Las Vegas

Las Vegas is a city of the the United States located in the State of the Nevada in the middle of the desert. The Mormon S founded the city in 1855 which became at the beginning of the 20th century an agricultural village.

Thanks to the liberal laws as regards plays of the State of Nevada, the city acquired a world famous for its casino S and its reviews. Because of the enormous hotel capacity of the city (currently more 120  000 hotel rooms, which makes of it the first hotel city of the world), it is also a place of choice for the organization of great congresses. Las Vegas is also the temple of the Shopping in particular with its great shopping malls (ex: Fashion Show Badly, located on Strip)

Las Vegas is more the big city of Nevada and a tourist destination of first order. In 2004, the city of the play accommodated 37,4 million visitors, of which 80% come from California. The population of its agglomeration was multiplied by three in 20 years and account now 1.777.539 inhabitants. The yellow pages of the directory are reactualized twice a year… According to the census of the year 2000, the city counts 478.434 inhabitants. The population of the city estimated in 2006 is of 552  539 inhabitants. Las Vegas is the capital of the county of Clark.

History

Origins of Las Vegas, 1854-1931

In 1854, farmers Mormons settle whereas the Spanish had already named the place “Las Vegas” which means “the fertile meadows” or “valleys” because of the water contained in the basement.

The Mormons gave up the site in 1857 and the American Armée invests the place by building the Fort Baker in 1864. Thanks to the sources of water, Las Vegas became a stage on the road between Los Angeles and Albuquerque.

Officially, Las Vegas is founded the May 15th 1905.

(Gap to be filled: 1905-1931)

Casinos with Sin City , 1931-1989

In 1931, the plays of money are legalized, the prostitution develops and the city becomes universally known when investors build hotel-casinos, to start with Flamingo which is one of the first in 1946 but also the Mirage which is the first true hotel complex in Las Vegas in 1989.

Maffia and casinos

Behind these investors hide sometimes personalities of the Organized crime of the East coast such as Bugsy Siegel, Jérémy Sabban or Meyer Lansky. With the the United States, a certain number of pension funds are indeed managed by the trade unions, trade unions themselves cored by the underworld - what one can see in the films It was once in America , of Sergio Leone, where it is simply referred there, and F.I.S.T. (1977) of Norman Jewison, with Stallone, which deals with this problem completely. The film Casino of Martin Scorsese also shows how a trade union of truck-drivers directs in slide one of the largest casino of the Las Vegas of the Seventies.

Thus, in the years 1940 with 1970, the Mafia it was found with the head of million dollars, resulting either from the pension funds, or of its traffics. Million dollars which it was necessary to bleach or make bear fruit, and if possible both at the same time. The option “casino” was very quickly retained: all is done in liquid and in proportions such as accountancy is business of “flexibility”.

It should not besides be believed that the Mafia was immediately entichée of Las Vegas: at the beginning, she preferred Cuba, and the beginnings of Flamingo, hotel-casino launched in 1946 by Bugsy Siegel, were difficult. Indeed, Cuba presented, at the end of the Années 1940, of enormous advantages: extraterritoriality, tacit alliance with the local political power and the CIA in order to maintain the island in the American orbit, immediate proximity of East coast, by far the area of the USA the most populated at that time. Of course, 1959 and the fall of Batista, the dictator reversed by Castro, marked the end of this era of prosperity: the Maffia " rabattit" on Las Vegas.

Luxate and stars

However, it should be noted that, as well out of artistic matter than hotel, this gangster time is recognized like more “refined” as during the time 1970 - 1990. The hotels with human size combined the knack and the luxury with an irreproachable service and the largest stars of the moment occurred in Las Vegas.

The most known example is besides the famous Rat Pack : Frank Sinatra and her “band of rats” (Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Peter Lawford, brother-in-law of Kennedy, and sometimes Joey Bishop or Shirley MacLaine) improvised every evening on the scene of the Copa Room of the Sands hotel destroys since… Even King, Elvis Presley occurred there several times per annum.

