37 Rare vintage photos of Las Vegas that prove the ‘Sin City’ tag
In 1900, the population of Las Vegas was 22 people. Today, more than 39 million people visit the betting center of America. All of this was thanks to the building of the Hoover Dam, which opened the floodgates of workers and visitors to the desert. In 1931, Nevada also made the pivotal decision to legalize betting.
What happened over the next forty years was an explosion of casinos and culture that turned Las Vegas from a sleepy frontier town into Sin City. Read on and learn how Vegas went from a desert village to a resort city in just 30 years. Then, check out some incredible vintage photos from Las Vegas’s early days. Let’s dive into this city’s rich past!
Betting Was Outlawed For Years But People Still Did It
The city of Las Vegas was founded in 1905 as a frontier town and was simply a halfway point between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. At the time, the city followed the Nevada state laws that said betting was criminal, but there was still a strong underground betting movement.
It wasn’t until 1931 when the state made betting legal that business began booming. Despite the rest of the country being engulfed by the Great Depression, Las Vegas boomed thanks to the construction of the Hoover Dam.
The Original Look
Although Fremont Street would grow to become one of Las Vegas’s hubs for the kind of entertainment the city is famous for, it was a lot less harder to recognize at the turn of the century. In the early 1900s, it seemed more like a stereotypical Old West town than anything.
Perhaps that’s why one of the street’s most iconic sights would turn out to be a giant neon cowboy. The minds who envisioned it may have remembered the glitzy city’s humble beginnings.
The Golden Nugget Is One Of The Oldest Casinos
This photo, taken in 1953, shows one of the oldest and most iconic casinos in Las Vegas. The Golden Nugget was built in 1946 along Fremont Street. The casino was meant to pay homage to the gold rush that had made the area profitable years beforehand.
Today, the Golden Nugget is still the largest casino in the downtown Las Vegas area. It’s been a fixture in films, television, and video games. It is even home to the largest gold nugget in the world.
West Las Vegas Doesn’t Look Like This Anymore
Although some casinos like the Bellagio and the MGM Grand seem like they’ll be in Las Vegas forever, it’s also true that the skyline changes dramatically all the time. There’s a very real chance that if you visited a casino decades ago, it’s since been demolished.
As this picture illustrates in its own solemn way, that’s hardly limited to casinos. The La Concha motel, the El Morocco Hotel, and Jack Denison’s Copper Cart were once all recognizable features of West Las Vegas, but none of them have existed for decades.
In Las Vegas, Slot Machines Are Almost Everywhere
Those who fly to Las Vegas will note that some of the first things they’ll spot in the airport are slot machines, and that’s as good of an introduction to their ubiquity in the city as any. From the looks of it, that’s been true for over half a century, as this photo takes us back to the old days of the Sahara hotel and casino.
Although the exact date of this photo is unknown, the Sahara first opened in 1951. If it didn’t have a large room that was utterly packed with slot machines back then, it would gain this cluttered inventory before the decade was out.
It Probably Wasn’t A Good Idea To Trust This Sign
One of the biggest credos to keep in mind in Las Vegas is “the house always wins,” which means it’s the job of everyone with a knack for marketing over there to convince the players otherwise. As this sign shows, that once involved making some pretty wild claims.
The Coin Castle ran from 1970 to 1999, which means it seems unlikely that it was able to sustain jackpots taking place every five minutes. It would be interesting to see what their definition of a “jackpot” was because it’s probably different from the people they were hoping to entice with this.
Water Shortages Plagued The Early Years
It’s important to remember that Las Vegas is an oasis within a desert. By 1948, so much rapid construction left the city crumbling without water. There were reports of faucets running dry at the Las Vegas Hospitals while tourists partied in pools only a few blocks away.
It wasn’t until the federal government got involved that Las Vegas was able to build enough infrastructure to help accommodate all the partiers coming to the up and coming wagering paradise.
A Star Was On The Cusp Of Being Born
Although Las Vegas has long developed a reputation as a place where celebrities go after their stars fade, it seems that it’s been a hot spot for them to celebrate their rises to prominence for even longer. For instance, here we have George Burns introducing Ann Margaret to the world alongside her family from the since-demolished The Dunes hotel.
Based on the caption provided by Time Magazine, Margaret had finished filming Bye Bye Birdie by then and was about to see its release. Burns had all the confidence in the world for Margaret’s burgeoning stardom, saying, “She’s going to be to Americans what Brigitte Bardot has been to Europeans.”
