Introduction

Only 100 years ago, Las Vegas was no more than a dusty railroad stop in the middle of an unforgiving desert valley. Dramatic changes occurred in the valley throughout the 20th century to create this fantasy, known today as the ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’, resulting in a city of mythic proportion and impossible illusion.

Initially settled in the mid-1800s, Las Vegas struggled as an isolated outpost for much of its early existence. The meager settlement was only declared a town in 1905. That year, on May 15, officials from the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad auctioned 1,200 parcels of land mapping 40 square blocks in the desert dust. Within a year, the city’s population grew to 1,500 brave pioneers.

Landmarks of the Modern World

Today’s visitors are greeted by the fastest-growing, most rapidly changing city in the American West. They mingle and play among iconic landmarks of the world’s great cities: replicas of the Eiffel Tower, the skyscrapers of Manhattan, the palaces of ancient Rome, and an Egyptian pyramid loom along the Strip to entrance and entice.

Today you’ll see very little trace of the features that spawned and nurtured the fledgling city – its natural springs, most of which have long since run dry. Though water flows freely through the artificial lakes, swimming pools, and famous dancing fountains, it now comes in a giant pipeline from the Colorado River. Without that pipeline, the city would dry up and crumble back into the desert.

Las Vegas at night.

photoquest7/iStockphoto

Fast Lane

Las Vegas is located in Clark County, Nevada, near the southern tip of the state. Clark County has just more than 2 million inhabitants, and more than 95 percent of them reside in metropolitan Las Vegas. Nevada, which ranks as the seventh largest state by area, has a total of about 2.7 million inhabitants, making it only the 35th most populous state. There is a great deal of space in Nevada, but most of the people can be found in one tiny corner. The population of older citizens is growing four times as fast as in the rest of the United States, and for four decades in a row Nevada has been the fastest-growing state in the US.

An aerial view of Las Vegas Strip

Alina Solovyova-Vincent/iStockphoto

Sunny Days

Las Vegas has an average of just four inches (10cm) of rainfall and 310 days of sunshine each year. Summers are hot, with temperatures often nearing 115°F (46°C). In winter, daytime temperatures can be a pleasant 65°F (18°C), but nights can be quite cold, dropping all the way down to 34°F (1°C). Early spring and late fall are the best times to visit, as the days are warm and the nights comfortably cool. In the height of summer, the casinos, hotels, and restaurants can be quite cool, as the air-conditioning blasts away to keep the heat at bay.

Rush to the New

Las Vegas is unfettered by the burdens of history or preservation. Old buildings or resorts simply give way to the pressures of age or fashion and are remodeled, or, at the extreme, imploded, accompanied by fireworks and street-wide celebrations. Few remember, or perhaps even care, that the Italian-themed Venetian is on the site of the Sands – the Rat Pack’s most famous haunt.

Las Vegas is a city of reinvention. After the Rat Pack era of the 1960s, Sin City became a family-friendly destination, building theme parks and spectacular attractions designed with children in mind. This was a success throughout the 1990s, but the turn of the millennium brought a sea change. Families, it turns out, spend less time at the all-important gaming tables than singles or couples. Although kid-friendly places such as Excalibur and Circus Circus still market to families, the emphasis has shifted to lure in as many high-spending adults as possible. Today’s Las Vegas has world-class accommodations, five-star dining, and shopping that rivals any major city, adding to the town’s reputation for all-night gambling, drinking, and adult-oriented diversions. Hotel-casinos have positioned themselves as complete resorts, offering day spas, evenings shows, and huge shopping malls – in addition to the gambling, golf courses, and showrooms, of course. Newer resorts, like Encore, the Palazzo, and the Cosmopolitan, aim to recapture the perceived glamor of the Rat Pack era. Always betting on growth, expansion, and the power of positive cash flow, Las Vegas has recently embraced a new player: the ultra-sleek, ultra-modern CityCenter, which in 2010 brought three hotels and a new high-end shopping mall to the center of the Strip.

