I’m back from Las Vegas and am proud to say that I only lost $5. My Vegas experiences have varied widely, from the time my friends won big at the craps table and sprung for a hot tub suite, to the time I went with my parents to see Siegfried and Roy, to the time I was attending all-day work meetings. Through all these visits, though, one thing remains constant: this is a city that always outdoes itself, over and over again.

*Photo courtesy of Byron Lobos.

That idea that casinos and hotels should come in the shapes of castles, pirate ships, and distant cities is a unique product of the collective Vegas mind. But even with the freakishly patterned carpets and incredible kitschy-ness of it all--I can’t help but see it as, dare I say it? Art.

The artificiality of building a city in the middle of the desert, in a way, lends the perfect canvas. Pump enough water into it and you can have the gorgeous lakes of Bellagio or the canals of Venice. Casino money is a paintbrush that creates pyramids, shopping centers visited by Roman gods, and towers that scrape the stratosphere. The palate of colors relies heavily on showgirl sequins, neon lights, and the blur of the spinning roulette wheel--all intended to arrest your gaze, then dazzle, dash hopes, or delight.

Vegas is just so very Vegas, and it goes without saying that there’s nowhere else quite like it on Earth. It’s a city that revels in its own reputation. All at once, it’s a testament to riches gone rampant, an example of humankind’s conquest of nature, and a symbol of imagination (and yes, silliness) gone wild.

Like all art, you can love it or hate it, but the world needs it nonetheless.