Primm 2018

It is a universal trait of human nature: People are fascinated about crossing borders.

Both the physical and psychological border lines come into play at Primm, Nevada.

Photo by Robert L. Candiotti

The Nevada-California border will endure, but Whiskey Pete's will most likely be replaced by 2018.

On The Border At Primm

By Robert L. Candiotti, January 9, 2009

Borders are exciting, and can be frightening. Borders can get hearts thumping and blood flowing.

Like seductive Spanish eyes tantalizingly revealed behind a sexy, colorful fan, a border inspires fantasies and cravings over what is just on the other side.

Like the siren song that wafts out with the promise of paradise, but which also has the potential to dash the adventurer against jagged rocks, the border can get the mind racing, the imagination soaring and common sense foundering.

There can be negative aspects of borders. Borders can vibrate with tension and hostility, suspicion and competition, elitism and isolation.

But this type of negativity has very little to do with the Nevada-California border at Primm. On the surface, at least, Primm is a calm, cool and collected border.

Actually, there are those who say the border is no big deal because Las Vegas is just an appendage of Southern California. But this is not true. It is as ridiculous as saying San Francisco is merely an extension of Los Angeles. Las Vegas and Nevada have a different history and have different influences than California experienced. And all the differences can possibly be boiled down to one word: LIBERTARIANISM.

In a sense, libertarianism transcends the Republican/Democratic dichotomy in Nevada. If you live in Nevada you can feel it, and the longer you live in Nevada the more you are convinced of it. Nevada's political tree has a solid libertarian trunk.

Southern Nevada has a culture, and the desert-based metropolitan region emanating from Las Vegas is most definitely not a mere extension of Southern California.

It is a place unto itself, and this is why Ivanpah Valley Airport, if built, will harbor a benign sultry tension that will enhance Primm's image, as well as help develop Primm's future as a midpoint between Las Vegas and Los Angeles/San Diego.

Primm, Nevada, is an interesting border.

Primm, Nevada, at the border of Nevada and California, offers to people coming from California an immediate immersion in the Nevada-style "warm waters" of shopping, gambling, food, booze and sex. ("Sex" is not referring to prostitution, but rather to the sexy titillations that Nevada is so adept at presenting).

The lure of what is taboo can pleasantly heat up the sojourners, and can also burn them if they stay in the "warm waters" too long, or plunge too deep.

Truth is, people love it! They love to escape the ruts of their everyday lives. And for Californians, Primm is a convenient place to do this.

Overnighting At Ivanpah In 2018

Photo by Old Shoe Woman

The Fashion Outlets shopping mall in Primm has already been a NV-CA border attraction for 10 years.

Though the current owner of the three Primm casinos - Herbst Gaming (which bought the properties from MGM Mirage in April, 2007) - apparently is not making a strong go of it due to economic declines and other reasons, to the casual observer Primm seems pretty busy most of the time.

One thing for sure - though staffed generally by pleasant employees who work hard and provide good customer service - the hotel/casinos in Primm are old and ever-so-slowly going to seed. (However, one has to admit Buffalo Bill's is still a pretty cool and capable casino in a cowboy-sultry kind of way).

It is not that the Primm casinos are bad. They are O.K. But, if Ivanpah Valley Airport passes its Environmental Impact Statement process in 2010 or 2011, some wise entrepreneurs with deep pockets will be enthusiastically eyeing the town to start planning to make it a Nevada-style throbbing area of escapism that is just yards over the California border, and right next to a brand new international airport.

Primm will inevitably be the main hotel area for America's newest international commercial airport, Ivanpah Valley Airport.

Whatever Primm has become by the year 2018, with Ivanpah Valley Airport just a stone's throw away, Primm will need to have enough to offer to entice a significant portion of Ivanpah outbound and inbound air travelers to want to spend a night or two.

This will be a requirement for success: A significant percentage of Ivanpah Valley Airport customers will want to overnight in Primm.

Primm will have to offer enough to interest people to spend time, and it will have to be connected by fast and efficient ground transportation - probably high-speed trains - to get people to and from the Las Vegas Strip, as well as some points in between. Various possible ground transportation systems need to be taken seriously and evaluated right now. Connections to Jean and Goodsprings, Nevada, McCarran International Airport, the Las Vegas Monorail and to The Strip itself will make for a modern ground transportation array that will help create what Ivanpah Valley Airport can become.

Also, convenient commercial transportation from Primm to places such as Death Valley, Palm Springs, Big Bear Lake and Lake Arrowhead will also enhance the image and success of Ivanpah.

Development of a Nevada-California maglev (magnetic levitation) system seems to be consistent with the 21st Century. A maglev that connects Southern California to Ivanpah/Primm makes all the sense in the world. There are very recent reports that Nevada and California political leaders have renewed commitments to building the expensive maglev train line with federal economic stimulus money.

Into The Primm Outlets

For the past 10 years, there has been an outlet shopping mall in Primm at the Nevada-California border on I-15, one of the main vehicle arteries in the U.S.

Opened in 1998 as the Las Vegas Outlet Mall, it is now called (though it is actually 40 miles south of Las Vegas) Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas and is owned by Primadonna Resorts. Today the mall has 100 stores, many touting brands that are famous and fawned over.

The Fashion Outlets mall is distinctive because it is literally attached to a casino. This combination of shopping and gaming is a hot one. Thousands of motor vehicle travelers stop every single day.

Even 200 years ago, when the antecedent trail to I-15 was peopled with travelers on foot and with horses, where Primm is today was a natural resting spot. Either the early pioneers were about to start up a steep and extensive upgrade, or they had just reached the bottom of a long decline out of the mountains into the flat desert.

With an outlet mall history going back 10 years now, Fashion Outlets is an integrated part of Primm's image and definition. For the mall to still be there - though, of course, significantly upgraded - in 2018 when Ivanpah Valley Airport (which is projected to handle millions of air travelers annually) opens, is a no-brainer. The attractiveness of classy outlet mall shopping to future global travelers passing through an adjacent new, futuristic international airport does not appear to be worthy of skepticism.

Primm outlet shopping should still be around in 2018. Of course, if Ivanpah Valley Airport is ultimately built, the three Primm casinos and the mall will be completely redesigned and rebuilt to match the massive modernity, and 21st Century potential, of America's newest international airport.