Las Vegas in Focus

Las Vegas in Focus

Early Vegas

Though westward caravans were lured to the area by its verdant meadows and warm springs in the late 1820s, it was the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad that made Las Vegas a locomotive watering stop, spurring the formation of a formal town charter in 1905. Over the next few decades, Las Vegas grew from an important rail hub and supply center to a dynamic leisure destination, thanks in part to the recreational opportunities presented by the construction of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s.

Gambling, Bugsy Siegel & the Fabulous Flamingo

Of course, it's gambling that put the city on the map, and it's gambling that's kept it there. Casinos and hotels began popping up almost immediately after the state legalized gaming (again) in 1931. It was mobster Bugsy Siegel who helped transform the once-humble gaming "industry" from sawdust into neon.

Siegel aimed to build and run the classiest resort-casino in the world, and he recruited Mob investors to back him. The Flamingo Hotel opened in 1946, millions of dollars over budget. It initially flopped making his partners unhappy and suspicious of embezzlement. Within six months, Siegel was rubbed out, but the Flamingo began to boom in earnest, as did the industry throughout Vegas.

Sin City Today

Since the days of Bugsy Siegel, Las Vegas has reinvented itself several times over. It's grown in population from 25,000 in 1950 to 125,000 in 1970 to nearly 600,000 today with no signs of slowing down. In terms of tourism growth, the numbers are staggering—between 1970 and 2005, the annual number of visits to Sin City grew from a respectable 6.7 million to 38.6 million. Bugsy Siegel and his cohorts wouldn't recognize the town today.

If you're a fan of gaming, Las Vegas surpassed fabulous long ago, and is now absolutely stellar. But what's truly wonderful about this city is that it's actually developed into an amazingly well-rounded destination. Today, Las Vegas is one of the most exciting dining cities in the world and the variety of dazzling, outlandish shows and super-exclusive nightclubs continues to increase. If the city hasn't exactly become a major cultural hub, there's still enough to see and do both on and off the Strip to keep you busy for days.

Visitors also sometimes forget that Las Vegas continues to grow not merely as a leisure destination but as a great place to live, with a generally low-cost but high standard of living. The more than 1.7 million people who live in Clark County work heavily in the gaming and tourism industries but also in construction, the military, retail, and high-tech industries. With a favorable climate, great proximity to the outdoors, and so many fascinating attractions, it's easy to see how Las Vegas and the surrounding area has grown from a mere railroad supply center to one of the most dynamic and important cities in North America in just a century.

What's in a Name?

So how did mobster Bugsy Siegel come up with the name of his famed casino, the Flamingo? Supposedly he was inspired by the long legs of his showgirl girlfriend.

Important Dates in Las Vegas History

1829-40s

Western traders camp at the present site of Las Vegas, attracted by its springs and meadows

1864

Nevada is admitted into the Union as the 36th state

1905

The city of Las Vegas is formally laid out as a railroad hub (it's officially incorporated in 1911)

1931

Construction begins on Hoover Dam and gambling is legalized in the state of Nevada (as is a law greatly easing residency requirements for obtaining a divorce)

1932

The Apache opens downtown, becoming the city's first high-end gaming resort

1941

Thomas Hull, a successful California motor inn entrepreneur, builds El Rancho, the first casino on what would later become the Strip

1941

Frank Sinatra makes his feature film debut in Las Vegas Nights

1946

Bugsy Siegel opens his famed Flamingo casino resort

1956

Elvis Presley's Vegas debut, at the Frontier's Venus Room, opens to mixed reviews

1959

Sinatra and Dean Martin appear on a Las Vegas stage together for the first time at the Copa Room of the Sands. A year later they join forces with Sammy Davis Jr. and the rest of the Pack to film the consummate Rat Pack-in-Vegas movie, Ocean's 11

1966

The Roman-inspired Caesars Palace casino-resort opens on the Strip, setting a new standard for luxury and excess and becoming the city's first "theme" casino

1968

Howard Hughes buys his fifth (and last) casino from the Mafia, ending their total control of the city

1971

Hunter S. Thompson publishes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, a semiautobiographical account of his sensational drug binge, during which he manages to cover a law enforcement narcotics convention for Rolling Stone and a motocross race for Sports Illustrated

1971

Hilton becomes the first major publicly traded hotel chain to operate a gaming resort in Las Vegas

1980

The 26-story MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (today's Bally's) catches fire with 5,000 guests and employees inside. Hundreds are injured and 87 die in the second-worst hotel accident in U.S. history

1992

Wolfgang Puck becomes the first major celebrity chef to open a Vegas restaurant, with his branch of Spago at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace

1993

The Dunes hotel becomes the first major Vegas property to be imploded (on its site stands Bellagio)

2005

Wynn Las Vegas opens at the north end of the Strip, setting a new standard for over-the-top opulence and high prices