World capital of boxing

Las Vegas probably has a better claim than any city to the title of ‘the World’s Capital of Boxing’. Vegas is often the promoters’ choice as the venue for major title bouts, including world championships.

Sonny Liston, Muhammad Ali, Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes, Mike Spinks, George Foreman, and Evander Holyfield are just a few of the fighters to have won the heavyweight championship title in Las Vegas. After his retirement from the ring, Joe Louis stayed on and was popular as a greeter at Caesars Palace.

Gondoliers at the Venetian

Abraham Nowitz/Apa Publications

Reinvention

Such rapid change and reinvention results in what critics call a city without a soul. But for more than 600,000 residents and nearly 38 million annual visitors, this characteristic – the city’s instinct for the next big thing – makes Vegas the city of their dreams.

Outside the resort corridors, new suburban residential developments swallow the surrounding desert, edging to the bases of the mountain ranges east and west. Unlike the original American suburbs, new master-planned communities like Summerlin and Green Valley are thriving cities within themselves. New businesses spring up quickly, built into the plan and ready to serve an already-waiting community of clients. Driving through these areas feels like a ride through a movie set – the homes are sparkling and modern, the highways smooth and wide, and the landscaping young, fragile, and new.

Local Las Vegas

Just a short way from the crowds and lights of the Strip and Fremont Street are quiet, ranch-style homes complete with swimming pools, tennis courts, horse corrals, and lush landscaping. The University of Nevada-Las Vegas mentors a student population of more than 28,000, although, like most people in Vegas, they commute through the endless gridlock that now defines the streets. Before the recent rapid expansion, the city claimed to have more churches per capita than any other in the United States. Spiritual guidance was apparently a pressing need for dwellers who live in the shadow of temptation.

Although Las Vegas is still dominated by the gambling industry, non-gaming business flourishes here as well, thanks to a favorable tax structure. With the exception of Zappos.com, which plans to relocate into the old City Hall building Downtown, much of the non-gaming business is in suburban business parks and master-planned communities. This is part of a concerted effort to reinvent the metropolis with industrial and commercial centers across the valley. Credit-card companies and banks, mail order firms, health care subsidiaries, and software developers are all in the economic mix. These companies help Las Vegas diversify, as the national attitudes to gambling shift like the desert sands.

Las Vegas shows new cultural growth, too. Local theater is healthy, while a well-regarded public art museum and the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art have brought world-class art collections to an eager public.

Overlooking the city from the Cosmopolitan

Thomas Hart Shelby

Spectacular Sports

For sports fans, one of the attractions of this city in the desert is its easy access to athletic endeavors. Whether you watch a championship fight from a ring-side seat, catch auto-racer Jimmie Johnson roaring past the checkered flag at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, or take active advantage of the golf, hot-air ballooning, tennis, hiking, or rock-climbing possibilities, nothing is ever far away. Nor are some of the most important wonders of the world, whether they are natural – like the Grand Canyon and Death Valley – or artificial, like the awe-inspiring Hoover Dam.

Powerful Productions

Las Vegas’ shows – musical, magical, or theatrical – are among the best in the world, employing the finest from Hollywood to Broadway to design and build state-of-the-art performance arenas that encourage extravaganzas to reach new heights. Famous acts like Celine Dion, Cirque de Soleil, and Penn & Teller all have semi-permanent homes in Las Vegas, because the constantly changing audience makes it easier to produce a show-stopper than being constantly on the road.

Glittering Moments

Las Vegas’s transformations – from a watering hole to a gambling way-station to a desert retreat, and now, to an international resort city – have all been whistle-stops on the city’s journey of evolution. This city, with its eyes firmly on the future, is never dull, and it continues to attract tourists who want to sample the glamorous Las Vegas lifestyle, if only for a few non-stop moments.