Las Vegas

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Arriving from the desert, Las Vegas looks like a oasis full of cars, lights, natural ressources.
Entering Las Vegas is like arriving to a meli melo of streets and avenues, something you are not going to be able to see anywhere else.
Taking a walk in Las Vegas is like going suddenly to France, Italy, New York, Egypt. It’s nice, it’s gigantic, it’s unbelievable.

Las Vegas is one street, the Strip Street. Walking there is becoming the star of 1 day, the star of 1 night.

About this uncommon city…

Las Vegas is the most populous city in Nevada, United States, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of casino resorts and associated entertainment.

Established in 1905, Las Vegas officially became a city in 1911. With the growth that followed, at the close of the century Las Vegas was the most populous American city founded in the 20th century (a distinction held by Chicago in the 19th century). The city’s tolerance for various forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and this image has made Las Vegas a popular setting for films and television programs. There are numerous outdoor lighting displays on Fremont Street, as well as elsewhere in the city.

The name Las Vegas is often applied to unincorporated areas that surround the city, especially the resort areas on and near The Las Vegas Strip. The 4.2 mi (6.8 km) stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard known as the Strip is mainly in the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester, and the unincorporated community of Enterprise.

Where do the gambling come from?

Las Vegas started as a stopover on the pioneer trails to the west, and became a popular railroad town in the early 20th century. It was a staging point for all the mines in the surrounding area, especially those around the town of Bullfrog, that shipped their goods out to the rest of the country.
With the proliferation of the railroads, Las Vegas became less important but the completion of the nearby Hoover Dam in 1935 resulted in the growth of residents and tourism.

The legalization of gambling in 1931 led to the advent of the casino-hotels, for which Las Vegas is famous. Major development occurred in the 1940s, «due almost entirely» to the influx of scientists and staff from the World War 2 atomic bomb research, with atomic test watching parties being thrown at times. The success of the city’s early casino businesses was owed to American organized crime. Most of the original large casinos were managed or at least funded under mob figures Benjamin «Bugsy» Siegel, Meyer Lansky or other mob figures at this time. The rapid growth of this gambling empire is credited with dooming Galveston, Texas; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and other major gaming centers in the 1950s.

With the arrival in the late 1960s of businessman Howard Hughes, who purchased many casino-hotels, as well as television and radio stations in the city, legitimate corporations began to purchase casino-hotels as well, and the mob was run out by the federal government over the next several years. The constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels and casinos was also augmented by a new source of federal money. This money came from the establishment of what is now Nellis Air Force Base. The influx of military personnel and casino job-hunters helped start a land building boom which, as of today, has leveled off a bit.

Though Las Vegas’s gambling revenues have been surpassed by Macau, the Las Vegas area remains one of the world’s top entertainment destinations.