The
author and journalist Hunter S. Thompson
once said, “Las Vegas is the main
nerve of the American Dream”. Anyone
who goes to Las Vegas and doesn’t
dream of getting rich must have just landed
on earth for the first time, because “something
from nothing” is what Las Vegas
is all about.
Before 1950 there was little to the city
(then only a small town) other than dusty
cowboys and lonesome miners. Then one
day the Mafia showed up with a whole lot
of money and the understanding that in
Nevada gambling is completely legal. They
built hotel after hotel; once they realized
that no one would pay to come out into
the badlands they started giving hotel
rooms away. They followed this up with
an offering of free liquor, free food,
and free entertainment. Soon people were
lining up to get a table to see famous
acts like The Rat Pack. Las Vegas soon
picked up a reputation as a place where
the rich and famous could rub shoulders
with mobsters and hustlers. This reputation
was well deserved… the mob owned
a piece of everything, if not the whole
thing.
But
like everything times changed. The classic
Vegas of the 1950s and 1960s turned into
the cornball Vegas of the 1980s. Soon
Las Vegas was known as a capitol of flying
Elvis impersonators and booze-soaked shotgun
weddings. Big corporations bought up what
the mob lost after the FBI finally got
smart; All of the old “landmark”
casinos got taken down one by one and
the Las Vegas of the 1990s was born…
and the people returned with a vengeance.
Now spectacle was king! You can see sinking
pirate ships, take a roller coaster ride
on top of an observation tower, dine with
birds of paradise, or go for a ride on
a Ferris wheel… all without leaving
the casino.
Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing
cities in the entire country, if not the
entire world. It is an amazing city that
creates its own stars and its own legends.
Las Vegas consumes more shrimp per year
than any city in North America, which
is crazy if you consider that it’s
in the middle of the desert. The truth
is that no matter what you think of gambling
(and all of the things that go along with
gambling) Las Vegas is a city that you
have to see to believe.
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