City Cast Las Vegas

2024 is here, so we’ve pooled our predictions (from most to least likely) of everything that maybe, kinda, possibly, could happen in Las Vegas this year — and we’re putting it on a Bingo card! Co-hosts Sarah Lohman and Dayvid Figler compare notes with contributor Brent Holmes: Could A.I. take over the Sphere? Will F1 breach contract? Will the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup again? Make your ver...

This January, whether you’re looking for new hobbies, new music, or a sense of renewed purpose, Andrew Kiraly from thelist.vegas has some ideas for you. He and co-host Sarah Lohman sit down to talk about the best events and things to do in Las Vegas this month (and spoiler alert: Andrew shares the deets on his favorite hiking trail in the Valley). We’re on social media! Follow us @CityCastVegas on...

We’re bringing back our biggest stories of 2023 this week, and nothing quite shook Las Vegas to its hospitality core like the advances in A.I. this year.  Both Resorts World and the Cosmopolitan use AI chatbots to answer guest queries about where to go and what to do. The Sphere has an Android greeter, and there’s even a robot bouncer at a Vegas strip club. What’s more: Reports released in Decembe...

Over the holidays, we’re sharing our favorite episodes on the hottest topics of 2023. And this year, a new food trend really took over our town. Lately, buffets seem to be shuttering left and right, and it seems like food halls are rising up to take their place: New food halls have popped up at Durango Station, the Cosmopolitan, downtown’s Fremont, and even off-Strip centers like the Uncommons. So...

This week we’re showcasing some of the best of City Cast over the past year. Today, we take another look at one of our most controversial episodes of 2023: debating the fairness over new Short Term Rental (STR) rules imposed by Clark County last spring. In this episode from April, co-host Dayvid Figler sits down with Jackie Flores and Louis Koorndyk, both STR operators and co-founders of the Great...

This holiday week, we’re revisiting our biggest stories of 2023. Already an icon on the Las Vegas skyline, the Sphere at The Venetian Resort opened on September 29, 2023 and instantly entered the international culture conversation. From the New Yorker and the Atlantic to SNL, people around the world are talking A LOT about the giant magical compendium of light and images.  Whether you’re ready to...

On today’s Friday New Roundup, we’re bringing you the holiday gift of joy and chaos: All 5 members of the City Cast Las Vegas team join the convo today to look back on the year together. We discuss our picks for the most underrated news stories of 2023, describe our best meals out this year, and share some big news about some changes coming up for our team. We’re on social media! Follow us @CityCa...

This was the year that the pandemic closures began to finally feel like a hazy memory, and the frisson of new restaurant openings once again got the PR newswires buzzing. Today, to help us cut through the noise, co-host Sarah Lohman sits down with food writers and podcasters John Curtas and Gemini Stevens. They’ve eaten basically everywhere across Vegas, and share their top picks for the best new...

As we all look back in 2023, we gotta ask: Who would be on your naughty and nice list in Vegas this year? Co-hosts Sarah Lohman and Dayvid Figler sit down with contributor and Nevada Current editor April Corbin Girnus to talk about the people, institutions, and forces of nature that won our admiration or approbation this year. Hint: One of them is F1. Do you think they’re in the nice or naughty co...

December saw the grand opening of not just one, but TWO major casino openings in Las Vegas: The Durango, a hotly anticipated venue for locals, and the Fontainebleau, a long-awaited luxury destination for the tourist crowd. So who did it better? And did 16 years of waiting up the ante just a little too much for Fontainebleau? Today, co-host Sarah Lohman sits down with producer Layla Muhammad and co...

At the beginning of the year, it was estimated that 60,000 people would move to Las Vegas in 2023 — and while we’re still waiting on the official numbers, we know that 5,000 people moved to Vegas from L.A. in August alone. So if you’re a newbie, don’t worry — you’re not alone. Las Vegas has always been a city of newcomers. Today, we bring back an episode from January, in which co-host Dayvid Figle...

Our friends over at Matt and Mattingly’s Ice Cream Social recently hosted our very own Dayvid Figler on their comedy podcast. Dayvid talks about highlights and behind-the-scenes from City Cast, and why his dream guest is Nicholas Cage. We’re delighted to share an excerpt from this fun conversation with you — for the full episode, head over to heyscoops.com. We’re on social media! Follow us @CityCa...