Las Vegas Became A National Institution Quickly
Although there was once a time when Las Vegas was desperate for promotion, that time was already long over by the 1950s. Not only had some of the city’s most recognizable casinos been founded by then, but its racy yet dazzling image was already established.
That’s evident in the fact that Frankie Laine isn’t performing with these showgirls as part of a residency in this photo, but rather as part of a scene from the 1956 MGM film Meet Me In Las Vegas. Although Laine was hardly a stranger to performing in Vegas, that context shows how famous the city had quickly become.
This Must Have Been One Prominent Couple
Although this photo’s caption is coy about the identities of the passengers getting into this car, it does mention that they had recently married and recently arrived in las Vegas. However, it’s clear that they were considered very important guests, as this is not just a regular taxi.
Instead, it was a car specifically sent by the Flamingo Hotel to pick them up from the airport. The young couple was clearly being expected and they seem appropriately pleased with the special treatment they’re getting.
Hotels Came First
Here, showgirls are shown going for a swim in the El Rancho Vegas hotel and casino. It was the first resort-style hotel on the Strip. El Rancho opened in 1941 with only 63 rooms. Still, it was the place to be for any celebrities and showgirls staying in Vegas for almost 20 years.
The El Rancho Vegas was so successful that another resort-style hotel was opened in Las Vegas within a year. The only problem was that the new booming business brought in some shady people.
Mob Bosses Wanted A Piece Of Vegas
The success of resort-style hotels masquerading with legal wagering brought a lot of shady investors to Las Vegas, including notorious mob bosses. New York City gangster Bugsy Siegel was the most infamous of them all. Siegel and his crime friends pumped more than $3 million into the Flamingo hotel and essentially kicked off the mob era of Las Vegas.
Soon, Las Vegas was overrun by the mafia and crime. The hotels may have seemed glamorous but many guests staying at the Tropicana shown here probably had no idea the daily winnings were skimmed by the owner for decades.
The Strip Wasn’t Always All That
It might be the brightest place now, but it felt like a desert in the 1950s. This photo from 1958 shows the Strip long before any of the major hotels and casinos that we know today were ever built. In the early years, it was seen as a seedy place outside of Las Vegas where you could go to pick up a woman for the night.
After the hotels like the Dunes and the Flamingo went under new, more legitimate ownership, the Strip started attracting better tenants.
Las Vegas Isn’t Just A Place To Bet Or See A Show
Although Las Vegas is certainly more famous for its betting infrastructure and its entertainment (naughty of otherwise), it’s also a premiere spot to golf. While it seems like the height of hubris to put one’s carefully maintained golf course in a desert, the rich and famous have nonetheless golfed in Vegas for well over half a century.
For instance, here we can see baseball legend Mickey Mantle’s swing at the Desert Inn Country Club (which went out of business in 2000) as fellow Yankee Whitey Ford looks on in this photo from 1961.
Las Vegas Began Its Famous Weddings Before The Casinos
It seems strange to imagine Las Vegas as a wedding destination first and America’s betting capital second, but that’s more or less how things worked when the latter practice was first legalized there by 1931.
That’s around the time this photo of the Hitchin’ Post Wedding Chapel was taken, which obviously drew on the city’s Old West lineage. Oddly enough, this chapel has outlived some of the city’s most prominent casinos, as it still exists under the name “Hitchin’ Post.”
Fremont Street Isn’t The Strip
Most of the original casinos in Las Vegas like the Golden Nugget seen here were built on Fremont Street. Fremont Street was the original area in Vegas, but it technically isn’t the “Strip.” The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard that held many hotels run by mob bosses like El Rancho and the Flamingo.
Many of the mob bosses chose to build on the Strip and not Fremont Street because, at the time, the strip was technically outside of Las Vegas city limits and was more flexible for doing crime.
Late-Night Entertainment Went Hand-In-Hand With Wagering
It was the El Rancho hotel that was the first to bring late-night entertainment to Las Vegas. Still, it wasn’t until 1952 that showgirls became a permanent fixture in the Las Vegas nightlife. The Vegas showgirls were initially meant to entertain guests in between, before, and after other headlining acts.
Eventually, they evolved to get their own shows. In 1957, the first topless showgirls’ performance was put on, which led to Las Vegas’ growing reputation as Sin City.
