Cheap thrills: ‘Vegas on the Dime’ author unearths city’s best bargains

Kirk Baird

Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002 | 8:36 a.m.

It was early 1999 and local free-lance writer Michael Toole was "between jobs" and without a car.

It was, he surmised, the perfect time to write a travel guide.

If the notion of a carless, jobless 34-year-old writing a travel book seems comical, many of Toole's friends felt the same way.

"They were like, 'What?'" Toole said.

Undaunted, the aspiring author pressed on.

Armed with a menu collection from local restaurants, credit cards, bus tokens, friends kind enough to give him an occasional lift, and an abundant knowledge of Las Vegas, Toole began writing his first book.

After almost a year of work, the result is "Las Vegas on the Dime: An Insider's Guide to Great Values" (Johnston Associates International, $14.95), a nearly 200-page handbook to Las Vegas on the cheap.

The easy-to-read guide is chock-full of tidbits for out-of-towners, such as where to find inexpensive hotels, how to get around town at low cost even tracking down affordable medical services.

But the book is more than a travel companion for money-conscious tourists. It is also a handy reference for locals looking to get more out of this city: from new restaurants and used-CD shops to city parks and special events, such as the Festival of Greek Food this month at St. John Greek Orthodox Church.

"We are all so jaded, we think we know everything in the city. we've been to every place, we know all the anecdotes," Toole said. "And because you're waiting 30 minutes between bus intervals, you would just discover places: an eatery, a shop or a bizarre bookstore."

And Toole didn't just happen upon many of the stores and restaurants.

Living in the the city on and off for nearly 30 years, the author was already quite familiar with the popular and not-so-popular attractions and sites in Las Vegas.

In fact, when friends and relatives would visit the city, they would often e-mail Toole for advice on where to stay, shop and eat, as well what shows of interest to see.

It didn't take long before word of Toole's knowledge of Las Vegas circulated to friends of friends and friends of friends' relatives when they made travel plans to Las Vegas. And after each visit he was inevitably told, "You should write a book about Las Vegas."

"It was a strong motivational force for me to do something of this magnitude," Toole acknowledged.

But there was more to his desire to write the book than to fulfill requests. And it wasn't the potential for money, either. While "Las Vegas on the Dime" has sold moderately well, Toole has yet to receive a large payment for his efforts.

The Las Vegan wrote "Las Vegas on the Dime" to showcase a side of the city many -- including locals -- never see.

"It's like a love letter of some of the more diverse things to do in town," he said.

For example, Toole lists several used-book and comic-book stores, hardly key tourist destinations, given the allure of the Strip.

He also addresses culture, such as local theater groups and museums, leisure activities including parks and golf courses, and favorite watering holes, cafes, bakeries and eccentric shops.

Not surprisingly, Toole has been to them all.

"It sounds sick, doesn't it?" he said. "(In the book) there's an emphasis on people and observations on the decor, these are places I frequent."

But his insistence on experiencing these places firsthand -- what he termed a "consumer's mentality" -- gave him permission to stretch an already thin budget.

During the course of writing his book, Toole said he paid for most of his around-town research with credit cards, which he just paid off.

Still, the author acknowledged he enjoyed every moment of his efforts, and is contemplating writing an update to "Las Vegas on the Dime," should the publisher ask.

"One of the great things about writing a travel guide is you can delude yourself into saying, 'I'm doing something serious here.' But at the same time, you're having fun. That was part of the charm for doing the book."