Few cities evoke images of sheer excess as Las Vegas. Located in the middle of the arid Mojave Desert, at the southern tip of Nevada, Las Vegas is an oasis of life, energy and money, a city whose raison d’être is entertainment. With very warm temperatures during summer and moderate winters, the city is visited throughout the year.
Despite having just over one million inhabitants, the airport is the ninth busiest in the world and its facilities spend every day thousands of tourists eager to make a fortune on gaming tables or slot machines
The origins of the city, however, were rather humble. In the eighteenth century, the place where the town now sits was named Las Vegas by a natural spring greenery in the dry desert. The city was founded in 1905 (as the stop line of the Union Pacific Railroad between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City), but until the decade of the 30 remained a remote village. However, in 1931, gambling was legalized and the city began to take its present character. Initially attracted gangs of workers responsible for the construction of the nearby Hoover Dam, but soon became the Mecca of gambling and leisure visitors as illustrious Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Liberace. Also attracted the mafia, one aspect of the city portrayed in numerous films including Ocean’s Eleven (1960 & 2001), Casino (1995) and Bugsy (1991). During the decade of the 60s, the reputation of the city began to improve. The game continued to be the main attraction, but the casinos began to fall in the hands of large corporations and the city was converted into a family destination.
At present, there are many golf courses, shows, theme parks, shopping centers and a growing number of museums including the Natural History Museum Las Vegas or the Liberace Museum.
Las Vegas now enjoying a revival. In the 90s began the current trend of building enormous hotel complexes competing with others for the title of world’s largest hotel ones. The title took him in his day the MGM Grand , similar to a city with more than 5,000 rooms. More recently, the trend has been to build reduced versions scale of cities like New York , Paris or Venice . Downtown, with its smaller, intimate and seedy casinos, still retains the essence of the ancient city.
Leisure and entertainment dominate the character of the city to the point that they have become the backbone of the economy, leading to the creation of a vibrant hotel, commercial and service industry. Other sectors such as construction owe much of their existence to the fact that constantly need to build new or expand existing hotels. The exuberance of the city and magnetism exerted on tourists has led to the creation of a theme park the size of a city. The locals live a normal life in the suburbs, but for visitors, Las Vegas is a place of endless pleasure full of neon, hotel lobbies, topless show, live entertainment and casinos.
