Boulder City

My friend Lisa and I took a Sunday drive yesterday to nearby Boulder City, where her parents live. Before we went home we drove around town looking at houses. We've both decided we'd like to live there.

Boulder City is about twenty miles from Las Vegas, but is like another world. There is no gambling there--just one of a couple such places in all of Nevada--and has a distinct small-town feel. There are only 15,500 people who live there, and many of the streets have a Midwestern feel to them.

Boulder City grew into a city around the building of the Hoover Dam, which is just down the road. It was planned by the federal government to house the workers who built the dam. It wasn't incorporated until 1959, but is now very highly regarded as a place to retire to. I might do just that.

We found in our trip that north of the main drag are large, spectacular homes that have a view of Lake Mead, which are surely worth more than a million dollars each. On the south side is where I may end up, with quiet streets of small bungalows. The main street has many non-chain restaurants and antique shops, and at the entrance of the town, coming from Vegas, are a series of motels that have a retro '50s space-age look. It's a town for people who like the past. Of course there are a few chains--there's a Burger King, but also an A&W, which seem to be fast disappearing.

Of course there are downsides. There are no movie theaters, so to see a movie would require a bit of a drive, and the town doesn't have any of the diversity of Las Vegas--it's 95 percent white (I happen to think diversity is good for a community). There is also a high percentage of Mormons,which is neither here nor there, and many motorcycle enthusiasts (or, if you prefer, gangs).

But Lisa and I both felt the charm of the place. It's not really a suburb, though there are many people who commute to the big city. Suburbs can have an antiseptic, soulless feel to them, but Boulder City is it's own town. Maybe I'll end up there.