Monthly Archives: July 2026

Posted in travel

Lost Vegas

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by Bob Sparrow

Yes, we’ve probably all lost something in Vegas, but now, as you may have heard, Las Vegas is losing. The Las Vegas economy has experienced a multi-year economic contraction, marked by an 81% decline in Las Vegas Strip casino net income and a 7% to 12% drop in overall tourist volume. This is driven by soaring resort costs, shrinking middle-class travelers, and fewer international visitors

But don’t lose sleep worrying if Vegas is going to survive – despite these struggles, the city’s overall gaming revenue has remained relatively flat due to a “K-shaped” economic shift. “K-shaped”? That’s where the rich keep going and actually spend more (the part of the K that goes up), while the nots-so-rich stay away (the part of the K that goes down). It seems I have experienced both parts of the K.

If you have been to Vegas lately you know about escalating costs, like $50 daily resort fees, ridiculous parking prices, high table minimums, and escalated food prices — those things have kept people away

But not us . . . 

As you’re reading this on Monday morning, we’re at our favorite hotel, South Point in Las Vegas doing the usual – me playing craps and blackjack, Linda playing the slots, both having a cocktail (maybe two) and seeing a couple of shows. The thing we noticed most about Vegas on this trip is it is hot . . . VERY HOT! How hot you ask?  The high was 109, but by 3:00 am it had cooled to a low of 90 degrees! We obviously stayed inside most of the time. We had planned to go out with the Sagers and Budds on Sunday, but fortunately or unfortunately, we had nothing planned for Saturday, so Linda and I looked at each other and said, “Let’s go!”

So, we left on Saturday and stopped in Primm on the way out. For those unfamiliar with Primm, it is right on the California-Nevada border and the Primm Valley Inn, one of the original three hotels and casinos there, used to be the distination of our Yorba Linda Country Club’s annual golf trip every year on Kentucky Derby weekend. We had recently read that since Primm had turned into a ghost town with the three casinos closing, that the Primm Valley Inn had just re-opened under new management.

Primm golf club house

Back in the day, golf was played at the near-by Primm Valley Golf Club, which is in California, just over the Nevada border. Why is it out in this desert, just over the border? Interesting story:

Primm golf course back in the day
Primm golf course today

Famous golf architect, Tom Fazio was asked by Vegas hotel owner, Steve Wynn to build a golf course behind his new Las Vegas hotel, the Wynn. However, there was a condition, because Wynn wanted to have the only Fazio-built golf course in Nevada, he told Fazio that in order to build the course behind the Wynn, he couldn’t build another golf course in the state of Nevada. Fazio agreed. So, when he was asked to build the two golf courses at Primm, he said OK, but that he would have to put them just a mile or so away from the Primm Valley Inn, in the state of California, and he did. He built the Lakes Couse in 1997 and the Desert Course in 1998. They were two great golf courses to play, but as Primm turned into a ghost town, the lack of golfers caused the courses to close in 2024.

The last time we went to Vegas and passed through Primm, all three casinos there had been closed. However, prior to going out this week, we read that the Primm Valley Inn had been reopened under new management. So, we decided to stop by on Saturday on our way to South Point and have a look.

Linda gets a T-shirt from Mike Hammer

It was sadly disappointing. There were new slot machines, but no craps, blackjack or any other tables, one restaurant opened and we were afraid to ask to see one of the rooms. It looked like they hadn’t changed the carpet for several . . . decades. It was quite disappointing to see one of our old haunts still looking a little tired.

We continued our journey into South Point and checked in and grabbed a hot dog and a beer for lunch. We gambled a bit (I ended up winning $6) then headed downtown to Freemont Street for a show that our son Jeff had recommended, magician/comic, Mike Hammer at the Four Queens. He was fabulous! If you get a chance to see him, go!  He interacts with the audience throughout the show and since we were sitting in the very first row, we got our share of insults!

On Sunday afternoon, we were joined by the Budds and the Sagers and had dinner at South Point’s Asian restaurant (my favorite). Zenshin; after dinner we strolled across the casino to see The Bronx Wanderers – this is the fifth time we’ve seen them – the father and two sons are the core of an 11-piece band that includes horns and strings. They play classic ’60s, ’70s and ‘80s music, interspersed with great stories about those eras. It was maybe their best concert we’ve seen them do. Fantastic!

Monday the Budds went home and Sagers and Sparrows hung around and tried to win some money. (Since this is going to publication before I have the results of that gambling) I would say with some certainty that we probably lost, but had a good dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, a nice French restaurant in the Paris Hotel and Casino.

