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Top 10 Las Vegans of the 20th Century
The members of this elite group have all in their own unique way contributed
to the unprecedented growth of this American city in the 20th century. While
some were mobsters, others were hard working pioneers that saw the vision and
came to Las Vegas to capitalize on their dreams. Here follows our selection of
the top ten people who helped created America's adult playground.
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Contrary to popular opinion, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel didn't operate the first resort on the
Strip. The Hotel Last Frontier, where Siegel stayed during construction of his legendary
Flamingo, and the El Rancho were already up and running in the late 1940s. But where
early Vegas traded on Nevada's western heritage, Siegel envisioned the desert skies
awash with neon. He also was responsible for making the mob an integral part of
Sin City's development... [more]
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Vegas in the late eighties, while not a ghost town, was still a place where
the old-school rules applied. Caesars Palace and Circus Circus were the
closest things to themed resorts on the Strip, and gambling was spreading
rapidly across the United States. From Atlantic City to the Mississippi River
to Indian gaming in California, some form of wagering was just around the
corner from most of Vegas's potential visitors. If the town was going to
return to its free-swinging roots, a change would have to come, and in a
hurry... [more]
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Vegas in the late forties was a one horse media town. In between the mafia and
state government, there wasn't much room for independent opinion, a fact
reflected by the coverage in the prominent Las Vegas Review-Journal. Hank
Greenspun brought an outsider's attitude and a reformer's zeal to town,
balancing the southern Nevada media scales in the process... [more]
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If one thing challenges neon lights for dominance in Vegas, it's sound. The constant clatter and clang of thousands of slots, video poker machines and progressive jackpots are a constant reminder that money is
being made and lost 24 hours a day, and if you're not playing something,
you're missing your chance... [more]
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Money and casinos typically have a pretty magnetic relationship, but there
was a time in Las Vegas when a casino getting a bank loan was unheard of. E. Perry
Thomas, along with his partner Jerry Mack, changed that,
as well as the national financial perception of the gaming industry as a whole... [more]
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Howard Hughes's arrival in Las Vegas was like Sinatra signing you to Reprise. It gave the city a credibility
that it had never attained. It didn't hurt that the feds were cracking down on
mob activity in the late sixties, but Hughes's investment was a sign to
businessmen that Vegas was a place that money could be made on the up and up.
Was he eccentric? Yeah, but money talks, and he hadn't earned his billions through
financial irresponsibility... [more]
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Bob Stupak is a chain smoking, gold-chained embodiment of a Vegas that many would
like to forget. But if it wasn't for guys like Stupak, hoards of them, Vegas would
be better known as a Mormon settlement than the epicenter of legalized sin... [more]
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In a city where fantasy trumping reality is the norm, a dreamer has a good chance of making a name
for himself. Looking at the Strip today, it's hard to imagine that Vegas in the
Fifties and early Sixties was a ragtag collection of casinos whose names promised
exotic locales, but all looked pretty much the same. With one imperial gesture,
Jay Sarno changed that forever... [more]
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As the Vegas Strip has flourished, the workers to support the demands
of the constant stream of Jacks and Jills have expanded with it. The Las Vegas
Metropolitan area is now home to well in excess of 1 million inhabitants, many
of whom are employed in the casino industry... [more]
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Brother and sister group Murray, Faye and Dean Petersen came to Las Vegas from Utah in search of their
opportunity. These pioneer developers of the early 60s were responsible for
much of the residential development that occurred in the 60s through their
company Roundup Realty... [more]
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