Las Vegas celebrated a birthday last week—its 120th, to be precise. That’s a nice, round, biblical number, so it is an occasion for some reflection on the last 12 decades of Las Vegas. Befitting a town inexorably linked with gambling, that history has had many unexpected turns. Las Vegas as a city was a creation […]
At 120, Las Vegas Still Surprises Us Read More »
informed informality, life in vegasIf you are local to Las Vegas and want to hear about the history of the Tropicana, join me on Thursday, April 4 at the Clark County Library’s Paul C. Blau Theater. I’ll be talking about how the Tropicana came to be and what it meant to Las Vegas. We start at 7. Hope to
Upcoming Talk about the Tropicana at the Clark County Library Read More »
eventsAs the scholar in residence at the Neon Museum this spring, I’ve had the chance to look into an aspect of Las Vegas casino history that is usually neglected: But the two decades between 1967 and 1988 don’t fit neatly into either period and deserve further consideration in their own right. While some aspects of
They blew up the last bits of the Riviera. I thought about it. I was sad. Then I thought about it some more. I was angry. Then I thought about it some more, and it made sense. I share some of that journey in my latest Green Felt Journal: It’s a Vegas tradition, this sacrificing
The Riv’s Quiet End – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I consider the changes that swept Las Vegas thanks to an arrival over Thanksgiving weekend, 1966. For the weekend, though, it was business as usual. That Friday, 5,000 doctors arrived for an American Medical Association convention. Don Rickles could be seen at the Sahara’s Casbar lounge. And a young
How Howard Hughes Changed Las Vegas Forever – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenThis week’s feature in Vegas Seven is a lot of fun. A bunch of Seven writers contributed brief thoughts on what might have happened in things had turned out a little differently at various points in Las Vegas history. It’s alt-history for Vegas: So, in the interest of preserving our own sanity, we’re taking the
Stories Never Told, of a City That Never Was | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenI finally read that LA Times piece on vintage Vegas venues (yay for alliterative ledes) and something in it provoked a response in me. So I wrote a Two Way Hard Three post until I expressed something close to what I was feeling: Other people have already discussed the LA Times piece that featured “vintage
Mob myopia in Two Way Hard Three Read More »
Two Way Hard ThreeJack Sheehan. Quiet Kingmaker of Las Vegas: E. Parry Thomas. Las Vegas: Stephens Press, 2009. 346 pages. Wow. That was my reaction to finding out that a biography of Parry Thomas was coming out. Thomas, the man who it said said “flipped the switch that turned on the lights in Las Vegas,” is easily one
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