Las Vegas has probably the most interesting history of any city in the U.S. Those of you who grew up in Las Vegas are invited to add your own special knowledge and insights of the city to help round out the picture.
The town that Bugsy built
The town that Bugsy built in the rocky sand between the Grand Canyon and Disneyland, between the cactus and the tumbleweed, is today a hustling and bustling metropolis of one and a quarter million people. It's not what it was, but the more things change, the more they remain the same. The old mob is gone, but the new mob is here to stay.
They haven't filmed it yet, but Casino II will make the characters in Casino I look like juvenile delinquents. Bugsy never had it this good.
In the '60s, John Fitzgerald Kennedy came here to rendezvous with Sam Giancana's girlfriends. In the '90s, William Jefferson Clinton comes here to raise campaign money. The old mob was kids' stuff compared to the Las Vegas plank in the bridge to the 21st century.
Much has been written about this town, but seldom from the inside. Enormous national and international attention has been fawned on this city, but seldom has anyone paid any attention to its politics. It's all been hit-and-run journalism, Las Vegas from a helicopter, or a postcard from the Consumer Electronics Convention.
To dismiss Las Vegas as a freak of nature is to miss the whole point of this place. Las Vegas is the last frontier of the American Dream. It is the culmination of 300 years of westward migration and cultural dissolution. Las Vegas is what happened when the migration bounced off California for one last shot at the gold rush.
Four Factors
Four factors are critical to any analysis of Las Vegas. First, Las Vegas is a company town. Casinos dominate every flavor of activity. Of the 50 largest employers in the State of Nevada, thirty-four are casinos, one is a manufacturer of gambling devices, eleven are governments or their subsidiaries (school districts, police department, post office), three are hospitals, and one is a bank, for a total of 50. At least five are larger than Nevada State government. Of the largest 18 private companies in the state, all 18 are casinos. Of the 50 largest employers in the Las Vegas area (Clark County) again 34 are casinos. Of the remaining 16, 11 are governments or their subsidiaries. The other 5 are the telephone company, a hospital, a bank, a convention service, and a linen supplier, the last two serving the casinos almost exclusively. The concept of pluralism that is critical to the stabilization of democratic systems is foreign to Las Vegas.
The second critical factor is population growth. In the fifteen years between 1970 and 1985 the population of Clark County, i.e., the Las Vegas metropolitan area, doubled from 277,230 to 562,280. It took only 11 years for the population to redouble to 1,115,940 in 1996. Las Vegas is a town of newcomers. By the time a majority figures out what's going on, or are here long enough to care, they're not the majority anymore.
The third factor is the history of organized gambling, with its roots in organized crime. This history is too well known to require explanation here and too involved for the space.
The fourth factor is the nature of organized gambling. No one has ever built a casino out of a desire to improve the lot of humanity..
The days of broken legs and shallow desert graves are over. Those methods were small-time, crude, and not very effective. They were born of weakness, not power.
--continued--
http://www.nevadaindex.com/7casino2.htm
Casino II
Las Vegas in the '90s
Las Vegas in the '90s
by Chuck Gardner
© April 1998
revised slightly 2001
revised slightly 2001
The town that Bugsy built
The town that Bugsy built in the rocky sand between the Grand Canyon and Disneyland, between the cactus and the tumbleweed, is today a hustling and bustling metropolis of one and a quarter million people. It's not what it was, but the more things change, the more they remain the same. The old mob is gone, but the new mob is here to stay.
They haven't filmed it yet, but Casino II will make the characters in Casino I look like juvenile delinquents. Bugsy never had it this good.
In the '60s, John Fitzgerald Kennedy came here to rendezvous with Sam Giancana's girlfriends. In the '90s, William Jefferson Clinton comes here to raise campaign money. The old mob was kids' stuff compared to the Las Vegas plank in the bridge to the 21st century.
Much has been written about this town, but seldom from the inside. Enormous national and international attention has been fawned on this city, but seldom has anyone paid any attention to its politics. It's all been hit-and-run journalism, Las Vegas from a helicopter, or a postcard from the Consumer Electronics Convention.
To dismiss Las Vegas as a freak of nature is to miss the whole point of this place. Las Vegas is the last frontier of the American Dream. It is the culmination of 300 years of westward migration and cultural dissolution. Las Vegas is what happened when the migration bounced off California for one last shot at the gold rush.
Four Factors
Four factors are critical to any analysis of Las Vegas. First, Las Vegas is a company town. Casinos dominate every flavor of activity. Of the 50 largest employers in the State of Nevada, thirty-four are casinos, one is a manufacturer of gambling devices, eleven are governments or their subsidiaries (school districts, police department, post office), three are hospitals, and one is a bank, for a total of 50. At least five are larger than Nevada State government. Of the largest 18 private companies in the state, all 18 are casinos. Of the 50 largest employers in the Las Vegas area (Clark County) again 34 are casinos. Of the remaining 16, 11 are governments or their subsidiaries. The other 5 are the telephone company, a hospital, a bank, a convention service, and a linen supplier, the last two serving the casinos almost exclusively. The concept of pluralism that is critical to the stabilization of democratic systems is foreign to Las Vegas.
The second critical factor is population growth. In the fifteen years between 1970 and 1985 the population of Clark County, i.e., the Las Vegas metropolitan area, doubled from 277,230 to 562,280. It took only 11 years for the population to redouble to 1,115,940 in 1996. Las Vegas is a town of newcomers. By the time a majority figures out what's going on, or are here long enough to care, they're not the majority anymore.
The third factor is the history of organized gambling, with its roots in organized crime. This history is too well known to require explanation here and too involved for the space.
The fourth factor is the nature of organized gambling. No one has ever built a casino out of a desire to improve the lot of humanity..
The days of broken legs and shallow desert graves are over. Those methods were small-time, crude, and not very effective. They were born of weakness, not power.
--continued--
http://www.nevadaindex.com/7casino2.htm