Academics
Las Vegas: Past to Present
If you missed Las Vegas: Past to Present , please click here to see the entire presentation in full.
Marc Falcone (SHA ’95) of Goldman, Sachs, and Co. walked the audience through the history of Las Vegas from 1900 to present day, drawing connections between the city’s rich and colorful past, present, and future. Las Vegas, or “The Meadows” as it is translated in Spanish, has changed in spectacular ways since its settlement by Mormons in 1855 (it seems safe to say that they had no idea what was in store for this desert town!). Las Vegas formed its distinctive personality early on: workers on the nearby Boulder (later Hoover) Dam would come to “Block 16,” as it was called then, to “unwind” from a day’s work—even in the early 1900s, it was known for legalized prostitution, quick marriage licenses, and easy access to alcohol.
Las Vegas’ early history was also shaped in no small way by the organized crime which ruled the city from the 1940s to 1970s. Mobsters took daily cuts from the revenues produced by casinos, but put their money to good use by providing financing for new projects at a time when it could not be obtained through banks—Jimmy Hoffa of the Teamsters’ Union, for instance, financed Caesar’s Palace with a $25 million loan. While organized crime helped shape Las Vegas’ development, so too did its decline. When Senator Kefauver of Tennessee began a nationwide investigation on organized crime in the 1950s, the result was the migration of many formerly-illegal casinos to Las Vegas. The crusade against organized crime was continued by Attorney General Robert F Kennedy, whose brother John was a frequent visitor to Las Vegas—before his election, that is.
Another colorful character tied to Las Vegas includes Howard Hughes, who lived in the city for four years—never once leaving the ninth floor of the Desert Inn. When mobster Moe Dalitz threatened to throw him out, Hughes simply bought the property from him. This started Hughes’ “buying binge” during which he also acquired Castaways, the New Frontier, the Landmark, the Sands, and the Silver Slipper.
Other factors shaping Vegas’ early development as a tourism destination included, strangely enough, the testing of atomic bombs about 75 miles outside of town; this event occurred every five weeks during the Cold War. Casinos staged testing “parties” with festivities for guests to partake in on test day. In addition to its atomic bomb testing festivities, Vegas became known for entertainment—for instance, the Rat Pack regularly performed at the Sands and Liberace played at the Riviera. While entertainment did not make much money for Vegas, it was successful bait used to draw customers into casinos.
The current “Super Casino Era” was ushered in primarily by Steve Wynn, who built the Mirage as the first super casino in 1989. Wynn reinvented entertainment in Las Vegas, introducing boxing, Siegfried and Roy, and Cirque du Soleil, to name a few. Properties developed during this time include Treasure Island, Luxor, MGM, Mandalay Pay, the Venetian, Paris, Aladdin (now Planet Hollywood), Wynn Las Vegas, and the Palazzo.
The next chapter in Vegas’ history begins as one plagued by uncertainty and doubt. The city has an unemployment rate of 12%, with many projects such as Fontainebleu and Echelon put on hold due to an inability to obtain financing. Several other properties face the real possibility of bankruptcy or significant restructuring in the near future. With revenues rapidly declining as the economy worsens, the next chapter in the Las Vegas story may very well prove to be as unpredictable as its past.