Las Vegas, Nevada

Historical Background

Gambling was first legalized in Nevada in 1896 and at that time was focused along Fremont Street in Las Vegas, adjacent to the railroad station. Gambling was then banned in 1911, and licenses were granted again only in 1931, a move intended to help Nevada, a state notable for its lack of industry, minimal agriculture, and depleted mines, survive the Great Depression. Las Vegas also got by thanks to the patronage of many of the 5,000 workers building the nearby Hoover Dam, and the so-called maverick state later came through World War II by an injection of federal government resources.

Robert E. Parker describes how Las Vegas then entered the “mob phase” of its history, marked by the opening of Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo casino in 1946, which paved the way for casinos along the Strip becoming ever more lavish and extravagant in their vision and their execution. The corporate phase began after 1967, when reclusive entrepreneur Howard Hughes began to buy up casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, starting with the Desert Inn, where he had been living. Hughes's investment in Las Vegas is thought to have helped the town throw off its associations with organized crime and move from being seen as the ultimate Sin City to a typical all-American city. As a result, perceptions of the Strip have now been upgraded with its renaming as Las Vegas Boulevard, and casino ownership has become increasingly monopolized by companies such as Harrah's, MGM Mirage, and Station Casinos: The big operators reputedly now own more than 60 percent of casino real estate.

By the 1990s, Las Vegas casinos had become enormous resort complexes, attracting a wide variety of international clientele, enticing them with spectacular events such as volcanoes erupting, fountains dancing, pirate ships sinking, and spectacular urban collages of New York, Venice, and Paris. Las Vegas's earlier incarnation as a Strip development where giant signs made up the skyline, where there were no buildings to speak of, has been replaced by an avenue of striking and substantial structures, where the architecture itself is the sign. The smaller and older casinos located in the former downtown area of Las Vegas along Fremont Street were suffering a loss of patronage due to the success of the megacasinos on the Strip and conceived a plan designed by architect Jon Jerde to attract customers back to this location. Jerde's branded Fremont Street Experience is an event space that consists of a high-tech vaulted canopy running the length of the now pedestrian street, and it is fitted with millions of programmable LED lights. Sound and light shows are programmed throughout the day, featuring aspects of American and local history, race car driving, and aliens; the space also hosts the town's New Year's Eve party, with fireworks relayed on the display system at 9 p.m., so as to be televised live at midnight on East Coast television screens.

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