Diversification, since 1989

Las Vegas was called “ Sin City ” (the city of the sin) because of the money plays, the spectacles for adults and the legal prostitution in the close counties. But the local authorities decided starting from 1989 to diversify the city towards family and consensual customers. It is at this time there that the gigantic hotel The Mirage left sands thanks to the business man Steve Wynn. Since, the growth of the city turns around 5% per annum.

The casinos and attractions multiplied as well as the ancillary services. The growth of the population followed has a frantic rate, which poses some problems of infrastructures. It is even the gravitational city of the country. In 2003, the population of the agglomeration (Las Vegas Valley) counted 1  583  172 inhabitants. A Chinatown appeared even with the beginning of the year 1990 on Spring Mountain Road.

Geography

Latitude: 36° 11 ' 39" North, longitude: 115° 13 ' 19" West. According to the office of census of the United States, the city covers a surface of 340 km ².

The city is in an arid basin surrounded by mountains covered with snow in winter. The landscapes which are around are desert, stony and dusty. The municipality encourages the abandonment of the lawns by the inhabitants with the profit of planted gardens of cactus.

Climate

Las Vegas has a typical arid climate of the Désert of Mojave: each year, mercury exceeds the 46°C. The winters are soft and windy. The record of heat recorded is of 55°C the July 24th 1942. In Las Vegas there is more than 315 days of sun per annum. Annual average temperature: 19,3°C
  • Total of precipitations: 109 mm

  • Problems

Las Vegas extends at the bottom from a valley and thus knows sometimes floods (like that of August 2003). The municipality spends of the million dollars to mitigate this problem by arranging retaining tanks.

Population

(The numbers of counted inhabitants are only the inhabitants of the city, without those of the suburbs: North Las Vegas , Paradise ,…)

Population of the main cities of Nevada (2006) TimeAxis = orientation: horizontal format: yyyy ImageSize = width: 640 height: car barincrement: 25 PlotArea = left: 10 right: 10 signal: 10 bottom: 40 AlignBars = justify

Colors = id: canvas been worth: rgb (0.97, 0.97, 0.97)

BackgroundColors = canvas: canvas

Period = from: 0 till: 600 ScaleMajor = links: year increment: 100 start: 0 gridcolor: drabgreen

BarData= barset: Einwohnerzahl

PlotData= width: 20 fontsize: M textcolor: black color: skyblue shift: (20, - 6) anchor: from barset: Einwohnerzahl

from: start till: 552.5 text: Las Vegas _ (552 539) from: start till: 224.8 text: Henderson _ (240 614) from: start till: 210.2 text: Reno _ (210 255) from: start till: 197.5 text: North Las Vegas _ (197 567) from: start till: 83.9 text: Sparks _ (83 959) from: start till: 55.2 text: Carson _ (55 289) TextData= fontsize: S pos: (450,20) text: Many inhabitants (in thousands)


In 2006, the population of the city was of: 552539 inhabitants; agglomeration of Las Vegas (: 1777539 inhabitants in 2006) concentrates 62% of the population of the State.

Economy

Las Vegas east one of the first tourist destinations in the world, this is why there are many hotels. But of other factors enter in account for the saving in Las Vegas, like the money plays obviously but also the restaurants, the spectacles and the various entertainments which one can find there. In 1997, Las Vegas attracted nearly 30 million visitors and approximately 36 million in 2004.

Transport

Public transport

The Citizens Area Transit or CAT Bus is a popular means of public transport among the inhabitants of the city and the tourists with various routes which cover most of the valley. Citizens Area Transit transports 175.000 people per day roughly, that is to say approximately 10% of the population of the valley.

The Las Vegas Monorail is a system of Public transport which extends from MGM Grand Las Vegas, in the south of the Las Vegas Strip until the the Sahara, in the north of the Las Vegas Strep.

Airports

The city is served mainly by the International airport McCarran which provides the commercial flights in the valley of Las Vegas. The airport is also used with the private aircrafts, the flights of international passengers and the flights of freight.