Back home to cooler temperatures on Tuesday.

Posted in Family • opinion

NO SPARROWS, NO PARTY!

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

We Sparrows usually don’t need an excuse to have a party, but on July 11th we had a very special reason to gather – brother Jack’s 85th birthday. Anyone whose family has multiple generations can attest that trying to get everyone together on one day is darn hard, but with just a few exceptions, we were able to gather 34 members of the family to celebrate Jack. People flew in from Texas and Arizona, and drove half the length of California, most able to stay just one night. But they all made the effort and as it turned out, Jack was not the only beneficiary of the party. But more on that later.

Jack, with daughter, Shelley
Jack, with son Matt

We gathered in Bob and Linda’s beautiful, tropical backyard on Saturday afternoon. The kids had a blast swimming and diving into the pool. We watched a couple of them do “cannonballs” and remembered when we could do that. Now…we ease over to the edge of the pool, dip our toe in, and call it a day. Cornhole was also popular among the younger set, while many of us gathered around the televisions to watch the England-Norway FIFA match. Having a naturalized citizen from England in the family definitely led to a British cheering section. Although some of us wanted to do the “the row”, we refrained out of respect.

Jeff, Kate and Linda

After the match was (finally) over, we had a fabulous dinner delivered from a local Italian restaurant. Linda and I had gone to Costco the day before and bought extra lasagna, salads and, of course, cake. We were certain that she and Bob would be living off of leftovers for the coming weeks. But clearly, we had forgotten how much young people eat. They descended on the buffet table like a horde of locusts. They scooped up the food as fast as we could put it out. By the end of the night Bob observed that there wasn’t a morsel of food or hardly a drop of liquor left in the house. The Scots in Boston have nothing on us!

The Sparrow brothers and the next generation

Bob and Jack and some fine cigars

After dinner Bob and I presented our birthday program to Jack. We both read tributes that we had written and by the end, there was hardly a dry eye in the place. It’s sobering to review someone’s life but heartening to know that so many people appreciate a life so well lived. After that Bob picked up his guitar and distributed a songbook of Jack’s favorite songs. We were all in different keys and I don’t think we’re going to challenge the Osmond Family anytime soon, but what we may have lacked in tone we made up for in enthusiasm.

Today
1955

After everyone left, Bob, Linda and I marveled at how well the day had gone. But mostly, we were beyond grateful that everyone came together to give Jack such a memorable day. We know that we are lucky to have such a wonderful family, whose members not only get along, but really enjoy spending time together. We laughed so hard and told so many fun stories. Earlier in the evening I had had a conversation with a few members of the next generation, recalling stories about our mom and dad (their grandparents), and it struck me that the generation after them will only know our parents through stories. And in time, the same will hold true for us. But what stories they will have to tell! I have no doubt that as long as Sparrows keep gathering, there will be laughter, and singing, and a deep appreciation for family. So, while this party was a gift for Jack, the memories created will be recalled and cherished by us all.

Some more photos of a great day –

Addison, Emma and Madelyn
Jason, Brooklyn, and Jeff
Mack and Riley

Dana, Stephanie, Abby and Kate
Jeff, Jackson, Colin, Kate, Shelley, Suzanne, Abby and Matt

Posted in Neighborhood

Margaritaville: A Tradition in the ‘Hood

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by Bob Sparrow

Every year we throw a party for our neighborhood to kick off summer, and because I’m a Jimmy Buffett fan I bring in a Margarita machine and Jimmy’s Landshark Beer and call it Margaritaville. I also bring in a Pina Colada machine and unfortunately this year I mixed up the concoctions and put rum in the margaritas and tequila in the pina coladas, (which was even before I started ‘testing’ them), so we ended up drinking Margacoladas or Pinaritas. No one seemed to mind, or maybe I’d done enough ‘testing’ that I didn’t care whether anyone minded. There was also plenty of wine and mixed drinks – no one went home thirsty!

A table of Parakeets

This year I emphasized to our neighbors to bring their parakeets (the definition of a ‘parakeet’ is a neighbor’s child of drinking age). I had to tell neighbor, Marc Webb, who had a beer keg brought in for his eight-grade graduation, that I meant the LEGAL drinking age. We ended up with about 15 parakeets in attendance, which is the most we’ve ever had. Two of the parakeets, Chase Johnson, son of Mark & Kathy and our son, Jeff, along with me, provided some entertainment in the form of singing some songs during the course of the evening. Chase and Jeff have performed under the name of ‘The Two Handsome Men’ and since I was joining them, we were known as ‘The Two Handsome Men and the Old Fart’.

