Sinatra, il Rat Pack e l'Età dell'Oro di Las Vegas
Las Vegas in the 1950s and 1960s (the 'Golden Age' of Las Vegas — the era when the Desert Inn, the Sands, the Flamingo, the Riviera, and the Stardust casinos defined American glamour, when Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack made the Copa Room at the Sands the centre of the American entertainment universe, and when Las Vegas was simultaneously the most glamorous and the most dangerous city in the United States): the history of Las Vegas from railroad town to global entertainment capital is the most dramatic urban transformation story in American history.
- 1
The Rat Pack — Sands Hotel, 1960
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop performed at the Sands Hotel's Copa Room in January 1960 while simultaneously filming 'Ocean's 11' on location in Las Vegas — the informal late-night shows (the Rat Pack would wander in from the film set after midnight) were attended by JFK (who stayed in the hotel's presidential suite); the Sands was demolished in 1996 and replaced by the Venetian.
- 2
Fremont Street — The Original Las Vegas Strip, 1941
Fremont Street (Downtown Las Vegas) was the original casino district, predating the Las Vegas Strip by a decade — the El Cortez (1941, still operating, the oldest continuously operating hotel in Las Vegas), the Golden Nugget (1946, Lillie Langtry's painting still hanging above the bar), and the Pioneer Club (with its 6-storey neon cowboy 'Vegas Vic', 1951) established the visual language of Las Vegas neon that the NEON Museum (Fremont East) now preserves.
- 3
The Rat Pack Shrines — Keeping the Legend Alive
The Las Vegas mob era (1940s–1960s) when the Teamsters Union pension fund financed casino construction is documented at the Mob Museum (300 Stewart Ave, downtown, $27) — the museum occupies the former federal courthouse where Senate hearings on organized crime were held in 1950; the collection includes FBI wiretap recordings, casino skimming operation documentation, and the wall from the 1929 St Valentine's Day Massacre.
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Liberace Museum — The Showman of Las Vegas
The Liberace Museum (closed 2010, collection now on traveling exhibition) represented Las Vegas's showman tradition — Liberace (1919–1987) performed at the Las Vegas Hilton for 16 years, wore a fur cape worth $300,000, played a piano covered in rhinestones, and arrived on stage in a Rolls Royce; his estate at the Liberace Foundation maintains his collection; the Piano Bar at Caesars Palace occupies the approximate location of his most famous performances.
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Howard Hughes — Buying Las Vegas from the Desert Inn
Howard Hughes (1966–1970 Las Vegas period) bought the Desert Inn in 1967 after the hotel tried to evict him for overstaying his penthouse suite — he subsequently purchased the Sands, Castaways, Frontier, Silver Slipper, and the Landmark (total of 6 casinos) from his Desert Inn penthouse without leaving his room; Hughes's systematic acquisition of Las Vegas properties (using TWA sale proceeds of $540 million) established the corporate model that replaced mob ownership.
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Elvis's Las Vegas — The International Hotel Residency
Elvis Presley performed 636 sold-out shows at the International Hotel (now the Westgate Las Vegas) from 1969–1976 — the residency effectively revived his career after his 1968 comeback special; Elvis performed in a specially designed jumpsuit (the 'Aloha from Hawaii' eagle jumpsuit was created for Las Vegas) and established the model of the extended Las Vegas residency that Celine Dion (4,600 shows), Britney Spears, and later residency artists would follow.