Starting Over – Jack LeVine Launches A Blog About Historic Las Vegas Neighborhoods And Mid Century Modern Homes
If I was going to start up a whole new blog, and sat down to plan it out, I’d be asking myself what it was about and what it should accomplish.
It would have to be about real estate in general, but it would have to be a specific, definable, small subset of the world of real estate. And it would have to be about me, (a little). And it would have to be about what I like, and what I do, and where I go, and who I meet and what I want the world to look like. It would have to be educational, funny and interesting to others, but interesting enough to myself to keep me motivated to keep it going. It would absolutely have to let the readers know that they’re part of a community of like minded people.
There would have to be some clearly defined categories of topics. There’d have to be an easy way for readers to navigate to older content. There’d have to be a way for new readers to find the blog thru search engines.
I actually had that discussion 2 years ago. I guess it was a successful conversation, since VeryVintageVegas was the outcome.
In many ways – including the MOST important one, the outcome of that planning has been a huge success. It’s generating leads that turn into sales that keep me in business when the average Realtor is floundering. And in many many ways even more important, (and in ways that I didn’t anticipate) it’s helped to unite a huge number of people into a community.
I am really astounded and gratified by the community that has come to exist in Vintage Vegas. I’m privileged to get to interact with so many different parts of it. I don’t think most people are aware that there’s such a huge convergence going on. There’s the “art scene” which overlaps with the “music scene”. Some of those people are part of the history groups. Some of them are active in neighborhood associations. Some of them are advocating for causes and charities. Lots and lots of them live in VintageVegas or want to. Everyone wants downtown revitalization to succeed. Everyone’s rooting for everyone else. Facebook is the preferred networking site of everyone who’s connected online. It’s now easy to join, with as much or as little actual activity and effort as you want to put in.
I think it speaks a lot that the “community” has grown and evolved even during the economic downturn. I’m really anxious to see what things look like in a year or two as the recovery happens.
Let’s take a minute and look at the key topics that are covered here at VeryVintageVegas.
Mid Century Modern Homes: This is actually a new phenomenon. The “revival” movement of Mid Mod isn’t all that old. I’ve always known that I loved the architecture of the 50’s and 60’s and hated most pre war and post-‘70. I didn’t even know the term “mid mod” until about 2000, even though I lived in one. I actually thought it only applied to what we now call “desert modern” But it also includes “ranch modern”. It’s the modern part that’s important, since it represents the post war re-thinking of how we lived.
I’d want to do a lot more highlighting of the wonderful Mid Century Modern Homes of Las Vegas. I’m going to try to get more owners to show off their homes, or specific features…even if they’re not selling. I really want to show off the whole genre.
Historic Las Vegas Neighborhoods: It’s a subjective category. Old isn’t Necessary historic. That’s the JOKE of VERYVintageVegas. Historic in Boston does not have the same meaning as historic in Las Vegas. There’s a lot of very cool mid mod neighborhoods, but we don’t know who the original owners were. There’s no story or narrative to go with the homes or the builders or the subdivisions, though I’m constantly trying to flush out the stories. Some of the neighborhoods really truly are Historic. Some of them have a terrific narrative. Regardless, we’re dedicated to preserving and protecting them from developers, and from the owners themselves if they don’t “get it”.
In the early days, I was doing posts outlining the specific neighborhoods. It’s time to do them all over again as a new series. The categories and the search feature isn’t as good as it should be. I’ve often been careless about categorizing and labeling things. It’s one of the issues I want to improve on. Supposedly, in the top of the left column you should be able to get pull downs with all the neighborhoods listed. It works, but it’s only as good as my input allows.
Las Vegas History: I’m not an historian. But we do have an active, energized and effective history community here. We usually pass on what we learn from people like Lynn Zook and Dennis McBride and Bob Stodal. We promote the events that they put together.
Urban Living: This is the catch all category. It’s music and art and food and shopping and cocktail parties and who knows what else. Everyone is welcome to submit stuff. Any of you want to be the VVV food critic? The art critic? A city council reporter? The ??
And the BIGGEST CHALLENGE that I have is finding the time to keep it all balanced. Blocking out the time is the challenge. Anyone who wants to write – send it in. I welcome guest posts.
