Taken from The Seattle Times
Las Vegas, now 100, remembers its humble beginnings
By Gary A. Warner
LAS VEGAS — Your heirs would have reaped a humongous payday if you had bet 100 years ago that this parched and dusty watering hole on a missionaries' route from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles would ever amount to anything.
Las Vegas turned out to be a world-famous playground with 17 of the 20 largest hotels in the world and an airport landing jumbo jets filled with gamblers from Europe and Asia and across North America.
Think Lotto-level odds of all that happening. Or that proverbial snowball in hell.
Las Vegas has always been about rolling the dice and taking a risk. This year, Sin City celebrates the 100th anniversary of a property auction that many say marks the birth of today's megalopolis.
Many versions of Las Vegas have risen and fallen since. "Newer," "bigger" and "brasher" have always been the place's bywords. But you can still find vestiges of each era hidden between the skyscraper hotels and behemoth casinos.
In the beginning — The old Mormon fort: The irony is that the future Sin City was established in 1855 by pious Mormon missionaries who came upon natural springs and hoped to forge a new promised land in the desert.
They diverted Las Vegas Creek for the water to irrigate farms. An adobe fort was erected to protect settlers from the natives, who had discovered the area a few eons earlier.
The state park's visitors center includes a remnant of the old fort.
Old Vegas Mormon State Historic Park is in downtown Las Vegas, at Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue. The park and visitors center is open all year, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. An entrance fee is charged to enter the fort (www.parks.nv.gov/olvmf.htm)
1900s — Open up that golden gate: The first lots in what was called Clark's Las Vegas Townsite were sold for $200 apiece in May 1905. The next year Miller's Hotel opened at the corner of what would become Fremont and Main streets. It's hard to believe after all the bulldozing and implosions of the intervening 99 years that the inn still stands — albeit altered more than a bit.
What's now called the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino sits on a pedestrian mall beneath the Fremont Street Experience sky cage. In keeping with its age, the hotel still offers its famous 99-cent shrimp cocktail.
1 Fremont St., 800-426-1906, www.goldengatecasino.net
1910s — Welcome to Las Vegas: Not much remains from this period. In 1910, the Nevada Legislature passed a law barring any kind of gambling, even coin-flipping.
1920s — Divorce, Western-style: No mirage: Imagine a Las Vegas where gambling and booze were illegal. But 1920s Las Vegas had another draw: divorce. While most seeking a split went to Reno, a crop of dude ranches in Las Vegas appeared to serve those who made the trip from Southern California. One of the most popular was David Lorenzi's resort on the north side of town. Today the site is Lorenzi Park, one of the most placid spots in the hyperactive city. The Nevada State Museum and Historical Society is located in the park.
700 Twin Lakes Drive, 702-486-5205, http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/museums/lv/vegas.htm
1930s — Wet and Wild: If Las Vegas had a turning-point year, it was 1931. Gambling was legalized and the government began work on the massive dam at Black Canyon, about 30 miles southeast of the city. With more than 3,500 workers and an annual payroll of $500,000, the Boulder Dam (later renamed Hoover Dam) was a boon to casinos: men with lots of money and virtually nowhere else to spend it. The Department of Interior offers tours of the dam. 702-294-3517, www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/service/index.html
1940s — Bugsy's Place: The Flamingo wasn't the first modern casino in Las Vegas (it was the El Cortez, still in business). Or even the first on what became the Strip (the long-gone El Rancho claims that title). But gangster Bugsy Siegel's fussy pink playground helped turn Las Vegas into an international destination. Little is left of the original place. Check out the fabulous Flamingo Pool with tall statues of the goofy birds. Nearby is a plaque honoring the mobster as one of the city's founding fathers.
3555 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 888-308-8899, www.flamingolv.com
1950s — Boomtown: What became Nellis Air Force Base opened in 1941. Then from 1951 to 1958, more than 100 atomic-bomb tests took place at the nearby Nevada Test Site. Mushroom clouds could be seen over the waving neon cowboy on Fremont Street known as Vegas Vic. Tourists would come out to see the tests. The tale of those days is told at the new Atomic Testing Museum, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
755 E. Flamingo Road, 702-794-5161, www.ntshf.org/
1960s — The Strip: The balance of power between downtown and the Strip flipped by the 1960s and never went back. High-end hotels like the Sands and Sahara were trolled by Frank Sinatra and his "Rat Pack." Big-name entertainers headlined ever-larger showrooms. Most of the classic casinos were literally blown away over the years as today's mega-resorts rose toward the end of the past century. You can still get a feel of what it was once like at the old Stardust hotel, especially when you gaze at its amazing neon sign out front.
