City Overview Las Vegas
In the middle of the dry Mojave desert, on the southern edge of Nevada, lies the city of superlatives, Las Vegas – an artificially created oasis of money, fast and wild life and play, where everything revolves around entertainment around the clock.
Although the population is comparatively low at around 560,000 oasis residents, the city’s airport ranks eighth among the busiest in the United States. Hordes of tourists arrive here every day, trying to pull the jackpot at the thousands of gaming tables and one-armed bandits (slot machines). Countless people also try their luck in the wedding chapels. Every year over 40 million visitors come to Las Vegas.
Towards the end of the 20th century, one giant hotel complex after another was built, which competed for the title of Largest Hotel in the World and which bears famous and exotic names such as Bellagio, Venetian, Mirage, Excalibur, Wynn or Luxor. The winner is still the MGM Grand with its more than 5000 hotel rooms, which is basically a city in itself. After that, mini versions of cities like New York, Paris and Venice built. So you can have a canal cruise in Las Vegas and feel like you are in Venice. Those who prefer Parisian flair can dine in the restaurant on the upper level of the Eiffel Tower replica. New York fans will love the Hotel New York New York . Inside the hotel, New York city life was modeled. The traditional character of Las Vegas can still be found in downtown with its smaller, somewhat disreputable casinos.
The CityCenter is particularly spectacular in terms of urban planning , a mini-city in the city that lies between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo Hotel directly on the Strip. In addition to several hotels, numerous apartments, shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities as well as a hotel-condominium-casino complex were built in two 200-meter-high towers.
Since Las Vegas is completely dominated by the entertainment industry, it is the mainstay of the economy, creating dazzling hotels, shops and bars. Other sectors of the economy, such as the construction industry, largely exist only because new hotels have to be built and existing ones enlarged.
One could almost say that the incredible attraction for visitors has created a kind of amusement park in city format. Residents live normal lives in normal suburbs, but for visitors, Las Vegas is an endless playground with neon lights, hotel lobbies, topless revues, live entertainment, and casinos.
Important facts
Area code: (USA) ; 702 (Las Vegas)
Population: 644,644 (2018)
Latitude: 36.114646
Longitude: -115.172816
Weather in Las Vegas
Las Vegas is well attended all year round because most of the life takes place indoors. In January and February as well as in July and August, slightly more tourists come than in the other months. The sun almost always shines. In the summer months (June to August) it can get very hot, temperatures around 40 ° C are normal. The winters are pleasantly mild, temperatures below 15 ° C are the exception.
City History of Las Vegas
In 2005 Las Vegas celebrated its 100th birthday with a lavish party. Ironically, the beginnings of Las Vegas were very humble. In the 18th century, the place where the city stands today was called Las Vegas (Spanish for “the meadows”) because a natural spring gave birth to green in the middle of the desert. The city itself was founded in 1905 – as a stopover on the Union Pacific Railway between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City – and remained a secluded nest until the 1930s. When gambling was legalized in 1931, Las Vegas quickly took on its current character. At first, only droves of workers came from the nearby Hoover Dam, but then it developed into a vacation destination for the entire country. The mafia did not stay away either – an aspect of the city that is described in countless feature films such as Casino (1995) and Bugsy (1991).
In the 1950s, resorts like The Flamingo , The Desert Inn and The Sands Hotel quickly gave the city a national (and international) reputation, and the delightful combination of entertainment and gambling attracted more and more thrill-seeking tourists. Stars like Frank Sinatra and his companion Rat Pack gave the city a reputation for being a place to see and be seen. Sinatra is still held to have helped to dismantle the racial segregation policy that was common practice in casinos – legend has it that he refused to sing at The Sands Hotel should black co-performer Sammy Davis Jr. got no room there.
Las Vegas became a magnet for the biggest names in show business. Elvis Presley made regular guest appearances in Las Vegas between 1969 and 1976, becoming the model for lucrative, long-term musical residences that still exist today, such as Elton John, Celine Dion and Prince.
A clean-up operation in Sin City began in the 1960s. Gambling remained the main attraction, but the casinos fell under the control of large corporations and the city began to be turned into a family destination. Golf courses are plentiful in Las Vegas, as are amusement parks, shopping centers and an increasing number of museums such as the Las Vegas Natural History Museum and the Liberace Museum . In 2012, the Mob Museum opened , depicting the battle between law and organized crime by the mafia, and the Neon Museum , which shines old neon signs from casinos and other companies.
The variety of play and nightlife options continued to evolve over the decades, but the next really big step came with the advent of mega-resorts in the late 1960s and 1970s. The strip became the legendary neon jungle. Investments continued to flow, further increasing the size and ambition of the large resorts. At the turn of the millennium, the metropolis was considered the largest city in the world, which was founded in the 20th century. Today, despite the fears caused by the global economic downturn, Las Vegas offers some of the most exclusive accommodations, dining and entertainment in the world. The city will certainly not rest on its laurels and will continue to evolve to attract tourists.