Elvis And Liberace Were Regular Fixtures
Today, Vegas is known as a place where performers can gain a residency. The concept of the residency actually began with Liberace in 1944 at the Las Vegas Riviera Hotel and Casino. After his 1944 debut, other performers like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley followed.
Las Vegas residencies went out of style until Celine Dion revived the concept in 2003. Since then, Elton John, Britney Spears, and even non-singing performers like David Copperfield have held successful show tours.
Eloping To Vegas Has Always Been Around
The Little White Chapel is shown here in 1950, a nice reminder that shotgun weddings in Las Vegas aren’t just for Britney Spears. It’s estimated that close to 500 couples get hitched in Vegas every single day. That’s over 100,000 every year. That’s because, in Nevada, it’s notoriously easy to get a marriage license.
All you need is a short form, $75 cash, and a government-issued photo ID. With such ease and convenience, it’s no wonder that Las Vegas is called “The Marriage Capital Of The World.”
Hollywood Marriages Were A Dime A Dozen
Some of the most memorable and iconic celebrity marriages took place in Las Vegas. Here, Rita Hayworth and Dick Haymes cut their wedding cake only 24 hours after Haymes was granted a divorce.
Other unforgettable Vegas weddings included Mickey Rooney, Betty Grable, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Sammy Davis Jr., and of course, Elvis Presley. These weddings were planned and elaborate, unlike when Angelina Jolie wore blue jeans where she married Billy Bob Thorton in Vegas in 2000.
The Rat Pack Dominated The City
Members of the Rat Pack—Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop—pose outside The Sands Hotel in 1962. The five were friends in real life and, while they performed regularly on their own in Vegas, gained popularity by appearing as surprise performers at each other’s shows.
Often times in Vegas, the marquees would read “Dean Martin, Maybe Frank, Maybe Sammy.” Their performances were the highlight of the Vegas vintage years.
A Tiger Is One Of The Main Acts
In a city like Las Vegas, just singing and dancing isn’t enough. That’s why actress Marilyn Maxwell had the grand idea to bring a 250-pound Tiger on stage to spice up her Vegas performance. The wild cat, affectionately known as “Tiger Lil,” was brought out on stage by Maxwell to the screams of audience members.
Thankfully, Tiger Lil had been fed 16 pounds of horsemeat before going on stage to prevent any unexpected and unwanted attacks.
Vegas Showgirls Promote The New Stardust Hotel
Four showgirls sit and pose on a rocket outside of the new Stardust Resort and Casino in 1958. The Stardust Hotel was envisioned by Anthony Cornero, another bootleg mob boss who wanted to get a piece of the Las Vegas pie.
He actually ran floating casinos in Nevada until he was shot and almost died. After recovering, he wanted to get into a “safer” business. Despite opening a “safer” business, Cornero died suspiciously in 1955 three years before his Stardust hotel would actually be built.
Frank Sinatra Was A Regular Fixture At The Sands
Legendary singer Frank Sinatra is seen here singing at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Sinatra almost exclusively performed at the Sands and became a regular fixture there whether he was performing or not. He would stay at the hotel and gamble during his breaks from Hollywood.
Sinatra was apparently notorious for never paying his wagering losses but keeping all his winnings. It should have been a problem for the mob bosses who owned the casino, but they let it slide because Sinatra was good for business.
Racial Policy In Casinos Changed Over Time
For most of the early days in Las Vegas, the guests in casinos and hotels looked like what you see here—entirely white. Las Vegas was heavily segregated and the only African Americans allowed in were either performers or labor workers.
The Moulin Rouge was the first integrated hotel and casino in not only Las Vegas but in all of the United States. The Sands was next after Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr. complained about the segregation.
There Was A Queen of Las Vegas
This photo taken in 1950 shows the ‘Queen of Las Vegas’ with her crown, wand, and throne, gliding through the parade on the strip. It was customary for the float to join the Helldorado Parade each year.
Women would take part in a beauty contest for a chance at being named ‘Queen’ of Sin City.
The Helldorado Beauty Contest Inspired Elaborate Floats
The Helldorado Days event is known to take a whole week, which means there’s time for the women involved in the beauty contest to make a grand impression before the queen is crowned. For instance, here we see a young woman seated in a giant flower that serves as the centerpiece of one of the parade’s many elaborate floats.
Yet, while the beauty contest is an attraction, it isn’t the main point of the parade. Instead, the event is organized by the Rotary club and intended to celebrate and honor the historical roots of Las Vegas.
