THE BIG BOOM
On July 3, 1930 the appropriation bill for the Boulder Dam was signed by President Herbert Hoover. When construction started in 1931, Las Vega’s population boomed from approximately 5000 to 25,000.(1) The massive construction project required thousands of workers from all around the nation. The town’s one cemented road, Freemont Street, opened up many new casinos and showgirl venues to attract workers and visitors to give the city’s economy which was in the middle of a struggle due to the Great Depression, a much needed boost. Then when the dam was completed in 1936, cheap electricity was used from energy from the dam to light up the various signs of Fremont Street. This then provided an energy source that would eventually be used to help facilitate much of the city’s needs (2). After World War II, the extravagant hotels and casinos offering prime entertainment came into existence. The city’s tourism population sky rocketed due to the entertainment and adult life that came into existence. Tourism and its entertainment industry became the town’s leading source of income, and it brought great financial security.
What once was just an empty and barren piece of land whose sole purpose was simply a rest stop along the way of the Pacific railroad system, now served a more economically important function: the entertainment business. As the years passed, many leading patrons for the city of Las Vegas’ main concern became how to maximize profit and how they could bring more tourists in and business into the city. More and more hotels with cousins were being built all up and down the streets of Las Vegas, and this business just kept on booming (3).
What once was just an empty and barren piece of land whose sole purpose was simply a rest stop along the way of the Pacific railroad system, now served a more economically important function: the entertainment business. As the years passed, many leading patrons for the city of Las Vegas’ main concern became how to maximize profit and how they could bring more tourists in and business into the city. More and more hotels with cousins were being built all up and down the streets of Las Vegas, and this business just kept on booming (3).
By 1941, hotel casinos started coming into existence all along the interstate U.S. 91, and that part of the highway came to be known as “the Strip.”(4) Many were built based on the Old West theme that was now popular for the casinos’ throughout Freemont Street. Mob bosses’ Bugsy Siegel, along with Meyer Lansky and his Mexican drug money, opened the Flamingo hotel in 1946.(4) The hotel was a new type of resort, that took its ideas and motivation from Hollywood and not the Old West as was the case in the past. Top notch talent was booked for the lounges and many celebrities came to its Christmas Day debut. This began a new era of expansion for Las Vegas, a beginning to a lifestyle that would live for many decades to come. Busy Siegel was murdered in 1947, but his vision for Las Vegas lived on: During the 1950s and 1960s, mobsters helped build the Sahara, the Sands, the New Frontier and the Riviera. Money from organized crime combined with funds from more respectable investors—Wall Street banks, union pension funds, the Mormon Church and the Princeton University endowment. Tourists flocked to the resorts—8 million a year by 1954—drawn by performers such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis Presley, and by rows of slot machines and gaming tables.
Reference
1. Estes, M.B. (May 2009). Palepindian Ossupations in the Great Basin: A Comparative Study of Lithic Technological Organization, Mobility, Landscape Use from Jakes Valley, Neveda. Retrieved from http://www.unr.edu/Documents/liberal-arts/anthropology/estes-thesis09.pdf
2. Denton and Morris. (2001). The money and the power : the making of Las Vegas and its hold on America, 1947-2000. New York : Alfred A. Knopf.
3. Lost City Library. Retrieved from http://archive.org/stream/lostcitypueblogr00shut#page/12/mode/2up
4. Earley, P. (2000). Super casino : inside the "new" Las Vegas. New York : Bantam Books.
Images (From left to right)
1. Retrieved from http://vesselofbeauty.blogspot.com/2010/09/vob-photography-rat-pack.html
2. Retrieved from http://noelhadleyphotojournal.blogspot.com/2013/04/elvis-presley-in-las-vegas.html
1. Estes, M.B. (May 2009). Palepindian Ossupations in the Great Basin: A Comparative Study of Lithic Technological Organization, Mobility, Landscape Use from Jakes Valley, Neveda. Retrieved from http://www.unr.edu/Documents/liberal-arts/anthropology/estes-thesis09.pdf
2. Denton and Morris. (2001). The money and the power : the making of Las Vegas and its hold on America, 1947-2000. New York : Alfred A. Knopf.
3. Lost City Library. Retrieved from http://archive.org/stream/lostcitypueblogr00shut#page/12/mode/2up
4. Earley, P. (2000). Super casino : inside the "new" Las Vegas. New York : Bantam Books.
Images (From left to right)
1. Retrieved from http://vesselofbeauty.blogspot.com/2010/09/vob-photography-rat-pack.html
2. Retrieved from http://noelhadleyphotojournal.blogspot.com/2013/04/elvis-presley-in-las-vegas.html