Eeep. We are indeed considering putting that back. You can always reload the page, but I'm not sure everyone thinks of that.
So in general, build the facilities you can. Each of the initial three buildings have two characters there are different times of day (Overlapping. So each of the three characters frequent two of the establishments). Try to talk to them frequently while in the same location, and if you ever don't have someone to talk to, work at one of the locations. This will help you get a bit more energy and get you going.
Once you past the first hurdle into chapter 2, things open up a bit and there's a lot more possibilities. I'd recommend building everything you can other than the Casino (which is very expensive). New locations will usually trigger new people and quests. When in doubt, keep your locations upgraded and keep working, and you should do just fine!