Bring In The Blondes
Despite Mansfield’s major success as a nightclub performer in Vegas, many singers and actresses began to see the city as a place where washed-up performers would retreat. New York and Hollywood were still the top-tier performance venues. Many of them, like Mamie Van Doren, seen here, only began their stints in Vegas after their careers slowed down.
The shift worked out well though. By the late 1960s, Van Doren’s film career was practically over, but she performed routinely in Vegas for nearly a decade.
The Strip Is The Brightest Place On Earth
In the 1950s, the glittering headdress of Esther Williams might have been the brightest thing in the room, but outside, Las Vegas was already turning into the brightest place on earth. From outer space, The Las Vegas Strip has officially been touted as the brightest place thanks to its 24/7 businesses and love of neon light.
Today, you can even go and visit the Neon Museum in Las Vegas, where all the vintage hotel and casino signs are held.
The End Of An Era
The 1970s proved to be a time of serious change for Las Vegas. The mob era fell away thanks to multiple FBI investigations into money laundering and casino scams. It was also a time where Las Vegas started turning into a more residential area than just a vacation paradise.
An “urban sprawl” of houses began cropping up all around the main Las Vegas strip and focus turned towards building schools, not casinos. The vintage Vegas era was ending and we wouldn’t see the emergence of the Vegas we know today until the ’90s.
Beware Of The Black Book
The Las Vegas Black Book was first brought into practice in 1960. Also known by its much more boring name of “The List of Excluded Persons,” the book names people who are officially banned from every casino and hotel in the city.
The book was created as a way to stop people with known ties to felonies from corrupting Vegas, but it quickly turned into a rumor-filled book that could have possibly held the names of many Hollywood celebrities.
The Iconic Sign Was a Gift
The “Welcome To Las Vegas” sign is one of the most iconic city signs in all of America, second only to the Hollywood sign. The design was done by a woman named Betty Willis. She was born and raised in Nevada and worked drawing advertisements for a company called Western Neon.
She designed the sign but waived her copyright because she figured at the time, Las Vegas needed any publicity they could get. She called it her “gift to the city.”
The Folies Bergere Embodied Sin City
The American Folies Bergere, seen here getting ready backstage, was a show based on the original French Folies. The show was one of Las Vegas’s longest-running performances. The flashy outfits and stunning showgirls came to symbolize Vegas entertainment long before Frank Sinatra or Celine Dion.
In 1959, a Follie made only $108 for 15 shows a week at the Tropicana Hotel. By the end of the run, they were making more than $4,000 a week. More than 4 million people saw the show during its original Vegas run.
Not The Best Couples Getaway
Las Vegas has a strange and tired history when it comes to love. We know that it’s the marriage capital of the world, but unsurprisingly, that means it’s also the divorce capital. Despite the notorious reputation the city has, many couples have noted that it’s one of the most romantic cities in the world.
Actor Mickey Rooney is pictured here with his wife, Martha Vickers, but the couple only remained married for two years.
The Capital Of Nuclear Test Sites
Just as Las Vegas was starting to grow, the United States government was testing out nuclear bombs. The Nevada Test Site was only 65 miles north of Las Vegas. Scientists set off nuclear tests there from 1951 all the way up until 1992. Residents and tourists of Las Vegas could see mushroom clouds clearly from their windows.
Vegas used the nuclear tests to their advantage and used mushroom clouds in marketing. You might notice even the Flamingo sign is shaped to resemble a nuclear blast cloud.
Beatlesmania Hit Las Vegas Hard
Paul McCartney tries his luck here on a fruit slot machine in April 1964. When The Beatles touched down in America, it made complete sense for one of their first stops to be in Las Vegas. The band made waves on their 30-show tour of America because they refused to play in any venues that were segregated.
Thankfully, Las Vegas hotels had begun integrating more than a decade beforehand. Vegas was one of the few cities that were prepared to handle The Beatles.
Being A Vegas Showgirl Isn’t Easy
It wasn’t just good looks that turned you into one of Vegas’s top performers. Vegas showgirls were hired and protected by the mob, so they were a hot commodity on the Strip. A typical Vegas showgirl’s outfit could cost thousands of dollars.
Showgirls had to be at least 5-feet 8-inches and trained for years as a dancer. Their headpieces often weighted more than 25 pounds and their capes and outfits could be covered with more than 50 pounds of crystals.