The county of Clark has other airports like:

  • North Las Vegas Airport, North Las Vegas (IATA: MOW, ICAO: KLAS)
  • Searchlight Airport, Searchlight (ICAO: K1L3)
  • Henderson Executive Airport, Henderson (IATA: HSN, ICAO: KHND)
  • Perkins Field, Overton (ICAO: KU08)
  • Jean Sport Aviation Center, Jean (ICAO: K0L7)
  • Ivanpah Valley Airport, Jean
  • Mesquite Airport, Mesquite (IATA: MFH)
  • Boulder City Municipal Airport, (IATA: BLD, ICAO: KBLD)
  • Echo Bay Airport, Overton (ICAO: K0L9)
  • Kidwell Airport, Cal-Nev-Ari (ICAO: K1L4)
  • Sky Ranch Airport, Sandy Valley (ICAO: K3L2)

Roads

The main roads which cross Las Vegas are:

Chemin de iron

Until 1997, the Amtrak Desert Wind crossed Las Vegas which uses the Union Pacific Railroad.

Union Pacific is the only railway to provide the service of freight per rail to the city.

Sports

Las Vegas is one of the more big cities to the the United States not having any team belonging to the major leagues of the professional sports such as NFL (American football), MLB (baseball), NBA (basketball) and LNH (hockey).

The city shelters a professional frankness from American football in room, the Las Vegas Gladiators evolving/moving in Arena Football League, they play in the Orleans Arena (9 500 places) with the Las Vegas Wranglers which are a team of Hockey of the East Coast Hockey League.

The principal club of Baseball of the city are the Las Vegas 51s of the Ligue of the coast of the Pacific which plays in Cashman Field (9 334 places). The 51s are a team of minor league AAA affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers of MLB.

The area of Las Vegas counts three principal teams of Basket-ball: the Las Vegas Stars (International Basketball League), the Las Vegas PROLYMs and Henderson AlStarz (American Basketball Association 2000).

In February 2007, the Thomas & Mack Center (principal general sports room of the city with approximately 19.000 places) accommodated NBA All-Star Range 2007.

Since 1986, the city organizes the Open of Las Vegas, it is a male tennis tournament which takes place at the end of February, sometimes also at the beginning of May.

The Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) is a traditional circuit located at the north of the city and which accommodates automobile races like NASCAR. The circuit is a " D-oval" (oval in form of D), its length is of 2,414 kilometers and it has a capacity of 156.000 spectators. It belongs to Speedway Motorsports, Inc, whose head office is with Charlotte, North Carolina. Principal the event of NASCAR are the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 (Nextel Cup), Sam' S Town 300 (Busch Series) and the Las Vegas 350 (Craftsman Truck Series).

In the university sport, UNLV Rebels (NCAA) defend the colors of the Université of Nevada (Las Vegas). The team of American football of Rebels play Sam Boyd Stadium (36 800 places) while that of Basket-ball plays Thomas & Mack Center (18 776 places). Since 1992, the Sam Boyd Stadium organizes the Las Vegas Bowl, a university match of American football generally opposing teams of the Pacific Ten Conference and Mountain West Conference.

Hotels and casinos

Las Vegas is universally known for its casino S. the majority of those are also hotels with great capacity whose casino is opened with all (the money plays remain however prohibited with less than 21 years in the United States). The hotel-casinos are distributed on two zones:

  • Downtown , downtown area, with the oldest casinos and luminous attraction Fremont Street Experiment .
  • the Strip , sometimes also called South Strip or, officially, Las Vegas Boulevard , a long boulevard extending from the downtown area towards the south in direction of Los Angeles. They is there that are located the largest hotel-casinos, most recent and often most eccentric. Their architecture, often with topic, is sometimes seizing. Many hotels of the Strip include/understand also theaters used for concerts (Céline Dion works thus under contract with the Caesar' S Palace), spectacles of prestigidation and other numbers like the productions of the Cirque of the Sun.

