The main-level atrium of the Sphere, Vegas’s newest entertainment venue, is the most conspicuously carpetless place I know.
It doesn’t hurt, presumably, that they do a good job of hiding spilled beer.
Vegas carpets snap you out of your daydreams, thrust you back into your surroundings, and remind you what you’ve come to the desert to do. It’s a counterintuitive idea-flashy stuff that’s designed not to be stared at?-but apparently it’s the truth. When I was a kid, my dad explained that they encouraged tourists to look up at the slot machines and keep gambling away their money. They teem with triangles, circles, ogees, leaves, flowers, and teardrops. They course through hotels, casinos, theatres, and malls. Spend more than a few hours in Las Vegas and you become hyperaware of the carpets.
