Las Vegas

Las Vegas, located in southwestern Nevada, is the gambling mecca—the place most gamblers dream of visiting—of the United States. Surrounded by a combination of mountains and desert, it is a city of glitz, of neon-lit streets, and of luxurious casinos that attract visitors to wager their money and, perhaps, if luck shines on them, win.

Las Vegas was established by a land grant in 1835. The area originally was called Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Las Vegas Grandes (Our Lady of the Sorrows of the Great Meadows). The name eventually was shortened to Las Vegas (The Meadows). The area soon was charted by explorer John C. Frémont (1813–1890). Las Vegas became a trading post along the Santa Fe Trail. The Mormons also colonized it. Just after the turn of the twentieth century, Las Vegas was a small watering hole with several hotels and stores, a saloon, and a few thousand residents.

Most of Las Vegas's development before World War II (1939–45) came about in the early 1930s, in conjunction with construction of the Boulder Dam, located 40 miles away on the Nevada-Arizona border, and the legalization of gambling throughout most of Nevada. However, by 1941, only a handful of casinos and hotels had been constructed in the city. Then, with the opening of two hotels—the El Rancho, a 63-room resort, in 1941, and the Hotel Last Frontier, a 107-room facility, the following year—came the birth of what today is known as the Las Vegas Strip.

New York mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (1906–1947) sensed that Las Vegas was an untapped source of riches for organized crime. In 1946, just after the end of the war, he over-saw construction of the Flamingo, an extravagant gambling house-nightspot-hotel that ushered in the city's modern era. Other lavish casinos followed, including the Thunderbird, the Sahara, the Sands, the Dunes, the Desert Inn, and the Riviera. The casinos sported mammoth swimming pools, thousands of rooms, gaudy decor, and nightclubs that spotlighted the era's top entertainers. Mobsters ruled the town through the 1950s, with millions in laundered money pouring through Las Vegas. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) eventually began cracking down on the hoodlums who were most openly operating the casinos.

In 1966, legendary, eccentric aviation-pioneer Howard Hughes (1905–1976) moved into the fifteenth-floor penthouse of the Desert Inn. The following year, he purchased the hotel for $14 million and also bought several other hotels and casinos, the city's airport, and additional prime real estate. A reputable businessman finally controlled much of Las Vegas. Eventually, the city's image became more corporate and more positive. In 1971, Hilton became the first hotel chain to open a branch in Las Vegas. Others followed; the most impressive among them was the massive MGM Grand.

In 2002, Las Vegas had over thirty-five thousand hotel rooms. Thirty million people visit the city each year. The Nevada Gaming Commission and the FBI watch over Las Vegas's gambling operation. Supposedly, little if any mob involvement remains.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information

Balboni, Alan Richard. Beyond the Mafia: Italian Americans and theDevelopment of Las Vegas. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1996.

Berman, Susan. Lady Las Vegas: The Inside Story Behind America's NeonOasis. New York: TV Books, 1996.

Land, Barbara, and Myrick Land. A Short History of Las Vegas. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1999.

McCracken, Robert D. Las Vegas: The Great American Playground. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1997.