3000 S. Las Vegas Blvd., 800-634-6757, www.stardustlv.com
1970s — Elvis: "The King" had played Vegas for years and even was married at the old Aladdin Hotel. But in the 1970s, he started a showbiz trend with extended stays at the showroom of the Intercontinental Hotel, now the Las Vegas Hilton. Elvis died in 1977, but his legend lives with impersonators all over town. For a one-stop choice, go to the Elvis-A-Rama Museum, where $3 million in Presley memorabilia shows that in Vegas, the King is still the King.
3401 S. Industrial Road, 702-309-7200, www.elvisarama.com
1980s — Grand glitz: Las Vegas had giant hotels and gambling halls for nearly 30 years when Steve Wynn took things a step further with the opening of the Mirage in 1989. Wynn's move set off a battle of casino owners to build the biggest, best and most expensive resorts, culminating with the Bellagio and Wynn Las Vegas. 3400 S. Las Vegas Blvd., 800-374-9000, www.mirage.com
1990s — Family town: In Las Vegas, the mantra of the last decade of the 20th century was "family friendly." The aging boomers wanted to come to Las Vegas with their kids in tow. The MGM Grand Hotel opened a theme park in its back yard. Roller coasters sprouted at casinos. Wet 'n Wild opened right on the Strip. Casinos built bigger pools to pull in family vacationers.
2000s — Return of Sin City: U-turn time. The family thing didn't click. All those parents really wanted to get away from the little tykes and party like they did during their younger days. Wet 'n Wild closed. MGM stripped away Dorothy and all the Wizard of Oz stuff and closed the theme park out back. The new slogan became a marriage counselor's nightmare: "What Happens Here Stays Here."
Las Vegas, now 100, remembers its humble beginnings
By Gary A. Warner
LAS VEGAS — Your heirs would have reaped a humongous payday if you had bet 100 years ago that this parched and dusty watering hole on a missionaries' route from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles would ever amount to anything.
Las Vegas turned out to be a world-famous playground with 17 of the 20 largest hotels in the world and an airport landing jumbo jets filled with gamblers from Europe and Asia and across North America.
Think Lotto-level odds of all that happening. Or that proverbial snowball in hell.
Las Vegas has always been about rolling the dice and taking a risk. This year, Sin City celebrates the 100th anniversary of a property auction that many say marks the birth of today's megalopolis.
Many versions of Las Vegas have risen and fallen since. "Newer," "bigger" and "brasher" have always been the place's bywords. But you can still find vestiges of each era hidden between the skyscraper hotels and behemoth casinos.
In the beginning — The old Mormon fort: The irony is that the future Sin City was established in 1855 by pious Mormon missionaries who came upon natural springs and hoped to forge a new promised land in the desert.
They diverted Las Vegas Creek for the water to irrigate farms. An adobe fort was erected to protect settlers from the natives, who had discovered the area a few eons earlier.
The state park's visitors center includes a remnant of the old fort.
Old Vegas Mormon State Historic Park is in downtown Las Vegas, at Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue. The park and visitors center is open all year, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. An entrance fee is charged to enter the fort (www.parks.nv.gov/olvmf.htm)
1900s — Open up that golden gate: The first lots in what was called Clark's Las Vegas Townsite were sold for $200 apiece in May 1905. The next year Miller's Hotel opened at the corner of what would become Fremont and Main streets. It's hard to believe after all the bulldozing and implosions of the intervening 99 years that the inn still stands — albeit altered more than a bit.
What's now called the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino sits on a pedestrian mall beneath the Fremont Street Experience sky cage. In keeping with its age, the hotel still offers its famous 99-cent shrimp cocktail.
1 Fremont St., 800-426-1906, www.goldengatecasino.net
1910s — Welcome to Las Vegas: Not much remains from this period. In 1910, the Nevada Legislature passed a law barring any kind of gambling, even coin-flipping.
