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Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 11:20:31 -0700
From: Brian Bach <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: A cartifact - I think...
Sender: Brian Bach <[log in to unmask]>



Continuing Alice Hudson's quest for cartifacts of note, perhaps some of you who have attended conventions or indulged in other activities in Las Vegas will be familiar with the cartifact considered here. If it has not already been demolished and the space remodeled since last year, there exists in the New York New York Hotel and Casino (corner of Las Vegas Blvd. - 'The Strip' - and Tropicana Ave.) a map of the USA with intriguing characteristics. It occupies part of the ceiling of one of the restaurants to be found in the complex. It is a gigantic map which represents the country in the form of a diagonally suspended structure.  To say that it is a physical map is an understatement. Topography is exaggerated to the point of which all stereotypes are reinforced. No mere physical map (in Vegas every entity has a job: to entertain!), this huge Sistine-aspiring spread has airbrushed upon it typical thematic vignettes pertaining to each state and region, not unlike c.1950s maps and charts meant for schoolchildren, in which diverse characteristics of the Union are displayed in simplistic (and fun!) terms. The whole is lighted skillfully, with as much attention and care as with the Picassos and Jackson Pollocks in the Bellagio Gallery up the Strip a way. The whole clumsy mass nevertheless made me think of the 'Atlas of Oblique Maps', the works of Erwin Raisz, and even the title sequence in the Howard Hawks film 'Red River'.

The actual composition of the map is probably some modern material, lightweight, fireproof, non-asbestos, and easily workable in its original state. It is obviously pieced together. It could be made of foam insulation or a similar substance, often used in stagecraft. So, hovering above us, as a theatrical ceiling/cyclorama, is a bit of geography for our amusement AND edification.

'Hey Ted, looka there - there's your home state of Arkansas.'
'Where? I don't see it.'
'Right there - right above that guy with the shades and cigar, who's counting out the hundred dollar bills.'
'Oh yeah. That's the Mississippi next door isn't it? But actually, Irv, I'm from Maine.'
'By golly, way up there in the corner - over the bar...'
I wonder if the New York New York management is aware of the instructional nature of their bit of ceiling-filler in the America Cafe?

http://www.nynyhotelcasino.com/pages/din_america.asp
(This is NOT a promotional link - only a reference to the map's dimensions and other wonders!)

Preoccupied with the attendant (and perpetual) hubbub of the place, as well as the gathered effects of aggressive food and beverages, I can't recall the treatment of Alaska and Hawaii in this bizarre display, or what scale and projection might have been employed, (some sort of systematic approach had to have been used!) but the effect of the piece is one of appropriate theatricality and sensation, which are the basic stuff of Planet Vegas. I think I took a picture of it because of its sheer audacity - or innocence.

Come to think of it, Vegas itself is a bit of a cartifact, as its hyper-rapid expansion requires, at least in principle, USGS to update the relevant quads more often than elsewhere. There is, I believe, enough money in that town to provide for matching funds for such a task. Surely the quad edition is not far off when the dreary grey (as opposed to the healthy-gum pink, now sadly being phased out) of urbanity will spread over the entire confines of that vast desert valley. What are the odds...?

- Brian

Brian P. Bach
Maps Specialist
Documents/Maps
Central Washington University Library
400 E. 8th Ave.
Ellensburg, WA 98926-7548
USA
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