Meet the Team
There’s a lot to love about Las Vegas. It’s a city of shiny surfaces but also deep complexity if you know where to look. This is a company town and a union town and it’s becoming a sports town, with controversy dogging each step. In Las Vegas you can find yourself, reinvent yourself, or, if you’re not careful, lose yourself. Every day, you’ll hear from the team highlighting what makes this beautiful, complex city we call home just a little bit better. Get in touch with us at lasvegas@citycast.fm.
Dayvid Figler
Podcast host
@oyvegas
Someone from Las Vegas you should know about:
Jonathan Hensleigh Local business owner, liquor impresario, and screenplay writer and/or director of some of the most popular action films of all time.
The tourist trap in Vegas that’s actually great:
Circus Circus! (Not really, but sort of.) Real pick: The Cosmopolitan.
Best book or movie or TV show about my city:
About a Mountain by John D’Agata and the movie Showgirls.
Sonja Cho Swanson
Lead producer
@sonjachoswanson
A hidden gem in Vegas:
There’s a Rural Preservation Neighborhood tucked between Rancho Dr. and the N. Las Vegas airport—it’s all ranch homes and horses, plus a community garden, and really good barbecue.
Where I’d take you to eat in Vegas:
The Thai temple on the south side of town hosts a food fair once a month—we can’t leave without ordering the chicken and prawn dumplings with thin, tender rice noodle wrappers.
Something we do better in Vegas than anywhere else:
We keep the lights on 24/7 (or just about)—you don’t have to try very hard to find a hot meal, no matter what time it is.
Layla Muhummed
Audio producer
@layla_alon
A hidden gem in Vegas:
West Wind Drive In Theater in North Las Vegas…bring something cold to drink in the summer!
Where I’d take you to eat in my city:
Rollin Smoke Barbeque and I’d order The “Outlaw” Burger.
The tourist trap in town that’s actually great:
The Pinball Hall of Fame
Scott Dickensheets
Newsletter editor
@DickensheetsLV
A hidden gem in Vegas:
Because it’s attached to the university, UNLV’s Barrick Museum is usually overlooked in the “Vegas needs a museum” discourse. The Writer’s Block is the city’s terrific independent bookstore, beloved by the literary strata of Las Vegas but relatively unknown.
Someone from Vegas you should know about:
Erica Vital-Lazare, a writer, editor, curator, and English prof at the College of Southern Nevada. She heads up a series of Black literature reprints for the McSweeney’s publishing group, is a tireless advocate for the local cultural scene, and is one of the smartest and most generous people in town.
The tourist trap in town that’s actually great:
The Neon and Mob museums — both appeal to superficial elements of Las Vegas, then take you deeper. The Bellagio Conservatory: So. Many. Flowers.