In this week’s Vegas Seven, I have a feature story that puts the just-opened T-Mobile Arena into historical context:
Casinos that followed—from the Hotel Last Frontier to the Tropicana—included dinner theaters as a matter of course; they were as necessary to a complete resort as rooms and gaming tables. This classic Las Vegas venue blossomed fully in the Sands’ Copa Room. Other theaters hosted plenty of stars, but the Copa distilled everything Las Vegas of the 1950s and 1960s stood for into an intimate, 385-seat space. It opened along with the rest of the Sands in December 1952 with a show featuring Danny Thomas, and would go on to host many of the day’s hottest casino attractions, most famously the Rat Pack. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. defined an era of Vegas cool.
Read more: Why T-Mobile Arena Is a Game Changer – Vegas Seven
In the article, I tried to relate how each of the “milestone” venues that I discuss represented, in its own way, its era. Looking at history helped me appreciate that so much about the T-Mobile Arena–from the emphasis on luxury to paid parking–spells out just where Las Vegas is today.
It’s easy to be wowed (or annoyed) by all of the coverage of the arena’s opening. But when that PR press has ended, what’s left? I know that researching this article raised plenty of questions for me. I hope that reading it inspires more questions, and maybe a few answers.