When to Go

Deciding on when to go to Vegas is a gamble in itself. As a general rule November to February has always been the quietest and thus cheapest time in Vegas. However, a lot of shows take a break during this time and aside from this, events such as Thanksgiving, New Year and the Superbowl have seen surges of people taking their parties to Vegas. Add to this the plethora of conventions that are usually held in town and accomodation prices fluctuate at whim. The spring-fall shoulder months tend to be the busiest times, as mid-summer fries the bejesus out of the place and winter, while still relatively mild, can throw a chilly night its way.

Events

It's pretty hard to upstage the dollar-driven party pumping that is Las Vegas in everyday wear, but some diehard enthusiasts have been known to try. It would be sacrilegious for Sin City to close down its own peculiar devotions for a religious holiday (though it does take time out for Christ's birthday) but the city does have a few annual events and festivals.

Locals wear the green for the St Patrick's Day Parade in March. It's chaps and chili during the Helldorado Days Rodeo & Western Festival in June and the National Finals Rodeo in December. October brings both the Jaycee State Fair and the Cashman Field PGA Invitational Golf Tournament.

third Mon in Jan - Martin Luther King Jr Day
1 Jan - New Year's Day
fourth Thu in Nov - Thanksgiving Day
last Mon in May - Memorial Day
4 Jul - Independence Day
third Mon in Feb - Presidents' Day
first Mon in Sep - Labor Day
second Mon in Oct - Columbus Day
25 Dec - Christmas Day
11 Nov - Veterans Day
 

Las Vegas Attractions Glitter Gulch The blocks around the intersection of Fremont and Main Streets in downtown Las Vegas are known as Glitter Gulch. The first neon sign in the city went up here in 1929; now millions of lightbulbs and miles of neon tubing bathe the Gulch in perpetual daylight. This is where you'll find Vegas Vic and his pal Sassy Sal - two of the best-known neon icons in the country. Some of the city's most famous casinos are in the Gulch, including the Golden Nugget and the Gold Spike, as are most of its strip clubs. back to top   The Strip The Strip is a glittering main street of casinos of outrageous design. Circus Circus is tackiness incarnate where you can take in free circus acts in the tent-like interior. Adventuredome is a mini amusement park in a giant dome. New York New York is a casino replica of, well, New York. The Mirage has a fake volcano which erupts every 15 minutes, 54 artificial waterfalls, a miniature tropical rainforest and dolphins frolicking in a giant tank. The Flamingo has live flamingos and Wayne Newton schmoozes buffet-glutted audiences for many, many weeks of the year. back to top

History

The only natural feature to account for the location of Las Vegas is a spring north of downtown. Once used by Paiute Indians on their seasonal visits to the area, it was rediscovered by Mexican scout Rafael Rivera in 1829. The area became known to overland travellers as las vegas - 'the meadows' - a place with reliable water and feed for horses. It became a regular stop on the southern emigrant route to California, the Spanish Trail. In the 1850s, Mormons built the town's first structures, a small mission and fort; the fort became a ranch house, but there was little development before the 20th century.

In 1902 the land on which Las Vegas now stands was sold to a railroad company. The area that is now downtown was subdivided when the tracks came through, with 1200 lots sold on 15 May 1905 alone - a date now celebrated as the city's birthday.

As a railroad town, Las Vegas had machine shops, an ice works and a good number of hotels, saloons and gambling houses. The railroad laid off hundreds in the mid-1920s, but one Depression-era development gave the city a new life. The huge Hoover Dam (then known as Boulder Dam) project commenced in 1931, providing jobs in the short term and water and power for the city's long-term growth.

In 1931, Nevada legalised gambling and simplified its divorce laws, paving the way for the first big casino on the Strip, El Rancho, which was built by Los Angeles developers and opened in 1941. The next wave of investors, also from out of town, were mobsters like Bugsy Siegel, who built the Flamingo in 1946 and set the tone for the new casinos - big and flashy, with glitzy entertainment laid on to attract high rollers.

The dazzle that brought in the more lavish cash-lashers also attracted smaller spenders. Southern California provided a growing market for Las Vegas entertainment, and improvements in transport made it accessible to the rest of the country. Thanks to air conditioning and reliable water supplies, Vegas became one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. In recent years, Vegas has bent over backwards to remake itself into a family resort destination, building theme parks inside its hotels. Hotels have outdone each other with working volcanoes, million-gallon fishtanks and miniature Manhattans. All of this - along with dozens of artificial lakes in the suburbs - has put a huge strain on the city's water supply, but it hasn't slowed the development juggernaut.

Today Las Vegas boasts 19 of the world's 20 largest hotels, attracts 33 million visitors per year (100,000 of whom get married there), and earns over 5250000000.00 in annual gaming revenue. A serious disruption to the city's well-honed reputation as a capital of low culture was the 2001 arrival of a Vegas branch of the Guggenheim museum. It's moved in, but it won't have truly arrived until the names Picasso and Cezanne go up in flashy lights on the Strip. There are other cities with terrific entertainment and gaming opportunities, but there is no place in the world like Las Vegas, and no city even pretending to be.

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