Lost Las Vegas


Book Description

Lost Las Vegas traces the cherished places in the city that time and the brutal forces of economics have swept aside before the National Register of Historic Places could save them from the wrecker's ball or, in the case of Las Vegas, before the Neon Boneyard can claim them.Organised chronologically starting with the earliest losses and ending with the latest, the book details the many hotels and casinos that failed to move with the times and got swept away for something bigger, better and brighter.Legendary names in the field of entertainment have come and gone - the Sands hotel featured many of the rapack in residence, but the casino is long gone. Howard Hughes and the mob featured heavily in Vegas history but neither could sustain their success for very long. Today, it is the showgirl who is under threat. That Vegas institution is under threat from the big setpiece shows such as Cirque du Soleil.Losses include: Arizona Club, El Portal Theater, Clark County Courthouse, Hotel Nevada, First State Bank, Las Vegas Rail depot, El Dorado Club, Old Ice House, Atomic Tourism, Helldorado on Fremont Street, The Green Shack, El Rancho Vegas, Hotel Last Frontier, Desert Inn, Sands, Sahara, The Thunderbird, The Mint, Royal Nevada, Stardust, Showboat, Hotel Biltmore, Dunes, Hacienda, Moulin Rouge, Tally Ho, Paddlewheel/Debby Reynold’s. Silver Slipper, Tam O’Shanter, Bonanza, Boardwalk Casino, Old Las Vegas Convention Center, Landmark Hotel, Aladdin, La Concha, Westward Ho!, Castaways




Las Vegas


Book Description

The meteoric rise of Las Vegas from a remote Mormon outpost to an international entertainment center was never a sure thing. In its first decades, the town languished, but when Nevada legalized casino gambling in 1931, Las Vegas met its destiny. This act—combined with the growing popularity of the automobile, cheap land and electricity, and changing national attitudes toward gambling—led to the fantastic casinos and opulent resorts that became the trademark industry of the city and created the ambiance that has made Las Vegas an icon of pleasure. This volume celebrates the city’s unparalleled growth, examining both the development of its gaming industry and the creation of an urban complex that over two million people proudly call home. Here are the colorful characters who shaped the city as well as the political, business, and civic decisions that influenced its growth. The story extends chronologically from the first Paiute people to the construction of the latest megaresorts, and geographically far beyond the original township to include the several municipalities that make up today’s vast metropolitan Las Vegas area.




Lost Vegas


Book Description

Lost Vegas: The Redneck Riviera, Existentialist Conversations with Strippers, and the World Series of Poker... Las Vegas lures you to shed moral responsibility and piss away your money on indulgences like decadent food, entertainment, gambling, and sex. If you don't enjoy these pastimes, then what's the point of visiting the land of compromised values? Where else can you get a cheap steak, crash a Mexican wedding, get cold-decked in blackjack by a dealer named Dong, play video poker for thirteen straight hours, drink piña coladas out of a plastic coconut, bum a cigarette from an 85-year-old woman with an oxygen tank, speed away to the Spearmint Rhino in a free limo, get rubbed by a former Miss Teen USA, puke in the back of a cab driven by a retired Navy SEAL, snort cheap cocaine in the bathroom at O'Sheas, and then catch a lucky card on the river to crack pocket aces and win a poker tournament? Only in Las Vegas.




Las Vegas


Book Description

Whether known as "The Entertainment Capital of the World" or Sin City, Glitter Gulch or even "Lost Wages" Nevada, the dazzling city of Las Vegas has undergone incredible transformation-from ancient watering hole to Mormon fort, from whistle stop to mob-run profit center-to become the fastest-growing urban community in the nation. Home to nearly 1.5 million residents, a melting pot of races and cultures, this great metropolis boasts a thrilling history of vices and virtues but, above all, a steadfast and uncompromising spirit.




Las Vegas, 1905-1965


Book Description

Everyone thinks they know the story of Las Vegas: the showgirls, the gambling, the mob. But Las Vegas has always been much more. Families have lived here since its founding in 1905. After 1931, legalized gaming became the big tourist draw, and following World War II, the town began to market itself as "America's Playground." That is when the famed Las Vegas Strip came into its own and downtown was dubbed "Glitter Gulch." These vintage postcards show how Las Vegas evolved from a dusty railroad town into the "Entertainment Capital of the World," while remaining a city filled with families and pioneering souls.




Hiking Las Vegas


Book Description

This one-of-a kind guide is devoted to southern Nevada's recreational wonderland. It details 20 hikes on the slopes of Mount Charleston, the highest mountain in southern Nevada and only a 60-minute drive from the Las Vegas Strip. It also describes 40 trails, paths, and routes in BLM's showcase Red Rock Canyon Recreation Area, less than half an hour from Glitter Gulch.




Las Vegas Then and Now


Book Description

Las Vegas Then and Now pairs vintage shots from 100 years of the city's history with the same view today.




Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas


Book Description

This is a reissue of the novel inspired by Hunter S. Thompson's ether-fuelled, savage journey to the heart of the American Dream: We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold... And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas.




The Immersive Worlds Handbook


Book Description

Industry insider Scott Lukas teaches you how to design exciting, believable, authentic themed spaces. Make your immersive worlds come alive with the gems in this book, including key industry interviews and case studies!




A Short History of Las Vegas


Book Description

Today’s Las Vegas welcomes 35 million visitors a year and reigns as the world’s premier gaming mecca. But it is much more than a gambling paradise. In A Short History of Las Vegas, Barbara and Myrick Land reveal a fascinating history beyond the mobsters, casinos, and showgirls. The authors present a complete story, beginning with southern Nevada’s indigenous peoples and the earliest explorers to the first pioneers to settle in the area; from the importance of the railroad and the construction of Hoover Dam to the arrival of the Mob after World War II; from the first isolated resorts to appear in the dusty desert to the upscale, extravagant theme resorts of today. Las Vegas—and its history—is full of surprises. The second edition of this lively history includes details of the latest developments and describes the growing anticipation surrounding the Las Vegas centennial celebration in 2005. New chapters focus on the recent implosions of famous old structures and the construction of glamorous new developments, headline-making mergers and multibillion-dollar deals involving famous Strip properties, and a concluding look at what life is like for the nearly two million residents who call Las Vegas home.