News

Vibrant Time Capsules Illuminate Las Vegas’ Legendary Nightlife in the 1950s

8 June 2023adminVibrant Time Capsules Illuminate Las Vegas’ Legendary Nightlife in the 1950s

These pictures of Las Vegas strip in the 1950s were taken by LIFE photographer Loomis Dean and capture the nightlife and the long-gone sights of Sin City.

The 1950s were a defining era for Las Vegas. It was the decade that saw the rise of the Riviera, the Sands, and the Dunes, where the likes of Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis flocked to the Strip along with millions of other tourists. There were dancers, mobsters, weddings, gamblers, and the glamour of post-war America.

By 1951 the Thunderbird Hotel, the Desert Inn, and the Silver Slipper had joined the El Rancho, the New Frontier, and the Flamingo on the Strip.

Then a number of new properties were built in quick succession: the Sahara (1952), the Sands (1952), the Royal Nevada (1955), the Riviera (1955), the Dunes (1955), the Hacienda (1956), the Tropicana (1957), and the Stardust (1958), in addition to off-Strip properties such as the Showboat (1954), the Fremont (1956), and the ground-breaking Moulin Rouge (1955).

Each new hotel-casino owner sought to have high-quality entertainment and hired the best local musicians available for their in-house orchestras. They also hired entertainment directors, dancers, stagehands, customers, and everyone else needed to put on a first-rate show.

After coming to see these stars, the tourists would resume gambling, and then eat at the gourmet buffets that have become a staple of the casino industry.

As the city became a centre for gambling, illegal activity became rife and many muckraking scandals emerged in the press during the 1950s and 1960s.

Over 8 million people were visiting Las Vegas annually in 1954, pumping $200 million into casinos, which consolidated its image as “wild, full of late-night, exotic entertainment”. The population grew dramatically from 8,422 during World War II to over 45,000.

Vegas Vic, the unofficial, yet most widely used name for the Las Vegas, a 40 ft neon sign that represents a cowboy, was erected above the Pioneer Club in Las Vegas in 1951.

The sign was a departure in graphic design from typeface-based neon signs, to a friendly and welcoming human form of a cowboy. The giant neon cowhand’s creation was based on an image that was part of the promotional campaign launched with the slogan “Still a Frontier town”.

The voice message that was broadcast every 15 minutes by the mechanically operated image was “Howdy, pardner”. This voice was not liked by people and hence its broadcast was stopped.

The original figure (now restored) was of 40 ft height weighing about 6 tons (considered then as the largest such mechanical contraption sign in the world).

The sign moved its arms, winked, held a cigarette, and let out smoke rings. Its attire consisted of a cowboy hat, blue jeans, boots, a yellow checked shirt, and a bandana.The New Frontier Hotel was the venue of Elvis Presley’s first shows in Las Vegas from 23 April 1956. The 12-story tall Fremont Hotel and Casino located on 200 Fremont Street opened on 18 May 1956 and was then the tallest building in downtown Las Vegas for several years.

It was designed by architect Wayne McAllister, and at the time of its opening it had 155 rooms, cost $6 million to open, and was owned by Ed Levinson and Lou Lurie.

Related Posts

Elon Musk’s ex Grimes claims he won’t let her see their kids and is ‘unrecognizable’ since joining MAGA world

Elon Musk’s ex-girlfriend Grimes has claimed he won’t let her see their children and claims the billionaire has become ‘unrecognizable’ since teaming up with Donald Trump. The singer revealed she has been in a year-long custody battle with the father of their three children, during which time she allegedly did not see one of her children for five months. The former couple share two sons, X Æ A-Xii and Techno Mechanicus, as well as a daughter Exa Dark Sideræl together.

Matt Gaetz says he’d be in prison if the sex ‘smears’ were true in first interview since withdrawing as AG pick

Matt Gaetz said he fell victim to a ‘smear’ campaign that dredged up old and discredited allegations in his first interview since withdrawing his name from consideration as Donald Trump’s attorney general. And he revealed he will not be returning to Congress next year despite having been re-elected to the seat he vacated. Instead, he told The Charlie Kirk Show, he will now work to recruit the talent that could help underpin the new Trump administration.

Conor McGregor breaks his silence after he LOSES sexual assault case and is told he must pay €250,000 to the woman who claims he raped her in hotel, jury decides

Conor McGregor has broken his silence after losing his sexual assault case – where he was told he must pay the woman who accused him of raping her in a hotel six years ago €250,000. McGregor, 36, faced an accusation that he ‘brutally raped and battered’ Nikita Hand, 35, at a hotel in south Dublin in December 2018. The MMA fighter previously told the court he had consensual sex with Ms Hand, also known as Nikita Ni Laimhin, at the Beacon Hotel. He denied causing bruising to the plaintiff.

Heir to £230million pie fortune Dylan Thomas, 23, is found guilty of stabbing public schoolboy best friend to death on Christmas Eve

The heir to a £230million pie company fortune has been found guilty of murdering his best friend on Christmas Eve. Dylan Thomas, 23, stabbed William Bush, also 23, in the rented home the pair shared in Llandaff, Cardiff, on December 24 last year. Mr Bush was found dead in the newly-built house, owned by Thomas’s grandfather Sir Stanley Thomas, a Welsh tycoon behind a business empire including Peter’s Pies.

Revealed: How Rolf Harris moved more than £1million out of his own name to prevent it going to his victims in compensation

Sex criminal Rolf Harris moved his fortune out of his own name to prevent it going to his victims in compensation payments, MailOnline has learned. Harris’s will was published this week revealing that his assets were £438,802 at his death but after expenses were removed the net value of his estate was zero. But MailOnline has learned that he only left nothing because more than £1million that had been in his name for years was recently earmarked to go to relatives instead.

Journalist visited by police over year-old social media post WON’T be charged as force drops probe

A journalist who was visited by police for allegedly stirring up racial hatred with a social media post made last year, will not be charged, the force has said. Essex Police has today dropped its investigation into Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson over a tweet that was posted, and then quickly deleted, in November 2023. It comes after the force was advised by Crown Prosecution Service lawyers that it’s case failed to meet the evidential test.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *