Las Vegas

Named after its spring watered grassy meadows, the city of Las Vegas has long been known for its low cost-luxury casinos, top-notch entertainment, and overall energetic and vibrant nightlife.

However, the alluring glitz and glamor surrounding the entertainment capital of the world have long from always existed. The city was inhabited as early as A.D. 700 as part of the residence of the Paiute tribe, a Numic speaking indigenous people group residing in the great basin area.

The region was then invaded by the Spanish in the early 1800s who introduced a violent slave trade to the Paiute territory. In 1821, Rafael Rivera, a member of Antonio Armijo’s trade route expedition dubbed the mountainous desert region: Las Vegas.  The first white Americans to settle the region were a group of Mormons sent by Brigham Young in 1855. The settlement quickly failed and was later abandoned. In 1905, however, the city was successfully founded as a water stop for steam locomotives and officially received its city charter in 1911. From the start, the people of the sparsely populated town of about 1,000 embraces of Old West-style freedoms of gambling, drinking, and prostitution. In 1910 gambling was outlawed in Nevada, but the practice continued in Vegas’ speakeasies and illicit casinos. In 1930 a movement began urging voters to put into office men who would support wide-open gambling in order to transform Las Vegas into “America’s Playground.”

The movement was successful, and by  April 1931, the city commissioners licensed sixty-six slot machines. In 1931 The federal government decided to build the Hoover dam, about 37 miles from Vegas. In order to attract the Project’s workers, casino and showgirl venues opened up on Fremont Street, the town’s only paved road. When the dam project ended, a campaign was launched to promote Las Vegas to the world as a tourist center. The campaign was supported by local news agencies, who beforehand had condemned Vegas as the city of vice. The propaganda was successful, and soon hotels and casino were built, and the town became known as the entertainment capital of the world.

Work cited

Editors, History.com. “Las Vegas.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2 Dec. 2009 www.history.com/topics/us-states/las-vegas.

Gragg, Larry. “Las Vegas who built America’s playground? Larry Gragg digs beneath the glitzy surface of America’s ‘sin city’ to find out how this extravagant home of gambling and glamour came into being.” History Today, Feb. 2007, p. 51+. World History Collection
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A159921708/PPWH?u=lincclin_bwcc&sid=PPWH&xid=4460bd2a. Accessed 27 Jan. 2019.

“History: The Paiutes.” The Paiutes: History, Utah American Indian National Archive, 2008,         utahindians.org/archives/paiutes/history.html.

Zobell, Charles. “Las Vegas.” World Book Advanced, World Book, 2019, www-worldbookonline-com.db03.linccweb.org/advanced/article?id=ar314060. Accessed 27 Jan. 2019

Although the city’s success is commonly attributed to its prominence as a tourist town, the railroad industry is where Vegas got its start.

While on a quest to build a rail line connecting Salt Lake City and Las Angeles, Union Pacific railroad developers determined the water-rich valleys of Vegas to be the optimal location to house a way station for travelers, and a town. As a result, in 1905 Las Vegas was established. However, Vegas was only one stop on Union Pacific’s quest to develop the first Transcontinental railroad. This was an ambitious feat because the rail line would be built across 1,700 miles of what Boston papers called “Ruinous space.” Construction crews would have to build across hundreds of miles of desert and at elevations of up to 8,000 feet without a single sizable settlement in sight. It took six years to build the railroad and an army of 20,000 men, most of whom were Chinese and Irish immigrants.

The Union Pacific built repair shops, housed merchants, and trained crews in Vegas. However, when Vegas workers joined in a nationwide rail strike in 1922, the Union Pacific punished them by shutting down the repair shops. This resulted in the loss of 300 jobs and devastated the small community.  By the late 1930s, Vegas had found a new economic opportunity in Nevada’s lax marriage laws. The town creatively promoted easy ways to get married by having a licensing bureau at a train depot, and even kept the county clerk’s office open twenty-four hours a day to maximize ease of access. Between the 1939 and 1941, the number of marriages quadrupled to over 21,000 a year, giving Vegas a huge economic boost.

In 1931, after a measure was approved in support of open gambling the entertainment industry rose to new heights. By 1943 during the height of the boulder dam construction, 5,000 bolder damn construction workers earning a collective $750,000 a month, spent most of their money on entertainment in Vegas. Near the end of Boulder dam construction, Vegas began to be marketed as a convenience town providing the tourist with easy access to Nevada’s many attractions. However, it lacked proper accommodations for tourist. In 1941, El Rancho was the first hotel erected on the strip targeted at attracting high-class clientele and helping to popularize ‘The Strip.’ In 1947 the infamous “Bugsy” Siegel aka Mr. Murder Incorporated opened the famous Flamingo Hotel.

He died in late 1947 before the hotel reached its prime, but his presence in Vegas opened the door for more mobsters to invest in the town. During the 1950s and 1960s money from organized crime, and wall street investors went into building hotels like the Sahara, and the New Frontier. Today, Vegas continues to thrive on the business of entertainment, and the history of crime that helps build the town only adds to its allure.