Marge and her Marvelous Center Piece

Price of admission to Margaritaville is an appetizer, and the ‘hood, as always, went all out – it seemed like we had every kind of food imaginable, from sushi to pizza and everything in between. Truly amazing! So we had a great evening of good food, good drink (or at least interesting drink) and a mixed bag on the entertainment, the Two Handsome Men were great; I sounded a bit like an old fart.

Monsanto’s Light Show

Special shout outs go to Marge Dunn, who creates an amazing centerpiece each year and our next door neighbor, Steve Monsanto, who not only put up a ‘Margaritaville’ sign on the outside of his fireplace chimney that shined into our backyard, but he also created a special green light affect in our palm trees that was truly spectacular

The evening started at 6:00 pm and ended sometime around 2:00 am – I didn’t know I could stay up that late – actually by that time, I didn’t know I was staying up that late or how I was going to get home. Oh yeah, I was home!

We’ve lived in this neighborhood for 41 years and we’re not the

The Old Fart with the Two Handsom Men

longest in residence here. Over the years, some have moved out or were asked to leave (I didn’t want to mention any names, Pacellis) and live only a few miles away. We do have some that we still stay in touch with that live in Texas (Hendrix) and South Carolina (McKinley); I’m sure there are others that don’t come to this foggy mind right now.

So, it’s pretty remarkable that we have all stayed in touch, and since no fights broke out at the party, I’m assuming we’re all still getting along. In a world where many people don’t even know their next-door neighbor, we feel very lucky to be part of this amazing neighborhood.

Hats off to a great ‘hood; let the summer begin. Fins up!!  

Posted in opinion

SAY WHAT?

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

Hopefully you all had a wonderful Independence Day celebration. Because this was the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence there has been a lot written in the past few weeks about those early days. It got me to wondering – since the population of the American colonies was largely British, and the English language became the predominant language throughout what is now the eastern U.S., why do we not speak with British accents? When did we evolve from speaking the King’s English to our own version of the language? Did it change early in our history or did the likes of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Abigail Adams sound like King George III, William Wordsworth, and Jane Austen? 

It turns out that the answer is almost certainly no. “American English” had come into common use by the time our Founding Fathers declared independence. But how? It is logical to assume that because Britain is extraordinarily rich in accents, one of those versions would have prevailed in the New World. In fact, in the Old World you only have to travel a few hours for the accent, and often the dialect, to change in very notable ways. Back in colonial times, as now, someone from London sounded quite different from a person from Yorkshire, Devon, or Liverpool — and accents were even more distinct in Scotland, Wales, or Ireland. And because people didn’t travel very far from home, many people spent their entire lives hearing just their local accent.

But when people from all regions of Great Britain began landing in the American colonies, they started mixing with each other. What resulted is a phenomenon known as “dialect leveling”. Dialect leveling is a phenomenon that occurs when a variety of different ways of speaking come into contact with one another, and the features that are most common — including accent and pronunciation — tend to overtake others. The outcome is a smoothing out of differences, thus eliminating distinct regional or social linguistic elements and creating a more standardized form. 

In America, the leveling process was quick. Within a generation, Americans born in settlements such as Jamestown in the early 1600s, were already speaking differently than their parents. Yes, teenage rebellion existed even back then. And it wasn’t only the British mixing with one another. The early colonists came into contact with other European settlers speaking Dutch, Swedish, French, and Spanish, as well as Indigenous languages and, later, the languages of enslaved Africans — all of which contributed to the creation of early American English.

Visitors from the Old World were surprised when they heard American English. They had expected all kinds of accents to have developed, given the hodgepodge of dialects and languages spoken by the ragtag Americans. But instead, they were surprised by how uniform and standard the speech had become across the colonies, regardless of regional or class background. What is striking is that no one planned or imposed a common way of speaking. Settlers in the New World didn’t adopt any one group’s accent. Instead, they invented something new: a blended, democratized form of English. So, within one generation early Americans had forged their own speech, decades before independence. That said, one can reasonably argue that we have our own distinct regional accents, but that’s a story for a different day.

Our American version of English sets us apart. Which explains why we sometimes have trouble understanding people who speak in the “mother tongue”. When I am watching programs on Britbox I struggle to follow the dialogue and often turn on the subtitles. And don’t get me started on the Scottish, Irish, or God forbid, the Welsh, versions of English. I swear the Celts invented their own language just to irritate the English.