Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

Appendix:
Las Vegas in Depth
There has rarely been a time in Vegas’s post-Bugsy history when the city wasn’t
booming, but it seems on a particular roll right now. A new megaresort seems to
go up every other week, and each brings something new to the party, sometimes
things hitherto never invited: great works of art, five-star world-renowned chefs,
rock clubs and arenas that attract significant and still-current acts—you get the
idea. In other words, everything old is new again, and Vegas glamour is back.
1 A Look at the Past
THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD
For many years after its creation, Las Vegas was a mere whistle-stop town. That all
changed in 1928 when Congress authorized the building of nearby Boulder Dam
(later renamed Hoover Dam), bringing thousands of workers to the area. In 1931,
gambling once again became legal in Nevada, and Fremont Street’s gaming emporiums
and speak-easies attracted dam workers. Upon the dam’s completion, the
Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce worked hard to lure the hordes of tourists who
came to see the engineering marvel (it was called “the Eighth Wonder of the
World”) to its casinos. But it wasn’t until the early years of World War II that
visionary entrepreneurs began to plan for the city’s glittering future.
LAS VEGAS GOES SOUTH
Contrary to popular lore, developer Bugsy Siegel didn’t actually stake a claim in
the middle of nowhere—he just built a few blocks south of already-existing
properties.
And in 1941, El Rancho Vegas, ultraluxurious for its time, was built on the
same remote stretch of highway (across the street from where the Sahara now
stands). Scores of Hollywood stars were invited to the grand opening, and El
Rancho Vegas soon became the hotel of choice for visiting film stars.
Beginning a trend that continues today, each new property tried to outdo
existing hotels in luxurious amenities and thematic splendor. Las Vegas was on
its way to becoming the entertainment capital of the world.
Las Vegas promoted itself in the 1940s as a town that combined Wild West
frontier friendliness with glamour and excitement. As Chamber of Commerce
president Maxwell Kelch put it in a 1947 speech, “Las Vegas has the impact of a
Wild West show, the friendliness of a country store, and the sophistication of
Monte Carlo.” Throughout the decade, the city was Hollywood’s celebrity playground.
The Hollywood connection gave the town glamour in the public’s mind.
So did the mob connection (something Las Vegas has spent decades trying to live
down), which became clear when notorious underworld gangster Bugsy Siegel
built the fabulous Flamingo, a tropical paradise and “a real class joint.”
A steady stream of name entertainers came to Las Vegas. In 1947, Jimmy
Durante opened the showroom at The Flamingo. Other headliners of the 1940s
included Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, tap-dancing legend Bill “Bojangles”
Robinson, the Mills Brothers, skater Sonja Henie, and Frankie Laine. Future Las
Vegas legend Sammy Davis Jr. debuted at El Rancho Vegas in 1945.