Works Cited

Badertscher, Eric. “Las Vegas.” Our States: Nevada, Aug. 2018, pp. 1–3. EBSCOhost,   db03.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.asp

Editors, History.com. “Las Vegas.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2 Dec. 2009,

http://www.history.com/topics/us-states/las-vegas.

Gragg, Larry. “Las Vegas who built America’s playground? Larry Gragg digs beneath the glitzy surface of America’s ‘sin city’ to find out how this extravagant home of gambling and glamour came into being.” History Today, Feb. 2007, p. 51+. World History Collection http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A159921708/PPWH?u=lincclin_bwcc&sid=PPWH&xid=4460bd2a. Accessed 27 Jan. 2019.

J., Edward, and Renehan. “The Transcontinental Railroad, Updated Edition.” LINCCWeb   Catalog Search, 2017, online.infobase.com.db03.linccweb.org/HRC/LearningCenter/Details/2?articleId=358413&lcid=0

Union Pacific History and Chronologies.” Union Pacific, www.up.com/index.htm.https://www.up.com/heritage/history/overview/index.htm,

https://www.up.com/heritage/history/overview/building_road/index.htm

Zobell, Charles. “Las Vegas.” World Book Advanced, World Book, 2019, www-worldbookonline-com.db03.linccweb.org/advanced/article?id=ar314060. Accessed 27 Jan. 2019

One of the cultures that have taken a big role in getting Vegas to where it is today is the Mob culture brought to the Town by Mr.Murder incorporated himself, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. After building a criminal Empire through Bootlegging, gambling, and heartless assassinations Bugsy decided to set up shop in Vegas opening the Flamingo Hotel. Although he died before the hotel reached its prime, his presence in town opened the door for other mobsters to invest in Vegas. By 1962 the Mob had about $300 million invested in the city. The money from organized crime went into building hotels on like the Sahara, and the New Frontier during the 1950s and 60s.

The history of the Mob is Vegas has largely been romanticized by Hollywood films like the Godfather, Godfather II, and Bugsy.

These films fueled the legends of Mobsters like Al Capone, and Meyers Lansky and fortified the town’s image as the last frontier.

The town cultural landscape has greatly changed from its first Census in 1910. Drawn to the town for the mining industry the town’s population consisted mostly of Irish, and Germans. The town also contained a small percentage of Southern Paiute Indians. In spite of the booming railroad industry, Vegas did not draw many individuals of Asian descent. At the time, only four Chinese people lived in the town, and only fourteen young Japanese immigrants. The town’s black population was also small. As they do today, Hispanics represented the largest minority group in Vegas at the time, comprising roughly 0.06% of the population. However, while today’s Hispanic in Vegas is extremely diverse with the non-Mexican Hispanics comprising 41.4% of the population, at the time vegas’ entire Hispanic population was comprised of 56 Mexicans.

The start of Boulder dam construction boosts the Las Vegas population to 5,100 in 1930. The majority of the immigrants were of European descent, although some African American, Asians, and Hispanics immigrated to Vegas as well. The rise of the Vegas Strip during the late 1940s and 1950s gradually altered Vegas’s demographics. In spite of the vast racial discrimination present in the town, the African American population nearly doubled over the course of the 20th Century because the economic opportunity was far better than it was in the south. However, the towns discriminatory nature forced African Americans established an ethnic enclave known as West Side near the city’s red light district. Between the 1960s and 70s, there was also a large influx of Hispanic immigrants along with a small percentage of Asian immigrants. The majority of the Hispanic immigrants of this time were Cubans from Havana. Later on in the late 1970s and Early 1980, turmoil in Central America resulted in an influx in immigration to Vegas in response to the states increased need for employees to fill positions in the Vast number of hotels built at the time.

Today Vegas is home to communities of people representing virtually every nation and has only one ethnic enclave dominated by African Americans Known as West Side.

Work Cited

Badertscher, Eric. “Las Vegas.” Let’s Take a Look at Nevada, Aug. 2018, p. 1. EBSCOhost, db03.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=khh&AN=14150258&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

“Bugsy Siegel.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 27 Apr. 2018, http://www.biography.com/people/bugsy-siegel-9542063.

Edwards, Jerome E. “The Peoples of Las Vegas: One City, Many Faces.” Journal of American Ethnic History, vol. 26, no. 1, 2006, p. 98+. World History Collection, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A413170538/PPWH?u=lincclin_bwcc&sid=PPWH&xid=94e1416b. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019

Gragg, Larry. “Las Vegas who built America’s playground? Larry Gragg digs beneath the glitzy surface of America’s ‘sin city’ to find out how this extravagant home of gambling and glamour came into being.” History Today, Feb. 2007, p. 51+. World History Collection, http://link.galegroup.com.db03.linccweb.org/apps/doc/A159921708/PPWH?u=lincclin_bwcc&sid=PPWH&xid=4460bd2a. Accessed 12 Feb. 2019.