The recall of 2 million Teslas this week for problems with the autopilot software was months in the making — but it’s got us thinking in Las Vegas: What does this mean for the Las Vegas Loop? On today’s Friday news roundup, co-hosts Sarah Lohman and Dayvid Figler sit down with contributor Andrew Kiraly to break down why the vehicles were recalled, and what it says about Elon Musk’s Boring Co. ambi...

A lot of us locals love to hate on palm trees in our landscaping — but did you know that they can produce edible fruit? Phoenix dactylifera, the date palm, produces those brown, wrinkly, caramel-flavored fruits that show up in Christmas cakes, Ramadan tables, and the date shakes you always see advertised along the I-15. So today, our co-hosts, Dayvid Figler and Sarah Lohman, a food historian and a...

Our city has 2.3 million residents but 38 million visitors annually, so it’s no surprise that locals have a love-hate relationship with tourists. After all, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas — but so do we. Today, co-hosts Dayvid Figler and Sarah Lohman welcome artist, podcaster and lifelong Las Vegan Justin Favela, AKA Favy Fav, to discuss our new rules for tourists: How to actually do Vegas...

The Culinary Union’s recent contract negotiations with the “Big Three” casino companies on the Strip were by all accounts historic. So what exactly did they win — and how? Today, co-host Dayvid Figler sits down with Culinary 226 Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge to discuss the inner workings of those negotiations. Why do they last until 6am, who has to pay for the food, and was it all (as some c...

Looking for gift ideas? City Cast Las Vegas’ producers Layla Muhammad and Sonja Swanson have you covered with recommendations on what to get teenagers and that quirky friend, as well as thoughtful but inexpensive gifts and more!  Local recommendations mentioned: Writer’s Block  Tat Bar  Solection  Death Drop Roller Skate Shop  Antique Alley Mall Akin Cooperative The Phone Booth  Best of Luck Desig...

It’s been a heavy week of news in Las Vegas, and our thoughts are with the victims of both recent mass shootings and their loved ones. The first happened last Friday, December 1st at a homeless encampment near Charleston Boulevard and Sandhill Road that saw four injured and one killed. The second at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Wednesday left 3 faculty members killed and one injured, cur...

On Wednesday morning, a mass shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas saw three people and the shooter confirmed dead along with another victim hospitalized. Executive Producer Sonja Cho Swanson, Producer Layla Muhammad and co-host Dayvid Figler take a measured look at how our city responds when public shootings occur, and relay stories of the confusion and chaos that unfolded hour by hour...

The hype around the Sphere has been endless — and by all accounts, seeing a show at the Sphere is actually pretty mind-blowing. But how do you get the most out of your Sphere experience, and are those hefty ticket prices worth it? To find out, we sent producer Layla Muhammad to see the immersive Aronofsky film "Postcard from Earth" at the Sphere. She debriefs with co-host Sarah Lohman, and they ta...

About an hour away from Las Vegas on the south Nevada/California border sits the Amargosa Valley. Named for the Amargosa River, the area made headlines earlier this year concerning lithium mining efforts in the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Now, according to Amargosa Conservancy executive director Mason Voehl, is the best time to see the basin that offers a variety of attractions and natur...

Forget New York — Las Vegas is the real city that never sleeps. Our city has a higher percentage of night-shift workers than any other city in the country. But while our bars, restaurants, and grocery stores once catered to both the graveyard shift and sleepless tourists with round-the-clock service, 24-hour venues are getting harder and harder to find. Co-host Dayvid Figler and contributor Brent...

So it turns out that the London Sphere might still have a chance after all: the UK “Secretary of Leveling Up” is requesting another look at the plans. As residents with front-row seats to the Sphere spectacle, we discuss: Who’s making the right call here? And do we want Vegas to keep the only MSG Sphere in the world? Co-host Dayvid Figler sits down with contributor Vogue Robinson and executive pro...

When someone asks about the “quintessential” Las Vegas dining experience, you might say the buffets or high-end restaurants on the Boulevard. But in a conversation from this summer, internationally ranked competitive eater and local Derek Hendrickson tells co-host Dayvid Figler why “there’s nothing more Vegas” than a food challenge. So if you are looking for an activity to do with your holiday vis...

The dust around our city’s very first Formula 1 Grand Prix has settled, and the countdown clock for next year’s F1 has begun (359 days, to be exact). But what lessons can we learn from both the spectacle and the debacle of this year’s event? Co-host Dayvid Figler sits down with Jonathan Jossel, CEO of the Plaza Hotel and Casino, which sits outside the F1 loop. They have a frank conversation about...