Las Vegas A Legend in the Desert

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Las Vegas A Legend in the Desert

• The International Printers Network Limited
• November 4, 2006

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The Art of the Business Lunch Building
Relationships Between 12 and 2
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In the BEGINNING.

• Native American tribes
• occupied the area that
• is now Nevada.
• Ancient Native American
• culture goes back at least
• 10,000 years, and still today,
• the state is home to more
• than a dozen tribes.
• (Paiute, Shoshone, Washoe)

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1829

• Antonio Armijo lead a party of 60 on the Old
  Spanish Trail to Los Angeles. Camped about 100
  miles NE of modern Las Vegas, a scouting party
  set out to look for water.
• Rafael Rivera, a young Mexican scout who left the
  main party and headed due west over the
  unexplored desert, discovered an oasis.
• The abundance of artesian spring water he found
  here shortened the Spanish trail to Los Angeles
  by allowing travelers to cut directly through the
  desert, rather than having to go around the vast
  desert.
• Spanish traders who used this route were thankful
  for the shortened trip and they named this
  convenient desert oasis Las Vegas Spanish for
  "the Meadows".

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The OLD SPANISH TRAIL
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The MEADOWS 1855

• Mormon missionaries were
• the first non-natives to settle in
• the Las Vegas Valley. They built
• an adobe fort, which is now a
• museum.
• The area appealed to them
• because of the valley located
• along the Old Spanish
• Trail. In fact, Las Vegas means
• "the meadows" in Spanish.

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And in just 3 years.

• The Mormon Missionaries pleaded with their
  church.
• Send us home back to Salt Lake City
• We hate it here!
• It was too hot, too primitive and life here was
  too hard!

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The PONY EXPRESS!!!

• In addition to the Mormons,
• pioneers moving westward
• sometimes settled in the
• area, and the Pony Express
• riders cut through hundreds
• of miles of what is now
• Nevada to deliver mail.

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GOLD!!!

• After the discovery of large gold and silver
  deposits in 1859, more people arrived in the
  hopes of striking it rich. In the early 1900s,
  Las Vegas became a railroad town.

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and SILVER in NEVADA!
Virginia City The Comstock Lode
1859 The RUSH to Comstock the GREATEST single
Mineral strike in history! 17,000 miners flooded
Virginia City Many people gained great wealth.
Mark Twain did not!
Searchlight
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What a JOURNEY!
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A Train Whistle Stop 1904

• In 1904, the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake
  Railroad laid its tracks through the Las Vegas
  Valley. The Railroad purchased prime land, bought
  the water rights and surveyed a town site for its
  railroad servicing and repair facilities.
• In 1905, the railroad held an auction and sold
  700 lots. Las Vegas became a small watering stop
  with a few hotels, stores, a
• saloon and a few
• thousand residents.

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1928

• In 1928, the government appropriated
• 165 million for the Boulder Canyon Project.
  Thats when Las Vegas received its first real
  wave of residents.
• Thousands of Depression-weary job seekers came to
  help build the world's largest gravity dam, 40
  miles from Las Vegas. Though originally named
  BOULDER DAM, it is now named HOOVER DAM.

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Building the greatBOULDER DAM
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to HOOVER DAM
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Birth of a GAMBLING TOWN

• In 1931, construction of the dam began and the
  Governor of Nevada, Fred Balzar, approved the
  "wide open" gambling bill that had been
  introduced by a Winnemucca rancher, Assemblyman
  Phil Tobin. Up until that time, gambling was
  outlawed in Nevada.

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Everywhere EXCEPT Boulder City!

• As people flocked to the area to work on the
  Boulder Dam Project, the federal government
  didn't want the workers to be distracted by the
  temptations of Las Vegas
• So they created a separate government town to
  house them, Boulder City. Gambling was illegal in
  Boulder City and it still remains the only
  community in Nevada where gambling is against the
  law!

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The EL RANCHO VEGAS 1941
El Rancho 5.00 Playing Chip
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The Original FLAMINGO!
1946 Playing Chip
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BENJAMIN BUGSY SIEGEL
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(No Transcript)
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The Fremont Street Experience
THEN..
And NOW!
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What made LAS VEGAS grow so FAST???

• Las Vegas was one of
• the first cities to have this
• in its hotels
• What was it that made
• Las Vegas possible???

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The FIRST Hotels
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Howard Hughes
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Howard Hughes
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Lightening FAST Transformation!
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RACISM IN LAS VEGAS, 1960s
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Fast Forward80s Energy Crisis

• The 1980 energy crisis transformed the Las Vegas
  lights from incandescent to neon

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Lighting changed UPTOWN, too!
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Las Vegas doesnt like OLD THINGS

• LAS VEGAS has a history of consistently
• UPDATING REINVENTING
• itself

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The STARDUST HOTEL
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CAESARS PALACE
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The LAS VEGAS HILTON
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The KING Elvis Presley

• VIVA LAS VEGAS

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The ORIGINAL CASTAWAYS HOTEL
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Las Vegas REALLY Doesnt Like the OLD Look.
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THE LANDMARK The SANDS were Looking OLD, too!
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So was The ALADDIN HOTEL
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AND the HACIENDA!
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The EL RANCHO
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The SHOWBOAT/CASTAWAYS
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UP FROM THE ASHES
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BIGGER, BETTER, SPECTACULAR
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Steve Wynn, a Las Vegas ICON
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UPDATED World-ClassDINING CHOICES!
Wolfgang Puck, Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse,
Bradley Ogden, Todd English.et. al.
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WORLD-CLASS SHOPPING!
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Cutting-Edge SHOWS
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Dancing at the CLUBS
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Even the LOCALS have their own!
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LAKE LAS VEGAS

• A JEWEL in the DESERT

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Population 1.8 Million Growing

• 5 to 6 THOUSAND people move here EVERY MONTH!
• Average temperature 66 F / 19 C
• Average yearly rainfall 4.13 inches
• More than 900 cabs 325 Limousines
• 35 Wedding Chapels more than 100,000 weddings
  performed each year

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Would you believe???

• 184 Schools 11th largest school district in the
  United States
• 20,000 students enrolled at UNLV 127 Graduate
  UnderGrad programs offered, 600 member faculty
• Community College of Southern Nevada 20,000
  students enrolled
• More than 3.2 Million sq. ft. Meeting Space

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International Printers Network, Ltd.

• Thank you for allowing me to
• share my home with you
• Robin Jay