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Please take note – there are over 60 photographs that I took this trip. I will post some below with some text to accompany them, and will include a complete library at the end for you to browse through.

WELCOME TO FABULOUS NORTH LAS VEGAS

North Las Vegas is where Broadacres is located. It is technically on “North Las Vegas Boulevard” which is an area that is polarizing in a lot of ways. This area is diverse, to say the least and like all parts of Las Vegas it has casinos, none of which are like what you likely have experienced here.

Most of these casinos are considered “step up” locations for dealers that have graduated from dealer school, and are not lucrative but are necessary to work in in order to get a shot at the strip locations.

Poker Palace, Jerrys Nugget and other small casinos dot North Las Vegas Boulevard. Most of these properties lure people in (locals) with cheap food, low limits on tables and unique variations on games.

Because we are not far from Nellis Airforce base, I would assume that many of these properties also get tourism from those staying on base in a transitory period who just do not want or need to go to the main strip or downtown.

We are also pretty far from everything else as it relates to the main strip and downtown casinos, as you can see in the next photo. Additionally in this photo is the aquaduct from the Las Vegas wash.

There is this massive bridge that looks a lot less high than it is when you are actually atop it. It has such an intense level of engineering to it to ensure people do not throw things into the traffic below, you need to admire how it looks.

Also, note the fact they have to tell people there is no copper in the poles. Yes, people will literally cut the poles open to steal copper wire from them. No scap value, the sign reads.

What is also interesting is the bike and walking trails. There are hardly ANY trails like this in the city, but there are in North Las Vegas. These are marked with this stone here. 

Evidently this is an online tool they have called “Neon to Nature” 
I had to look this up, but I am interested in downloading this to learn more. It shows you where the paths are, so you can enjoy and go… from Neon to Nature I guess.

LET’S GET TO THE SWAP MEET!

The swap meet is interesting because it affords just about anyone to run their own business from Friday through Sunday. I really do not think there is any sort of business venture they would say no to, and you will find varied vendors like:

• Insurance and satellite TV vendors
• People selling Amazon.com pallets
• Construction Tools
• Food
• Random stuff like some sort of chaotic yardsale

Like so many other things in Vegas, this is not free. Entry is $3. I think kids under a certain height can get in for free, and there is also a senior discount as well.

They do check bags, and they do have wands, but they are not actually patting anyone down. 

Upon entry you can get an immediate feel for how long the swap meet has been here. The art on the wall tells a time of an older Vegas vibe. It still has that “wild west” feel that places around the city used to embrace so much more.

Swipe or click to see more views of the swap meet

THERE ARE SOME STRANGE THINGS HERE

If you come to a swap meet, I find it is best to come without expectations. You can always find the same old same old from the major anchor vendors, but you will have more fun if you take a look at the tables full of nick knacks, and those usually have the most interesting items and finds of the day.

One thing that Caroline would always get when she was with me was the roasted peanuts. These are roasted on site (you can see the roaster in the back), and there used to be one vendor that had a giant oven that would tumble them.

They are served hot if you are lucky, and one of the best treats you can get here. You might say “it’s a healthy snack” but nothing is healthy when you are like me and eat the entire bag in one shot,

Huge advancements in the food offerings

In the center of the swap meet you also have permanent vendors like this place selling asian food. It is not the same as what you would find in the mall, there are skewers on offering, more akin to asian street food.

The two year ghosts of covid still show up

Just remember to socially distance apparently. That is supposed to still be a thing, or someoneforgot to take down the sign. There are no masking requirements anywhere in Nevada at this time (June of 2022), but who knows, maybe they are banking on that changing in the future?

you find the strangest things here

As I alluded to before, finding strange stuff at the swap meet is not hard, but depending on your interests, what is interesting is very subjective on a person to person basis. Here are a few things I found, with some commentary on them.

You know what I do not understand? How you find hockey in the desert. There is no doubt the arrival of the Vegas Golden Knights brought with it huge interest in the home town team, but why would anyone be interested in a complete “new old stock” box of 1991 hockey cards, or an action figure of a Calgary Flames player who has long since retired?

retro tech to your hearts galore even if you cant understand any of it

For all of you that held on to your old video games and fought your parents not to throw your stuff out, good news. Your old stuff is now worth something.

Even if your old stuff was not made for American audiences.

This is a Japanese Super Famicom. This is the Japanese market variant of what was known in the USA as the “Super Nintendo Entertainment System,”

As far as I know, it will play on North American televisions, owing to the fact that Japan and the USA both use NTSC broadcast standards, however unlike modern games that can have menus in both English and other languages, you won’t get the ability to have English in these games.

Everything will be in Japanese. You also would need to import all the software you want to play, as they have different shaped cartridge slots.

This is a collectors curiosity item, and most people should not buy this, and most would not.

The American version of the Super Nintendo, this is what everyone reading who paid attention go gaming in the early 1990s likely remembers.

but wait – even older retro tech is on display

One of the most unpopular apple products ever

This is an Apple IIc, one of the least popular computers that Apple ever manufactured. Launched in 1984, you could not do much with this then, and obviously far less today.

Apple thought they would sell 100,000 units per month, they sold 100,000 units per year until it was cancelled in 1988.

This was when Apple was Apple Computer. Do you remember that? Homer remembers.

things get more random and dangerous as we go

From here, I checked out more of the random tables. Most of them are mundane, a lot of childrens toys, broken old technology, but then you get strange collections of black and white photos of family moments.

I wonder in a non morbid way if the people in the photos are still with us. Where were these photos taken? What are they doing now?

coins that represent my family

A vendor buying and selling rare coins had a giant bin set out. I managed to find 1 Philippine Peso (worth $0.018 USD), 1 centavo (which is practically worth NOTHING in USD) as well as a Canadian penny and quarter.

This is not dangerous, unless you were a parent that needed to hear it all day long, it would have been dangerous to you. These took batteries and would make a ton of noise. I remember because we loved pinball and had one just like it as a kid growing up.

This is 100% more dangerous. This was just sitting on a table with other large knives. It was also one of the sharpest blades I have ever held. I tried seeing if this has any sort of era it would belong in, it is obviously a replica if it did, but google image search did not bring anything up.

THE CREEP FACTOR IS STRONG HERE

In what appeared to be an empty space where somewhere selling something that required a cosmotology bust (possibly facemasks?) there were these just sitting out in the open.

The fact they are so filthy makes me wonder how well they would have worked to sell anything to anyone.

Then you see the one that looked like it was attacked with the knife from above, and it definately has a strange psycho-serial killer type vibe to it.

I think that possibly one of the most frightening places on the planet would have to be a swap meet at night when all the vendors have left and you stumble upon something like this.

I would not want to visit at the witching hour.

but the fun factor does increase from here

Somewhat new to all of this is a fully fleshed out canival midway, complete with various carnival games for the kids to play.

Bonus is that you do not need to go to the strip and trek through the old smell of the Circus Circus to avail these games.
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Just remember to bring santizer

I mentioned that this area is not the most economically priveleged, and this is evidenced by the signs posted up near the bathrooms.

Speaking of that, they have dozens of portable toilets installed, of which maybe two were open. Of those, it was not a pleasant experience.

Try and use the actual permanent bathrooms, avoid the portables at all costs. They are a nightmare, and I frankly do not know why they are there at all.

broad acres swap meet las vegas full gallery

I took more photos than featured above, 71 in total. Please find them by clicking through the gallery below. If you saw this post early, it means you are on my patreon, and I certainly appreciate that.

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