History Of The Las Vegas Strip 1960 To Present Day

T he 1960’s didn’t start          occurred in the 1980’s in Las      well for Las Vegas. On June     Vegas. In 1980, 84 people died in  17, 1960, most of the           the worst disaster in Nevada       original Las Vegas Strip hotel        history, the MGM Grand fire. In    casino, El Rancho Vegas, burned       1986 Tony Spilotro was found       down. Things then stayed quiet in     murdered in a cornfield in         Las Vegas until 1966, when Howard     Indiana, marking the end of major  Hughes came to town. By the time      mob influence in Las Vegas. And    Hughes left ten years later he        in 1988 The Mirage, funded by      either current owned or had owned     junk bonds floated with the help   the Desert Inn, Castaways, New        of Michael Milken, opened for      Frontier, Landmark, Sands, and        business. The opening of the       Silver Slipper, and in addition       Mirage signaled the beginning of   he owned huge tracts of Las Vegas     the greatest growth spurt in Las   land. Additionally in 1966,           Vegas Strip history, and           Caesars Palace and Aladdin            encouraged investment in Las       opened.                               Vegas by major corporations.                                                                                The 1970’s were perhaps the           The Las Vegas Strip was almost     heyday of mob control of Las          completely rebuilt in the 1990’s.  Vegas. Teamster loans were used       In 1990 the largest hotel in the   to finance the acquisition of a       world, the Excalibur, opened at    variety of hotel casinos. It          the corner of Tropicana and the    would take the FBI years to           Strip. In 1993 Mirage buys the     finally drive the mobsters out.       Dunes, including its golf course,  New casinos that opened during        and implodes the old hotel. Also   the 1970’s include Circus Circus,     in 1993 the MGM Grand, Treasure    Holiday Casino, and MGM Grand.        Island, and Luxor open for                                               business. In 1996 the              Three incredibly important events     Stratosphere opened, and the       Sands and Hacienda closed. In         Circus Circus on the Las Vegas     1997 New York-New York opened,        Strip. Meanwhile Park Place        and Aladdin closed. In 1998 the       purchased Caesars World in 2000    most expensive hotel casino ever      and Harrahs in 2004, leaving them  built, the Bellagio, opened, and      with Paris, Bally’s, Flamingo,     Hilton split their corporation        Harrahs, and Caesars Palace on     into gaming and non-gaming            the Strip. In 2005 Steve Wynn      entities. Finally, in 1999, MGM       returned to the Strip with the     bought Primadonna Resorts, and        Wynn Resort. In 2007 two older     the final three hotel casinos to      hotels, the Frontier and the       open in the millennium, New           Stardust, are closed and           York-New York. Mandalay Bay, the      imploded, and, finally, in 2008    Venetian, and Paris opened.           the Palazzo opened for business.                                         In addition, the other major       Now, in the new millennium, two       change that is currently           corporations own a large part of      occurring is the incredible        the Las Vegas Strip. In 2000 MGM      growth of residential condos on    buys Mirage, and in 2004 they         the Las Vegas Strip. The fastest   also buy Mandalay Resort Group,       growing city in the United States  leaving them with Mandalay Bay,       for most of the twentieth century  Luxor, Excalibur, MGM Grand, New      is now looking more like a major   York – New York, Bellagio,            urban city.                        Mirage, Treasure Island, and           About the Author John Rosen works for Las Vegas Strip Map and has seen a lot of Las Vegas Strip history being made during his 40 years living in Las Vegas. Published At: www.Isnare.com