List principal hotels/casinos of Strip

North in the south one finds, inter alia:

Other hotel-casino are located out of the Strip

List principal hotels/casinos located out of Strip

(Alphabetically)

Hotels/casinos located in Downtown Las Vegas

The majority of the other hotels/casinos are located in the downtown Las Vegas :

  • Binion' S Horseshoe

  • California Hotel and Casino
  • El Cortez
  • Fitzgeralds Las Vegas
  • Four Queens
  • Fremont Hotel and Casino
  • Gold Spike
  • Golden Spoils Casino
  • Golden Nugget Las Vegas
  • Lady Luck Hotel & Casino
  • Las Vegas Club
  • Main Street Station Hotel and Casino and Brewery
  • Mermaids Casino
  • Plaza Hotel & Casino
  • Pioneer Casino

Future projects of Las Vegas

One says of Las Vegas that it is a " city; always in construction" , here some future hotel projects for the city:

  • Cosmopolitan hotel-casino

  • The Palazzo
  • Project City Center
  • Echelon Places
  • Voyager hotel-casino

More the great project is that of City Center which envisages a new complex of buildings on Strip. In May 2007: 7000 workmen worked already on the building site of 31 hectares. The central part of the unit will be a building of 61 floors with restaurants, a center of congress, a casino and a theater of: 2000 places. The architect Daniel Libeskind drew the plans of a new shopping mall of: 46000 square meters. Lastly, several hundreds of lofts and apartments will be available.

19 larger hotels of the world

On the 23 larger hotels of the world, 19 are in Las Vegas,

  • 1. MGM Large Las Vegas : 5034 rooms ( Las Vegas )

  • 2. Luxor : 4408 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 3. Mandalay Bay/THE Hotel : 4332 rooms ( Las Vegas ), without including the 434 rooms of the Seasons Furnace.
  • 4. Ambassador City Jomtien : 4210 rooms (Thailand)
  • 5. The Venetian/Palazzo : 4049 rooms ( Las Vegas ), at the time of the opening of future Palazzo, Palazzo will contain 3000 additional rooms and the hotel complex The Venetian/Palazzo will become the largest hotel of the world.
  • 6. Excalibur : 4008 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 7. Bellagio : 3993 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 8. Circus Cicus : 3774 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 9. Flamingo Hilton : 3565 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 10. Hilton Hawaiian Village : 3386 rooms (Honolulu)
  • 11. Caesar' S De luxe hotel : 3349 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 12. The Mirage : 3044 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 13. Monte Carlo : 3002 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 14. Las Vegas Hilton : 2956 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 15. Paris hotel : 2916 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 16. Treasure Island : 2885 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 17. Gaylord Opryland Arises : 2881 rooms (Nashville)
  • 18. Disney' S Pop Century Arises : 2880 rooms (Orlando)
  • 19. Bally' S : 2814 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 20. Wynn Las Vegas/Still At Wynn Las Vegas : 2716 rooms, in 2008 the opening of the expension Encore At Wynn Las Vegas will bring 2030 additional rooms to the complex.
  • 21. Imperial De luxe hotel : 2635 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 22. Harrah' S : 2576 rooms ( Las Vegas )
  • 23. Aladdin (Planet Hollywood) : 2567 rooms ( Las Vegas )

Las Vegas with the cinema and on television


Las Vegas was used as decoration with many films: like with televised series:
  • the Experts ( CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ), (2000)
  • Las Vegas ( Las Vegas ), (2003)
  • Dr. Vegas ( Dr. Vegas ), (2004)
  • the King of Las Vegas ( Father off the Pride ), (2004).

Literature

  • Las Vegas parano of H.S. Thompson: an amazing vision of the city.
  • American Tabloid of James Ellroy: a voyage in the gangster mediums in the Sixties which have gangrene Las Vegas.

Video games

A video game being held in Las Vegas, Rainbow Six: Vegas, left in 2006.

A counterpart of Las Vegas is also present in the play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), where the city is called here Las Venturas.

Twin towns

References

External bonds

  • Photographs of the hotel-casino New York New York
  • Photographs and Carnet of voyage to Las Vegas and the American West
  • Official site of the town of Las Vegas
  • tourist Official site of Las Vegas
  • Tourist site of Las Vegas
  • French Gate on the series Las Vegas
  • University off Phoenix, Las Vegas Campus
  • daily Newspaper of a voyage 10 days with spectacles

Be-X-old: Лас-Вегас Simple: Las Vegas, Nevada

Random links:12 de noviembre | Bonsai | List stations of the subway of Lyon | Tercio | Rilly-on-Aisne | Bonnétage | Belarusians