Las Vegas also known as the Sin City or the entertainment capital of the world
Las
Vegas is known for many things: glitz, glamour, ostentation, gambling,
entertainment, debauchery, shopping and excess. The most populous city in
the state of Nevada, it is the largest founded in the twentieth century,
and is the centre of gambling in the United States.
Beginning as a stopover en route to the pioneer trails to the west, Las
Vegas became a popular railway town in the early twentieth century,
serving as a staging point for the mines in the surrounding area, that
shipped their goods out to the country from its station. With the growth
of the railway, Las Vegas became less important, but the construction of
the Hoover Dam injected a new vitality into Las Vegas and the city has
never looked back. The increase in tourism caused by the dam and the
legalization of gambling led to the advent of the casino-hotels for which
Las Vegas is famous.
In the mid- to late 1940s a small building boom included several
hotel-casinos by the two-lane main road leading into Las Vegas from Los
Angeles, and this is now home to today's 'Strip'. Among the most notable
buildings was Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo Hotel, with its neon signs and pink
flamingo lawn ornaments that opened in 1946.
In the 1950s, resort building continued to accelerate. Wilbur Clark, once
a hotel bellman in San Diego, opened the Desert Inn in 1950. Two years
later, Milton Prell opened the Sahara Hotel on the site of the old Club
Bingo. The Sands Hotel opened that same year. In 1955, the Riviera Hotel
became the first Strip highrise at nine stories. Other resorts that
opened during the building boom begun in the 1950s included the Royal
Nevada, Dunes, Tropicana and Stardust hotels.
During this time the entertainment industry in Las Vegas took off. In the
1950s Las Vegas became synonymous with the Rat Pack. Entertainment, not
just gambling, became the reason to visit the city. For 43 years Frank
Sinatra played to sold-out shows in resorts from The Desert Inn to the
Sands to the MGM Grand. Sinatra's Rat Pack image of all-night singing,
dancing, drinking and womanizing brought a new demographic to the Strip.
As the Rat Pack charmed Eisenhower-era America, the Strip continued to
expand.
The 1970s saw a decline in Las Vegas tourism. Las Vegas had become a
run-down town with little to bring in the crowds. The local government
and hoteliers decided it was time to clean up their act. In the late
1980s the Strip was reborn with the construction of the 3,049-room Mirage
at a cost of $630 million. Featuring a white tiger habitat, a dolphin
pool, an elaborate swimming pool and waterfall and a man-made volcano
belching fire, the days of glamour were officially back. Treasure Island,
with its full scale pirate ship that engages in combat with a British
frigate in its nightly shows, sinking its enemy as a grand finale, is
another example of the more recent excesses available here.
The Excalibur, a 4,000 room colossus was the next to open in 1990. The
imaginative medieval 'castle' has some floors devoted solely to
non-gambling entertainment for children and the young at heart including
court jesters who perform in public areas. The showroom features jousting
on horseback by knights of King Arthur's court.
The Luxor, a black glass pyramid boasts the world's most powerful beam of
light shining from its top, as well as a full-scale reproduction of
Tutankhamun's tomb. The atrium in the middle of the pyramid could hold
nine Boeing 747s stacked on top of one another.
As the luxury resorts appeared so did the retailers. Here you can find
nearly every brand on earth from Tiffany to Gucci to Prada and Valentino.
Entertainment has also made a resurgence with performers such as Cirque
de Soleil, Elton John and Celine Dion.
Other spectacular hotels and resorts have continued to spring up
including the MGM Grand, New York New York, the Palms, the Hard Rock
Hotel, the Bellagio and the Venetian.
Inspired by the Lake Como resort of Bellagio in Italy, the Bellagio is
famed for its its 3.2 ha (8-acre) artificial lake between the hotel and
the Strip. The lake encompasses thousands of fountains, their high
streams of water lit by a rainbow of colored lights, flowing to the
accompanying music. Vegas is definitely back!