“Las Vegas and the Mob.” History Magazine, vol. 17, no. 1, Oct. 2015, pp. 8–14. EBSCOhost, db03.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=khh&AN=110028413&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Zobell, Charles. “Las Vegas.” World Book Advanced, World Book, 2019,www-worldbookonline-com.db03.linccweb.org/advanced/article?id=ar314060. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019.

Known to Tourist as the “Entertainment capital of the world” Vegas is well known for its elaborate shows, often including big-name stars from Elvis Presley to Celine Dion.

In addition, the city is home to numerous performing arts centers including  The Las Vegas Philharmonic, the Nevada Ballet Theatre, and the Nevada Opera Theatre.

The City is also famous for the Las Vegas Strip, which is its main gambling and entertainment district and is home to the nations’ largest casinos, nightclubs, and hotels. Money made on the strip, from gambling and other entertainment, is the largest contributor to the Las Vegas economy.

 Each year, around 30 million tourists visit Las Vegas, contributing over $20 billion to the state economy. The Vegas Strip began to grow in popularity after WWII when Large Hotels and Casinos Like the Flamingo were built on the Strip. The Vegas strip is also home to replicas of the worlds most famous attractions. The Replica Sphinx and a 350ft high replica of the great pyramid can be found at the “Luxor Las Vegas Hotel and Casino”

and a half-sized model of the statue of liberty is housed in the “New York-New York Hotel and Casino” in addition to many other replicas found in various hotels on the strip.  Although, the city most popular attractions are its hotels, casinos, and over 40 wedding chapels along the strip, Vegas’s landscape does offer a few scenic wonders.

Tourist can enjoy tourists can enjoy a view from Hoover Dam on the Colorado River or the beutiful neighboring mountains. Another of Vegas’ key landmarks is Nellis Air Force base just to the north of the city. The base was founded in opened in 1941 and named after William Harrell Nelli On May 1, 1950.

The town currently has two museums dedicated to immortalizing its history of organized crimes: The Las Vegas Mob Experience of the Tropicana Casino, and The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement.

 These museums are some of the towns primary attractions, fueling the town’s image as the last frontier. Overall, Vegas’ aesthetic personality is enveloped in its entertainment industry. Most of its performance and art is geared towards attracting tourist and spurring the town’s economy.

Work Cited

Badertscher, Eric. “Las Vegas.” Our States: Nevada, Aug. 2018, pp. 1–3. EBSCOhost, db03.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=khh&AN=11980176&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

“Continuing Evolution: 75 Years of Nellis History.” Nellis Air Force Base, 14 Aug. 2015, www.nellis.af.mil/News/Article/664716/continuing-evolution-75-years-of-nellis-history/.

“Las Vegas and the Mob.” History Magazine, vol. 17, no. 1, Oct. 2015, pp. 8–14. EBSCOhost, db03.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=khh&AN=110028413&site=ehost-live&scope=sit

“World Heritage Site.” Tropical Rainforest Sumatra – Unesco World Heritage Site | For World Heritage Travellers, http://www.worldheritagesite.org/connection/Replicas in Las Vegas.

Zobell, Charles. “Las Vegas.” World Book Advanced, World Book, 2019,www-worldbookonline-com.db03.linccweb.org/advanced/article?id=ar314060. Accessed 17 Feb. 2019.

When you think of Haiti, what comes to mind? Is it the beaches, or artist like Wyclef Jean, and Jason Derulo? For most people the thought of Haiti conjures up images of hunger and poverty. For me, it’s home. As the plane swooshed into the landing station, on that summer morning, a new feeling welled up in my chest. It might have been the mixture of excitement, and nostalgia at arriving in my parents’ homeland, or simply the dizziness from my first plane ride; either way, when my father arrived to pick me up from the airport, I was ecstatic. We soon arrived at his childhood home: a rust-red multi-unit dwelling on 20th street. As I walked through the door, beads of sweat formed across my brow. I wasn’t born in Haiti, nor did I live there for more than a year, so I was terrified to meet most of my relatives for the first time. When I walked through the doors, I was surrounded by smiling faces. I felt like the prodigal son, being welcomed home after a long journey.

Growing up in the land of key lime pie, sunshine, and oranges, I often found myself missing a home I never knew. As gloriously sunny Florida days filled with Flakey beef patties, and Cola Couronne, gave way to evenings echoing with the erratic beats of Kompa music I wistfully fantasized about what I wished was the land of my youth. I often imagined sitting under the Almond tree in my grandfather’s backyard, while sipping on a glass of freshly squeezed lime juice. I even pondered over the way I ’d and greet the neighbors that passed me by. Would I say bon après-midi, or wow them with a wholehearted Sak pase. I’ll admit at some point my nostalgic view of Haiti became my reality.

In Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire, a sense of place is often defined as a work of the imagination. Set on new Orleans’ bourbon street, the author often portrays touristic aspects of the town characterizing it as alluringly charming. As a Non-Haiti native, my nostalgic view of haiti drew me the small Island nation as well.