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MEMORIES:
PHOTOS:
Where in the world can you visit Egypt, Rome and Greece, Paris, New York City, the Tropics, Hollywood, and a castle-- and look at it all from the top of the world? One answer: the Las Vegas Strip. Memorialized in the tomes of history, the silver screen of television and the celluloid of film, the Strip is a place where dreams are made and hearts are broken, or so the legends say.
It's truly amazing to think about Las Vegas' humble origin as a stopping ground for Mexican traders heading to Los Angeles. Soon, expeditionary groups came through, including one John Fremont, for which Fremont Street (downtown Las Vegas) was named. As it slowly grew, Las Vegas became a typical Western town, and Fremont Street was the casino corridor. After a three-week stint with a strict anti-gambling law in 1910, and the economic hardships of the Great Depression, the wild-west town began to rebuild with the construction of the Hoover Damn just 34 miles away.
1941 ushered in a new era for Las Vegas, as construction expanded to the nearby Las Vegas Boulevard, the original gateway into Las Vegas from Los Angeles. The El Rancho Vegas triggered a boom that would eventually lead into the construction of the most celebrated of all the early resorts on the strip, The Flamingo, financed by the famed mobster Bugsy Siegel. As the 50s rolled in, so did the Desert Inn, and then the Sands, the Riviera (the first Strip high-rise at a whopping nine stories!), the Dunes, Hacienda, Tropicana and Stardust. On and on and on, the building boom swept Las Vegas, and Las Vegas Boulevard--with its upscale entertainment and attractions-- gradually replaced the Glitter Gulch of Fremont Street as "tourist central."
The mid-60s ushered in a version of the Strip that would become larger than life with the construction of the original Aladdin hotel, and the world-famous Caesar's Palace. Even the famous Circus Circus got its Las Vegas Strip start in the mid 60s, though it would take a few more years before they added a resort to the Casino. Many more would come, changing hands, changing names, changing looks... evolving Bonanza into Bally's, Holiday Casino into Harrah's, the Barbary Coast, Imperial Palace... the list goes on. The deals for a meal were spectacular; a spread fit for a king could be found for as little as a buck or two.
And how could we forget the mega-giants, The Mirage, Treasure Island, the 4,000-room Excalibur. Soon came The Luxor in the shape of a giant pyramid, complete with a replica of King Tut's Tomb, and a powerful beam of light shining from the top, so powerful that planes 250 miles away can see the beam going into the heavens above. The MGM was soon to come, and anyone could plainly see that Caesar's Palace was growing ever larger. And while the buffets and great deals could still be found, visitors have found culinary delight in ther expensive and lavish offerings at gourmet restaurants started by celebrity chefs.
If there is anything true about the Las Vegas Strip, it is where entertainment lives. Whether in yesteryear as you witnessed Elvis, The Beatles or the original Rat Pack... or today, and you want to see these legends in concert (okay, so maybe the originals aren't available. But you'll find some spot-on impressions!) Las Vegas visitors can laugh along with a comedic great, be stunned by a world-class magician or oggle and goggle a glitzy, glamorous showgirl. (Heck, you could even marry a showgirl at one of the many wedding chapels on the Strip!) The entertainment possibilities on The Strip have always been and remain endless.
