and the future

Tim Fasano publisher of Tampa Taxi Shots I started this blog last year because I was bored. My original Tampa Taxi Shots was gone. I still had many of the images and the stories were still in my head. However, my ten year old laptop took a shit. Since then, I have been going to the library, but mostly loading with an android phone. That is a piss poor way of doing it. But its all I got. Today was the first time since 2007 that I did not owe United Cab money. I paid off the balance today, and actually got money back!!! At this pace, I should be able to buy a new laptop soon and be able to do some serious writing from the comfort of my home, instead of trying to write in a crowded computer lab with the guy in the green shirt (the same shirt he has had on for weeks) sitting across from you and chewing his tongue, while making funny noises. The traffic on this site is growing and I know if I put myself 100% into it, I can make it big. July 4th is a good benchmark, and time to ...

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A new car

I took delivery of a new taxi cab with only 70,000 miles. Its a former police car, and only three years old. It is the newest cab I've ever had in nineteen years of driving. I have been in some real junk before. My understanding is the company is going to all late model vehicles. That would cut down on maintenance cost. Just another sign things are looking up. This was taken from the front seat when I got in for the first time. I am cab number 474. If you are down on vacation, don't call Lyft. Call Tim Fasano in his new, clean cab. The trend in the industry is to get away from clunkers. I ran into Rob Searcy and he asked me how I liked it. I shook his hand and thanked him. I need to get Joe to clean it every Friday. Joe does a good job. posted from Bloggeroid

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2017 a year of Redemption and Reconstruction

Tampa Bay on New Years day sunrise 2017 Have you ever felt defeated? Have you ever felt like you're life has stalled out? Have you ever felt like giving up? I have. The last ten years of the taxi business have just about done me in. It has been miserable with a bad economy that was near a depression and it took everything I could do to just survive. I made no money. In short, I suffered badly. (I will not mention Tampa taxi politics. The companies did what they had to do to survive. Their actions were not often in my best interest.) My only hope was that the economy would get better. It began to. And as it did, Uber came along. That was the death kneel. Talk about timing. For ten years my life has been in purgatory and I almost died. The stress and the bad food left me with chronic heart failure. My weight had climbed to 295lbs (I am 5'8"). My blood pressure was 210/150. By rights, I should not be alive. The doctor sent me to the emergency room. He later t...

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Monday morning

Business has been slow. I'm not going to beat around the bush. I need shoes and shoe strings. I am broke and struggling. I am tired, frustrated, and dealing with real anger issues. I need time off, money, and rest. I can find none of this. My entire situation sucks. I want to blame someone. What compounds all of this are drivers willing to work around the clock for scant money (that forces me to do the same). I am exhausted and wish I could get a break. I do think one is coming up. United Cab is doing all they can do but the economy has greatly increased their expenses. I do hope to have a happier post at the end if the day.

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The REDSKINS are in town

The Washington REDSKINS!!! Just arrived at Tampa stadium. The buses just went into the tunnel and the police are blocking off the roads. I hate that. The taxi area is on the left of screen but I'm going home. 7:30 kickoff. I was wondering if RG3 knew he was just 200 feet from the worlds greatest BF hunter..LOL! posted from Bloggeroid

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