1920s — Divorce, Western-style: No mirage: Imagine a Las Vegas where gambling and booze were illegal. But 1920s Las Vegas had another draw: divorce. While most seeking a split went to Reno, a crop of dude ranches in Las Vegas appeared to serve those who made the trip from Southern California. One of the most popular was David Lorenzi's resort on the north side of town. Today the site is Lorenzi Park, one of the most placid spots in the hyperactive city. The Nevada State Museum and Historical Society is located in the park.
700 Twin Lakes Drive, 702-486-5205, http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/museums/lv/vegas.htm
1930s — Wet and Wild: If Las Vegas had a turning-point year, it was 1931. Gambling was legalized and the government began work on the massive dam at Black Canyon, about 30 miles southeast of the city. With more than 3,500 workers and an annual payroll of $500,000, the Boulder Dam (later renamed Hoover Dam) was a boon to casinos: men with lots of money and virtually nowhere else to spend it. The Department of Interior offers tours of the dam. 702-294-3517, www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/service/index.html
1940s — Bugsy's Place: The Flamingo wasn't the first modern casino in Las Vegas (it was the El Cortez, still in business). Or even the first on what became the Strip (the long-gone El Rancho claims that title). But gangster Bugsy Siegel's fussy pink playground helped turn Las Vegas into an international destination. Little is left of the original place. Check out the fabulous Flamingo Pool with tall statues of the goofy birds. Nearby is a plaque honoring the mobster as one of the city's founding fathers.
3555 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 888-308-8899, www.flamingolv.com
1950s — Boomtown: What became Nellis Air Force Base opened in 1941. Then from 1951 to 1958, more than 100 atomic-bomb tests took place at the nearby Nevada Test Site. Mushroom clouds could be seen over the waving neon cowboy on Fremont Street known as Vegas Vic. Tourists would come out to see the tests. The tale of those days is told at the new Atomic Testing Museum, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
755 E. Flamingo Road, 702-794-5161, www.ntshf.org/
1960s — The Strip: The balance of power between downtown and the Strip flipped by the 1960s and never went back. High-end hotels like the Sands and Sahara were trolled by Frank Sinatra and his "Rat Pack." Big-name entertainers headlined ever-larger showrooms. Most of the classic casinos were literally blown away over the years as today's mega-resorts rose toward the end of the past century. You can still get a feel of what it was once like at the old Stardust hotel, especially when you gaze at its amazing neon sign out front.
3000 S. Las Vegas Blvd., 800-634-6757, www.stardustlv.com
1970s — Elvis: "The King" had played Vegas for years and even was married at the old Aladdin Hotel. But in the 1970s, he started a showbiz trend with extended stays at the showroom of the Intercontinental Hotel, now the Las Vegas Hilton. Elvis died in 1977, but his legend lives with impersonators all over town. For a one-stop choice, go to the Elvis-A-Rama Museum, where $3 million in Presley memorabilia shows that in Vegas, the King is still the King.
3401 S. Industrial Road, 702-309-7200, www.elvisarama.com
1980s — Grand glitz: Las Vegas had giant hotels and gambling halls for nearly 30 years when Steve Wynn took things a step further with the opening of the Mirage in 1989. Wynn's move set off a battle of casino owners to build the biggest, best and most expensive resorts, culminating with the Bellagio and Wynn Las Vegas. 3400 S. Las Vegas Blvd., 800-374-9000, www.mirage.com
1990s — Family town: In Las Vegas, the mantra of the last decade of the 20th century was "family friendly." The aging boomers wanted to come to Las Vegas with their kids in tow. The MGM Grand Hotel opened a theme park in its back yard. Roller coasters sprouted at casinos. Wet 'n Wild opened right on the Strip. Casinos built bigger pools to pull in family vacationers.
2000s — Return of Sin City: U-turn time. The family thing didn't click. All those parents really wanted to get away from the little tykes and party like they did during their younger days. Wet 'n Wild closed. MGM stripped away Dorothy and all the Wizard of Oz stuff and closed the theme park out back. The new slogan became a marriage counselor's nightmare: "What Happens Here Stays Here."
